So this year in the romance department I’m delving deeper into new 
authors with new series. Ellepkay has been recommending the Survivor’s Club series to me for quite a while now (probably close to a year), but starting in the late fall I decided to save some of these up for the hours and hours I will be sitting still under the heaviest thing in the world (although sleeping kittens are pretty much as heavy as a baby).
The Survivor’s Club is a group of men (and one woman) who survived the Napoleonic Wars, and now gather to support each other at a Cornwall estate of a duke who lost his only son in the war. Some of the survivor’s have physical wounds, but like our hero this time, Hugo, some of those wounds are mental. Hugo, middle class soldier extraordinaire, has survivor’s guilt to the extreme. Gwendoline, our heroine, is a widowed Lady who meets Hugo on the beach in Cornwall after she twists her ankle. From their meeting they work through their problems including Hugo’s guilt, Gwen’s own guilt, and their class differences.
And overall it was pretty good. I’m definitely intrigued enough to keep going in the series. This one felt in a lot of ways like Where Dreams Begin by Lisa Kleypas, but not on the same level. We have a fancy lady and a very wealthy man of a lower class being thrust into her high society. The men are much “earthier” individuals than the ladies, but need some cache in order to find matches for their sisters. The ladies are widows and agree to assist in helping the sisters, but aren’t going to give into the men’s shenanigans. Obviously shenanigans occur, and one is more successful than the other (Where Dreams Begin, go read it. SO GOOD).
But this one was good. I’m interested in where Ms. Balogh’s going next within the series, so really that’s all that matters. A decent start.
I know I told you (Beth Ellen) this already – but now I must tell the rest of the Cannonballers – this first book is the weakest of this series. There is a LOT of time spent on the set up of who the Survivors are, and the leads are not the most compelling. My personal favorite is book 3 (The Escape), and books 2 and 6 are very, very good too. The others are also solid. It is my personal opinion that Balogh does some of the best grown up characters in romance.
I’ve read all but Only a Kiss, and think The Proposal is one of the strongest in the series. The more of the series I read, the more I appreciated Hugh and Gwen’s romance. Which is not to say I disliked the other books, but I found their romance a little more fully formed.
That’s an interesting perspective. It’s been a while since I read it, but I remember not being all that interested in them, but compelled by the whole idea of the series to continue. But, I actually like them more as we revisited them in later books than I did in their own book.
I really like this series and my favourite is Flavian’s book Only Enchanting which I just re-read. I am looking forward to the latest, but I haven’t acquired it yet. Ralph’s book is also very good. I really enjoy the way Balogh fits broken people together. Have you read Slightly Dangerous? I think it’s a classic.
The Kleypas you referenced is one of my all time favourite romances. I LOVE Zachary and Holly’s book. LOVE. Read it the first time, read it again immediately.
I’m definitely going to delve deeper into her back catalog after this series for sure!
And where dreams begin is the only kleypas I have on kindle. Sometimes I just a little Zachary Bronson in my life.
ROMANCE TWINS!
Here’s how I view Balogh – my library has a ton of her stuff, everything I have read of her’s is at least a 3 star, and it’s usually ‘safe’ in the sense that I’m not going to get wild plot tangents that I hate. So, when I’m feeling lost on what to read, I always know where I can find something to tide me over until something exciting comes along.
Those are my sentiments, too. It’s like slipping into a warm bath. Comforting, consistent, and relaxing. Plus I would buy more of her books if her publisher would charge reasonable amounts for 3-books ESPECIALLY from her back catalogue.
This series is on my TBR list for the year, and now I’m moving Where Dreams Begin up my list as well. Unlike Mrs. J, I still haven’t covered the complete back catalogue of Ms. Kleypas.
I’m missing a couple of kleypas’ as well, but I’m now 1.5 books into this series now and will definitely recommend!