29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great lead characters and imaginative story., March 3, 2001
Mary Jo Putney is better than any romance author I know at creating unique and exciting characters for each of her books. I particularly loved Lucien and Kit in this book. Lucien will be familiar to readers of the Fallen Angel series as the group's mysterious and aloof spymaster. While investigating the Hellfire Club he repeatedly runs into an elusive woman who appears in a variety of guises and to whom he is immediately attracted. Unlike many heros in romance novels, he is not a rake which makes his attraction to the mystery woman even more compelling. Lucien eventually discovers that the woman is "Kit" Travers and unravels her story - she is searching for her lost twin. The adventure that follows is very imaginative and unique, and the romance is particularly poignant.
All of the Fallen Angels stand on their own very well - you can start with this one or with any one in the series. Be forewarned - once you start you'll want to have them all.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lucien's book tries to do too much.., August 20, 2001
Well, if you can set aside the unlikely coincidence of one twin falling for another twin (in a different set!), this is a really interesting book. Lucien's past is revealed in his book. You know, I really had no idea that his sister was his twin, even though I knew that Michael (Lord Michael Kenyon of SHATTERED RAINBOWS) was in love with her as a child and that she had died young. A lot of things about Lucien made sense after this revelation.
Frankly, I had been interested in this character "Lucifer" of the Fallen Angels ever since I encountered him in THUNDER AND ROSES, which was the first of the Fallen Angels series that I read. Lucien's romance is quite interesting, although it stretches my credulity at times.
The story is a complicated one - Lucien is trying to identify the leader of a French spy ring, who is a British nobleman (of course). To this end, he joins a club that styles itself the successor of the Hellfire Club, but whose aim appears to be purely debauchery, unlike the Hellfire's wider political aims. [See my review of Daniel Mannix's book]. At different times and in very different places, he encounters several women who seem to him to be one and the same. He later identifies her, or misidentifies her as a rather repressed young gentlewoman or aristocrat (since she is the daughter of an impoverished earl). However, she tells him that he has mistaken her for her wilder sister, also a twin, who is now an actress. Lucien finds out that there is indeed a twin sister who is an actress, and concludes that he must find that woman to find the lady who both puzzles him and intrigues him. This is the start to an interesting story in which identities switch back and forth, in which the heroine keeps changing her identity and her story, and in which there are several dark secrets.
The explicit stepback cover is somewhat unusual for the usual MJP paperback. However, the cover actually does not do justice to the story, which is about more than the sexual element. One of the key themes in the story is the strength of the twin-bond, and whether that can be successfully challenged by love for a man. That is, will Kit (the heroine) ever put Lucien ahead of her twin, as he wants and hopes?
This book has a lot of intrigue in it, but it is mostly related to the main story, the romance of Kit and Lucien and the important sub-plot - the exposure of the spy ring. Or perhaps I have that the other way around. From that point of view, the story is a lot more satisfying than PETALS IN THE STORM, where the political story took precedence of the romance, and where a secondary character took up most of the space that should have been occupied by the hero.
The book rates at 3.8 (rounded up to 4 stars). I wanted to rate it higher, since I thought Lucien was pretty cool and I thought Kit was an intelligent heroine (upto a point when she starts making some really stupid decisions). Unfortunately I did not like the twin theme, which I thought too much on top of the Hellion club and the espionage theme.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Passion and intrigue in a brilliant, fast-paced novel, July 6, 2000
Having met Lucien, Lord Strathmore, in Thunder and Roses (where he was a very sympathetic and likeable character), and again in Petals in the Storm, it was a treat to read his own story and to discover what it was which led him to choose his lonely, covert path as a spymaster. Putney has created another wonderfully complex character in the apparently indolent rakish aristocrat who is really a man of superb intelligence and courage.
Kit, too, is an intriguing and daring heroine, a worthy mate for 'Lucifer.' Her early encounters with Lucien are fascinating and leave the reader wanting to know more about her, never mind what Lucien wants! Attraction flares between them from a very early stage, despite the fact that each is suspicious of the other; one touch I love is the early scene where Kit, while distrusting Lucien, actually saves his life.
As usual with Putney's Fallen Angels series, other Angels play minor roles: Rafe appears briefly at the start - and incidentally, though this book follows Petals in the Storm, it is set chronologically before it - and Michael is briefly involved near the end, thus making readers all the more impatient for Michael's own story. New characters are also likeable and intriguing: Kit's cousin Jason Travers, for instance.
And as usual, Putney's research is impeccable. The Hellfire Club was a well-known gentlemen's organisation in the late eighteenth century, infamous for its fondness for alcohol, women and devil-worship. The Hellions in this story are certainly a credible 'spin-off' from the original Hellfire Club.
Now for Angel Rogue....
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