Tuesday, March 15, 2022

I Want You to Want Me by Shana Galen

I Want You to Want Me 

(The Survivors, #12)

by Shana Galen

Released: March 8, 2022



My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Blurb:

 A cruel twist of fate…

Nicholas St. Clare, youngest son of the Marquess of Averstow, was an avid horseman until his legs were crushed on the battlefield. The injury sent him home to England a broken man. Ashamed of his injury, he’s become a virtual recluse on his country estate until his mother, the dowager marchioness, insists he marry. Nicholas doesn’t want a bride who would be shackled to his broken body and privately despise him for being a cripple. He hates his weakness and doesn’t believe anyone can see past it.

A stroke of good luck…
Amelia Blackstock has always followed her family motto: A Blackstock doesn’t run from trouble. It runs from us. Unfortunately, trouble caught up with her, and when the world finds out, she’ll be ruined. When Lord Nicholas stumbles upon her sobbing, he tries to comfort her. His kindness backfires when they are discovered alone together, and Amelia faces even more scandal. Nicholas offers to marry her, but only if she’ll agree to a separate bed chambers.

A happily ever after in jeopardy.
Amelia concedes to a platonic marriage, but as her feelings for Lord Nicholas grow, she wants more. Nicholas is drawn to Amelia as well, but he fears risking it all by revealing the ugly truth of his injury. When Nicholas’s brothers-in-arms arrive for a house party, it seems everything that can go wrong, does. Between a lost pet pig, a fugitive wanted for treason, and a night of drinking gone awry, Nicholas and Amelia grow further apart. Nicholas is the last of the Survivors. Will he be the only one without a happily ever after?

My review:

I Want You to Want Me is the twelfth and final book in The Survivors Series.  The series is based on a group of soldiers during the Napoleonic war called the Survivors.  They were a team of soldiers that Lieutenant Colonel Benedict Daven (from the fifth book in the series) was ordered to put together to take on suicidal missions.  There were thirty men in the group but only twelve made it back to England alive. 

“… put on your dancing shoes and prepare to dance with the devil.”

Nicholas St. Clare, the youngest son of a marquess, had danced with the devil and came home a broken man with legs crushed.  His family expected him to marry but he knew no lady of Society would consider marrying him unless she was desperate.  He hates people seeing his weakness and showing pity for him.  When found in a compromising situation with Amelia he offers her a platonic marriage.  She intrigues him but his fear of being rejected if she sees his legs is bigger than his feelings.

“I’m falling in love with you, and I’d feel the same even if you had no legs at all because your legs do not make you who you are any more than your arms or your hair or your eyes do.”


Amelia Blackstock’s feelings for Nicholas grew as she came to know him.  She sees the love the other Survivors have for their wives and family, and she wants that same thing.  She wants more than a platonic marriage and does not understand why Nicholas resists.  She sees the real Nicholas and does not consider his injuries as defining him. 

This was a heart-breaking story and so beautifully written.  It was fast-paced and had fabulous characters. I have loved seeing all the Survivor men find their happy ever after in this series and am truly sad that the end is here.  I enjoyed seeing them all reunited together and hopefully we will see them make appearances in future books.  I highly recommend this book and the entire series. 

I received an ARC and am voluntarily leaving a review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

 


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