Lisa Kleypas

Although beautiful young widow Phoebe, Lady Clare, has never met West Ravenel, she knows one thing for certain: he’s a mean, rotten bully. Back in boarding school, he made her late husband’s life a misery, and she’ll never forgive him for it. But when Phoebe attends a family wedding, she encounters a dashing and impossibly charming stranger who sends a fire-and-ice jolt of attraction through her. And then he introduces himself...as none other than West Ravenel. West is a man with a tarnished past. No apologies, no excuses. However, from the moment he meets Phoebe, West is consumed by irresistible desire...not to mention the bitter awareness that a woman like her is far out of his reach. What West doesn’t bargain on is that Phoebe is no straitlaced aristocratic lady. She’s the daughter of a strong-willed wallflower who long ago eloped with Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent—the most devilishly wicked rake in England. Before long, Phoebe sets out to seduce the man who has awakened her fiery nature and shown her unimaginable pleasure. Will their overwhelming passion be enough to overcome the obstacles of the past? Only the devil’s daughter knows…

The Ravenels meet The Wallflowers

Devil's Daughter

azliana aziz

the duke took a sip of coffee before adding, “i will not be impressed.”


same sebastian, same.

Abby Champion

Lover of Romance 

This review was originally posted on Addicted To Romance

Devil's Daughter is the fifth book in the Ravenel series and it's also a story that brings together the Ravenel family and the Wallflower gals. I will admit that I had super HIGH expectations for this story. One it brings the St. Vincent family back into the view, the drop-dead gorgeous cover and the high praise from fellow reviewers and bloggers that received the ARC of this book early. But I want to be honest (I always am) but my review is not going to fit with the popular view point because unfortunately, I didn't love this book, but I did enjoy it. I will be honest, I was "bummed" after reading this book and it breaks my heart that I had 3 starred this book. I really debated on what my reading would be, but I had to look at this book like any other and frankly, it was disappointing. Now this author....Lisa Kleypas will always be a queen author of romance and she will always be an auto-buy author for me and I have nothing my high respect and admiration for her pure talent but this book just didn't work for me.

Devil's Daughter begins with our lovely fiery-haired heroine, Phoebe, who is a widow and mother to two children. There is a wedding coming up for her brother Gabriel and his lovely fiancee Pandora and she is feeling apprehension because West Ravenel will be there.  West tormented her late husband when he was in school and so she sees West as a bully and doesn't trust him and has no desire to meet the man but she knows that she will have to meet him since there will be plenty of celebration in the country for the wedding that is being hosted at the Ravenel country estate. But when Phoebe meets West, there is something that happens that is unexpected, there are sparks and chemistry abound between them and the attraction is mutual. West is fascinated with Phoebe and her two boys and he doesn't hide it. But West has no plans to marry anyone, although if he were to marry anyone, it would be Phoebe. But he doesn't feel like with his scandalous ways, that he is worthy of her love. Soon West and Phoebe will be drawn together by circumstance of fate and love has a way of changing your mind when you least expect it.

Devil's Daughter is a story that brings together the Wallflower and Ravenels more than ever before. One of the aspects that I really loved was seeing our lovely Wallflowers again, we do get a lovely scene with the four gals Annabelle, Daisy, Lillian, and Evie when they get together for a picnic during the wedding celebration. We get some fun and smexy moments between Sebastian and Evie (and boy I just devoured these moments) and then, of course, we get plenty of fun fatherly machinations of Sebastian. What I love about having books in this series that connect to the St. Vincents is seeing Sebastian as a Dad and its infectious and boy does he love to meddle and it's AWESOME!! He just dotes on Phoebe and his grandsons, he just has such a close relationship with Phoebe and seeing a magnifier glass on their father/daughter relationship was so endearing.

  
    
      
        I, meddle?” His brows lifted, and he looked positively indignant. “Evie, what can you be thinking?” “That you’re meddling.”
“From time to time, I may adjust a situation to achieve a desired outcome for the benefit of my children, but that’s not meddling.”
“What do you call it, then?”
“Parenting,” he said smugly, and kissed her before she could reply.
      
    
  

The romance that develops between West and Phoebe is more of an unrequited love type of scenario, especially in the beginning. Phoebe doesn't like West (even though she has never met him before now) and West is unsure how to proceed with a woman that doesn't like him very much and he doesn't understand why. We see more depth to West in this story, and that he had a rough beginning and was a bully but we also see the pranks he does aren't hurtful or cruel more just the playful rogue in him when he acts out due to the abuse he was dealt when he was a child. But he does grow out of it, and becomes a man to admire and works really hard to become the best estate manager and this is where he and Phoebe really connect. I love seeing Phoebe and West work together in figuring out the details and problems with her estate and the mystery behind everything. The smexy scenes that Lisa Kleypas writes between them is pretty sexy and definitely has Lisa Kleypas' stamp on them, and I do love the way she writes a sexy scene. They are so intimate and sensual without being super explicit. This is the pure talent of Lisa Kleypas.

  
    
      “I want you with my entire body." West dragged his mouth over hers, shaping her lips before settling in for a rough and ardent kiss. “You’re all I think about. You’re all I see. You’re the center of a star, and the force of gravity keeps pulling me closer, and I don’t give a damn that I’m about to be incinerated.”
      

    
  

Now my issues with this book: NO CHEMISTRY!! Now I don't want to bash this book or this author but this romance was not something I connected with. I couldn't really see the romance in this story and this was so disappointing because romance is something that Lisa Kleypas excels at but this book I just didn't feel it. The story was engaging, I fell in love with West and Phoebe individually but I just couldn't feel their connection. It felt a bit bland to me and not with the typical flair that normally comes with a Lisa Kleypas novel. Maybe I entered this novel with high expectations but I just couldn't feel it in this book and to be honest this has really upset me and just breaks my heart to see this in a Kleypas novel but sadly it's true. I know many won't agree with me, but this is my honest feelings for this story.

Overall I had a fun time with Devil's Daughter, despite what I found lacking, I did find this book overall a simple delight to read, gives the reader plenty of laughs, a chance to reconnect with old favorites, and a page-turner to enchant its readers! CHARM AND POISE!

Ashlee

Alright, this one is tied with Marrying Winterborne as my favorite in the series now. I knew I would love West’s story but damn, Lisa hit this one out of the park.

B. K.

4.5 stars, rounded up. My favorite of the Ravenels series so far. It didn't do anything original for a historical romance, and the story wrapped up surprisingly quickly at the end, but I still really enjoyed this. West and Phoebe were both just so likeable.

Renee Delcourt

I just really love Lisa Kleypas' writing. I laugh, I smile, I get emotional. I just adore it. And this was no exception to that. I enjoyed West and Phoebe's story.

b.andherbooks

Well this was just absolutely delightful, from the narration, to the romance, to the lush descriptions of food, clothing, and architecture. Also, the sexy-times were A+ hot. I absolutely adored watching cranky reformed rake West Ravenel fall head over heels for Phoebe, Lady Clare.

I especially enjoyed that Phoebe, as a widow, desperately loved her husband, misses him, and did not have to spend anytime worrying about West being jealous of her late husband. Also, I was glad that the "villain" in this story wasn't just a gross caricature. He very well could have been Phoebe's next husband, and he wasn't a terrible person, just not a great person. Or right for her. I loved too that Phoebe was allowed to revel in her choices. She could be fancy, she could be a bit uptight, she could mother. She could also want to take the reins of her son's estate and make the man she wants her husband. Go girl.

And oh West, you are a sexy beast and I love you the more for it. You are dumb for not marrying Phoebe forthwith, but whatever. You figured it out.

Bonus points for sexy shaving times, early morning rendezvous, mid-morning rendezvous in glass-houses, up against the wall rendezvous. Did I mention the sexy-times were A+?

I have not even come close to having read most of Kleypas's work, and for a while I was bit overwhelmed with characters from other stories, but it all worked out in the end. So, if read Sebastian's story at the minimum, and Pandora's if you can, but other than that I was fine.

I must also say the narrator for this story is superb. Will definitely seek out more of her work.

Saayan

I first read this book last year and enjoyed it. After reading Hello Stranger, which was supposed to come before but I read it out of order, I gave this audiobook a go and enjoyed it even more!

West is one of my favorite heroes. He is funny, charming and charismatic. I loved him in Hello Stranger as well. This was a sweet story with low angst and lots of humor. A definite must read for fans of her other series, but it can still be enjoyed without previous knowledge.

Devil's Daughter The Ravenels meet The Wallflowers

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