Devil's Cub

I almost didn't get this book after trial reading the first few pages. But I have to say there is something intriguing about Vidal. Not to mention this is a sequel to These Old Shades, which I did not know going in. No sooner did I finish reading it but I went back and read a certain section again and since then started it again from the beginning. I have NEVER done that before. Still smiling away and laughing as I read it too. If you have read These Old Shades read this next. You are in for a treat with both books, but this is my favorite! What is wrong with Hollywood, there is some good stuff in Heyer's books!

Like some other reviewers, I feel that this book's antecedent, These Old Shades, was Heyer's master work. I was completely dazzled by the character development in These Old Shades, and can be forgiven for hoping that Devil's Cub might offer more of the same.This book was absorbing but the characters not so much. While the Duke of Avon had a faintly sinister air in These Old Shades, he was a benevolent person at the core. His son Vidal comes off as selfish and disinterested in the wellbeing of others -- witness the careless attitude about the corpse of the highwayman and his complete apathy about the fate of his victim in a gaming hell duel.His willingness to abduct and debauch Sophia doesn't add to his allure either. I was surprised that Mary (a.) came to such great fondness for him and (b.) settled quickly into the Alastair family, given that she was portrayed as a woman of strong principles. OK but not wonderful.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5 starsThis is the second in a series of four and really cannot be read as a stand alone. I was a little surprised that this son of Justin and Leonie turned out to have such habits...and thus the name. Not only does he take lovers (not unusual for the times) but he is a gamester (with good luck, fortunately) and a wickedly accurate shot with a gun. He does love and have a good relationship with his mother and respects his father.As the story begins he shots and kills a highwayman and leaves the body in the road. Later he is convinced to have the body sent off to the authorities with his compliments. Then late at night during a game in which he cannot seem to lose he challenges a man who accuses him of having loaded dice to a duel...on the spot...and wounds the man in such a manner that it seems death will soon follow. His father than banishes him to the continent so as to avoid arrest and to allow gossip to cool.However before leaving Dominic sends a letter to his latest flirt asking that she meet him and travel to the continent with him. Unwittingly his letter is given to the lady's older sister since it is she who is "Miss Collonder". Mary decides to meet the Viscount in her sister's place so as to thwart the man's attempt to ruin her sister. When he realizes that this woman has made a fool out of him he forces her to go with him. She is violently ill crossing the Channel which prevents Dominic from making any immediate advances upon her. Then events and conversation in France lead to Dominic realizing that he has ruined a straitlaced young lady, not a flirt like her sister. He offers marriage. She refuses. He insists.So our tale has various people becoming involved with this couple as she attempts to flee from his "protection" and he refuses to give her up. Various of his relatives show up. His cousin, Juliana, happens to be in France with the man she insists she is going to marry. She also happens to be a friend of Mary's from their school days. We find that those two ladies' fates become entangled during this tale. And there is a surprise meeting for Mary with a most important figure from Dominic's family.One of the biggest reasons Mary refuses to marry Dominic is that she considers herself to be far below him in social status, with no money, no title and no connections. And as she now knows she is ruined in England she decides that the best she can hope for is to find a position as a governess or some type of service, even if it means a lower position.I enjoyed this story and was definitely drawn in and turning pages. Some parts are predictable but that did not lessen the intrigue. I highly recommend this story along with the first.

This Kindle edition is well formatted and well edited. I have several copies of Devil's Cub in paperback, because it is one of my all-time favorite novels as a huge fan of romantic comedy, though this book is actually both drama and comedy. Georgette Heyer is the Grand Dame of the comic, Regency historical romance, and I just bought this Kindle edition to have a portable copy of this wonderful book. I actually read the whole thing on my iPhone using the Kindle app, even though I own a Kindle. I was out somewhere without my Kindle last week and simply downloaded it to my iPhone. Once I began reading it on my iPhone, with the Kindle app allowing me to enlarge the size of the font substantially, I found it very easy to keep reading it on my iPhone and read the whole book that way. I do dearly love Kindle ebooks! It's so handy to have access to my entire collection of Kindle books in multiple media, so I can read them wherever I am, whenever I want.Now, for a little about the book itself:Devil's Cub is a sequel to  These Old Shades . The events in this story happen about 25 years after that story. The Duke of Avon is now very likely in his mid-60's and Leonie is in her early 40's and still looks young and vibrant--and they are clearly still very much in love. Dominic is 24 and very much his mother's son. He is a dead shot, a famous horseman, an infamous rake, never loses at cards, and can drink anyone else under the table. He gets into trouble by shooting a man in a duel and the Duke insists he must flee to the continent until the scandal dies down. Dominic agrees to go because it will keep his mother, whom he adores and measures all women by, from worrying. But he decides to take the beautiful, willing, 18-year-old daughter of a "cit," a rich businessman, with him on the journey. Mary, the 20-year-old big sister of Dominic's chosen mistress-to-be, is determined to foil her sister's dangerously naive scheme, which is to entrap Dom into marriage by letting him compromise her. Mary concocts a daring plan to take her sister's place and pretend to be such a coarse trollop that Dom leaves her behind in disgust and never comes near her sister again.Unfortunately Mary goes too far, actually taunting Dom and laughing at him, pushing Dom into such a towering rage that he loses all common sense. He impulsively kidnaps her and takes her to France with him on his yacht, insisting she will do very well to replace her sister.This is one of the most dramatic "first meets" I've ever read in a romance novel, and it is utterly delightful the way Dom's thoughtless act brings down on his head far more trouble than he ever experienced in his entire, privileged life. Mary is a woman with enormous physical and moral courage who will do whatever it takes to defend her family and her own honor in a manner no other woman besides his mother would dare to undertake, and she is more than a match for dark-and-dangerous Dominic. The battle of wits between the two of them is pure fun to watch.No matter how many times I read this story, I never get tired of it. No one writes romance as well as Heyer, but her comic skill is also unparalleled. She especially excels at group scenes of comic mayhem where multiple characters are talking at cross purposes, to laugh-out-loud effect.If you ever need cheering up on a gloomy day, this is the book to do it.

One of my favorite novels by Georgette Heyer, she brings the Regency era delightfully to life. Dominic is that bad boy rake that we all fantisize about and he is perfectly ruthless and also charming. Read These Old Shades first to really get the most out of this tale.

Just like "These Old Shades" this is another Heyer-novel that takes us back further than the customary Regency period. Is it just me or do the affectations some of these late 18th century characters show make it harder to identify with them? This is why I put this book down again after having first started it a couple of months ago. The first time round, I didn't get any further than the Marquis of Vidal's rocky trip to a ball.Now, after having picked it up again, I finished it in two or three sittings. What changed? It must have been the heroine, "strait-laced" Mary Challoner, whose calm and unaffected manner is such a refreshing contrast to her own family (did I detect a hint of Mrs. Bennet there?) and the noble Alastairs. Maybe she is too modern for her times, but in the end, maybe that is what a modern reader trying to disentangle pre-revolutionary France is really looking for here?Why do I give this book five stars? Of all of the other Heyer-couples I enjoyed Mary and Vidal the most, because even though they come from entirely different worlds they are truly on equal footing throughout the whole book.

Ich habe das Buch schon vor mehr als 20 Jahren auf deutsch gelesen und hatte damals viel Spaß. So war es auch jetzt mit der englischen Version. Ich habe ein bißchen Zeit gebraucht, um mich in die Ausdrucksweise der Autorin einzulesen und mich mit dem spezifischen Wording vertraut zu machen. Viele Begriffe im Buch kommen eben in meinem Job nicht vor.Wer diese Art Literatur mag (romantisch, humorvoll, nicht frauenbewegt, anderes Jahrhundert, ...), wird auch dieses Buch lieben.

Die Erzalhung ist voller Intrigue, Humor und Spannung. Ich habe diese Serie richtig genossen.

Mein absolutes Lieblingsbuch von Georgette Heyer, viel Wortwitz, Situationskomik und natürlich stimmt der historische Hintergrund.

Sehr altmodisch mit vielen Wiederholungen wo das Geschehene diesem oder jenem in aller Breite noch einmal erzählt wird. Keine Leseempfehlung.