Adair Thorne has just watched his gaming-hell dream disappear into a blaze of fire and ash, and he’s certain that his competitors, the Killorans, are behind it. His fury and passion burn even hotter when he meets Cleopatra Killoran, a tart-mouthed vixen who mocks him at every turn. If she were anyone else but the enemy, she’d ignite a desire in him that would be impossible to control.
No one can make Cleopatra do anything. That said, she’ll do whatever it takes to protect her siblings―even if that means being sponsored by their rivals for a season in order to land a noble husband. But she will not allow her head to be turned by the infuriating and darkly handsome Adair Thorne.
There’s only one thing that threatens the rules of the game: Cleopatra’s secret. It could unravel the families’ tenuous truce and shatter the unpredictably sinful romance mounting between the hellion…and a scoundrel who could pass for the devil himself.
Christi Caldwell does not merely pen stories, she creates worlds. Saying that I got sucked into this book would be an understatement. I got yanked into this world. Closing the book at the end was like a punch in the gut. It jarred me back to the present, and made me long for the next book in this series so that I could return.
Cleopatra is one of my absolute favorite regency heroines to date. She is bold, daring, completely refreshing and unpredictable. I absolutely loved her. Cleo is no shy retiring debutante. She is strong, yet vulnerable.
Adair! *swoon*. I felt so heartbroken for Adair. I know what it is to feel all of your friends moving onto new stages of life. Christi does such an awesome job of conveying emotion. I felt his loneliness. It was so fun to see his character evolve.
Christi has done a fantastic job with the conversations in this work. Adair, Cleo and all of their respective siblings easily slip back into a heavy cockney accent when they are alone or stuck by intense emotions, but practice the cultured enunciation of the Ton when in company. In many ways they use their speech patterns as a shield. When done poorly, writing accents into books annoys me very much. Fortunately, Christi has done it extremely well. In The Hellion, the language is as much a part of the characters and plot as anything else.
It was so fun to see the cameos by heroes and heroines past in this story. Especially Penelope, who it feels as though I’ve known since she was a child. It feels like reuniting with old friends!
One last note, Mac Diggory is the vilest of reprobates and his death (a few books ago) was too kind. May he burn in the fires of hell forever. The end.
READ AND REVIEWED BY SHOWIE
Christi Caldwell is an ‘auto buy’ author for me. Trust me when I say that her’s are books that can be bought without reading the blurb, a review or a recommendation. It has to be because of the whole ‘world’ she creates in each book, introducing characters that grow and evolve and are so intriguing that we want to know more about them or want them to have their own story. It’s like a vortex (in the nicest possible way!) that you get caught into … that you WANT to get caught into … you ENJOY being caught into.
Adair is one such character that emerged from the sidelines (in Ryker’s book) and came into his own in this book. With each book in that previous series he intrigued us with small glimpses never revealing his character entirely. And then BAM … here he is, in a new series with a whole lot of past nostalgia and a whole lot of newness. From a ‘disapproving mama’ in the last (Calum’s) book to this fierce, protective, kind and sensitive hero that we meet in The Hellion. Adair Throne is quite possibly my favourite of the ‘Black siblings’. But then I usually say that about the hero of all Christi’s books!
Cleopatra (she hates her name shortened, by the way!) was such a refreshing heroine. It was a pleasure to read about her – her past, her fears, her loyalty … everything that was Cleopatra, the Queen of St. Giles. Everytime she utters a profanity, balls her fists in defence or puts on her mocking facade there is also the underlying fears and insecurities that plague her and as a reader you can ‘see;’ the emotions that she is battling. Being ‘tough’ to survive. From her bringing Adair to his knees (impressively, twice I might add) to her protectiveness of her siblings and even her tenderness towards Paisely … Cleo, sorry Cleopatra was a charming heroine. I especially loved reading about her interactions with her brother.
I felt The Hellion was all about ‘feelings’ and about redemption of many characters. Suddenly the Killorans had a heart. Earlier they were just the enemy but now they were also humans, with feelings, with love and with fierce loyalty. The entire story was a simple one, that was told with a lot of emotion … from every character that emerged in it. Some new and some old and familiar … the intrigue that is built up by Christi continues, as I ended the book wondering about Cleopatra’s siblings and a certain ‘suitor’ that I really think needs his own story
