The Arrangement
Series: The Survivors' Club #2
Author: Mary Balogh
Published August 27th 2013 by Piatkus

Goodreads Synopsis
A mesmerising story of passionate awakening and redemption, Mary Balogh's new novel unites a war hero consigned to darkness with a remarkable woman who finds her own salvation by showing him the light of love.

Blinded by a cannon blast on the Napoleonic battlefields, Vincent Hunt, Lord Darleigh, needs time away from the well-meaning meddling - and matchmaking - of his family. But anonymity proves impossible, and soon another marital trap is sprung. Luckily, he is saved in time by a stranger with a captivating voice that stirs something deep inside. And when Miss Sophia Fry's intervention on his behalf finds her unceremoniously booted from her guardian's home, Vincent can see a solution to both their problems: marriage.

At first, quiet, unassuming Sophia rejects Vincent's proposal. But when such a gloriously handsome and heartbreakingly vulnerable man persuades her that he needs a wife of his own choosing as much as she needs protection from destitution, she agrees. Dare they believe a bargain born of desperation might lead them both to a love destined to be?
Goodreads

Review
In The Arrangement, another one of the 'Survivor's' finds love. This time around, Vincent Hunt, now Viscount Darleigh, is recovering from his injuries during the Napoleonic War. He was left blinded, and temporarily deaf, following a cannon blast in his first battle, and is coming to terms with his new reality. When his well meaning family become too much, after forcing an unwilling debutante to try and convince him to marry, he flees, with only his trusty valet and friend, Martin, alongside. He returns to his childhood home, and begins to appear in society more and more, and meets the captivating Miss Fry when she rescues him from a compromising situation with her cousin. Because of her actions, Sophia is thrown out of her aunt's home, and has nowhere to turn to - until Vincent offers to marry her, and they make the 'arrangement'. They'll marry, and if after a year they don't suit, they can go their separate ways and live estranged. Sophia has been alone ever since her father died, and was palmed off to aunt after aunt. They don't care for her, and she's known as the 'mouse' for how quiet she is, and how mousy they say her looks are. It's only with Vincent that she starts to come into her own, and wants to help him, but not mother him. Will they both be happy once the year is up to go separate ways, or will hey have fallen too far for that?

I really enjoyed The Proposal when I read it last month, and was happy when my library reopened and I was able to get copies of the other books in the series. One trope I've always loved, and especially in historical romances, is the marriage of convenience trope, which was executed perfectly here. Both the main character brought something to the marriage, even if Sophia did profess she was no one and brought nothing. They might not have known it, but they really needed each other, and relied so much on one another to grow into their new lives, as the Viscount and Viscountess, but also as a blind man, and an insecure young lady, joining society properly. They have such a chemistry, even from the very short meeting at an assembly dance, and it is built upon so gradually, but so well, that their relationship is one of the best I've read recently. The content and plot points of coming into a title, and all that it entails, when facing a life long disability, and adapting to living without sight, and with the lingering affects of PTSD, was handled so realistically, and was utterly engaging. I have fallen so hard for Balogh's books, and can't wait to devour all the ones I can get my hands on, starting with the other Survivors' Club books.

Dates Read:
October 20-21, 2020

Rating
4 Stars