Sandy M’s review of Devil’s Daughter (Ravenels, Book 5) by Lisa Kleypas
Historical Romance published by Avon 19 Feb 19
The majority of historical romance I’ve read recently have been abysmal, so thank the heavens for Lisa Kleypas. Anyone can slap historical research on the page, but to keep a reader glued to that page, there needs to be emotion and character vestment. To me, everything else is secondary. Ms. Kleypas is one of the best at pulling you into her characters’ lives, making you live the heartbreak and the joy along with them, bringing love and romance to life while be swept into happily ever after you wish everyone could experience.
Phoebe is a widow, her beloved Henry finally succumbing to the rigors of his weak body after a few years of marriage. She’s gathering along with her family for her brother Gabriel’s marriage to Pandora, all the while hoping she doesn’t run in to West Ravenel – the bully who tormented her Henry while away at boarding school when they were young. As luck would have it, the one man who intrigues her is the only one on the face of the earth she can do without.
Having given up his rakish and hellish ways, West now manages his brother Devon’s estate, where he’s help turn farming the land into a lucrative process with all the available modernizations. Though he knows the high-born Phoebe is out of his reach, that doesn’t stop his attraction. I like so much that Ms. Kleypas doesn’t waste the reader’s time with Phoebe turning her back every time her path crosses with West’s. Instead, we get wonderful nuggets of scenes with West and her sons, along with West throwing challenges her way that guarantee her attraction for him will grow just as his does. Throw in a barn cat and lovely scenes between Phoebe and her father, even difficult scenes later on with a scum-of-the-earth suitor, and a wonderful story is well under way.
Phoebe is one strong heroine – she’s not about to allow West to call all the shots, despite how gallant he tries to be. She also shows other men around her even a woman is capable of business, and Ms. Kleypas does a terrific job of integrating up-and-coming farming tools and elements to keep those scenes from becoming quite dry. I like that Phoebe doesn’t give up when West does his best to put the kibosh on their relationship. As well, I enjoyed Sebastian’s from-one-rake-to-another talk with West near the end. I have yet to read Devil in Winter, so I’m thinking it’s probably about time I rectify that.
As usual, a wonderfully written story by Lisa Kleypas. She does this reader good.
Grade: A
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?
Only the devil’s daughter knows…
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
