Customer Reviews

Devlin's Light

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

 

 

Rarely do I decide to review a group of books instead of just one. And, while I believe each one of these books can stand on its own, readers will be so enthralled with the Enright family, they will want to read them all. Much like the wonderful family series by Nora Roberts, these books are to be savored as some of the best relationship novels of the 1990s.

DEVLIN'S LIGHT set on Delaware Bay is the story of criminal prosecutor India Devlin and the first Enright sibling, marine biologist, Nick. And although there is more of a mystery in this story as India attempts to find out who killed her brother, it's the relationship with Nick that's at the forefront.

WONDERFUL YOU, set in Chester Co, PA is tells Zoey Enright's story as she falls in love with Ben Pierce, a childhood friend. There are some light moments in this story when Zoey, would rather eat take out than cook herself, is required to prepare a few dishes in order to help demonstrate cookware in her job on-the-air at a home shopping network.

In MOON DANCE, Stewart tells the story of the youngest Enright, ballerina Georgia. Set in the Maryland countryside, we find Georgia who wants one certain barn as a dance studio, while her nemesis, Matt, has planned to use it as a veterinary clinic.

The settings of these stories are all so vividly described, it's hard to imagine they're not real places. Readers will want to visit Devlin's Lighthouse, Zoey's Garden, The Bishop Inn, and the farm at Pumpkin Hill.

A common thread running through all three books is the matriarch of the family, Delia Enright, bestselling mystery novelist, who loves her children but does interfere perhaps a little too much, but always in a caring manner. Many readers will wish they had a mother like Delia!!! Readers will also be happy to know that Delia gets a love interest of her own in MOON DANCE.

Mariah Stewart's books, like Nora Roberts' sibling sagas, are not about murder, espionage, or mystery (although each book has a bit of intrigue as well) but are instead about relationships - between a man and a woman, between a woman and her mother, between sisters. I can't think of many writers who can do this better. In all her books, strong secondary characters abound. She creates a world the reader is reluctant to leave after the last page is turned. Thankfully, readers can look forward to more of the Enrights in PRICELESS which will be out in 1999. It can't be soon enough for this reviewer. Reading each book has been like visiting an old friend.

I thought Devlin's Light was storytelling at its best. A nice blend of suspense, mystery, and romance, full of characters to care and root for. I enjoyed India's mix of toughness and vulnerability, and her loyal and patient Nick Enright was to die for! Add a host of wonderful supporting characters including a troubled niece, a Latin-spouting wise woman aunt, and a quite vibrant brother who's dead, but remains vibrantly alive in the hearts of his loved ones, and you have good company over a great story.

This was a wonderfully tender romance that reads like a Nora Roberts book. The characters are well developed and the love story between India (Indy) and Nick is tender and realistic.

While India is looking for the killer of her brother she finds herself drawn to her brothers best friend and the last person to talk to Ry before he died. On top of all of this is Corrie Ry's adopted daughter from a previous marriage. Corrie is a great secondary character that helps move the plot along.

It was great to read a romance book that touched my emotions and was fun to read. This is a great romance that you don't want to miss out on.

Having bought this book on the strength of the reviews here and now having read it, I must respectfully disagree with most of the people who loved this book. I found it surprisingly boring! There is almost no suspense in the book and only a little more romance. The characters are so fantastically lovable that you find yourself wishing for much more depth - ANY depth - to them by about the middle of the story. None ever materializes. Rather than compare this book to a Nora Roberts story, I think it's much more like a Nicholas Sparks story - feel good, but very little "meat" to really capture your attention and make you hesitant to put it down. Despite the setup at the beginning of the book, India never gets around to investigating her brother's death. We read (and read and read) as India performs her prosecutor's job (unrelated to the dead brother storyline) and get to watch her interact with her brother's daughter (over and over and over). There is tenderness, to be sure, but after awhile you find yourself waiting for something to actually HAPPEN. Nothing ever does until the last 50 pages of this book and then it is quite predictable and almost appears thrown in just to wrap up the dead brother storyline. Mr. Perfect - that would be Nick - tags along as the perfect companion, perfect stand-in father, perfect cook, perfect lover, and perfect nursemaid when India takes ill. In the end, I found this book "perfectly" boring!

How many years must Assistant District Attorney India Devlin pay for the mistake she blames herself for, a misjudgment she made as a child? How many sexual deviants, preying on children, must she get off the streets of Paloma, Pennsylvania before she feels that she has paid the price of her transgression? These questions haunt India, who rarely returns to her New England hometown of Devlin's Light. With her beloved brother murdered, India must come to grips with her past because her little orphaned niece Carrie needs her. .......Carrie looks to India for nurturing and wants her to come home to the old Devlin homestead where Aunt Augusta keeps the home fires burning. Also waiting for India to return is Nick Enright, a man who fell in love with her when he first saw her at her sibling's funeral. Nick realizes that India has a lot of decisions to make and several demons to confront, but he has the patience and determination to wait for her even as he makes his desires and intentions known to her. India knows that Nick is that one in a lifetime male. She decides to travel to New England to take care of her niece, cherish Nick's love, and learn why her brother was killed. .....A book as good as DEVLIN'S LIGHT comes along very rarely because it seems to run the gamut of all tastes. The novel has universal appeal making it difficult to classify although it incorporates elements from the family saga, romance, mystery, suspense, and general fiction genres. Mariah Stewart leaps to the top with a work that will appeal to her myriad of fans as well as the audiences of Belva Plain, Barbara Taylor Bradford, and Anne Rivers Seddons. DEVLIN'S LIGHT has a luminance that leaves most other works pale in comparison. .....Harriet Klausner

I like fast moving thrillers and this one is far too much about romance for me, but it is still a good and interesting book. Mariah Stewart is a very good writer, some of her books I like better than others. I will continue to read her books any time I have a chance.

Devlin's Light is an excellent story of love and suspense. I have yet to find a Mariah Stewart book that is not good.

Although I have always enjoyed Mariah Stewart's books, I found Devlin's Light to be VERY boring. Not much for romance, no excitement and a very slow read. When I finally reached the middle, I skipped to the last two chapters and don't feel like I missed a thing! Sorry!!

India Devlin has made a name for herself as a hardworking prosecutor who is particularly relentless against child molestors and rapists. As the novel opens though, she is not on the job but at her brother's funeral. The entire town of Devlin's Light had turned out to pay their last respects to Ry, who was following in the Devlin family tradition of service to the community. India was not only stunned by Ry's death, but the fact that he had been murdered, leaving behind his six year old step daughter. Little more than a year before his wife had drowned in the bay that bordered the family estate.

This novel has been called a 'suspenseful mystery' and frankly there is very little suspense and most readers will have figured out any mysteries long before the author gets around to answering them. It is a lovely romance, although rather slow paced and again the reader will undoubtedly seen it coming within the first couple of pages. So why five stars? The characters, Stewart has filled this small town on the Delaware coast with charming, interesting people. Many of the secondary characters are so interesting that they deserve to have their own stories told. Happily there are at least two sequels this one that will tell the stories of at least two.

There is one strange aspect to this novel though, several times in the story food plays a part and the author has very thoughtfully included recipes for some of the dishes mentioned. The recipes are quite good but it is odd to find recipes included in a mystery romance. Still I am looking for the next novels in the series, WONDERFUL YOU and MOON DANCE.

I enjoyed "Moon Dancer", the third book in this trilogy, as much as I did the first two. I have enjoyed every Mariah Stewart book that I have read so far.