The Devilish Pleasures of a Duke: A Novel (Boscastle Family) [Kindle Edition]

Jillian Hunter (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Award-winning author Jillian Hunter spins a captivating new tale of sweet mystery, reckless temptation, and scandalous desire.

Adrian Ruxley may be a ruggedly charming rogue, but he’s not a man to stand idly by while a lady is accosted–even at a wedding organized by the lady herself, Emma Boscastle, instructress in the social graces at her London academy for young gentlewomen. Adrian confronts the offender, a scuffle ensues, and now this smooth-talking heir is left to recuperate under Emma’s very roof, delighted to see the deep concern in her lovely face. She has a charm no scoundrel can resist.

Emma is scandalized by her own behavior–seduced by a handsome stranger, indeed! How will she be able to hide her indiscretion from the perceptive Boscastle siblings? The divine passion that Adrian has unleashed, and the sensual delights he has shown her, have suddenly turned Emma’s days at the fledgling academy into a display of impropriety and her nights into a velvet abyss of sensual abandon. But as their intimacy reveals Adrian’s turbulent secrets, Emma is inspired to her most ambitious endeavor: redeeming a rake.


From the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jillian Hunter is the author of twelve critically acclaimed novels. She has received several awards, including the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award. Hunter lives in Southern California with her husband and three daughters.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 269 KB
• Print Length: 354 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0345487621
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (July 31, 2007)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000TZB8T8
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,581 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Jillian Hunter is the author of twenty-one critically acclaimed novels, among them the bestselling Boscastle series. Her books have been printed in twelve languages and have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. She has received several awards, including the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award. She lives in Southern California with her husband and three daughters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lacking Biting Wit, Sparkling Dialogue, and Narrative Sense, August 4, 2007

By 

Lulu "Literature Lovin' Girl" (East Coast) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Devilish Pleasures of a Duke: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Why do Adrian and Emma "love" each other? after finishing "The Devilish Pleasures of a Duke" I have no true understanding why or how they fell in "love." There really only seems to be lust between the two, a physicalness, they very rarely speak of anything else than their physical attraction to each other, their encounters are completely limited to fondling and the like. There is no narrative meat to the text. It lacks the wit and banter of Hunter's other works. It is the wit and banter that make the reading of her earlier works in this series so much fun.

The lack that is felt between the two characters is held together by her family and their watchfulness, for a romance novel to focus so much on the family of guard dogs that the Boscastle brothers are relegated to, aptly demonstrates the disconnect between Emma, Adrian, and the character/narrative arc. The text goes nowhere from start to end because it is completely nonsensical how these two came together to find "love."

There is no frothy fun to be found in this text.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The last Bocastle hurrah went out with a sizzle, not a bang, August 17, 2007

By 

Nihongoluvr (MD, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devilish Pleasures of a Duke: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

I sincerely hope that Emma's tale is not the final note in the Bocaslte ledgers, not for the fact that i loved this story but more so that Ms Hunter will have a chance to redeem herself. Perhaps it's because I'm a picky reader, I can not stand it when the hero and heroines have past loves. Emma was a less than thrilling heroine, rather boring which left poor Adrian to pick up the slack. I felt that Emma and Adrian's relationship could have played out as a "b" line in another Bocastle story.
Though the love scenes were steamy, I was far more interested in the sub characters of Harriet the street smart urchin who had far more emotional depth than Emma, and of Lord Gabriel Bocastle the former outcast who's dark past is only hinted at.
I would also have liked for her to sum up more of the other Bocastle's lives if this was indeed the end.
So, pretty quick read, hot love scenes but nothing more than fluff

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I had hoped for, August 6, 2007

By 

G. Heyburn "Incurable Romantic" (NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Devilish Pleasures of a Duke: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

Having read the other books in this series, I was anxiously waiting for this one to be released. Both the hero and heroine have been featured as background characters in the earlier books of this series. Emma, a recurring character in all of the previous books, could always be counted on to be the epitome of prim and proper. To have her radically depart from what has always been the very essence of her being and behave as all of the Boscastles before her just didn't ring true for me. Maybe if I hadn't read the earlier books, I wouldn't have had believability issues with the newly sensuous Emma, but I just couldn't help but thinking that maybe it is time for the author, who is one of my favorites, to begin a new series and leave the beloved Boscastles behind.