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Between The Devil And Desire (2008)

by Lorraine Heath(Favorite Author)

4 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

006135564X (ISBN13: 9780061355646)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Avon

series

Scoundrels of St. James

review 1: "Between the Devil and Desire" is Jack Dodger's story. The last we saw him in the first book of the series he was coming to terms with his relationship with Lucian, newly confirmed Earl of Claybourne. In that one, Luke learned as a child Jack was paid just sixpence to lure his parents into an alleyway, where his parents were killed. While Jack had no idea that was going to happen, he immediately felt bad and brought Luke to Feagan and joined his merry men of thieves. As a child, Jack lived with his mother and her protector. But one day his mother sold him to live with an aristocratic who sexually abused him. Running away from that situation, he joined Feagan's group and excelled at thievery. He never wanted to be in a position where he could be bought. Using an money from ... morea benefactor he rose from the gutter and built Dodger's, an extremely successful gaming hell. Out of the blue, he's summoned to the home of the former Duke of Lovingdon. Not having much a relationship with the man, he's immediately flabbergasted as why the man has named him guardian to his 5 year old. Just out of the blue! He's also bequeathed a ginormous house and all of its wealth, but the stipulation is he must raise the boy. One for always filling his coffers, he accepts the proposition. But, the house comes with a duchess, a very feisty duchess who doesn't take no for an answer. When Olivia is told Jack is to be her son's guardian, she's shocked. Jack is known as a former thief, a rogue of rogues and now guardian to her son. He's a complete stranger and she has no choice, but to let the law reign and allow him access to her home and son. The only way Jack can no longer be guardian is if she marries, but since she's in full mourning, it's not going to happen for a year or two. Like the previous book, there are a lot of bad first impressions. A lot of the motives are because of perceived reputations. Olivia only knows Jack because of the gossip she hears from other ladies. Jack thinks Olivia is stuck up and a proper duchess, nothing of his ilk. So tensions rise, when she refuses to leave her home and son and they are stuck in the same house with sizzling sexual tension and bond over her son. But little by little, their first impressions change and they slowly see each other as they truly are. Olivia questions why Jack belittles himself so much and he often believes he would only bring shame to Olivia should they marry. So he often threatens her with marriage to another man, but he questions why he gets jealous with the thought of that. Catherine and Luke from the previous novel make an appearance and its an interesting comparison. Jack often says Luke was best liked among Feagan's lads and Catherine was more outspoken that Olivia. But like Luke, Jack has a sad and sordid childhood and Olivia had a happy(ish), but loveless marriage to a much older man. She's very tempted to do wicked things with Jack, but doesn't want to know what it's like to have such great pleasure because she doesn't want her heart to be broken. What they have between them is something rather forbidden because they make it so, both have concerns of propriety and whether true and lasting love can actually exist. Like the previous novel, Feagan's lot carry a lot of emotional baggage from their childhoods. We learn much later on, what the guilt from luring Luke's parents to be killed did to Jack. There's a lot of turmoil there. A lot. With each novel in the series you wonder what the next travesty is going to be with the protagonist. But in a way, it's more realistic. You know these things must have occurred to real people. They probably didn't end up dukes or with prosperous gaming hells, after all we need our characters to have HEAs. But still, there's a turmoil that exists in all these characters.
review 2: I liked this, and I wish I could have loved it, but unfortunately too many coincidences got in my way. Jack is a great character, and Olivia is a food nemesis for him, but I found both flipped into love a bit too completely, too soon. The antagonists were quite weak and the final confrontation completely illogical. Heath's writing, however, always seems to save the day and even with the weaknesses, I thought it a good read. less

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