Reviewer: Rowena Devil's Daughter (The Ravenels #5) by Lisa Kleypas
Series: The Ravenels #5
Also in this series: Cold-Hearted Rake, Devil in Spring, Devil in Spring, Hello Stranger, Devil in Spring (The Ravenels, #3), Devil's Daughter, Chasing Cassandra, Devil in Disguise
Publisher: Harper Collins, Avon
Publication Date: February 19, 2019
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Rowena's 2019 GoodReads Challenge
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Series Rating:
New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas delivers a scintillating tale of a beautiful, young widow who finds passion with the one man she shouldn't...
Although beautiful young widow Phoebe, Lady Clare, has never met West Ravenel, she knows one thing for certain: he's a mean, rotten bully. Back in boarding school, he made her late husband's life a misery, and she'll never forgive him for it. But when Phoebe attends a family wedding, she encounters a dashing and impossibly charming stranger who sends a fire-and-ice jolt of attraction through her. And then he introduces himself...as none other than West Ravenel.
West is a man with a tarnished past. No apologies, no excuses. However, from the moment he meets Phoebe, West is consumed by irresistible desire...not to mention the bitter awareness that a woman like her is far out of his reach. What West doesn't bargain on is that Phoebe is no straitlaced aristocratic lady. She's the daughter of a strong-willed wallflower who long ago eloped with Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent—the most devilishly wicked rake in England.
Before long, Phoebe sets out to seduce the man who has awakened her fiery nature and shown her unimaginable pleasure. Will their overwhelming passion be enough to overcome the obstacles of the past?
Only the devil's daughter knows...
This was definitely one of my most anticipated releases of 2019 and I’m SO glad to report that West and Phoebe’s story was just as wonderful as I was hoping. Lisa Kleypas captured West’s humor and Phoebe’s hesitation to move on from her late husband in such a beautiful way that I ate this book up in one sitting. I didn’t want to put this book down, it was that good for me. There were times during the reading of this book that I would pause and just grin like a lovesick school girl because I was just so happy with West and with Phoebe and her little boys.
So the story starts off with Phoebe and her family arriving at West’s home for her brother’s wedding to his cousin, Pandora. West runs his brother’s estate so when he runs into Phoebe and her young son, Justin, he’s intrigued because she’s beautiful and then he’s even more curious because she seems to instantly hate him. Sure, his reputation is complete trash and normally he’d prefer to keep his distance from others but he enjoyed their little introduction and was low key bummed that that’s probably all they’ll get. Of course, that’s not all they get and the more time they spend together, the more Phoebe realizes that there’s more to the bully she remembers from her late husband’s letters, and she really likes the more.
Holy cow, Lisa Kleypas did such a great job of writing this romance. There was humor and characters that melted my heart and older characters that I was thrilled to see and hear about after all this time. A lot of Phoebe’s family are characters that are near and dear to my heart. Hearing about Simon and Annabelle Hunt again, then Matt and Daisy from Scandal in Spring, gah, even Lillian and Markus from It Happened One Autumn made me so happy. I loved that Kleypas captured the closeness of Phoebe and her family. They were a huge part of her life and so they were in the story quite a bit, which is as it should be. I also thought that Kleypas did a great job of including everyone in the story without them stealing the thunder that is the romance between West and Phoebe because though I loved seeing and hearing about everyone, I was there for West, Phoebe and the boys.
I loved that West had finally found his place and his person. After so many books of West working so hard for his family and for the tenants on Devon’s estate, seeing him downplay all of that hard work, it was very fulfilling for me to see his family acknowledge his hard work and acknowledge their love and appreciation for West being in their lives. Then you add Phoebe and her boys and seeing the relationship he develops with them, gah, there was just so much goodness here.
My one and only gripe with this book was that I felt the ending was a bit rushed. Everything wrapped up so quickly that I blinked and we went from West not thinking he deserved Phoebe and the boys to, BOOM, happy ending. I might be a greedy wench that is just thirsty for more but it’s how I felt. I loved the rest of the book too much to harp on about the ending because dude, this book was flat out good. If you’re looking for a romance that will make you laugh, pick this one up. If you’re looking for a romance with a couple who bring the steam and the chemistry, pick this one up. If you’re looking for a romance that is big on family, pick this one up. This has it all so you won’t be disappointed.
Grade: 4.75 out of 5
The Ravenels
I’m looking forward to reading this, so it was good to see this enthusiastic review, Rowena.
Thanks, Kareni…this book is super good so I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 🙂
Yeah I agree especially about the ending, it felt way too abrupt. I am glad that you loved this book so much. I didn’t love it quite as much as everyone else has but I still had a fun time with it. And boy seeing Sebastian as a father was amazing.
I loved seeing Sebastian as a father. He’s my favorite. <3
Yes! I didn’t love Sebastian as much as everyone else did but he’s an amazing father and grandfather. It was so good to see the Wallflower gang too!