Review: Devil in Winter
So lately, I’ve been running out of books to read and I’ve found it increasingly hard to find more that interest me, and since I haven’t read a historical in a while, I decided to read some more Lisa Kleypas, and I was not disappointed. I read the first three books in her Wallflower series and instead of reviewing all of them, I decided to review just one: Devil in Winter, because it was my favourite out of the three. I only read the three of them because in knew that in the fourth one, there were going to be scenes and moments with Daisy and Cam, and I am too loyal to the Cam/Amelia pairing that I just couldn’t do it. Honestly, now I know why Devil in Winter is a favourite for fans of Kleypas, and I agree with them, it’s my favourite of the series.
Once again, the world-building, and character development are very well done by Kleypas, and I love how there are some things, such as characters, and places, which appear and/or connect with stories on her other series. I loved learning about the characters in a different light – such as the Westcliff’s, the St. Vincent’s, and Rohan.
I have to say it again, the character development in this particular story was wonderful, and it had to be spot on to pull of a book with this particular storyline.
Sebastian St. Vincent, a notorious rake, agreed to a proposition for marriage – who would’ve thought of marriage for a rake such as he? No one, really. Throughout the story, St. Vincent faces a number of obstacles (including a near death experience), and feelings in which he has to overcome. The development in which he goes through is pretty big and very weird for him. But at the end, we see Sebastian St. Vincent, reformed rake.
Now Evie Jenner is the wallflower who approaches St. Vincent with the marriage proposal, and although it is a rushed affair, in the end, it turns out to probably be the best thing she ever did. Evie also undergoes a transformation throughout the story, she grows in confidence, and as a result, her stutter practically disappears. She went willingly into a marriage of convenience, but soon found that it turned to more. Evie is a strong, determined character, which is shown in her many dealings with St. Vincent.
I absolutely loved the storyline of Devil in Winter – I really do enjoy romances which start of as hate (not so much in this one) and turn into love. I also love Kleypas’ writing style, I think she bends the rules of the Victorian era enough for it to still be true to the time, but to also satisfy readers of this day and age (and yes, I’m talking about those delicious sex scenes and the quantity of them in one novel). However, like I said before, I am so very loyal to the Cam/Amelia pairing and I didn’t like that scene at all which transpired between Cam and Daisy – I knew it was foreshadowing for the next installment, hence my refusal to read at this point in time.
Honestly, I think the title of the book is somewhat very relevant, because in some cases, St. Vincent can (and was, I think) referred to as the devil or something of the sort.
Maybe at a later time I will end up reading Scandal in Spring and then after (or even before) I might read A Wallflower Christmas.
