Customer Reviews

The Devil's Love

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is my second Julia London book. Both have been great stories and have each received a 5 star rating from me. London has a particularly charming ability when it comes to writing alpha males that are forced to reign in their strong personalities, grow up, and give of themselves. Her heroines are pleasant, innocent, and naive although a little too sweet for believability.

Michael Ingram, Marquis of Darfield, had sailed the seas at the age of nineteen, upon Captain Carrington's ship as a member of the crew. Also sailing on that ship was the captain's young daughter, Abigail (Abbey), known to all aboard as a wild, undisciplined yet charming child. Abbey had not seen Michael since that voyage twelve years ago. But she had held, in her heart and mind, dear memories of Michael and had eagerly awaited their future marriage.

Abbey's father, taking advantage of the young future marquis's financial problems, had loaned Michael, at that vulnerable age of nineteen, a large sum of money to repay his father's creditors. Michael's father was gambling away all the family's ancestral fortune and lands - thus Michael was desperate for the Captain's financial aid. Included in this financial contract was a betrothal agreement between Michael and the captain's daughter. This betrothal clause would be evoked only if Michael had failed to repay the Captain in full at some future specified date. Since the signing of that agreement, at least ten years ago, Michael had amassed a fortune himself and had repaid all of his father's debts. Michael, now Marquis of Darfield, had essentially forgotten the old agreement since all debt had been paid off. However, Captain Carrington had not been totally upfront with the young man all those years ago. The captain had hidden a large portion of Michael's father's debts from him and, prior to the his death, had evoked the betrothal portion of the agreement. No matter what Michael attempted to do, he discovered he was truly bound by the contract and - most unhappily - was forced to marry the captain?s daughter, Abbey.

Abbey, blissfully unaware of Michael's hostility and hatred of the marriage agreement, sailed from America to England believing herself totally in love with her future husband. Her father had told her, through the years, how much Michael wanted the forthcoming marriage and the love he held for her. Abbey discovered, much to her horror, that Michael was not the willing bridegroom. Not only was he unwilling - he treated her terribly - hoping that she would break the agreement. However, idyllic in her belief that Michael would someday love her, she refused to break the betrothal and they married.

All of the above happenings occur within the first 57 pages of the book. Immediately after the rushed wedding, Michael leaves Abbey at one of his country estates and travels to another for an indefinite period of time. He is determined to make Abbey suffer tremendously for the enforced marriage. During this period of the book, Michael is a really mean guy. He treats Abbey with contempt, suspicion, hatred, and is out for revenge. Abbey, conversely, is an extremely naive young woman and seeks happiness despite Michael's attempt to make her life a misery. Not only is she naive, she is also sweet - a little too sweet. One of my two complaints about The Devil's Love is her character is too sugary. She is seen as such an innocent and draws everyone to her with her never-ending optimism and enjoyment of life. It makes her character appear as unrealistic - she is too super-sweet with too many talents for one person.

The interaction between the leads is excellent although they are at odds a lot of the time. Just when we think Michael can get no meaner, Abbey begins to stand up for herself and he begins to reluctantly respect her and more reluctantly finds he is strongly drawn to her. Yes, love develops even in this big mess of an enforced marriage. However, I began to get uncomfortable about halfway through the book. I saw all of the signs of The Big Misunderstanding lining up and dreaded it. This was the second complaint that I mentioned earlier. The Big Misunderstanding was very, very big and it took a lot of the pages for it to be resolved. However, this book does deserve it's five star rating because London does a wonderful job of writing this portion of the book. I was caught by surprise, more than once, as the events unfolded. Although I was able to sense the upcoming misunderstanding, I was not able at all to guess how it would eventually be solved. The story is vastly entertaining. I eagerly consumed each page and every time I had to put it down - I enthusiastically resumed reading.

You will find this love story at times heartbreaking and at other times exciting and fresh. You will want Michael to get his comeuppance more than once as well. The chemistry between the leads certainly is vibrant and warms the pages. The actual sensual scenes, although fairly frequent, are somewhat tame and rate about a 3.0 to a 3.5 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines).

The Devil's Love is the first in a series followed by Wicked Angel. I read Wicked Angel first and although I probably would have preferred only slightly to read them in order, they are truly stand-alone books. I loved each book on it's own merits although I could have picked up on a few situations a little more quickly in Wicked Angel if I had read The Devil's Love first. However, in order or not, this is a great two book series that I wholeheartedly recommend.

I must have read a different book judging from all these glowing reviews. I bought this book because of all the praise heaped upon it but I was sorely dissapointed.

The author's style of writing is similar to that of Judith McNaught except that London lacks the polish and wit that McNaught brings to her stories. The heroine is an insipid,constantly cheerful, over-achieving twit. In short, she is a poor caricature of McNaught's early heroines.The fact that this girl is in love with a man she has not seen since childhood stretched plausability a little bit but since this is a romance novel I was able to overlook that. Then again didn't she find it peculiar that her father was the recipient of all the gifts and communication between her and her supposed suitor? Also, her eternal smile and constant chirpiness even when the hero was being a jerk was extremely irritating, I kept thinking her cheeks must hurt like hell from smiling all the darn time. The hero is one of those by the numbers rakes who is tortured because of god knows what, and of course he is a rake and completely opposed to marrying the twit or anyone else because, well, just because that is how one writes a by the numbers historical... Needless to say, I never even got halfway through the book before I threw it into a donation box. If you have read McNaught before you will be familiar with the story and characters which is fine since I love McNaught's historicals but this author lacks the skill and imagination to make the characters or the plot interesting. I don't mind that this particular girl meets boy and they are forced into marriage plot has been done a million times as long as the author makes it interesting or brings something new to a tired plot device and this author does not. A side note for nit pickers: a duke would never introduce himself by his first name to a total stranger. This author obviously did not conduct her research. Not recommended at all.

Abigail Carrington sails to England to met with her sweet-tempered long-standing beloved fiance: Michael Ingram, Marquis of Darfield. Unfortunately, and to Abbey's despair, Michael (Mr "Boorfield") turns out not so sweet-tempered or even infact to be her fiance! ... but amongst humourous antics and misunderstandings Abbey and Michael soon realise they are made for each other.

This is my first Julia London read, and I also believe Julia's first novel: this was an entertaining read!

My only niggling objection to this story is that in the last 1/4 of the book Abbey loses her characteristics that were abundent in the first 3/4 of the book (and made up the main portion of Abbey's character) ... changes from been a spunky wee heroine to a pathetic piece of fluff. I feel that the introduction of the issue from Galen could have been handled slightly differently: that is that the heroine could have said "dammitt" Michael and I are married, used her spunk to join forces with Michael and ended the last 1/4 of the book on a happier note (not so down in the dungeons kind of style).

I personally found the last 1/4 of the book tiresome and just too choppy: suddenly a number of obstacles are shoved between our hero and heroine, just when you felt that things should have been sorting themselves out.

Despite my comments above, this was a lovely story and great romance to read. With a few changes to the end of this book I would have rated it a 5 star, so one can conclude that Julia London will hopefully be a force to reckon with in the future. My comment on the book in three words: a good start

Abigail Carrington had loved Michael all her life. From the age of nine when dressed as a pirate she was the 'hellion' aboard her father's ship. Michael Ingram, born to privilege but due to his father's considerable gambling debts was working on the ship as a way of somehow helping to keep his father afloat. To him the 'hellion' was no more than a spoiled brat and hardly worth a second thought.

Twelve years later, Abigail had come to England to fulfill the conditions of her father's will and marry Michael Ingram, now the Viscount Darfield as stipulated in an agreement Michael had signed when he was 19 in order to save his ancestral home. Although, Michael had paid his fathers debts and thought himself free from that agreement, he did not know that behind his back, his father had continued to borrow and he was still in debt and honor bound to marry the 'hellion'.

Although she had not seen Michael in 12 years, through her father's machinations, she spent the those years believing that Michael loved her, because her father perpetuated the myth over the years sending her gifts, supposedly from Michael, and passed along messages that he couldn't wait to be married, etc.. Abbey, lived and breathed of the dream world that was created for her by her father and was shocked to find the very cold indifference and downright hostility that emanated from the man she was to marry. Michael was furious over her father's will and warned her that she would not be happy and left immediately after the wedding. From this rocky start you have two people, Abbey in love but cast aside, and Michael forced into a marriage he does not want, but not being able to get out of it without creating more scandal.

Eventually, her charm overcomes his resentment and they both come to a loving understanding but eventually their idyllic time in the country is spoiled by outside forces that threaten to tear them apart. An old enemy forces a confrontation that threatens the love and trust they worked so hard to build. It is a true test of strength from both, as Michael realizes that he has fallen hopelessly in love with Abbey, but questions her loyalty. And Abbey who knows she loves Michael, would give her life for him - and almost does - yet can she trust her heart to him again.

This was so good. Abbey is a delight the person you want to have as a friend, quite charming. Michael is brooding at first but then Abbey's love warms him right up to be a terribly nice person. This is a wonderful story of love and forgiveness, trust and respect. Truly a touching and wonderfully fast paced story. You will find yourself cheering these two on to finally believe in one another and the love they are meant to share. Lovely story!

This was the first book I've read of Julia London and I can't wait to read another. I recommend this book to anyone who likes Julie Garwood and Jill Barnett, just fabulous

This is my first of Julia London and was quite impressed by it, more especially after finding out that this is only her first book. I say, it's well done for a first try. THE WICKED PROMISE is the sequel for this book. Thank you again to other reviewers who've mentioned it. I will definitely order it this week.

Read Editorial Reviews above for book description: Here is my opinion...

I enjoyed the first and last part of this book the most, however, the middle part was a bit slow ---not all together boring but just a bit slow to get to the point. Also, the part where Abby recovered from her accident which she then turned around to hating Michael all of a sudden... hmmm, where did that come from? That scene didn't appeal much to me. I prefer a different rent than that. Or perhaps it just wasn't represented like it should be for me to appreciate it. In addition to that, if she was supposedly soooo angry, I was hoping for her to finally carry out her original plan of going back to America. She's been thinking, making plans to do this for the longest time that the idea was instilled in me. I expected her to do so but it didn't happend. She tells him this but doesn't do it. She should have just left and that's that. That would have been a great rift too -- seperation...then Michael going after her -- that sorta thing. But then again, this is only a very small self preferences.

Overall, this book is an entertaining read. The initial plot was engaging. The characters are well defined and well executed. There's lots of funny moments as well as heart quenching ones as well. The Epilogue is my favorite of all. It was a satisfying conclusion to this heart warming story.

I've bought this book after reading the great reviews written here - and now - barly a week after I've finished reading it - I can hardly remember what it was about - it was that boring! I usually read (good) historical romance books in one reading - it took me awhile to finish this one - but I kept reading till the end all the while hoping to understand what other readers liked about it so much. I still don't understand.

This is the first book I read by this author. I read in one day. This is an original plot and wonderful characters. The Heroine is strong willed, intelligent and cheerful. The Hero brooding, arrogant and rakish. When the two finally come together through the manuplations of her father the sparks fly. He resents her because he is being forced to marry her. She has been raised to love him and thinks that he is the most wonderful man in the world. I have since read several of Ms. London other books they are all wonderful.

I truly enjoyed this story. If you like Julie Garwood, I think you will enjoy reading this author's work also. Abbey a child when she met Michael, goes to him to become his bride. She, excited about marrying the man she has loved all of her life has to deal with a man who doesn't want to marry her even though her father told her that he has been waiting for her all those years. She is a sweetheart and unfortunately learns her father's lies but that's what makes this story good... I love it how Abbey slowly melts that heart of his. I cannot wait to read her next book, Wicked Angel which I think is the sequel to this one. I understand this is the first book written by Julia London, wow, what a talented lady!

I was quite disappointed in Michael actually having an affair and it turned me off from him right off, however her heroine was great and the story was really good, if she ever rewrites it and leaves out the affair it would rate five stars hands down. Maybe Abby was forgiving but I am not. This I understand however was Ms Londons first book and it was really good. I enjoyed it!