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You are here: Home / D Review / Guest Review: To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt

Guest Review: To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt

February 10, 2010 by Mandi 13 Comments

To Desire A Devil (Legend of the Four Soldiers, #4)NOTHING IS MORE INTOXICATING—

Reynaud St. Aubyn has spent the last seven years in hellish captivity. Now half mad with fever he bursts into his ancestral home and demands his due. Can this wild-looking man truly be the last earl’s heir, thought murdered by Indians years ago?

OR DANGEROUS—

Beatrice Corning, the niece of the present earl, is a proper English miss. But she has a secret: No real man has ever excited her more than the handsome youth in the portrait in her uncle’s home. Suddenly, that very man is here, in the flesh—and luring her into his bed.

THAN SURRENDERING TO A DEVIL.

Only Beatrice can see past Reynaud’s savagery to the noble man inside. For his part, Reynaud is drawn to this lovely lady, even as he is suspicious of her loyalty to her uncle. But can Beatrice’s love tame a man who will stop at nothing to regain his title—even if it means sacrificing her innocence?

To Desire a Devil by Elizabeth Hoyt (Legend of Four Solider #4)
Historical Romance
November 1, 2009
Paperpack, 384 pages
Vision

Today, Lou from the wonderful Book Pusher’s Blog is reviewing!

Thank you to Mandi for having me here at Smexy Books as a guest reviewer today. :D

To Desire a Devil is the fourth and final book in the Legend of The Four Solider series, and I was originally planning on reading the previous books, but I decided not to. After reading To Desire a Devil, I don’t think reading the previous books was needed as the story itself centered largely on the relationship of the hero and heroine.

To Desire a Devil starts off with a clatter, literally, when a demented looking man — with a long scraggly beard, and vivid savage eyes — barges into the room and falls into a table and brings an all mighty clash down with him. All in front of the heroine, Beatrice Corning.  The scraggly beard man is the hero, Reynaud St. Aubyn, who was presumed dead. Not anymore!

I’m sorry to say it took me a while to get into the book. The characters themselves didn’t grab my attention, and the accompanying side characters I thought were weak.

In my opinion, there was no real characteristics that made the hero and heroine stand out. And for a while, I found Beatrice to be a little bit annoying. Reynaud was taken prisoner by Indians for seven years, where he was subjected to brutal treatment and torture. He arrives back in England to find out his father is dead, to find his home and title being used by strangers, and all the heroine does at first is nag him about what happened to him while he was in captivity. For real?! I felt like poking her in the eye and saying: Lady! Give the man a bloody break.

For me, there didn’t seem to be a believable connection between Reynaud and Beatrice. I felt that there needed to be an emotional intensity outside of the hero and heroine’s sexual attraction, especially after what the hero endured at the hands of his captives, and finding out his father died. And even then, I didn’t see him grieve, which I thought to be unusual.

I did start to get engaged into the book when it got to the halfway mark, where Beatrice became more fleshed out for me. I started to see an emotional intensity between Beatrice and Reynaud when a tragic circumstance effects Beatrice dearly.

The loves scenes between the two are very sensual, and very raw, and the hero is a total alpha that steams testosterone out of his ears. And Beatrice doesn’t shy away, but embraces his sensual love making. But there was one word used in a scene that made me giggle, and totally threw me off:

"He growled deep in his throat, and felt his balls draw tight as he released himself within her. Even then he didn’t stop, but kept humping her as he filled her with his seed."

I’m sorry, but I don’t think the word ‘humping’ should EVER be used in a romance novel. I don’t find the word sexy, and I’m more than likely to giggle like a school girl. But, nonetheless, the love scenes were very well written, and I thought they were the strongest parts of the book.

Overall, I found To Desire a Devil to be a a pleasant read, but I found myself too disconnected from the hero and heroine.

Rating: 2.5/5

Recent Reviews:
Goodreads

Elizabeth Hoyt Website.

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Filed Under: D Review, Elizabeth Hoyt, Hachette, Historical Romance, Two and a Half Stars

Comments

  1. Penelope says

    February 10, 2010 at 5:50 pm

    Hi Lou! This one was not nearly as good as To Beguile A Beast, which I totally adored. You really should read that one…it rocks! (It has the whole beauty and the beast theme going on, which I love). I think Elizabeth Hoyt does a great job mixing naughty sex and historical formality, but I think you are probably right about not using the word "hump"—hee hee.
    Seriously, you should check out TBAB. It's awesome.

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  2. Lou says

    February 10, 2010 at 8:16 pm

    Hiya Penelope!

    LOL. The 'Humping' totally threw me out of the scene.

    I'll definitely have to check out Beguile a Beast then. I also may check out the first two – to see how they compare with To Desire A Devil. Hopefully I'll find them to be better reads.

    I read Hoyt's Princes Trilogy when they first came out, and enjoyed them. :)

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  3. Scorpio M. says

    February 10, 2010 at 8:20 pm

    Hi, I am a big Hoyt fangirl and I did not care for TDAD either, this is her weakest work to date. I loved Book 2, To Seduce A Sinner, the best of this series.

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  4. Mandi says

    February 10, 2010 at 8:22 pm

    I have only read the first in the series, To Beguile a Beast and thought it was pretty good. But I guess not enough to keep going ;)

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  5. Mandi says

    February 10, 2010 at 8:22 pm

    Oh, and "humping" ummm..no thank you;)

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  6. Penelope says

    February 10, 2010 at 8:29 pm

    Hey Mandi! To Beguile A Beast was the third one in the series….here's the order…
    1) To Taste Temptation
    2) To Seduce a Sinner
    3) To Beguile A Beast
    4) To Desire A Devil

    I think I sort of liked the first two (can't remember them too much), but loved Sir Alistair Munroe from TBAB. I also remember reading The Raven Prince, from the Princes Trilogy, and thinking that Hoyt writes a really great naughty sex scene. Always a plus for romance! :)

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  7. Mandi says

    February 10, 2010 at 8:32 pm

    Oops..I meant To Taste Temptation..sorry!!

    And I have The Raven Prince in my tbr…one day!

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  8. Lou says

    February 10, 2010 at 8:40 pm

    Hiya Scorpio!

    It's good to hear that others enjoyed the previous books. It's making a strong case for me to get the previous ones. :)

    To Desire a Devil book did improve towards the latter part, but by then, the cons outweighed the pro's for me which really lowered the grade.

    The love scenes were sensual – bar the humping – but I didn't see an obvious connection between the hero and the heroine.

    *grins* I'm with you there Mandi. Humping = bad.

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  9. A Buckeye Girl Reads says

    February 10, 2010 at 9:43 pm

    I totally agree with you about humping-not a great adjective to use in a romance book. I may have to check out the other books in this series. Great guest review! :)

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  10. Lou says

    February 10, 2010 at 10:01 pm

    Another non lover of humping! I'm not the only one – thank goodness. ;-)

    Thank you Buckeye Girl!

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  11. orannia says

    February 10, 2010 at 10:13 pm

    Thank you Lou! I'm quite behind on this series – I've only read the first, but I completely agree with you that there needs to be an emotional intensity outside of the hero and heroine's sexual attraction. That emotional intensity seems to get lost…or it's extreme. I want to see the slowly developing relationship.

    As for 'humping' – LOL! I agree. Wrong word.

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  12. Lou says

    February 12, 2010 at 11:34 am

    Hiya Orannia!

    I agree with you. And as much as I love reading smexy scenes, there has to be emotion.

    Without the emotion involved, as a reader, I'm left feeling disconnected.

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  13. Anonymous says

    August 23, 2010 at 9:25 pm

    This website is perfect I liked it a lot

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