Elizabeth Hoyt; To Desire a Devil

To Desire a Devil: B-
Beatrice Corning & Reynaud St. Aubyn
Legend of Four Soldiers, book 4 (last)

NOTHING IS MORE INTOXICATING—

Reynaud St. Aubyn has spent the last seven years in hellish captivity. Now half mad with fever he bursts into his ancestral home and demands his due. Can this wild-looking man truly be the last earl’s heir, thought murdered by Indians years ago?

OR DANGEROUS—

Beatrice Corning, the niece of the present earl, is a proper English miss. But she has a secret: No real man has ever excited her more than the handsome youth in the portrait in her uncle’s home. Suddenly, that very man is here, in the flesh—and luring her into his bed.

THAN SURRENDERING TO A DEVIL.

Only Beatrice can see past Reynaud’s savagery to the noble man inside. For his part, Reynaud is drawn to this lovely lady, even as he is suspicious of her loyalty to her uncle. But can Beatrice’s love tame a man who will stop at nothing to regain his title—even if it means sacrificing her innocence? (author's website)

To Desire a Devil is the last of Ms. Hoyt's Legend of the Four Soldiers series. Appropriately, the mystery as to who betrayed the English soldiers is finally solved in an anti-climactic end. At the end of book 3 (To Beguile a Beast), the former soldiers (and the men who were betrayed) had a very telling clue to the identity of the traitor. *HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER* We discover that the traitor is a man with a French mother.

Fingers are pointed at Reynaud St. Aubyn, but that doesn't make much of a difference since Reynaud had died in the battle.

Much to everyone's surprise (and horror?), a wild, dangerous man bursts into Beatrice Corning and her Uncle Reggie's (now, the Earl of Blanchard) room. This man claims to be Reynaud and the true Earl of Blanchard.

Beatrice, who has admired Reynaud (from a painted picture of him) for years, is strangely attracted to him, knowing that if what "Reynaud" claims is true, then her Uncle would be stripped of his title and home. Uncle Reggie has cared for her since she was young and she cannot help but to be loyal to him, however, she cannot resist Reynaud...


Readers, I'm not going to lie: I was hoping for more from this book. I was a little annoyed at Beatrice and Reynaud, a little bored by the mystery (though I had started the book really wanting to know who the traitor was), and overall, a little unsatisfied.

Beatrice is a lovely, proper English lady with a romantic nature. The kind of English girl who wants a boy to love her - to really, passionately love her. She imagines Reynaud St. Aubyn is this type of a man. When she meets him, she's intrigued and vexed by his stubbornness and his change in ...everything. Reynaud is no longer the mischievous carefree boy; instead, he is war-torn, has been tortured, and has come to know one of the harsher realities of life.

The problem I had with Beatrice was her lack of conviction in what she wanted, or needed. Or maybe it was just the way Ms. Hoyt wrote about Beatrice and her actions.

Sexual tension has been leading up.... something bad happens and Beatrice is shattered. She is mourning, and right then!, Reynaud decides he wants her. You know, wanting in the bedroom-tango, hanky-panky type of way. (Jerk!)

Beatrice, while she is grieving, realizes life is short and she needs to grab it for all its worth... and even though she is saddened by the fact that Reynaud doesn't love her (she doesn't even know if he likes her much), she goes, YES! Sleep with me because I'm sad and lonely and emotionally overwhelmed. It doesn't matter that I've been wanting to do this with a really special person, one who loves me because Reynaud, I think you're smokin' hot!

...erm...

Okay, let's, for the sake of well... giving Beatrice a chance, let's say she really needed to feel alive that night and being with Reynaud was the only way she was going to feel this. Fine.

She does it again the next night.

Woman!
Have you no dignity?!

More than anything, it comes down to control. Beatrice couldn't control herself, couldn't say no to Reynaud (didn't want to say no to Reynaud even though she did. You know what I mean..) despite all else.

I hate that.
I hate it when men or women are portrayed to have no control over one's actions. You can control yourself, no matter how hot and Brad Pitty he is. It's a good thing Reynaud ended up loving her by the end of the book (LOL, though did we ever doubt it...?).

Besides from that major beef, I'd say that the ending was a little lackluster. Not that the book was really read for the mystery, but since the mystery spanned four books, it should have ended with a bigger pizzazz...

Bottom line: read but don't be expecting to experience the greatest love story.

Elizabeth Hoyt: To Beguile a Beast

Happy Wednesday and Happy Veterans' Day, readers!



good morning kitty by luciana on WeGIF

I don't like cats or kittens much, but the one above is so darling... I just had to share!

With that, I shall proceed to Ms. Hoyt's third book in the Legend of the Four Soldiers series,



To Beguile a Beast: B+
Helen Fitzwilliam & Sir Alistair Munroe
Legend of the Four Soldiers #3

CAN A WOUNDED BEAST . . .

Reclusive Sir Alistair Munroe has hidden in his castle ever since returning from the Colonies, scarred inside and out. But when a mysterious beauty arrives at his door, the passions he's kept suppressed for years begin to awaken.

TRUST A BEAUTY WITH A PAST . . .

Running from past mistakes has taken legendary beauty Helen Fitzwilliam from the luxury of the ton to a crumbling Scottish castle . . . and a job as a housekeeper. Yet Helen is determined to start a new life and she won't let dust-or a beast of a man-scare her away.

TO TAME HIS MOST SECRET DESIRES?

Beneath Helen's beautiful façade, Alistair finds a courageous and sensual woman. A woman who doesn't back away from his surliness-or his scars. But just as he begins to believe in true love, Helen's secret past threatens to tear them apart. Now both Beast and Beauty must fight for the one thing neither believed they could ever find--a happy ever after. (back of book)

This novel was unique in several aspects, which I greatly appreciated.

I like to think this novel is one of a higher level than the regular mass romances on the bookshelves, mainly because the both the hero and the heroine are not squeaky clean. Helen Fitzwilliam is a great beauty and surprise, paramour to a high-standing someone in the London ton. She has been with this man for so long, she has two children fathered by this less than spectacular gentleman.

Alistair Munroe, on the other hand, has holed himself up in his castle since returning from fighting in the Colonies. It was there that he was severely tortured. Not a whipped-back has-knife-wound kind of tortured, Munroe is missing an eye and two fingers from one hand, among other "disfigurements." If this story were to be paralleled to the story of Beauty & the Beast, I am fairly certain Alistair would fall under the Beast category (not the Beauty. I think that would be Ms. Helen Fitzwilliam).

Helen finds herself running for her life. She and her children end up on Munroe's doorstep (er.. castlestep) and announces herself his new housekeeper.

He, undoubtedly, is appalled by her bravado and is stunned by her beauty.
She is intimidated by his scars.

And there starts the story of how these two characters fall in love. Why is Helen running for her life? Glad you asked. Something about an overpossessive certain-somebody...

You also get to find out more about the mystery as to who betrayed the British during that war. It wasn't Alistair, as he was tortured the way he was... so who...?!

I felt the characters came to life in this story. While the whole Helen-in-grave-danger part wasn't particularly exciting nor interesting, seeing Alistair and Helen interact was fun. And... I don't see how a hero can be more tortured or "wounded" (physically and mentally) than our very own Alistair Munroe.

Bottom line: Recommended reading.

Side Question: So... does it make anyone else laugh that the men's woohoo is referred to as a "prick?" I understand that this might be culturally and historically accurate from the Regency era, but a prick? I almost prefer "throbbing manhood" to it... okay, not so much, but you get what I'm saying.

Is it May yet??

On a non-Lisa Kleypas note...














I just finished Elizabeth Hoyt's To Seduce a Sinner. It was just okay.

But!!! I am so excited for the third in her The Legend of the Four Soldiers series, To Beguile a Beast.

It. Sounds. Amazing.

*squeal!!*

...I just want May to come. Is it May yet?

Do you think if I emailed Elizabeth Hoyt profusely, she would pity me and send me the text or send me an ARC?

...sigh...

Elizabeth Hoyt: To Taste Temptation

To Taste Temptation: A-

Lady Emeline Gordon & Samuel Hartley

The Legend of the Four Soldiers 1

After Ms. Hoyt’s very successful debut with the Prince series (The Raven Prince, The Leopard Prince, & The Serpent Prince), she follows up with the start of her new series: The Legend of the Four Soldiers.

The proper and beautiful Lady Emeline Gordon is a respectable widow with a young son. She is fashionable, highly admired, and moves among London’s elite social circles. When one wants to be properly chaperoned and introduced into the ton, she is the one to seek. She accepts offers from families from the utmost crème de la London; therefore, society (and she!) is shocked when she agrees to launch Rebecca Hartley, the younger sister of American soldier and Boston businessman Samuel Hartley. While she feels as though being around Samuel is a bad idea, she knows that he fought in the battle with her deceased brother.

In London, Samuel is branded as a coward, with most believing that he ran away from the battle where the British soldiers were ambushed and killed. No one knows the reason he returned to London is to investigate into what he thinks was a planned betrayal by one of his fellow soldiers.

Emeline, wanting to find out if there was indeed a traitor for the sake of her brother, chaperones Rebecca and is forced to be in Samuel’s presence. She hates it – and she hates the fact that she might so willingly fall in love with Samuel because of the pain she felt when her first husband passed away.

It is at a dinner party that they “hook up.” (LOL)

And it’s then that they venture into the land of looooooove.

A nice side mystery and hot romance with plenty of tension between the characters…I definitely recommend this.