Synopsis
from Goodreads: Welcome
to the wonderful world of the Cynsters! When I embarked on the
stories of the Cynster clan, I knew they fascinated me, but I had no
idea how much they would appeal to readers. This volume contains the
books that first introduced readers to the glittering, glamorous,
passionate, and sometimes dangerous lives of the Cynster cousins and
their ducal dynasty. In Devil's Bride, the head of the dynasty, Devil
Cynster, 6th Duke of St. Ives, is caught in a compromising position
with a governess. He astonishingly offers marriage, but Honoria
Anstruther-Wetherby has no interest. Devil is convinced, yet someone
is not so enthused, and accidents start to occur. Can Devil convince
Honoria that marrying him will be a more exciting adventure than
anything she's dreamed? And if he succeeds, will they both survive?
In A Rake's Vow, Vane Cynster, Devil's cousin and closest friend,
determined to avoid Cupid's dart, takes refuge at his godmother's
country house, where fate throws Patience Debbington literally into
his arms. Vane is impressed; Patience is not. But as both become
embroiled in a mystery involving ghosts, thefts, and ultimately
attempted murder, Patience learns that she can place her trust in
this rake's vow, because it's one that comes from the heart
Stats
for my copy: Hardback, Rhapsody, 2004..
How
acquired: Through Book Mooch.
My
thoughts: I
recently joined a group on Facebook, the Old School Romance Book
Club, where at the end of each month a poll is put up and members
vote on which book everyone will read the following month. The book
for November was DEVIL'S BRIDE. I had to hunt down a copy, and wound
up with this omnibus that also contains A RAKE'S VOW.
In
DEVIL'S BRIDE, Honoria is a governess. One day while caught in a
storm driving back from an excursion into town, she comes across a
man lying in the road. While she's investigating his condition, a
crack of thunder frightens her horse and he takes off, leaving her
stranded with the unconscious man. And then Devil comes riding along
and happens upon them. They take refuge in a nearby cottage. The
young man, Tolly, who is Devil's cousin, dies. Devil and Honoria pass
the night together in the cottage, sleeping in chairs before the
fire. Only to be discovered by another of Devil's cousin in the
morning, and Honoria's employer. A scandal in the making.
Devil
offers Honoria marriage as a way for her to save face, which her
brother and countless others are in favor of. But she has no
intention of marrying. She wants to travel to Africa. So she
repeatedly tells Devil thanks but no thanks.
I
struggled to get into the story. I liked Devil well enough, but
Honoria often irritated me. Devil and his cousins set out to discover
who murdered Tolly and why, and Honoria was determined to be part of
the investigation, while Devil was determined that she not be. I was
conflicted in my feelings. I get that Honoria was a strong female
character who was unwilling to settle into the conventional life of a
woman of that time. And yet I often wanted to tell her to just let
the the Bar Cynster, as the cousins were known, worry about the
murder mystery. Which dragged out and was uninteresting.
I
think a lot of my problem was that the author's writing style just
didn't appeal to me. It's very effusive and flowery, with lots of
long sentences, broken up with lots of commas. It was a little
repetitive at times, with paragraphs dragging out in many more words
than necessary to convey a thought. And the sex scenes have to to be
some of the longest I've ever read. They aren't graphic, yet they are
explicit.
Towards
the end though I did get quite caught up in the action and was happy
with how it all turned out.
In
A RAKE'S VOW, which takes place several months later, Vane, one of
Devil's cousins, is traveling when he gets caught in a thunderstorm
near his godmother's home, so he stops in, planning to just stay the
night and then be on his way. Right off the bat he meets Patience,
his godmother's niece, and of course he is immediately intrigued with
her. And then his godmother, Minnie, tells him that there have been a
number of thefts in the household, small, usually insignificant items
stolen, and there has been a mysterious being roaming around in the
nearby ruins of an old abbey at night, who the household are all
referring to as a Spectre. Minnie presses Vane to stay and help sort
things out, and so he finds himself settling in with the rest of her
house guests to investigate and figure out who is the thief and/or
the Spectre.
I
liked Patience much more than I did Honoria. She, too, has no plans
to marry, especially not an “elegant gentleman” such as her
father was, and such as Vane is. Her mother was desperately in love
with her father, who did not return her affection, and Patience is
determined to not let herself fall into the same type of marriage
that made her mother miserable. Vane has no desire to marry either.
He's a rake. Who needs a wife when you can have a mistress? And he
quickly sets his sights on Patience. I also liked Vane, very much.
And Minnie, and Patience's brother. And the mystery was much more
interesting, and the writing didn't bother me as much as in the first
book. I liked A RAKE'S VOW considerably more than DEVIL'S BRIDE.
Enough that I want to get the next book and continue with the series.
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