Book Review and ARC Giveaway: Devil's Desire by Laurie McBain

A devil meets his match.
Devil's Desire by Laurie McBain

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca; Reprint edition (November 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402242417
• ISBN-13: 978-1402242410

      Price:  Print $9.00; Kindle $5.38
     Genre: Historical Romance
     My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

Product Description
They called him the devil...
With his seductive golden eyes and sin-black hair, it's no wonder Lord Alex Trevegne has earned himself the sinister title-not to mention his reputation as one of the most notorious rakes in England.
And she's the only one who can conquer him...
When fate throws Alex and Elysia into a scandalous situation, Alex suddenly finds it surprisingly difficult to tear himself away from her.
As an unexpected passion blossoms between them, Elysia begins to wonder if after a lifetime of heartache she's finally found heaven in the arms of the devil.

Review: Good characters - to like or not - and engaging writing make this interesting.
I have to admit that I liked Elysia’s character through most of the book.  She is strong minded but nice and down to earth. She doesn’t put on airs and is kind to the servants.  I felt for her hardship and was waiting for her vicious Aunt to have a comeuppance later in the book.  I was a bit disappointed that she didn’t fight harder later in the story.

Alex was a little more difficult to like.  He is extremely arrogant and seemingly shallow in his feelings toward his mistresses and companions. Although he does have feelings for his brother and ultimately for Elysia, he doesn’t show or express them much.  He is good to his servants and animals so he can’t be all bad. However, he does have a mean and cruel streak in his arrogant and dictatorial dealings thus hurting Elysia rather than offering kindness to her or even a good dose of seduction other than ravishment.  I found this difficult especially considering the age difference with him being a seasoned rogue in his 30s and Elysia being a naive innocent barely 18.

I thought the story was a bit disjointed as it moved from the focus of Elysia and Alex’s conflicts to a new plot thread fairly late in the book.  We meet an important new character a good two thirds into the story and then get some tense action in the new plot.  This line kept my attention fixed for the remainder of the book which was a good thing as I had not been fully engaged at the beginning. 

That is the basis for my saying I had mixed feelings about the book.  I really liked the premise and I liked the ending.  I wish it had flowed a bit better and that loose ends had been dealt with. I will want to read more by this author and see if other books have the same good intensity with better flow.  This book still worked for me as good entertainment even with the disjointedness.

xxx

Thank you to Sourcebooks for this book to read and review.

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