Customer Reviews

The Irish Devil

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

In a historical romance, set just after America's Civil War, we meet Viola Lindsay Ross. She's married a man she didn't love to protect her mother from being charged with treason, and followed him out west to a small mining town, Rio Piedras. When Viola's husband is killed, he leaves her penniless and alone to shoulder his gambling debts. Viola struggles to make a good life for herself by starting a laundry business, for her family has disowned her and she can't go home. But her business partner, fellow widow Maggie, betrays Viola, selling off her meager possessions and running away to get married while Viola collects the laundry for the day. Once again without money or support, Viola is forced to consider marrying Lennox, the man who killed her husband and only wants her for her family's money. With no other options and after listening to an earful of gossip from the local brothel, Viola sells herself as a mistress to the one man who can help her, William Donovan.

William Donovan is a Master in the art of lovemaking. The prostitutes in Rio Piedras swear by his skills. But his lusts are never satisfied, because he cannot be with the one woman he wants, Viola Ross. Not even the wealth Donovan has acquired with his shipping business can take the Irish from his blood and make him a respectable candidate for the well-bred Viola. But when the woman of his fantasies rejects Donovan's enemy, Lennox, and begs for Donovan's protection in return for her body, the tides change. Now that he has Viola in his bed, he's one step closer to being in her heart.

Diane Whiteside has written an erotic sizzler with "The Irish Devil". Bondage, spanking, and toys, oh my! And all set in the tension filled old west, where Apache attacks and mining shaft cave-ins are just part of normal life. While the romance is plain to see for the reader early on, it takes a lot of action, both in the bedroom and out, before our two main characters realize the love they share. My only complaint was the overuse of the endearment 'sweetheart' in what was otherwise a delicious and delightful read.

Emily Flippin Maruna

Diane Whiteside has written a hot gem, featuring sizzling sex and the kind of deliciously dominant hero to make any romance reader sigh.

The Arizona frontier is unforgiving, with its heat, mine cave-ins, and Indian attacks, but Viola Ross is determined to survive, even after her husband is murdered.

But when his ruthless killer tries to blackmail her into marriage, she has no choice except to seek the protection of William Donovan, a hot-blooded Irish businessman. Donovan is a master of the erotic arts with a taste for dominance, and Viola quickly finds him everything she's ever longed for in a man.

For his part, Donovan never dared dream a woman like Viola would want anything to do with an Irishman. He's delighted to show Viola a world of erotic pleasure as the two slowly fall in love.

But as the murderous Lennox seeks revenge, can Donovan protect his new lover?

If you want delicious sensuality, wonderful characters and a well-researchered, action-packed plot, Diane Whiteside is the writer for you!

Ms Whiteside is a new author for me and when I read about this book I was intrigued. I don't read Americana or Westerns as a general rule but the fact that it was an erotic western with an Irish hero piqued my interest. It's the story of two people from opposite ends of the social spectrum whose fortunes in life are radically changed.

Recently widowed Viola Ross, the daughter of a genteel, wealthy Cincinnati family, was disowned by them after she married a man of whom they disapproved. After realizing that her family had, indeed cut her off, he drags Viola all over the Western Territories in search of the gold that will make him rich. Unfortunately in Arizona he met his demise and Viola is left virtually penniless in the mining backwater of Rios Piedras. She is being relentlessly pursued by Paul Lennox who is desperate to marry her. After her experience with her husband she is determined not to marry again, but she needs money to sustain herself. She decides to approach the only other man in town with as much wealth as Lennox for help - Irishman William Donovan. He's a gorgeous man with a reputation for fairness (and for his skill in bed according to the local doxies).

William has come a long way from his poor beginnings in County Cork, Ireland. He's overcome poverty, starvation, the loss of his entire family and the "no Irish need apply" attitudes he encountered along the way. He's now the wealthy owner of a freight company with a government contract to haul supplies to the forts in Arizona being built to protect against the Apaches. He's acutely aware of Viola Ross and regularly fantasizes about her - she's his perfect faerie queen - but he's sure she'd consider him beneath her. So when she approaches him with a proposition to become his mistress, he is momentarily shocked, but he'll take any chance to have her, if only for three months.

And oh what heat these two generate! William wastes no time in initiating Viola in the ways of erotic pleasure and soon she's a willing partner in these activities. But is there more than just sexual attraction between them? And a few of the questions you'll wonder about are: Why did Viola marry her husband in the first place? Why does Paul Lennox pursue her to the point of obsession?

While I enjoyed the story, I'm not sure I bought into the erotic "education" he received back in (repressed, Catholic, Victorian!) Ireland, but I suppose it's not out of the realm of possibility. And I'm not fond of, shall we say "equestrian" metaphors for sex so every time he referred to "riding" or called her his "filly" I cringed a bit. Those looking for an obvious building of affection may feel that their relationship was primary based on sex. I also agree with another reviewer that "sweetheart" was way over used, though I loved that they used some Gaelic endearments (mo mhuirnin and mo cridhe) at the end. Still, the woman can write some seriously erotic sex scenes that really are hot, hot, hot! If you can take the heat and enjoy erotica with a capital E this story is for you!

I think there may have been some subtle hints that stories about William's friend and business partner Morgan Evans and Viola's brother Hal Lindsay may be in the cards. If so, I'll be in line to read them!

I, too, purchased this because of the glowing reviews I read online, but it did not come close to living up to the hype. There is no romance in this book. The heroine is a plaything for all kinds of kink for the hero, but it is written as merely an exchange of fluids, not emotion. I found I didn't care whether the couple lived happily ever after because Whiteside didn't give me any reason to. Very little depth to the characters, but the villain was a bit more fleshed out than the leads and that is why I gave it two stars instead of one. If you want to read it for the sex, try to find it at the library or used book store. You may adore it, but if you don't you wouldn't have wasted as much money as I did.

Brava for Diane Whiteside! (pun very much intended)

Finally a Brava novel where unashamed sexuality meets a solid plot and complex characters. Of late Brava's offerings have been on the lighter side; many good in their own right, but somehow lacking the satisfying heft of a novel. THE IRISH DEVIL has no such weakness.

Self-made William Donovan and gutsy belle Viola Ross burn up the pages. Not only that but their compelling conflict would make it a one-sitting read if you could hold still that long. (wink)

One part Indiana Jones, one part Ann Rice's Prince Alexei, Donovan is every woman's fantasy. Strong and skilled in life. Capable, dedicated and determined. AND a master of the sensual arts. We often talk about a hero to die for...well, Donovan's one to live for.

I say again: Brava, Miss Whiteside. You've written a fiendishly good erotic romance, and I can't wait for the next one.

Diane Whiteside is a wickedy fresh writing-phenom! New to the print world and an addition that will knock your proverbial socks off, leave you panting for more, and waiting with anticipation for her next offering like folks wait for Heinz Ketchup!

Historicals aren't my gig per se, but the cover and the blurb on this bad boy blew me away, so I grabbed a copy for some eye candy and maybe some boring historical facts, with a smattering of romance.

Color me WRONG!

From page one, where William awakens high on testosterone--to his deep introspection that Ms. Whiteside threads throughout the novel and his love of Viloa--I was, to say the least, enraptured!

Their romance is a slow simmering pot of sweet, tender, hard, fast emotion, that took my breath away and left me weak in the knees and unable to stop reading until every last, delicious morsel filled page was complete!

Diane Whiteside has dragged this contemporary broad back to the past and hungrily awaiting the next finger she puts to the keyboard!

Connie "Dakota Cassidy"

My jaw dropped when I read the other, postive reviews. OK, so maybe calling all your friends and relatives, and blackmailing everyone you know does pay off. It is simply unfathomable that a book this poorly written and executed could have a kind word said for it. I sincerely can NOT find one redeeming quality for this waste of paper. If I could give it negative stars I would!

The plot is so contrived it is almost satirical, the dialogue is unbelievalbly wooden and the characters are two dimensional to the point of being just plain silly. There is no, nadda, not one shred of romance in it this abuse of the alphabet. There is no one to like or care about much less you, the reader wanting to share their 'enjoyable' sexual experiences with them. I honestly can say, it is the worst writing of sex I've ever read.

Plus, yeah, I believe a poor boy from Ireland would come over and travel to the old west with a trunk full of dildos. (rolls eyes)....Gimmee a break Bertha!

Worst of all, it simply reads as one crudely portrayed sex scene strung one after another, with the author trying to write the 'ultimate scene that has never been written before' in a cresendo of really, I mean REALLY awfully writing. What you get is almost laughable contrivance...sort of a cross between Cirque du Soliel and someone's first year pre-med Gyno residency. How tab A fits into slot B eludes you, but you reach a point where you wish they would just roll over and go to sleep.

Someone needs relief, and the reader doesn't get it. Did I mention the writing was awful? Dont' forget that.

Please, please trust me. I love romantica. I read constantly and I know what is good in this genre'. I push boundaries too...but the bottom line is it HAS to be a well written, enjoyable book. This book is without a doubt not worth the energy to pick it up off the table, much less read it.

Avoid it at all costs. Please. You'll thank me for it.

This is the first book I've read by Ms. Whiteside and it won't be the last. She has quite a gift for writing erotica; this is one of the hottest books I have ever read. I think sometimes with these kind of novels the characters seem kind of wooden and the lovemaking scenes mechanical. Some of the Thea Devine and Susan Johnson novels left me feeling that way, but not so the characters in this book, especially William. Viola could have had a little more depth, but I felt both of the characters way of relating to each other very warm, loving, passionate, funny and altogether entertaining. From their first meeting, I could feel the chemistry between the pair and I not only liked them but I was drawn into their story and cared what happened to them. That doesn't always happen when reading a romantic novel, let alone an erotic romance. A word of warning - this book contains explicit sex scenes; if you don't like reading such encounters in a novel, you won't like this book. I enjoyed it and thought it a highly entertaining read. Its nice to try a book by an author you haven't read before and be as pleasantly suprised as I was with "The Irish Devil".

Well, I was looking for something different to read. Saw the reviews for this book. Well, I am sorry to say the book just didn't do it for me. The book was boring and long winded. I will not try this author again.

I had never had the pleasure of reading any of Diane Whiteside's ebooks so she was pretty much an unknown to me. Several people recommended this book to me so I bought it without even knowing the storyline. I'm so glad that I did. I enjoyed it so much that I immdiately went to find her ebooks and purchased them. I love finding new authors and I'll be waiting for Diane Whiteside's next book!!