The Devil's Love

I've been slowly picking up Julia London's backlist--this is her first.

Abbey Carrington and Michael Ingram, now Marquis of Darfield, first met when she was a young girl aboard her father's ship. Michael viewed her as hellion and a nuisance. Abbey, however, was enthralled with the young man.

Years later, Abbey's father dies, and to receive her inheritance, she has to marry Michael. This comes as no surprise to her, as her father's been telling her all her life that she's betrothed to Michael, and over the years, she's received letters and gifts from him, and her whole life has been spent in preparing to become Michael's wife.

Michael, however, isn't quite as happy. In fact, he's furious. He'd agreed to the betrothal when he borrowed funds show more from Captain Carrington to pay off his father's debts, conditional upon his repayment. Michael had repaid the loans years before, but with the will comes news of other debts Michael hadn't know about.

As it turns out, Captain Carrington engineered the whole thing--sending the gifts and letters to Abbey himself and hiding the debts. Still, Michael and Abbey are stuck: Michael stands to lose a good portion of his estate, and Abbey her entire inheritance.

Both their reactions were realistic, if not necessarily admirable. Michael is angry and surly and takes a long time to get over that anger. It becomes clear later on in the book why he finds it so difficult, but in the meantime, he's mean and unlikeable as he does everything he can first to convince Abbey to call off the wedding, then to avoid her as much as possible. Just a warning for traditionalists: he *gasp* visits his mistress after meeting Abbey.

Abbey, on the other hand, takes a very long time to realize that her father has duped her as well, and that the Michael she'd been dreaming of isn't the real Michael. This, too, fits with her character--she's an incurable optimist, and she loved her father, so she desperately wants to believe that her whole life has not been a lie.

I very much enjoyed Abbey's pluck, probably largely because it's how I imagine I'd have reacted. She deals with disappointments and roadblocks by making the best of things, always putting on a good face, not showing how upset she is. It was wonderful to see her grow toward the end of the book, and instead of just accepting and adapting to situations, she starts standing up for herself more.

My complaints about Michael and Abbey aren't that they're not believable, but because I made myself hoarse shouting at them: Abbey to stop being so stubborn and make Michael listen to her, and Michael to stop cutting off his nose to spite his face--nothing good comes from harboring resentments over a situation you can't change.

I did have one complaint about the story itself, which is that we never really figured out what Captain Carrington's motivation was. His machinations were awfully complex for simply trying to make a good match for his daughter. Or maybe they weren't, but I'd have liked to have seen it explained.

Overall, though, it was a nice, solid romantic read, and I'm looking forward to catching up with the rest of Julia London's backlist. show less

I read this book a number of years ago and I enjoyed it then for the most part. I also think that this is one of the stories that have made me avoid “the big misunderstanding” plot line. I have always believed that if you really love someone that you believe them and trust them. Unfortunately most of these plot lines revolve around that premise. Now most of the stories are not the usual plot. This book revolves around the blackmail of Michael Ingram and the deceptions of Abigail “Abby” Carrington. Michael is forced to marry Abby to save his family and the fortune that he has amassed to keep his family solvent. Abby’s father has lied to her all her life. She has believed that Michael has waited patiently to marry her. She show more traveled all over the world learning things that would please Michael so she would be a good wife for him. She is devastated when she realizes that all her father told her was a lie. I really felt sorry for Abby. She is an innocence young woman that has fallen in love with a man that doesn't even remember her for the most part. Abby is an eccentric. She finds pleasure in so many different things. She is also the complete opposite of any properly raised young English miss. I loved the scenes of her playing darts in the tavern or birthing a calf. I also loved the scenes where Abby and her aunt and two cousins get together and terrorize the Michael and Sam with their unladylike laughter and comments.

Michael is one of those characters that I would really like to have in front of me so I could “Gibbs” slapped him. He is so dense at times. While I feel sorry for him and like him for the most part, the way he treats Abby just sets me off. You would think that a 31 year old man would know better. Michael has earned several fortunes to pay the debts that his drunken father incurs. He has lived through his mother dying and his sister being ruined by a man that becomes his enemy. He has finally found a place of peace and Abby shows up. I know that all he has been through has shaped him. He is a kind and generous man that has had nasty stories made up about him. He is loyal to his friends and ruthless to his enemies.

For those that love historical romance this is going to be a must read story. Ms. London has done a good job of developing her characters and building her world. She makes you care about all those that are mentioned in the story. You hope that she will write stories for Sam and Alex and the aunt and cousins. This is a fairly quick read that will keep you amused and/or crying, so keep the tissues on hand. I hope that I enjoy her other books as much. show less

Another recommendation in my quest to read abandoned wife tropes. This story was okay, but not great. I'm not sure what the time frame was supposed to be, but there seemed to be a lot of anachronistic details, not that I always care about that if the story is good. Here, we have a heroine who is all over the place while the hero is kind of a jerk, a big one. The story meanders all over the place and drags frequently. Not awful, but not great.

Ms. London has the hero and heroine go through a seemingly endless series of misunderstandings during the course of _The Devil's Love_ in order to create tension--one of my least favorite plot devices. However, her writing and characterization invoke strong emotions in the reader, and the ending is satisfying (and has inspired more than one rereading).

I give it 3.5 stars for the majority of the book, with the ending pushing it up to a 4.

Wow, that was pretty mediocre. I thought the hero was an ass for most of the book. Abby (the heroine) needed a backbone implant, as she was always melting in Michael's arms. When things were finally wrapping up, the story dragged on and I started skimming. I liked the epilogue.

I really enjoyed this story. The only issue that I had with it was the speed with which Abbey was able to forgive Micheal for losing faith with her. Nevertheless, I recommend the story.

I don't understand why Julia London shows "The Devil's Love" and "Wicked Angel" as "Stand Alone Historicals" when the characters are actually contained in the "Rogues" series of books. I would recommend you read these 2 books before reading the Rogues series.