Title: The Devil Takes A Bride
Series: The Cabot Sisters #2
Author: Julia London
Genre: Historical Romance / Regency
My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ½
From powerful love to sizzling passion, Julia London always delivers an incomparable reading experience. Returning to her acclaimed Cabot Stepsisters series, we meet an earl who can only be tamed by one wicked lady…
A plan born of desperation…
Once the toast of society, Grace Cabot and her sisters now await the shame of losing high status and fine luxuries upon the death of the Earl of Beckington. The dire circumstances are inevitable unless, of course, Grace's wicked plot to seduce a wealthy viscount into marriage goes off without a single hitch. But once a stolen embrace with the wrong man leads her to be discovered in the arms of Jeffrey, the Earl of Merryton, her plan takes a most unexpected—and scorching—twist.
…and altered by passion.
Governed by routine and ruled by duty, Jeffrey had no desire for a wife before he succumbed to Grace's temptation. Though his golden-haired, in-name-only bride is the definition of disorder, he can't resist wanting her in every way. But once her secrets meet his, society might consider their lives to be ruined beyond repair…while Jeffrey might just see it as a new beginning.
We were introduced to Grace Cabot in the first book in this series. (The Trouble With Honor)
Feeling that her sister Honor's prospects of marriage are slim Grace travels to Bath with the intent of snaring herself a husband, for which she feels Lord Amherst, brother to the Earl of Merryton would be an excellent canditate as he has shown her a considerable amount of attention as of late. Due to her desperate circumstances she hatches a plan to trap him into marriage by luring him to an empty shop where they will be caught in a comprimising position forcing him to marry her.
Grace's plan goes off almost perfectley except that the man who she is caught with is not Lord Amherst but his brother Jeffrey Donovan the Earl himself. After this the two are hastily married and the Earl whisks Grace off to her new home in the country.
When they arrive at the Merryton estate Grace tries her hardest to be a good wife to Jeffrey dispite their unconventional beginning, but he is so set in his ways and stand-offish she finds it a struggle to connect with him. Although to her credit she does not give up and struggles along trying to understand her new husband.
Jeffrey Donovan's life is ruled by routine and structure , which he uses to combat his struggles with some sort of compulsive disorder, which quite frankly probably comes from being brought up by his authoritarian father. He aslo struggles with the fact that as he has lived such a solitary life he believes that the thoughts he has about sex and women in general are depraved and unnatural, which stops him from fully embracing having a wife as he fears he will hurt her in some way.
The relationship between Grace and Jeffrey was awkward and a little uncomfortable to read at the beginning, but as the story progressed and they grew closer the chemistry between them was great. and progressed naturally and never felt forced. I felt that all the delicate themes such as Grace's mothers dementia and Jeffrey's obsessive compulsions where handled really well.
I think I did prefer this to the first book in the series and I am really looking forward to book 3.
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