Devil’s Daughter (The Ravenels, Book Five): Lisa Kleypas

“Although beautiful young widow Phoebe, Lady Clare, has never met West Ravenel, she knows one thing for certain:  he’s the rotten bully who terrorized her late husband while at boarding school.  But when Phoebe attends a family wedding, she encounters a dashing and impossibly charming stranger who sends a fire-and-ice jolt of attraction through her.  And then he introduces himself…as none other than West Ravenel.

“West is a man with a tarnished past.  No apologies, no excuses.  However, from the moment he meets Phoebe, West is consumed by irresistible desire…not to mention the bitter awareness that a woman like her is out of his reach.

“But before long, Phoebe sets out to seduce the man who has awakened her fiery nature and shown her unimaginable pleasure.  Will their overwhelming passion be enough to overcome the obstacles of the past?

“Only the Devil’s Daughter knows…”

Here's yet another May read I'm finally getting around to posting!

This book was another collision between the Wallflowers and Ravenels series by Kleypas.  The way in which she’s able to weave threads of past and present for her characters is masterful and, not to say the least, fun!  I personally really enjoy seeing generations of characters interact; it reminds us that these characters we come to love so dearly in these three-hundred-or-so pages continue to live on even after we close the book.  Their pasts come to haunt them and the lessons they learn can impact their own children.

This story follows West Ravenel, younger brother of Devon (his book is the first in the series) as he continues on his newfound path of determination and hard work on the Ravenel lands.  He’s come a very long way from the lush we first meet in book one.  He’s cleaned up his act, whipped himself into shape, and even managed to create profit from his elder brother’s once-miserable lands.  He’s an innovator who isn’t the least bit afraid of getting his hands dirty.  This, however, doesn’t mean that the rake in him has been completely done away with.

Meanwhile, we met Phoebe in Pandora and Gabriel’s book (the first instance of the collision between the Wallflowers and Ravenels).  She’s Gabriel’s sister; a woman honor bound to follow her dear, late husband’s wishes and determined to raise her two young sons in a happy, healthy environment.  She struggles a great deal with moving on after the loss of her partner and best friend, but her struggles are only made more confusing and difficult after she meets West amongst the bustle of Gabriel and Pandora’s wedding…because West was once the boy who tormented her husband so terribly that he had to be removed from school.

Phoebe is determined to hate West, but it isn’t long before she comes to realize that the children we once were are not necessarily the people we come to be.  Despite her best efforts to put him off, West slowly begins to charm her, unknowingly finding the chink in her armor when it comes to her two little boys.  All the while West struggles to come to terms with the reprobate he once was and the new life he leads.  He feels tremendously guilty for his sins and seems to try to atone for them with a life of backbreaking labor and long hours.  He finds himself drawn to his beautiful, red-haired houseguest…and things between them inevitably heat up.  West finds his senses of right and wrong at war with one another.  What if his past comes back to haunt him?  People may praise him for his current accomplishments, but what if his former depravity bites them all?  What sort of example does that set?

Both Phoebe and West must come to terms with their own pasts and have to realize they can only have a future if they learn to live in the present.

I found West charming, as usual.  He’s been a common thread throughout the series and I’ve always enjoyed his playful sense of humor and razor-sharp sarcasm.  It isn’t often that we get to see a character grow and develop so much in a series within this genre, and I think it truly did take every book for him to finally become the man he was in this installment.  The progression was both believable and entertaining.  I can’t, of course, forget about Phoebe.  I thought she was going to be a depressed little mouse, but I had a pleasant surprise when she turned into a witty firecracker.  Certainly, I knew she had to be one if she was going to be any sort of match for West’s huge personality.  I admired her devotion to her late husband and her sons, but I think it appreciated her ultimate realization that she had to be happy if she was going to make anyone else happy.  This felt like a realistic development (and something that so many people seem to forget).

I found the romance to be moving and passionate.  The development of their love story was captivating and fun – I found myself laughing aloud several times.

Overall, I’m very pleased with this installment in the series and it just might be one of my favorites.

Hello Stranger (The Ravenels, Book Four): Lisa Kleypas

“A woman who defies her time

 

“Dr. Garrett Gibson, the only female physician in England is as daring and independent as any man—why not take her pleasures like one?  Yet she has never been tempted to embark on an affair, until now.  Ethan Ransom, a former detective for Scotland Yard, is as gallant as he is secretive, a rumored assassin whose true loyalties are a mystery.

 

“A man who breaks every rule

 

“As a Ravenel by-blow spurned by his father, Ethan has little interest in polite society, yet he is captivated by the bold and beautiful Garrett.  Despite their vow to resist each other after that sublime night, she is soon drawn into his most dangerous assignment yet.  When the mission goes wrong, it will take all of Garrett’s skill and courage to save him.  As they face the menace of a treacherous government plot, Ethan is willing to take any risk for the love of the most extraordinary woman he’s ever known.”

 

This is yet another book I took with me on my vacation (hence the quick succession of these reviews).  This is the newest installment in the series and I think I may have enjoyed it the most.

 

We were introduced to Garrett in two of the other books (if memory serves me) and she was always portrayed as cool, calm, intelligent, and no-nonsense.  It was nice to see another side of her in what is truly her love story.  I had a feeling Ethan would be her counterpart based on a few of their interactions in other plotlines, and I was certainly not disappointed.  I’ve said it before and I’m sure I will say it a thousand times more, but I love a strong female lead.  Garrett fit the bill.  Sometimes, female characters will tend to soften overmuch when they find their “missing piece,” but Garrett, in my opinion, remained strong throughout.  I admire her dedication to her craft, her father, and her desire to maintain the intense persona she’s created, despite the opposition she faces.  She can be a bit abrupt and abrasive, but that ends up making her unique and, dare I say, even a little bit charming.  I enjoyed getting to learn more about her background and how she came to be the woman she is (and I appreciate her even more because Kleypas based her off of a real woman).  The depth of emotion Ethan felt was, I think, one of the things that really made this book special.  He was so clearly in love with Garrett and had been for some time.  He found her beautiful, but he admired her for so much more than just her looks.  His life was terribly difficult and it made him unforgiving in some ways, but he didn’t lose all of his humanity.  He and Garrett save one another in so many different ways and on so many levels.  They turn out to be excellent counterbalances in their own unconventional ways.  Their banter is amusing and we really get to see their relationship blossom in such a fun way.

 

Through it all, there’s an ominous undercurrent of a political and terrorist plot which Ethan knows he might give his life to stop.  Though he resists dragging Garrett into this underworld, she is determined not to let him go—not when she fought so hard to let him into her life.  They are continually drawn to one another like magnets; though they may separate, they will inevitably collide once more.  And when they do, sparks will most certainly fly.

 

Ethan’s relationship with the Ravenels changes completely when he’s in his most desperate time of need and this truly allows West to shine.  Always a secondary character, he’s a prominent male Ravenel and a reformed London lush.  He has a fantastic sense of humor and provides an endless source of amusement and acerbic wit.  (To be honest, I enjoyed him far more than I did his elder brother in the first book in the series.)  We really get to see a lot of him in this book and I think that helped Ethan to come around more to the Ravenel side of his heritage.  There were some hints about a mysterious love interest for West and I sincerely hope that this is true and that his book is the next one I have to look forward to.

 

As always, Kleypas writes with a certain elegance and wit which mark her books with a unique voice.  Both the settings and the characters are vibrant and lively.  The romance is filled with exquisite tension and longing.  Again, this is probably my favorite book in the series, so it only stands to reason that I recommend it.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Devil in Spring (The Ravenels, Book Three): Lisa Kleypas

"An eccentric wallflower...

"Most debutantes dream of finding a husband.  Lady Pandora Ravenel has different plans.  The ambitious young beauty would much rather stay at home and plot out her new board game business than take part in the London Season.  But one night at a glittering society ball, she's ensnared in a scandal with a wickedly handsome stranger.

"A cynical rake...

"After years of evading marital traps with ease, Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent, has finally been caught by a rebellious girl who couldn't be less suitable.  In fact, she wants nothing to do with him.  But Gabriel finds the high-spirited Pandora irresistible.  He'll do whatever it takes to possess her, even if their marriage of convenience turns out to be the devil's own bargain.

"A perilous plot...

"After succumbing to Gabriel's skilled and sensuous persuasion, Pandora agrees to become his bride. Bur soon she discovers that her entrepreneurial endeavors have accidentally involved her in a dangerous conspiracy -- and only her husband can keep her safe.  As Gabriel protects her from their unknown adversaries, they realize their devil's bargain may just turn out to be a match made in heaven..."

This is book three in The Ravenels series.  I flew through it!  The series started off rough with Devon and Kathleen (whose romance I found a little bit forced), then Helen and Rhys (which I thoroughly enjoyed), and now Pandora and Gabriel (which was very nearly on-par with the story in Marrying Winterborn).  Those who have read my reviews know I wasn't really a fan of the antics of Pandora and Cassandra -- they felt overly contrived and didn't quite fit in with the rest of the characters.  I was truly surprised by how much I actually ended up liking Pandora.  She was much more fleshed out than the caricature I'd experienced in the other books.  To my great surprise...I found her funny and enjoyable.  She had an absolutely perfect foil in Gabriel.  His constant striving for perfection mixed with his excellent sense of humor and playfulness were written perfectly.  Their banter was charming.  He had just the right amount of protectiveness and a backstory that served the plot extremely well.  I loved how Gabriel didn't fight the way in which he was drawn to Pandora -- it felt refreshing and made this (mostly) light-hearted romance very readable and fun.

I thought -- given the first chapter or two -- that this would be a fairly "common" plot for the genre (i.e. man and woman caught in unintended compromising situation, they're forced together, they resist, but they end up falling in love anyway, etc.), but some very unexpected twists toward the latter half of the book were a pleasant surprise

***SIDE NOTE:  Gabriel's parents have their own love story told in "Wallflowers" book 3. Devil in Winter (see the trend with the titles going on here?  Clever, Mrs. Kleypas...very clever.  In case you want to see how much I enjoyed that book when I read it back in December of 2008, HERE is the review.)

I enjoyed this book a great deal more than I thought I would.  I finished it very quickly, attesting to the enjoyment I found in the plot and the ease of the reading.  I also really appreciate how Kleypas has woven different series together -- quite the tricky thing to handle well.

Marrying Winterborne (The Ravenels, Book Two): Lisa Kleypas

"A ruthless tycoon

"Savage ambition has brough common-born Rhys Winterborne vast wealth and success.  In business and beyond, Rhys gets exactly what he wants.  And from the moment he meets the shy, aristocratic Lady Helen Ravenel, he is determined to possess her.  If he must take her virtue to ensure she marries him, so much the better...

"A sheltered beauty

"Helen has had little contact with the glittering, cynical world of London society.  Yet Rhys's determined seduction awakens an intense mutual passion.  Helen's gentle upbringing belies a stubborn conviction that only she can tame her unruly husband.  As Rhys's enemies conspire against them, Helen must trust him with her darkest secret.  The risks are unthinkable...the reward, a lifetime of incomparable bliss.  And it all begins with Marrying Winterborne."

First and foremost, I liked this book infinitely more than I did the first in this series!  And that's somewhat of an understatement...  These characters were far more believable, likable, and, perhaps best of all, they had true chemistry and I could feel the sparks between them.  I had a feeling I would enjoy this book because I liked Rhys and Helen even back in the first book of this series (so much so that I thought they were such strongly-crafted characters that they actually overshadowed Kathleen and Devon -- the characters who really should have shone.  I loved the passion and the tension between Helen and Rhys.  As a male lead, I found Rhys dark, enticing, and captivating.  His intelligence and work ethic were poignant, as were the little things he did to show Helen that, in his own way, he really did care for her.  One example of this was his care of her very delicate orchid and the fact that he'd purchased numerous books on the subject.  Little details like this endeared him to me and made me enjoy the book all that much more.  Though I already liked Helen, I hoped that she wouldn't be took prim or demure in a book all her own.  Needless to say, I was thrilled when, right off the bat, she was determined not to let others speak for her or to allow her voice to be drowned out any longer.  This made for a much more interesting story and even better interactions with Rhys as he came to terms with her newfound strength and outspokenness.

I definitely appreciated the little details that were included in this story -- like Rhys's Welsh phrases and glimpses of his background, as well as his love for peppermint creams.  I think those kinds of things are what truly breathe life into a character and it is exactly what was missing from the first book.

One new character I found myself liking tremendously was Dr. Gibson.  She was lively, strong, and I really do hope to see more of her in the coming stories.  I haven't read much of the more recent works by Kleypas, but I think there may have been a crossover character from another series, though I won't reveal my suspicions until I am sure.

As far as criticism goes, I still found Kathleen's primness grating -- especially when she, herself, became pregnant out of wedlock while she was still supposed to be in mourning (I find her more than a little hypocritical, to say the least).  The twins, while a bit amusing, were still so over the top that they're a bit hard to stomach at times.  I have already picked up the third book in the series, so we will see how that one goes.  The language was occasionally stilted, as if too much of an effort were being placed on propriety.  This was not helped by some of the "thesaurus words" -- words that, while technically correct, are overly flowery and so complex that they do not necessarily fit with the rest of the tone (as if the author wanted a better word and opened a thesaurus to find one).

I do recommend this book and I clearly enjoyed it better than the first in this series.

Cold-Hearted Rake (Ravenels, Book One): Lisa Kleypas

"A twist of fate...

"Devon Ravenel, London's most wickedly charming rake, has just inherited an earldom.  But his powerful new rank in society comes with unwanted responsibilities...and more than a few surprises.  His estate is saddled with debt, and the late earl's three innocent sisters are still occupying the house...along with Kathleen, Lady Trenear, a beautiful young widow whose sharp wit and determination are a match for Devon's own.

"A clash of wills...

"Kathleen knows better than to trust a ruthless scoundrel like Devon.  But the fiery attraction between them is impossible to deny -- and from the first moment Devon holds her in his arms, he vows to do whatever it takes to possess her.  As Kathleen finds herself yielding to his skillfully erotic seduction, only one question remains:  Can she keep from surrendering her heart to the most dangerous man she's ever known?"



This book took me only a little over 24 hours to complete, so, despite its length, it was a surprisingly quick read.  I used to be very into Lisa Kleypas and her books and thought I'd return to one of my favorite authors.  This is the first book in another of her series, so it seemed like a great place to start. Let me start off by saying I think West, Devon's younger brother, was perhaps one of my favorite characters.  Though he's a secondary character, I almost felt that he overshadowed Devon at times and that we saw more of him than we did the true male lead in this book.  Given that fact, I felt as if the story were spread a bit thinly between too many characters.  I can see where Kleypas was going with it -- setting up the other books in the series, and such -- but I think it was at the detriment of the connection I could have felt to the main characters.  I vacillated between liking Kathleen's fire and being supremely annoyed with her contrived sense of propriety and flair for dramatic overreactions.  She went on and on about being proper and what was "right," and, yet, she seemed to actually do very little of it:  "do as I say, not as I do," perhaps?  While I initially liked Devon very much, I felt like I didn't see nearly enough of him to really "love" him.  So much of this genre relies upon its readers' ability to fall in love with the male leads and truly believe in the love and romance.  I think this story felt a little bit shy of that.  The biggest issue I will take is that Devon -- a rake who had sworn not to marry or fall in love -- really fell for Kathleen FAR too quickly.  He made his resolution to have her after very little time together.  Even for a rake, this felt a bit too forced for my tastes, especially given the fact that he spent relatively little time with her.  There's lust at first sight and then there's forced romance with little-to-no development.  His realization that she spoke to a secret part of him came, I felt, far too quickly.  I don't want to make any harsh "accusation" (in quotes simply because I don't feel like it's the right word to use here...), but the love scenes between Kathleen and Devon felt almost..."rape-y."  She clearly didn't want the attentions, but this is usually overcome by the female lead's hidden desire for the male lead.  I think what was missing here was that hidden desire.  Sure, she cared for Devon, but it was nowhere near as developed as it could have, should have been.  It made Devon's insistence on a physical relationship almost uncomfortable to read at times.  Of course (predictably - because what would this genre be without love), they do, indeeed, love one another, so it almost makes it better in the end.  There was the start of an excellent, dark backstory for Devon, but it faded away.  It was barely mentioned in his conversations with Kathleen and I feel like that is something that usually creates such a powerful bond between the two leading characters.  I feel like their love story was swallowed up in Kathleen's contradictory attitudes/actions, the unreal speed in which Devon decided he wanted Kathleen, the loud voices and big personalities of all the other characters, and the lengths to which Kleypas went to set up the rest of the series.  There were also some rather jarring, repetitive word choices.  Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the few examples I'd pulled (I wish I'd marked the pages), but one that sticks out is "silkier than silk" toward the end of the book.  Most of these awkward wordings came in the forms of metaphors and similes I felt were beneath an author of this caliber.  The rest of her writing is eloquent and uses an expansive vocabulary, so it simply rubbed me the wrong way (and, quite literally, grated my reading to a halt) when I did stumble across these sections.



Now that all of that is out of the way, I will say that I still did enjoy the book, regardless of all of the above criticisms.  I certainly would not have read it as quickly as I did if it had been an unpleasant read.  The plot was unique and I liked the premise.  All of the characters had very different personalities from one another and I can appreciate the time that Kleypas took to develop them all individually and to help establish the rest of her series (even if I did feel as if that was to the detriment of this particular installment).  I recommend it even though I liked it less than I recall liking the rest of the books I've read by Kleypas.  I'm intrigued to pick up the next book in the series and see where she goes with it.