Author: Stefanie Sloane
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: May 24, 2011
Genre: Historical Romance
Other Books in the series:
Angel In My Arms (book #2)
Sinner Who Seduced Me (book #3)
The Saint Who Stole My Hearth (book #4) TBR April 2012
The Hellion Takes a Bride (book #5) TBA
The Hero Meets His Match (book #6) TBA
How I Got It: I received an ARC from the publisher for review
Goodreads Summary:
Lord William Randall, the Duke of Clairemont, is a rake with little regard for society—a most unlikely suitor for Lady Lucinda Grey. But his latest assignment for the Young Corinthians, an elite spy organization, involves protecting her from a kidnapping plot. To do this, the notorious “Iron Will” must use his devilish charm to seduce Lucinda and convince her he’s worthy of her attention. William never planned to become enthralled by the lovely Lady Grey—or to lose his own heart in the bargain.
Beautiful and fiercely intelligent, Lucinda has managed to gracefully sidestep even the most persistent suitors. Until the Duke of Clairemont, that is. She’s tempted by his sinfully sensuous mouth and piercing eyes, and finds it hard to resist the champion thoroughbred he offers her in exchange for the honor of courting her. Can she keep him at arm’s length when his touch begs her to let him so much closer?
Beautiful and fiercely intelligent, Lucinda has managed to gracefully sidestep even the most persistent suitors. Until the Duke of Clairemont, that is. She’s tempted by his sinfully sensuous mouth and piercing eyes, and finds it hard to resist the champion thoroughbred he offers her in exchange for the honor of courting her. Can she keep him at arm’s length when his touch begs her to let him so much closer?
The Devil in Disguise was an entertaining read but not a super duper one. While we can all admit that the premise of Regency Era spies is not new it remains a fun idea. William and Lucinda were nice characters, not bland, just "nice". Lucinda was raised by aunts who have had negative dealings with marriage. They understand that as women, the only freedom they can have is as spinsters. They wanted their niece to grow up strong and self reliant, but they also (possibly unwittingly) taught her to not trust marriage. William had an abusive father and his mother simply ignored it (or so it seemed). He has grown up with a deep distrust of relationships and has avoided marriage. I did enjoy that fact that Will was floored by Lucinda's beauty when he first saw her. Gawking is not normally what we expect of our romance heroes. While they were clever and the witty banter was funny, they just never connected with me. It was like I was observing Will and Lucinda through a window, watching them go through their little adventure.
My main problem with The Devil in Disguise was that the story didn't develop so much as it seemed to make leaps and bounds. I understand that relationships in romance novels develop quickly but they make sense within the realm of the book. William an dLucinda's relationship felt that it moved to quickly with no warning. And it's not like the characters were wishy washy, I'm talking major advances with no warning. It actually started to distract me.
My main problem with The Devil in Disguise was that the story didn't develop so much as it seemed to make leaps and bounds. I understand that relationships in romance novels develop quickly but they make sense within the realm of the book. William an dLucinda's relationship felt that it moved to quickly with no warning. And it's not like the characters were wishy washy, I'm talking major advances with no warning. It actually started to distract me.
Verdict:
The Devil in Disguise is an entertaining read but not the best Regency Era spy romance that I've read. I enjoyed Soane's characters, her writing made me chuckle, but I just didn't get invested in the characters and the story didn't flow as nicely as I would have liked. I did like it enough to try out the sequel, but only from the library.
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3 comments:
I've become such a shameless romance book hussy. I recently discovered Eloisa James and now I'm devouring her books.
December 8, 2011 8:42 AMSorry this one didn't work for you. I haven't read anything by Miz Sloane.
Huh. So did they meet and then just wind up in bed? Is that the kind of leap we're talking about. Because that would definitely be a little jarring for me. I love those slow romances that leave loads of time for sexual tension, so I think this one might not be fore me! Thanks Jennifer!
December 8, 2011 11:21 AM@ A Jane of All Reads - It didn't quite work, but like I said, I'd be willing to check out the sequel. Romances have become my guilty pleasure. :)
December 8, 2011 11:59 AM@ Jenny - More like, "We've just met, we're attracted, and I'm going to let you get to third base." It was almost like I was missing a chapter or something, some of the developments just didn't make sense for the time frame. I'm not doing a very good job of explaining it.
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