Customer Reviews

Between the Devil and Desire

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was an average read for me because it took a while to endear myself to the hero and heroine (especially the heroine), and I couldn't really feel their connection until the latter part of the book. However, the characters and the story improved as it progressed.

Jack Dodger, the hero, is rough and hardened from a dark and abusive childhood. He unexpectedly and inexplicably finds himself guardian to a little boy who is heir to a Dukedom. The boy's mother, Olivia, is resistant to this "scoundrel" Dodger having any part in the rearing of her child. She often calls him a devil and he admits he's in hell. She is the stiff backed type of heroine who frequently judges others based on their perceived sins. While never boring, I found the book quite predictable. It gets better as it goes though and I found myself with so much sympathy and admiration for the hero in the end. This is when the love between the H/H finally is seen and is believable. It just takes a while to get there.

The subject matter is heavy at times(childhood sexual abuse) and the friendship between Feagan's gang is touching. The relationship between the boy and Dodger is moving as well. I will read the rest in this series and highly recommend the first book in it In Bed With the Devil (Avon Romantic Treasure). If you loved the first book and want to continue reading the series, then I recommend you go ahead and read this one.

The thing I think I like the most in Ms. Heath's books is she allows us to really get to know the two main characters as they are falling in love and as that happens the reader falls in love with the characters as well and a real story is developing along the way.There is a lot of dialogue happening between the hero and the heroine whether they are arguing, bantering, yelling, joking, or just talking and therefore they get to know each other as we do and then we start to believe these two belong together. Which makes a very enjoyable journey along the way. I became totally enthralled once again and had a hard time putting the book down at times. I wasn't really sure she could top her last book and while I don't know if I can say she "topped" it it is every bit as good and enjoyable and was a real pleasure to read. I wasn't sure in her last book if I would even like Jack Dodger ,but, as the book progressed so did his character and a real hero was revealed in him. Of course I liked him! He was the hero in every sense of the word. People just aren't always as they appear....many have a hidden depth and story behind who they appear and we get inside that story with Jack and learn who he is. We find out why he is the way he is and how he became who he is. Isn't that the point? I came to not only care for him and about him ,but, fell in love with him myself so how could the heroine not and why shouldn't she? He may be a bit of the devil on the outside ,but, wow he was oh so charming and handsome. I so enjoyed the side story with little Henry, Olivia's 5 year old son. The comradarie that develops between he and Jack is so sweet. Children in these books to me is a bonus. I hope all children weren't just cast aside by their fathers during this period in time. I'm sure many fathers did bond with their sons but sometimes I wonder. I would highly recommend this book. Its charming and it will make you smile and even feel tingling all over at times. I didn't want to put it down and I know I will reread it as I will many of Ms. Heath's books. Well done again!

I really enjoyed this story. It is now one of my favorite Heath novels. I felt like the hero/heroine complemented each other tremendously, and the whole dynamic of the story flowed well. This sort of reminded me of "Dreaming of You" by Lisa Kleypas, in that the hero is off the streets and in charge of a successful gaming hell, the heroine is uptight, etc. The heroine is somewhat of a shrew at first, but Jack tears down her walls as she does likewise with him.

The thing that stumbled me, though, was the end of the book and the twists that are revealed. It turns out the heroine was married to the hero's father, and had a young son by the father. So the heroine is married to her late husband's son, and has a young boy by the late husband. That makes her husband and her son half-brothers...I'm my own grandpa, or something like that. ew? I don't know...that sort of killed the charm for me at the end.

But a great romance novel, overall.

In 1851 Jack "Artful" Dodger knows he has come a long way from his thieving days on the streets of London to where he is now, the owner of an exclusive gentleman's club, which means aristocratic women hate him. However, his dirt poor begging days have left a mark on his soul; he wants more and more money with no entanglements.

Changes abruptly occur when the notorious rake is named guardian by the late Duke of Lovingdon of his heir, four years old Henry to the appalling shock of the child's mom, Widow Lady Olivia. Initially Jack is bewildered with why him from a highly regarded lord and unhappy with the task as it interferes with his womanizing and money-making; that is until he begins to see the lioness lady. He wants her and plans to have her; she wants him and plans to avoid him. As they argue while taking care of her son, they fall in love. However, before they can consider a family, the identity of his parents surfaces leaving Jack to confront danger and end his hopes of marrying the duchess

The sequel to IN BED WITH THE DEVIL is another excellent adult where are they now twisting of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. The story line is character driven starting with the reading of the shocking will as Dodger and Olivia go from enemies with a common purpose to love with an even stronger common purpose. The late suspense rounds out a wonderfully passionate Victorian that does justice to Mr. Dickens' classic.

Harriet Klausner

I had been waiting for Jack's book ans I wasn't disappointed with this latest offering by Heath. Really hated the bad thing that happened to Jack as a child but it helped to understand him as an adult. Why he held himself back and all. Kinda disturbing to think about his relationship with Olivia too. So kinda tried not to think about her first husband and the whole thing. You will see what I mean if you give this book a shot. Also really didn't need the whole villian there. He didn't seem to add to the story. Almost like the author was just trying to obtain some form of closure for Jack but really that wasn't necessary. It didn't move the book forward of course it didn't hold it back either! I think Jack and Olivia did that all on their own. Liked hearing from some previous characters too like Frannie, Dr. Graves, Swindler, Luke and Catherine. Nice to have met the infamous Feagan too! Won't be a bit surprised to find out that he is actually a closer relation to someone that previously thought.

This is my first Lorraine Heath book and I was very happily surprised that it was such a great read! I love the story of Jack and Olivia, but how can you not? A carefree renegade and an uptight, haughty widowed duchess. The story grabbed me from the beginning and the entire book is really a fun, interesting read with great dialogue and a good flow.

This was actually one of the best books I've read! It took a little while to like Lady Olivia, but she lived as she had been brought up to do, and one cannot change overnight. It would not have been believable to have done so. I hated Jack at the beginning of the book, but ended up crying for him at the end. I loved the twists at the end of the book. I never saw it coming! LOVED THIS BOOK!

There is absolutely NOTHING to like about this one. If using her earlier work as a basis for comparison this offerring is a sorrid, hurtful mess and the characters are not likeable in the least. So much so that even when the sad, horrific underpinnings of the heros youth is revealed you can't muster up any sympathy for him.
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SPOILER ALERT
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So right off the back. There is a history of rape, pedophilia and abandonment at the heart of this story and this essential building block at the end makes for a messy conclusion. So much so that when it is all wrapped up in the conclusion I felt a little skeeved out. Because in essence he married his step-mother (which according to the law then is not possible), is raising his step-brother as his son which (say it with me now..EWWWW!) and his own marriage is built in the shadow of scandal where if found out any children they have will be considered illegitimate bastards. So the apple won't fall far from the tree.

This story is about Jack Dodger owner of the famous Dodger's. A club that provides any form of vice to all of the members of the aristocracy. Jack is made the guardian of a young Duke named Henry (who's father is recently deceased) and as women are little more than property this pushes Henry's mother Olivia to the side. Jack, Olivia and all others cannot figure out why the will was written to put Jack in such a position but Jack does not give a hoot because he is a greedy man who lives his life for every coin that falls his way as he believes that monetary wealth will prevent him from ever having to be subjected to the horrors of his youth.

Jack and Olivia bicker in the nastiest of ways and after awhile it is all such a grind that does not let up and does not allow you to really like either of them. Jack comes across as the "grumpy old troll" who lives under the bridge. I could not fathom why Ms. Heath decided to write him as such a slimy snake who's only goal is "more coins". It was very limiting to the early development of his character and by the time you get to the parts where you discover that he takes in young homeless boys to work honestly and without molestation and his ladies of the evening do so only at their own choosing... You don't care because the die is cast and in Jack's case it was a bad cast. Olivia fares no better in her treatment by the writer. A horny shrew at the beginning, the middle and towards the end. At no point in her relationship with Jack do you really get the sense of her "softening". All you know is that after a time she seems to want nothing better than to have her skirts flipped up and for Jack to "do the deed". She was raised a daughter of duty, was lonely in her marriage to her dead husband, overly protective of Henry to the extreme and in the end all you see are adults who are totally handicapped by their lives and you don't really root for them or care when they do finally begin to kind of like each other.

Series are hard to write I am sure. You have to know where the entire story in going so that by the last book in every character has a satisfactory end. In this second book of the series I could not wait for the book to end and kept thinking that "I hope Lorraine Heath has not jumped the shark". My next book is Frannies and my hope is for a better outcome that this effort.

what can i say about this book? it was such an enjoyable read. i must say i loved it and i will put this one on my favorites list. it was so well written and the plot was something i have never read before and i have read my share of
historicals. i will be reading her books in the future. wish i could elaborate more, but i am in a hurry... 4.5 - 5 stars!

I loved this series and really wanted to know Jack's story and see him with a happy ending. However, I found that Olivia was so impossible for me to like I totally hated the story. I really wanted Jack's story to be different and was very disappointed.