REVIEW: Devil’s Daughter by Lisa Kleypas
Dear Ms. Kleypas,
Devil’s Daughter begins with Phoebe, Lady Clare (daughter of Sebastian and Evie from Devil in Winter) on her way to her brother Gabriel’s wedding. Phoebe is widowed and the mother of two young boys. Phoebe’s late husband, Henry, was her childhood best friend, and frail. Phoebe loved Henry very much.
When he was a boy, Henry was sent to boarding school where he was bullied by another boy, West Ravenel. Henry wrote to Phoebe about the misery West inflicted on him, and how West even stole a book Phoebe sent Henry–a book they both cared about very much.
Eventually, Henry’s parents pulled him out of school and he came to live near Phoebe. Their childhood romance led Phoebe to propose to him and despite his misgivings about his health and how Phoebe deserved better, Henry agreed to marry her. She was pregnant with their second child when he passed away due to his wasting disease (in typical romance fashion, this remains a mysterious, unnamed illness).
Now, Phoebe’s brother is about to marry Pandora Ravenel and when Phoebe, her kids, parents and siblings travel to Eversby Priory for the wedding, Phoebe and West meet at last. Phoebe has a mental image of West as a fat slug who harasses the maids but instead he turns out to be an attractive, energetic man to whom she is immediately drawn, even before she learns who he is. Of course, once she realizes he’s the one who made Henry’s life miserable, she is determined to have as little as possible to do with him. But fate keeps throwing them together.
West is attracted to Phoebe from the moment he meets her and he doesn’t have the same enmity toward her that she has toward him but he feels he is no prize. For many years he almost drank himself into an early grave, hurt people and even destroyed a few marriages along the way. But by this point in his life, he’s been sober for two years, having reformed himself on his own.
Now West manages Devon’s estate. He has been very successful at updating the farming methods and the tenants and staff are fond of him. Nevertheless, he is less impressed with his turnaround than everyone else, and even after his childhood bullying of Henry is put to rest between himself and Phoebe, he doesn’t want to inflict himself—not only a man of a lesser social status, but also one whose reputation is forever ruined—on Phoebe and her sons.
Phoebe, too, does not want to fall for West, even as she does. Not only are there the skeletons in his closet to consider, but she made a promise to Henry on his deathbed that presents another obstacle.
I’ve been chomping at the bit for Devil’s Daughter ever since I read the excerpt of its opening, but I really worried that I’d built up my expectations so much that I would be disappointed in the book when I finally read it. Instead, I ended up enjoying it greatly.
I don’t know if the book would be equally satisfying to readers who haven’t followed West’s growth throughout the Ravenel series. I have been following it, though, so I loved him going in. However, here my love for him expanded further. I don’t expect others to agree with me, given the popularity of Derek Craven from Dreaming of You and Sebastian from Devil in Winter, but West is hands down my favorite Kleypas hero.
Perhaps the greatest thing about West is that he reformed himself *before* he met Phoebe. He has matured and grown and owns his past mistakes. And he does this not to win the heroine, but to win himself back.
One of the other things I loved in West was his vitality, which contrasts both with unhealthy man he used to be—eating and drinking too much, leading a lethargic lifestyle—and with Henry, Phoebe’s frail first husband.
West’s interest in farming is grounded in lovely details about his active participation in harvesting and sheep-shearing, his interest in new farming techniques, and the description of the land he cares for. His love of food hasn’t gone away, but now he loves being alive, too.
His symbolic association with growing things, animals and earth highlights this vitality. It is as if, after years of self-destruction and destructive impulses, he’s found the magic of coming to life. And he shares that magic with Phoebe and her kids and brings her alive in a way that she has not been before.
Phoebe is a lovely character, too: keen-witted, strong-willed, and a little afraid of the responses she feels in West’s presence. She is a loving mother to her kids, relaxed with them when it comes to propriety and rules but a little overprotective, too. It is a joy to see her realize slowly that West isn’t entirely the villain she has always thought he was.
Phoebe’s life has become circumscribed due to Henry’s illness and her grief for him, as well as her role of widow and mother to two young boys. With West, she not only comes to life in a new way, but discovers her power to make decisions she put off making in the past. Her role of Henry’s loyal and devoted wife entailed some sacrifices that she made willingly, but in the course of knowing West, she discovers that she doesn’t owe Henry everything, which is nice to see.
I liked Phoebe’s son Justin (Stephen, the baby, was too young to have a big role in the story). Justin was an appealing, sometimes amusing child without being one of those cloyingly sweet romance genre kids. And of course, there is Sebastian, Phoebe’s father, who is better and more witty here than he is in Devil in Winter (I am an outlier in my not-so-great opinion of that book upon rereading it).
Speaking of wit, there was some great repartee in this book, both between West and Phoebe and between other characters as well. Here’s an example of the first, from a scene in which Phoebe is stuck sitting next to West and having to talk to him at dinner.
“I won’t say anything about farming. We can discuss other subjects. I have a vast and complex array of interests.”
“Such as?”
Mr. Ravenel considered that. “Never mind, I don’t have a vast array of interests. But I feel like the kind of man who does.”
Amused despite herself, Phoebe smiled reluctantly. “Aside from my children, I have no interests.”
“Thank God. I hate stimulating conversation. My mind isn’t deep enough to float a straw.”
Phoebe did enjoy a man with a sense of humor. Perhaps this dinner wouldn’t be as dreadful as she’d thought. “You’ll be glad to hear, then, that I haven’t read a book in months.”
“I haven’t gone to a classical music concert in years,” he said. “Too many moments of ‘clap here, not there.’ It makes me nervous.”
“I’m afraid we can’t discuss art, either. I find symbolism exhausting.”
And here is another example, from a scene in which West and his brother Devon are discussing the preparations for Pandora’s wedding.
“It’s like staging a production at St. James’s Music Hall. Without, sadly, the chorus girls in pink tights.” West drained the rest of his coffee. “My God, will this day never end?”
“It’s only six o’clock in the morning,” Devon pointed out.
They both sighed.
“I’ve never thanked you properly for marrying Kathleen at the registrar’s office,” West commented. “I want you to know how much I enjoyed it.”
“You weren’t there.”
“That’s why I enjoyed it.”
There are times, when reading romances, when I feel that the only thing binding the characters together is physical attraction and sex. This always makes me feel that something is lacking, but such was not the case with Devil’s Daughter. Here the sex was steamy enough to fog windows, but there was more glue to West and Phoebe’s relationship than that.
I especially loved the way Phoebe and West opened up to each other about their pasts and made themselves vulnerable to one another, the time they spent discussing farming techniques, and West’s playfulness with Phoebe’s children. Here’s a scene in which Justin is riding his hobbyhorse:
“Have you been working already?” Sebastian asked.
“No, I rode out to the east side to have a look at the quarry. We’re mining a rare deposit of hematite ore, and—” Mr. Ravenel paused as he caught sight of Justin ducking behind a settee with the hobbyhorse. Resting most of his weight on one leg in a relaxed stance, he said with feigned regret, “Someone’s let a horse into the house. What a nuisance. Once they’re inside, it’s impossible to get rid of them. I’ll have to tell the housekeeper to set out some traps and bait them with carrots.”
The wooden horse peeked out from behind the top edge of the settee and shook his head.
“Not carrots?” Mr. Ravenel asked, advancing stealthily toward the settee. “What about apples?”
Another shake.
“A lump of sugar?”
“Plum cakes,” came a small, muffled voice.
“Plum cakes,” Mr. Ravenel repeated in villainous satisfaction. “A horse’s greatest weakness. Soon he’ll be caught in my trap . . . and then . . .” He dove behind the settee, pouncing on Phoebe’s unseen son.
A shriek tore through the air, followed by a rush of boyish giggles and the sounds of rough-and-tumble play.
I did have a few issues with the book, however. A couple of anachronistic word choices felt out of place. There was a little more sequel and prequel-baiting than I wanted—it was hard to keep track of the newly introduced Wallflowers’ kids. The only one that stands out is Marcus and Lillian’s oldest daughter, Merritt. She was a fun character—worldly, married, and amusing.
The next two issues (my biggest with the book) fall into huge spoiler territory:
Spoiler: Show
After finishing the book the first time, I wrote a review grading it a B+. But three days later, I couldn’t resist picking it up and starting it all over again. Rereading a book so soon after finishing only happens to me rarely. Then I picked it up again. And again.
Even on my second, third and fourth reads, Devil’s Daughter remained a delightful book–sweet, sexy, tender, and romantic. Even the scenes that bothered me the first time around have grown on me. I had to rewrite my review. I’m giving it an A.
Sincerely,
Janine
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I loved this book, and your review is spot on. But no mention of my favorite character, Galoshes?
I’ve been under impressed at the last couple of Lisa Kleypas books I’ve read, but you’ve certainly piqued my interest with this review. Thank you, Janine.
@LauraD: Thanks! And LOL. Galoshes doen’t hold a candle to West. I did like the cat, though. I thought it was nice symbolism to have a small subplot about whether Galoshes, like West, would be accepted into Phoebe’s household, and whether West, like Galoshes, could be tamed / domesticated. The review was long enough, though. There was lots else that I could have said but there was limited room.
@Kareni: Re the last couple of books. For what it’s worth, I liked Devil in Spring (It earned a B from me) but I didn’t care for Hello Stranger—that was a DNF/ skim. This one was far better than either for me. But I think that it’s important to read West’s parts in the other books (Cold-Hearted Rake and Hello Stranger especially) before going into this one, since his growth arc starts with book one.
I’m reading this book now. West always had a great sense of humor, as evidenced in Cold-Hearted Rake & Hello, Stranger. However, as you stated in the review, West made all the changes himself. The arc of his story didn’t rely on the love of a good woman or an intervention by family members.
@Kim: Yes! I loved that his reform happened in the earlier books and he never made it Phoebe’s problem. And I loved how sincere he was in his apology and that he volunteered it without prompting.
Well you already know what I think Janine! (Janine and I have had an epic email conversation about this book). So you know I agree with you about everything.
I’m interested in your thoughts about the first spoiler issue being less of an issue for you after multiple re-reads – perhaps we need to revive the email thread? :)
I’m also firmly Team West (although Hardy Cates from the contemporary Blue-Eyed Devil is also a favourite of mine). I only just read Devil in Winter but West is so much more wonderful IMO. The main thing being that he fixed himself for his own reasons and not because he needed to to win Phoebe.
I loved how West was with the children and I loved how he and Phoebe were together. This book gave me all the feels. I listened to it and was all aswoon for most of the listen.
The other thing I don’t think I said in the email thread was that this was one of the few books where land management was sexy – the only other one I’ve read (that I can think of) was A Lady Awakened by Cecelia Grant.
@Kaetrin: That was fun, and I love that you are on Team West as well. “Aswoon” is the operative word here!
I have not read the book with Hardy Cates but now you’ve made me really want to. And you know I agree with you on Sebastian vs. West, though it should be noted that Sebastian has some of his best lines in Devil’s Daughter.
Yes! West was amazing with the kids. This book has some of the loveliest adult-child interactions I’ve come across in the genre.
Re. your mention of Cecilia Grant’s books–yes, there aren’t many mentions of land management in romancelandia. I think there may have been some in Pam Rosenthal’s Almost a Gentleman. One of the things I loved about the land management details in Devil’s Daughter was that West didn’t just oversee the farmwork, but also took part in it.
I read this over the weekend and it was delightful. Also, about the mysterious wasting disease, I think I saw where Lisa Kleypas told someone on Twitter that Henry had Crohn’s, which would not have been nearly as understood back then, and probably would have presented as “this guy can barely eat and no matter what he eats he appears to be wasting away anyway”, and nobody would have had any idea about how to manage or treat it. I thought it was an interesting narrative choice to make. Anyway, thought that might be an interesting tidbit.
@Crystal: Yes, that is interesting! I feel all the more sorry for Phoebe having to manage Crohn’s in the 19th century.
@Crystal: Oh that is interesting. Thank you for sharing that tidbit. Yes, that makes complete sense.
I’ve come late to this page, but I have to agree: I loved this book. I listened to it as an audiobook, and Mary Jane Wells is fast becoming my favorite narrator. But I’ve probably listed to this book at least a dozen times. West is a wonderful hero. Something I don’t remember being mentioned – in his talk with Ransom, he mentions his fear that they would be abusive like their fathers. I just wanted to thump him because he’d been wonderfully patient with Phoebe’s kids!
Flip side – I loved “Hello Stranger”, too. I really liked Garret Gibson from the first time she showed up in Marrying Winterbourne. And I thought Ethan Ransom was a wonderfully complex hero. And of course West played a pretty strong role in that book, too. :)
@MikiS: I’m so glad you loved this one, too!
Re Hello Stranger, I also loved Garrett from her very first appearance and I thought West’s scenes were the best thing about Hello Stranger. My issue with the book was Ethan. He just doesn’t work for me as a character—too much of a super duper spy / detective / locksmith / lover to be easy to buy, and his brogue adds to the feeling that he’s an over-the-top character and less than convincing.
Also, I didn’t really feel that he and Garrett had chemistry. I originally wanted Garrett to be paired with either Tom Severin or West and I was disappointed that this didn’t happen, but since I love West with Phoebe, I’m glad Lisa Kleypas went in a different direction than I originally wanted.
Finally, I usually find the suspense plots to be the least interesting parts of romances, so that was another reason why Hello Stranger wasn’t for me.
@MikiS: I didn’t dislike Hello Stranger but it’s my least favourite of the series so far. It was about a B- for me. I had a couple of issues with the plot IIRC – some things just didn’t add up for me. But beyond that I can’t remember very much detail.
@Kaetrin: I don’t know what didn’t add up for you in Hello Stranger, but one thing I couldn’t buy was that Ethan’s wound could be disinfected after he’d swam in the dirty water of the Thames with it.
@Janine: I can’t remember now but I think it was something about how he was presented in Hello Stranger (to do with his work) and how it seemed to me to be inconsistent with how he was presented in earlier books. But please don’t ask me for details now – I’d have to read the books again to be able to be more specific!
@Kaetrin: In the earlier books he seemed loyal to his role in the organization he worked for, so it was a bit strange to me when we found out that he didn’t feel that way. But I went with the flow on that one.