Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Devil's Cub by Georgette Heyer


When lovely, saucy Mary Challoner had practiced her hold deception upon the hot-blooded, fiery-tempered young Marquis of Vidal substituting herself for the young wench he had thought to carry off to France–she had little notion he would grimly hold her to her part of the bargain. Now he had left her, and she was alone, a stranger in a strange land, prey to the intrigues of glittering, heartless, 18th century Paris.

Only one person could rescue her–the Marquis himself. But how could she ever trust this man? How could she even hope to overcome the contempt in which he held her? And how could even the sudden flowering of her love ever bridge the terrible

Quite honestly, I don’t think I can do this book justice. Clever humor pours all through the pages of this wonderful story. I spent last Sunday afternoon with a beatific smile plastered on my face laughing uncontrollably. My cat, who was sleeping right next to me, was awaken several times and made me well aware with some glaring looks that I was disturbing his comfortable nap.

The characters are a true delight, attaching and far from perfect, which made them even more attractive to my eyes. But it’s the dialogues that caught me completely unaware with their delicious wittiness. There are so many memorable moments that is hard to pick up a favorite.

Vidal is a true rake, not the kind that makes all the show and, at the end, is another misunderstood man who is in great need of talking about his feelings. But he is always honest with his intentions and clearly shows marriage is not in his immediate plans. The pretty and frivolous Miss Challowner caught his eye and she is convinced he will make her his marchioness.

After another scandal, Vidal needs to leave the country and intends to take his current love interest with him. But this is without counting with the young woman’s elder sister, Mary, who always knew the Marquis true intentions. Determined to ruin his plans, she decides to go in her sister’s place

I enjoyed Mary immensely! There’s sizzling chemistry between her and Vidal right from the beginning, but they both try to ignore it the best they can without many success. The shooting scene is hilarious and one of my many favorites in this book.

The constant interventions of Vidal’s family contributes to many funny moments, especially when his paternal aunt is involved (her complains about Vidal’s behavior and comparisons to her son are higly amusing) or even his mother, LĂ©onie, the heroine of These Old Shades, who has always a peculiar talent to comfort her son.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough! Devil’s Cub is now in my comfort reads shelf forever.

Grade: 5/5

10 comments:

  1. I love this story! And now you got me in the mood for some Heyer! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's been ages since I laugh so much reading a book, Ana. When I finished this one I was ready to reread These Old Shades. Wonderful, wonderful dialogues!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I loved that one too ;-)

    I have several Heyers in sight but I think my next one will be Sylvester.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ooohh, Sylvester I will have to listen in audiobook since it's Richard Armitage reading. Apparently he is also recording Venetia. Can't wait!!:D

    ReplyDelete
  5. LOL yes he is! :-)
    I have the Sylvester audiobook but I want to read the book first. Maybe we can listen together and chat about it later.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is going to be my next Heyer. It is the book I nominated to review for the Classics Tour!

    ReplyDelete
  7. This book is waiting for me at the library. Gonna pick it up tomorrow - looks like I'm going to be snowed in again this weekend and looking forward to having a good read on hand!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love this book! And basically anything by Heyer. I recently finished The Black Moth and it was interesting to see how the Alastairs evolved from the Belmanoirs.

    ReplyDelete
  9. After reading your glowing review and checking the amazon Kindle store, I was excited to find out that it was available! I just ordered a sample of the book and hope to be able to peruse it soon. This will be my second book from Heyer, and I am glad to hear it's so good! Awesome review, I will be looking forward to it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have this one in my TBR. Cant wait to get to it now after your review.
    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete