Customer Reviews

Devil's Desire

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is another of those first historical romances that I read when I was a teenager. I recently re-read it to see if it still holds up. I think it does and is even better than some of what is being written today.

OK, Alex is the epitomy of the selfish manipulative rogue. Everything he does is for a selfish purpose. But you slowly start to realize that deep down, he does have some redeeming qualities that have just been in hibernation for years. Spending all his time in "the ton" with all the useless aristocrats has jaded him to the point that the only person he has any tender feeling for is his younger brother Peter who he has basically raised. You also learn that he had to take on some serious responsibilities at a very young age with the death of their parents. Alex sees little to respect in most of the people he meets and so it takes some time for him to see what Elysia can offer him. He can't believe she's for real and yes, he does use her for his own ends.

Elysia is an orphan. Her parents are dead and her brother, who is in the Royal Navy, is missing and presumed dead. She has no one and is living with an evil aunt who makes her work for her keep. Elysia finally has enough of this abuse and packs up her meager belongings and sets off to London to try and make a better life for herself. Along the way she stops at an inn and meets up with Alex. They immediately argue and disagree over life and love and sparks fly. When they are caught in a "scandalous" situation created by another guest (who hates and wants revenge on Alex for a past wrong) Alex ruthlessly manipulates Elysia into marrying him as her only option to emerge from the scandal unscathed. Alex figures on marrying Elysia, taking her to his country estate in Cornwall and basically dumping her there and forgetting about her (except of course, she'll have to provide an heir at some point).

But Alex does not immediately return to London and as time passes, he starts to see what she is all about. She's good, kind, sweet, loyal - things that Alex had thought didn't exist, or not genuinely, anyway. And he is uncomfortable with the things he is starting to feel for his wife and wonders if she is feeling the same. He tests her by trying to make her jealous with his former mistress. He rages when he mistakenly believes that Elysia is having an affair and breaks one of the few keepsakes Elysia had from her late parents (I cried at that scene!).

Alex lashes out because Elysia awakens in him feelings he thought himself incapable of and that he believes are not returned. Feelings that he tries to deny, but ultimately, he has to admit that he loves her, that he's used her unmercifully and has to beg her forgiveness or lose her. So, OK to some it may seem like I'm letting Alex off too easy, but hey, I liked him even being a jerk! You just knew instinctively that there was more to him.

Then there's the smugglers, spies for Napoleon, and deadly traitors in their midst making things all the more dangerous.

I realize this book is likely hard to find, being so old, but give it a try and see what you think. You might like it as much as I did.

to be honest, the hero was hard and at times very dark, whichis one of the greatest appeals to the novel. Lets be honest we don't read romances to hear about biddable male characters that we could meet in the supermarket. We want the hard bad guy, trapped in the confines of a novel, that's part of the charm of romance. Alex in devil's desire delivers this.
If you are a reader that refuses to pretend that you disaprove of this type of hero,this book is a five.
On the other hand Elysia at times is kind of irritating , her high morals and stuck up ways, may distance some readers.
But all in all a better romance than most written nowadays.

I love it when an author can develop a character that just comes to life.
I like detail in a story so that you feel you are a part of it.

However, I felt lost in the detail that was in this book, at least for the first half of the book. It seemed that she tried to include too many well/over developed characters that weren't essential to the story. Too many villians that were either over developed or under developed. There was so much detail about a room or house that it took up most the chapter and I thought I'd never get to the heart of the story.

The story or plot was good in and of itself but there was a fluency missing which I attribute to too much unnecessary detail and then the lack of detail when it was most needed to have the impact.

Characters that were developed were dropped and never heard from again...which seemed like a waste of time and imagination.

There were parts that drew me in and struck an emotional cord in me which showed that this author had/has potential but this is one that I'll easily put down and not remember to ever pick up again.

Plot:
Elysia is an orphan and is staying with her horrible aunt who treats her like dirt. Trying to get away she is caught in a marriage of convenience, with Lord Alex Trevegne, a man called the Devil. She takes her away to his castle, and they clash at every turn.

My thoughts:
I am going to be brutally honest, I hated the hero. I mean I love a good tortured hero, but Alex, was an ass. He was cruel, angry, hot tempered, mean, hated him. He wants her, he plays games with her to get her to succumb to his will, he is jealous, and ok I can't seem to have anything nice to say about him. Except that he is good to his servants and horses.

Elysia was sweet, and she didn't let him put her down, her tongue was poisonous, and I liked her. The Devil got what he deserved from her. Their love affair, suddenly she knew she loved him..why? And even when he expressed his love, I didn't know what to feel. Also the first them they had sex, I was not approving of it. Even lost in passion, the way he brought it forward didn't suit me. I fear it might come from the book being published in the 70s. Like that was how men should be then.

I am not hating the book, no it was actually ok, I enjoyed it even when hating her aunt, him, and his evil ex mistress. Then there was action because of a smuggler ring, and that brought the tempo up. And I still wanted to see if these two could get a HEA, cos honestly it seemed impossible, and I would just have left if I was her. He was never physically enforced his will or anything, no no, then I would thrown the book at the wall. I just wished he could have been nicer, but the thing was, he just needed a wife, he didn't need to love her.

Final thoughts and recommendation:
No here it's where it get tricky, if you have read something else by her then you will surely enjoy this one. But I feel there are more romantic books out there. I will give it a 2,5 because, it was ok, and I would like to see if she has a hero that is a bit less of a Devil. I liked the book, I just didn't like him

i first read it when i was in college,i think 5 years ago.i borrowed it on our local library and is very old i think its the first issue and the pages colors brown and faded then but i still read it.i never really thought id find reviews about it on the internet!i must say i have the very same feeling with a reader's post June 24,2002.Elysia's free-spirited and kind-yet-stubborn hearted lady againsts Alex's ruthless and hardened-heart.they're perfect for each other and i've never really forgotten their romance plus the fact that it was released almost 20 years ago!most of romances today are just almost predictable.Alex and Elysia's one of my all time favorite romances.=)

I really enjoyed reading this book! It has a wonderful plot and story! I read this book many times and it still is a great read! I really do recommend it!

Elysia Demarice is a poor wee orphan who is abused by her evil step-aunt one too many times, so she grabs a bag and runs off to London. A chance stop at a roadside inn puts her in the path of a nasty little lord who has a grudge against a devil rake by the name of Alex Trevegne, also at the inn. Elysia and Alex are manipulated into a compromising situation and he decides to marry her after all because she looks like a good breeder. Elysia gets dragged off to his estate where she hates her husband at first, but eventually sees that there's a caring (albeit possessive) heart deep down inside. A moment of danger provides love epiphanies for all.

I really wanted to like this book, and for the most part I did. Elysia was a character who garnered my sympathy early on and held onto it. Of course she jumps to some weird conclusions about stuff and decides to not be vulnerable to her husband, which creates The Big Misunderstanding for far too long. (Though it wasn't as protracted and obnoxious as McNaught's habit, however. Thank God for that.) So she has the usual bouts of idiocy one can expect from a heroine, matched by the spazzchismo of her dear hubby.

Alex was pretty underdeveloped, IMO. There's alpha and then there's cardboard-thin callous sphincter. He was the latter. I didn't see his appeal much at all, and I can love me some real troglydyte alphas. There wasn't much to him beyond attitude in fancy clothes.

Overall, the entire book felt like there should have been more. More to the characters, more to the action, more to the atmosphere. There was some, and I daresay enough, but throughout the entire book I felt like the writing hadn't even come up to the line, let alone crossed it. I read it easily and with pleasure, but I wasn't nearly absorbed by it. I wanted the characters to move somewhere, sail a sea or get thrown into another locale. Be more bodice-rippery. Something.

What really annoyed me about the book was the final climax in the smuggler's cave. I won't say more, but if you've read Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen Woodiwiss, suffice to say that the scene is pretty much the same with an insane, frothing villain and sudden deaths. I really, really hated AITW for many reasons, but paramount was the OTT mwahahaha-ness of that climax with the smugglers' cave and the villainess being revealed. Once I got to the part in Devil's Desire, all that bad juju swarmed on me and I was tempted to throw the book across the room.

However, my pique has backed off a bit because after looking up copyright dates, I see that McBain wrote it first and KEW appears to have copycatted it and wrote the same lame thing in far, far more pages. There were many similarities: an underground smugglers' cave that is reached by a secret passage on the estate grounds, a villain who plots murder to reclaim what they believe is rightfully theirs, an insane rant by the villain laying out what their DIVINELY EBIL plan is. My estimation of Woodiwiss could be better, but seeing how she might have (might have, fans! I'm not accusing!) ripped off a very bad ending dumped her a bit lower. Even if the similarities weren't intentional, both endings read like the authors threw a bunch of junk into the blender at the very end and hit the "RESOLVE OR BUST" button. Unfortunately the cover flew off and now plot and coherence is all over the walls.

I still give it three stars because the majority of the book was pretty good and succinct, but it is obvious that it was a first novel. There were swathes of expository and ranty dialogue throughout, and the first chapter or so was nothing but backstory. A positive is that the secondary romance wasn't extraneous to the plot. That's a rare thing. All in all, it was a rocky start, but I eventually got into it and was pleased with this rather good little sundae -- until the final bit, which was like someone dumped "chocolate sauce" from a chili-eating contest Port-o-Potty all over it.

Looking forward to more McBains, though I might not sound like it.

This is one of my very first romance novels, read way back when I was an early teen. I occasionally reread it. You will find Alex very "Alpha" and controlling (very sexy though!), but Elysia is spirited enough to balance it. The beginning is well done and memorable. The ending is also very dramatic, although it would seem a little cliche' by today's standards, but remember - it was authors like McBain who set the standards! Spicy for back then, but not as much sex as many in the genre today. I recommend!

IMPETUOUS DESIRE

SEARING PASSION

ENDURING LOVE

In a rousing, unforgettable saga that sweeps across the valleys and peaks of human destiny, the stormy alliance of beautiful young Lady Elysia Demarice and Lord Alex Trevegne plumbs the depths of raw human emotion - lust, jealousy and hate - for though Lord Alex has married Elysia, he cannot possess her in flesh or spirit. Out of the turbulence of their clashing wills come one of the greatest love stories ever written, as their twin passions mingle at last, in a rippling tide of liquid fire!

This was not the absolute best romance I have ever read, nor the worst. I enjoyed the characters and the plot. There was mystery, intrigue and those 'hard to get' personalities of both Alex and Elysia. That is what makes the book enjoyable. You just can't wait for them to fall in love....which you just know they will eventually. It was very enjoyable to me and I read it in just a few days.