Romancing the Stacks: The Devil’s Daughter
Welcome to Romancing the Stacks! This is a series of reviews featuring one of my favorite genres: Romance Novels! Nothing is better than curling up with a good romance. This review will explore The Devil’s Daughter by Lisa Kleypas.
I picked up this book as I liked the cover and title, the summary sounded fun, and I have read several books in this series. I had high hopes this would be an enjoyable read. This book was number five in the Ravenels series.
Summary:
Although beautiful young widow Phoebe, Lady Clare, has never met West Ravenel, she knows one thing for certain: he’s a mean, rotten bully. Back in boarding school, he made her late husband’s life a misery, and she’ll never forgive him for it. 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 far out of his reach. What West doesn’t bargain on is that Phoebe is no straitlaced aristocratic lady. She’s the daughter of a strong-willed wallflower who long ago eloped with Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent – the most devilishly wicked rake in England.
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?
Book Review:
There is one thing wrong with this book; there are too many characters. The author seemed to try and squeeze every character from previous books into this book. Not only the previous books in this series, but also books from some characters from another Kleypas series, the Wallflowers. I kept getting lost about who was who and who were the love interests. I felt it was a mess. Sometimes we focus on two random characters, and I have no idea who they are.
The plot started at the wedding of another character, which I believe is where the mistake started. Weddings are big events which is why I think the author tried to squeeze as many people from her previous books in. I would suppose if you were a huge fan of the author and read every single one of her books, this book would be great. I am more of a causal reader of Kleypas. I pick up her books every once in a while if the summary grabs me.
I also felt that Phoebe, the heroine, does not live up to her name as the Devil’s Daughter. She was not a fun heroine. She had a opinion built up about Wes, our hero, as a bully. When she meets him she treats him with polite disinterest. I am sorry, but, for someone called the Devil’s Daughter, I expected her to deliver him a tongue lashing or pull pranks on him. She was just polite and boring.
Wes was really no better. He was the typical “love isn’t for me” hero. I don’t know why, but I really disliked Wes. It started when he was shocked that he had been without a woman for year. I hate when authors make a character a playboy but are like, “Look, he has been abstaining from sex and waiting for our heroine.” It does not make the hero look good, it makes the character inconsistent.
Truth be told, I could not even finish this book. It just kept getting worse. Phoebe disliked Wes for giving sound advice while also considering marrying someone else. I could not get invested in the characters, so I gave up on the story. If you are a fan of this series I would maybe recommend it. I feel like the characters in this story were super weak. We kept hearing how Phoebe was such a firecracker, but I never felt that to be true.
Other books in The Ravenels series by Lisa Kleypas:
