Friday, April 24, 2015

Review of The Devilish Mr. Danvers by Vivienne Lorret


Title/Author: The Devilish Mr. Danvers (The Rakes of Fallow Hall #2) by Vivienne Lorret
Publisher/Date published: Avon Impulse, April 21st 2015
How I got this book: received it from the publisher as an egalley
Buy this book at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: For the first time in her life, Hedley Sinclair holds the keys to her own future. She's inherited the crumbling Greyson Park, but the disrepair does nothing to dissuade her. No one will ever lock her up again or attempt to take away what's hers. No one except Rafe Danvers — the charming, fiendish man from Fallow Hall. He's determined to claim Greyson Park, but if Hedley isn't careful, he'll claim her heart as well.

Rafe has every intention of ridding Greyson Park of the conniving Sinclairs once and for all. The last thing he expects is to find the beguiling Hedley — the younger sister of his former fiancĂ©e — standing in his way. With drastic measures called for, he plans to marry her off in order to regain control of the estate. The only trouble is, he can't seem to stop seducing her. Even worse, he can't help falling in love with her.

So I really like Vivienne Lorret's writing. Her historical romances always manage to entertain me, so I was excited to start The Devilish Mr. Danvers! Because the 'rakes of Fallow Hall' are very interesting and I'd already met Mr. Danvers in the first book in the series.

Hedley is a likeable main character. She's determined to make it on her own, and she doesn't really seem to know when she should just admit defeat and go ask for help. I mean, freezing your ass off in a house that you got to on foot all on your own and then basically not accepting when your neighbour wants to help you build a fire or gather firewood or any such thing seems a little too stubborn to me. She sometimes toed the line of too-stupid-to-live territory, but she just managed to stay on the right side of things. I did like that she's not afraid to get her hands dirty while she's trying to make her home actually inhabitable. Also, her willingness to try and get over a fear that has deep roots is admirable, and I could totally understand why she would be terrified in those situations, that's a majorly traumatising event!

I REALLY hated her family though. They were nasty and hateful and just did not seem to care for Hedley one bit. I mean, seriously? They hid her away in the attic and are trying to steal her inheritance and when that doesn't work, they just start destroying it?? I mean, SERIOUSLY??? How can you do that to someone who is family? I was very much less than impressed with them, they were just bad people.

I liked Rafe, with his misguided attempts to set Hedley up with one of the other rakes. I mean, obviously he's attracted to her from the start and then he's trying to deny his feelings and there was some wonderful angst about this and Hedley being hurt because he said some less than thoughtful things and yeah. I liked it. I thought they were good together, though if I'd been Hedley, I'd probably would have at least made him apologize for saying some of the things he did. I mean, she forgives him a little too easily in my opinion. But I could definitely work with their romance.

I actually read The Devilish Mr. Danvers in only a couple of hours. Vivienne Lorret's writing always keeps me interested to find out how the couple will get to their happily ever after and what obstacles will get in the way first. And this one was no different. While I wasn't really blown away by it, I did like it and it was a nice fluffy read.

My rating: 3 stars

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