The Southern Devil [Mass Market Paperback]

Diane Whiteside (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

Once an orphaned, starving, Confederate war veteran, Morgan Evans is now a wealthy man respected for his business acumen and his Southern manners. The perfect catch for any woman, only Jessamyn Tyler Evans holds his constant attention - ever since she derailed one of his spy missions by holding him hostage in her bed for days. But once Jessamyn spurned Morgan for his cousin, Morgan vowed that someday he would get his revenge. Now Jessamyn has returned, and payback has begun...Jessamyn is on the hunt for a legendary family treasure in the hills of Colorado. To get what she wants, the spirited widow needs a husband, and Morgan Evans is only too happy to join her masquerade...for a price: she must submit to him, body and soul, surrendering herself to whatever he demands. It's a devil's bargain to be sure...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Jessamyn Tyler, an impoverished Civil War widow, is in Kansas City for the reading of her uncle's will, which first of all dictates that a man must accompany her to the reading. She runs into Morgan Evans, who is on his own angry mission, and reluctantly asks him to attend. He agrees, as long as she agrees to go to bed with him. The inheritance is gold hidden in the Colorado mountains, with the spoils going to either Jessamyn or her cousin, depending on who reaches it first. Again she must rely on Morgan to help her on this dangerous quest. He again agrees, contingent on her continued presence in his bed, and Jessamyn more than meets Morgan's demands in bed and out. Another Whiteside winner, filled with raw sex and realistic portrayals of the sights and sounds of the Colorado West. Newcomers may be a bit shocked, but fans will find it a satisfying tale. Maria Hatton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Very hot...Once you start you won't want to stop reading." - Romantic Times"

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Brava; Reprint edition (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758212127
• ISBN-13: 978-0758212122
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #387,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

By day, Diane Whiteside builds and designs computer systems for the government. By night, she escapes into a world of alpha males and the unique women who turn their lives upside down. Noticing the lack of a husband to keep Diane in line, her Tibetan Terrier stepped up to the plate and makes sure that Diane does everything The Right Way ' which means lots of walks and dog treats. For more information about Diane plus her alpha males, unique women, and Tibetan Terriers, please visit www.DianeWhiteside.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing southern western featuring a union sympathist and a rebel spy engaging in bedroom antics on the trail, September 20, 2006

By 

Jane Litte "Jane at DearAuthor.Com" (US) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Southern Devil (Paperback)

I wanted to like this book. It had a nice cover (albeit very modern in feel) and it was a Western. You know how they say authors should start with the action? I believe that wholeheartedly. The book should start with the action. It shouldn't pretend to start with the action with a two page teaser which then plunges into several hundred pages of backstory. It was Chapter 5 before we were back where we started in the opening two pages. And those first four chapters were such snoozers that I can barely remember why I continued reading the book.

What did I learn in the backstory? That Morgan and Jessamyn were promised to each other. That Morgan betrayed Jessamyn's trust early on. That Jessamyn married someone else and had good sex with him but not great sex because really good sex ONLY comes with the hero. That Morgan got a taste for bondage on night with Jessamyn when she held him hostage. Ha ha ha ha. I am sorry, but that just seems ridiculous. I mean, maybe it is completely true but I felt it was used solely for the purpose of creating a plausible reason for Morgan to have perverse sex tastes.

It's perfectly fine for characters to have different sexual tastes. There doesn't need to be a reason for it. Saying that its because of x, y or z reason seems ridiculous to me. There's never any explanation for why characters like oral sex (i.e., their mother made them suck on their thumb for 3 days straight). Or why characters like to have sex in the shower (i.e., first time they jacked off was in water). But whatever, that was the least of the problems in the book.

The plot was part search for gold and part dairy farming. Why do I say that? Because the heroine creamed so many times she should have been a cow. Was there no other word the author could have used? According to word search on my ebook reader, she used "cream" 18 times.

The villian was a cartoon. Let's not spend time creating a multi dimensional villian. Let's just think of all the evil, disgusting characteristics that a person could have and give that to the villian. (Spittle, impotence, cruelty, deviance, bad table manners). There's a ton, A TON, of telling in this book. Just because a character tells us something in dialogue, doesn't make it showing. That's still telling. Showing is having the character act in accordance with the traits the author is trying to imbue. I.e., if the author tells me the characters are being clever, show me that they are clever. Don't have them have this exchange which is completely devoid of cleverness:

Her husband pursed his lips (I think men should never purse their lips unless they are Carson Kressley), considering his general manager. "You can repay me at cost." He put his hand over his wife's.

"Cost plus-"

"Cost" william said flatly.

Morgan laughed. "Deal. I should have known better than to try to outwit you."

The hell? Not negotiating is "outwitting"?

There is so much sex in this book that there isn't much time for plot advancement or character development. In between the search for gold, we are treated to some stunningly awful sex scenes in which Morgan asserts his dominance over Jessamyn to pay her back for a) tying him to the bed so many years ago and b) for marrying his cousin and c) for actually having eyes that might accidently land on a man other than himself. The trouble with these books with all their sex scenes is that romance seems to be lost. Do Morgan and Jessamyn really love each other or do they just like a roll in the hay/dirt? I am guessing the latter.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beter than average for the genre and considerably better than the first two books, November 23, 2006

By 

G. Robinson "Extensive reader" (CO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Southern Devil (Paperback)

This is kind of an odd book it is reminiscent of Louis L'Amour's Civil War and post westerns with some perils of Pauline thrown in but then you get to the bondage, Ds and erotic scenes which are well done.

The plot starts off very slow but finally gets started when Jessamine (Northern Sympathizer) figures out how to prevent Morgan (Southern Spy) from getting out with the information without turning him in and involving her terminally ill father, ingenious and sort of funny.

Inspire of a slow start and uneven plot the characters are compelling, the villains are good and the plot at least somewhat original.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Her Best Work, June 29, 2010

By 

Southern Housewife - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Southern Devil (Kindle Edition)

I liked Irish Devil and River Devil better than this one. The plot in Southern Devil was odd. They've been pledged to eachother as children then he comes to her home during the war and she ties him up because he's a spy and she's furious he endangered her ailing father, yet she engages in bedroom antics with him??? Later she marries his cousin, is widowed and runs into him again just when she must have a "husband" for the reading of an uncles will. After that it's a chase for gold, sex scenes and everything falls into place with a neat little bow which made it all a little unrealistic to me. Certain phrases were overused, like carnal, and the dialogue got downright ridiculous in places which detracted from what little plot we had going on. Of the 3 works I've read in this series I thought this was the weakest with the least developed story and characters.