| Title | : | Devil Lover |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0373104308 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780373104307 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 188 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1981 |
Powerful Greek magnate, Andreas Vatis has every reason to hate Regan. Not only is his pride severely wounded, but because of her father's actions, he lost something much more valuable. Before he passed away, Regan's father seduced Andreas's wife and ran off with her—and Andreas's means to continue the Vatis empire…
Now Andreas is determined to take his revenge from Regan—with the ruthless demand that she replace what her father deprived him of—a wife and an heir!
Devil Lover Reviews
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blah.
Regan's playboy father took Andreas Vatis' wife from him years before. For years he waited for her to grow up so he could claim her as his wife in a crazy, old school eye-for-an-eye sort of plot only sensible to a HP Greek Tycoon. He tricks her into his home and forces her to marry him and provide him with sons. Mwha ha ha!
How could that be boring?
Well, it could be boring if the heroine's actions/reactions made no frigging sense.
Andreas was suitably dastardly and arrogant for the story to work. Yet, Regan was... insane?
Something just didn't make sense about her thought patterns and actions. I was with her until after she tried to escape, then she was just weird from then on out. I can't explain it. It wasn't even your typical HP heroine door mat behavior. She was just flat out odd in how she basically just shrugged and decided she'd be Andreas' wife.
Oh well, my one escape attempt didn't work and my dad did take his wife so - what the heck?! - I guess we should be married. I'll even start trying to manage his bratty daughter's life. Makes complete sense.
The only friction was due to him deceiving her about having a mistress to make her jealous. If not for that, she'd have been happy in his bed as his wife from very early on. And this is when dude was still being a complete jackass! I think she damaged her brain when she fell and that part was left out by the editors. -
Finally – a vengeful hero who has waited 11 years for the heroine to grow up so he can marry her for revenge. That’s the premise of this story. That’s the ridiculous logic of HPs I crave. And yes, the hero’s actions make no sense. And yes, the heroine’s abrupt turn from hate to love makes no sense, either. But what a fun book.
Our ex race car driver hero (and Greek tycoon) wants revenge because the heroine’s race car driver father stole his wife and almost killed him on the race track. As it was, he is blind in one eye and is full of bitterness. Both his wife and the hero’s father are now dead so the heroine is the one who will pay the price.
He has been watching the heroine since she was a child of ten – and he knows when she graduates college. He arranges a job for her at his estate in Cornwall as a companion to his sixteen year-old daughter. (He married at 19)
The heroine has no idea of this plan until the hero spells it out and the daughter shows up to fling a few “I hate yous” her way. The heroine is angry and decides she’ll try to escape by shimming down the drainpipe.
The hero startles her and she falls, injuring her shoulder and ankle. Hero seems shook up that she is so determined to get away, but he carries out his plans for vengeance when they marry a few days later. He tells her that he will go to the papers with the story of her father’s attempted murder – since it was hushed up as an accident back in the day. Heroine thinks that she can use that as blackmail back since hero won’t want to be known as marrying the daughter of a murderer. (Later he finds out the father had a brain tumor and he had blacked out right before the accident – he wasn’t a murderer)
Since heroine is injured, she has a reprieve from sex. Hero says he’ll spend the work week in London where has mistresses for all of his sexual needs. Heroine is outraged and jealous and doesn’t know why. To pass the time, she tries to be friendly with the daughter who has a crush on the tutor.
When hero returns, the daughter tells him the heroine is flirting with the tutor and the hero is jealous. They do talk it out and heroine informs him his daughter has a crush on the tutor. The hero decides to send his daughter to his Greek island so she’ll get over her infatuation. Daughter is not happy and decides to show the heroine the file the hero has on her mother and father. There are lots of insinuations that the heroine’s mother committed suicide. The heroine is devastated by this news and decides she needs to speak to her aunt and uncle in Scotland. She escapes – only to find the hero waiting for her there.
The hero has charmed her aunt and uncle and is surprisingly nice and gentle with the heroine. The heroine suddenly finds herself in love and decides to be a good wife. He takes her to his Greek island and things look promising for the H/h until the OW shows up. The hero installs her in the guesthouse and taunts the heroine with her presence. Heroine is full of angst and confusion, but she gets closer to the daughter by urging her to get new clothes and listening to her hopes and dreams. The daughter’s betrothed is there as well and he also confides in the heroine.
Of course the hero is jealous of the betrothed – but he does listen to the heroine and the daughter and agrees to let them have a longer engagement so they can have freedom before marriage.
Finally the hero snaps and takes the heroine without love or gentleness. (Heroine later says it wasn’t forced) Then he sends her back to England while he stays in Greece.
Heroine spends her time lamenting her lost love and going to her flatmate’s wedding. Hero returns after one of his employees tells him off for neglecting the heroine. They finally talk – hero loved her when he saw her shimmying down the drain pipe. He’s been trying to make her jealous so she would come to him, but it backfired when he lost control. The OW was his secretary and cousin. He never had an OW since they were married. HEA.
Hero was remarkably blind about a lot things - but he eventually had his one eye opened about his daughter, his wife, and the man against whom he sought revenge. Get it? His physical state was a metaphor! Wheee. Heroine has talked herself into love and she'll probably stay that way. This was good old skool fun. -
Meh. I like those angst filled drama moments, but not when the heroine's actions don't make any sense. I mean really, didn't it ever dawn on her to just scream
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Devil Lover? That name is completely innacurate 🥴😅
I didn't like it. I didn't buy that H and h fell in love and their HEA.
Boring book 🙄 It was hard to finish it 😬 -
This was one crazy HP and for a few moments I thought I was reading an Anne Hampson (it was that mad!!) h Regan is a fresh college graduate who thinks she's taking up a job as a companion to a 'young lady'. Little does she know, the 'young lady' is daughter to her arch nemesis (her father's) and that the 'job' was actually setup to get her down to Cornwall and marry the bugger in the name of revenge.
h shows definite spirit in the beginning and even tries escaping via a drainpipe, risking life and limb - and ultimately ends up injuring herself. Which is well and good for a while, because her injuries make it difficult for the H Andreas to 'claim' her as his wife. Another escape attempt later, the H promptly packs up from the south of England and returns to his island in the Aegean with wife and daughter; but not before some unpalatable family secrets are revealed.
On the island, the hitherto hostile 'young lady' (who is almost 16 and expected to marry the boy chosen for her within a year) shows signs of thawing and makes friends with her new stepmother. Stepmother h in turn, finds herself developing Stockholm syndrome and falling for the H's dominating personality and exquisite physique. However, the H - who had so far insinuated and implied all the adult stuff he would like to do with the h- suddenly turns cold and starts talking about OW (who isn't quite an OW at all) just to get a reaction from the h for his own sadistic pleasure.
Things come to a head when the h throws a perfume bottle at him and H takes it as provocation and justification for the forced seduction routine he subjects the h to next. h is then sent to England and its only a few paragraphs before H follows her there to declare his undying love and bring her home.
This book features some of the most OTT characters in HPland. I liked the h in the beginning when she showed some fire, but that is quickly doused with her capitulation to the H's way of thinking. She worries about her red hair because the H says he doesn't like it. Even blames herself for the 'forced seduction' scene where she believes she 'contributed nothing to the union'. I lost my respect for her there.
H was completely psychotic in my book. Older HP's have some super crazy, possessive alphas, but this man takes it to a whole new level. He's constantly suspicious of the h and thinks she's capable of hooking up with any man in her vicinity; he has major stalkerific tendencies and goes so far as to keep the h under surveillance from when she was a mere child and almost everyone around her is a spy of sorts and is employed by the H to bring her to him. And when he isn't doing any of that, he's busy trying to get his teenaged daughter married off to a boy who's barely out of adolescence himself, presumably to preserve the Greek way of life. Not a character I could respect at all.
So why am I still giving this 3 stars? because it was entertaining, if nothing else. This may be a train wreck of a novel but there certainly wasn't a single boring moment in it. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a dose of vintage HP craziness. -
"Devil Lover" is the story of Regan and Andreas.
What a fabulous Carole Mortimer read!
We have an innocent heroine, who is falsely lured for a babysitter job, only to land in powerful Greek magnate, Andreas Vatis's clutches. Her father had once eloped with Andreas's wife, harming him in an accident that left him scarred and partially blind, and Andreas is out to take revenge, by marrying Regan and seducing her to provide the heirs which he could not have!
A tempestuous relationship between a fiery redhead of a heroine, a crazy jealous hero, loads of bruising kisses and possessiveness on both ends, a bratty daughter, some family secrets and a HEA.
What I liked about this book
-May/December trope
-The hero was crazy about the heroine, and even though he threatened her with many things, the end result was always him remaining faithful and only testing her patience
-Their banter was sexy..ish
-His daughter was initially childish and extremely moody, but as the book progressed we saw her grow and become amicable to the h
-The hero didn't slap, rape or cheat on the heroine..though there are two extreme body shaking incidents
-He chased the heroine all the time LOL
-The heroine didn't give up her freedom and constantly tested her limits and his patience
-His disability was not made as a sob story
-The ending was hella sweet
I totally enjoyed this roller coaster ride. What a great read!
Safe for me/SWE for some
4.5/5
PS. Adore the cover! -
Heroine's father seduced the hero's wife. Hero had a tragic accident that left him blind and since he blames Regan's father for all his misfortunes he wants revenge. He makes the heroine believe he wants her as a guardian for his daughter but when she gets there she realizes she is just a pawn. Hero forces her to marry him and heroine tries to escape several times.
Very good story. Both H/h were jealous and insecure. Hero was harsh but vulnerable and unlike 80's heroes not cruel or sadist. Heroine was feisty and I loved her spirit. Sweet romance with some nice angst to top it all! 4.5 stars! -
Oh that wonderful imagination that only CM has! Here we are really over the top, the hero planned his revenge on the heroine’s father (which is dead by the way) for 10 years. He had her followed and then made her go to his mansion where he blackmailed her to reveal the world her father was a murderer. And she accepts to marry him. Then she tries to escape but falls and hurts herself, but the hero doesn’t leave her. We have a hero who is definitely a sociopath, a man with so many issues I can’t even tell where to begin. He tries to make her jealous and pretend he has an affair with a gorgeous woman that is - his cousin! Of course the heroine is affronted, the hero rapes her (it was her first time) and they are separated for weeks. Then he tells her he loves her and she divorces him. No! She is happy because she loves him too. The rapist manic sociopath! This is more I can stand.
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Contrary to other reviews i found it to be pretty breezy read. Also I love a nice cruel older hero who doesn't shy from terrorizing young heroine. I agree that there wasn't much romance. They bickered throughout with hero needlessly lying about his relationship with his cousin and wasn't until last 4-5 pages that anything remotely close to emotional bond seemed to develop between them. Maybe because it fell into a sweet spot for me with my favoured tropes like older H/younger h, revenge, blackmailed to marry, h becoming a stepmom to a teenager, dub-con, Greek island.
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Talk about misplaced revenge…Sheesh! The hero even knows it is misplaced. It isn’t like he believes that the heroine personally did anything to him, he knows it was her father…and it happened when she was 9….he has been lying in wait until she turned 20 to strike. Ding! Dong! She’s 20!
This is an absolutely ridiculous plot…with a hero that is unreasonably cruel to a woman that is 4 years older than his daughter…Oh and I loved every minute of it!!!!
Heroine: 20 year old virgin with auburn hair(this is a running joke in the book), adopted by her aunt and uncle. Her mom died when she was young and her father was a race car driver who popped in for visits once in blue moon to spoil his daughter, then took off again. She gets a job as a companion for the Hero’s daughter although she is interviewed by Clive, who she thought was the girls father. Boy, is she in for a treat.
Hero-35 years’ old, blinded in one eye with a scar(Argh, Argh) which was caused by the h’s father during a car race. He was pretty messed up, in fact he was blind in both eyes and had other issues that took him two years to recover from. He is also quite sure that the h’s father caused the accident on purpose because he had threatened the H, as he wanted the H to divorce his wife so he could marry her instead. (The h’s father was no prize that is for sure). After the accident, his wife ran off with the h’s father only to die a couple of years later in a car accident with him. (They definitely deserved each other) Now our H is a traditional “eye for and eye” Greek. Even though the perpetrators are long dead, he feels the daughter should give him the sons that his wife was supposed to give him before she was seduced by the h’s dad.
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If this is Love I'd hate to see what sheer hatred looks like !!
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I’d up it to a 2 star because my 1 stars shouldn’t sit in the same bookshelf as CM. I’ve liked her writing and this wasn’t an easy book to write. I just loathed the incessant bickering between the mcs. There was no peace at all!
Regan shows up for a job interview and everything’s all dreamy until she gets to the first day at work. The location is far away in the country and all she has to do is be a support person/ chaperone to a teenage girl. She meets the teen and her father and realizes she’s been duped for her life. The father who is the H is basically a long time enemy to Regan, someone she’s heard about all her life.
So now Regan has two options. Either be a mistress to the H or be his wife where she has to be a step mother to his teenage daughter.
This was beyond a toxic mess. The h and H argue all through the book vying for the last word. The h has a flare for exaggerated drama and considers herself to be in the most horrid situation: marriage to an alpha dream boat of a wealthy Greek husband.
I enjoyed the part where Regan tries to break the ice with the teen girl who is pretty hateful and whiny. She can’t share her father’s attention and now Regan’s there as a young new wife.
I can’t be bothered going around in circles over the wtf situations in this book but Regan grew up quite instantly playing a dutiful mother to her step daughter but went total Dr. Jekyll each time her husband approached her. She’d say vile things, hurl perfume bottles, run away screeching and make abominable cries of her misery.
Tbh Regan was very much needing a couple of hard slaps from her husband. The H was no brooding quiet older wiser husband. He was instead argumentative, vindictive and scheming.
I got sick and tired of their destructive marriage pattern. When they were together they bickered to no end. This was no sparring of the foreplay kind but more of the kind where you lose your brain cells. And as a consequence the H and h spent days and weeks of time away from each other. Like a lonely f’g existence and when you meet, you quarrel like a bunch of babies - aka baby boomers
I should stop picking up books this week. It’s one crappy one after the next. I didn’t care for Regans HEA. Her solace was simply when her husband said the three words to her and claimed undying love since I don’t remember when. -
Ok. What it said inside about greek wives, husbands and etc. was totally too much. I'm Greek myself and I know that things like this (total focus on revenge, unopinionated wives, etc.) don't happen. We live like, in the 21st century! The book was good overall as a story but I didn't like too much Carole Mortimer's point of view about how things are done in my country...
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That's thirty minutes of my life I'll never get back. Goodreads should allow zero ratings.
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I really shouldn't have enjoyed this as much as I did. Its rather old skool revenge that makes absolutely no sense but at the same time was well written and vastly entertaining.
The H is as creepy as hell stalking little girl for many years after her dad died just so he could marry her and get revenge on her dad. Who is dead so really the revenge is rather pointless!
The h is quite spunky at times though none so much as when she climbs down the drainpipe only to get caught before she reaches the bottom and she falls and injures herself. A better H would have caught her to be fair!
The h seemed genuinely lovely tbh and everyone seems to like her - she didn't deserve the revenge treatment she received from H although he was better than most waiting for his "consummation" and I am glad a couple of his employees gave him what for it was well deserved.
I didn't hate anyone though and the H suitably grovelled and admitted to his fibs because he was scared to lose her so he is one of the better revenge H's. -
This book made no damn sense. As I read it, all I kept thinking was WTF?!
The h’s father ran off with the H’s wife after causing a racing accident blinds the H in one eye. In revenge, the H kidnaps the h and forces her to marry him.
The h, in a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome, falls for her captor and while she resists at first, gives in to his demands and falls in love with him.
I found the book ridiculous and the characters annoying. I finished it, but didn’t really enjoy it. I kept reading to see how the author would finish it. And that was equally ridiculous.
This one is a read at your own risk. You can do better things with your time. Like clean out your kitchen cabinets. Wish I’d done that instead. -
Loved it, crazy, romantic the heroine is not a stupid mess but just a bit unlucky, the hero is alpha-male but not abusive, who lures the heroine physically *wink, wink *... I admit it, I have a soft spot for tall, dark, muscular, dare-devil successful men who know they are sexy and use their charm..
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Jerky Alpha Hero and Virginal Doormat
FINAL DECISION: Formulaic and containing characters without any tremendous depth, this book wasn't terrible, but the relationship between Andreas and Regan didn't feel connected or interesting.
THE STORY: Andreas Vatis is a Greek businessman who is seeking revenge on Regan Thomas. Her father seduced and ran away with Andreas's wife. Andreas has lured Regan to him and now intends on forcing a marriage from her. She will replace the wife and heirs that her father stole from him.
OPINION: Unfortunately, this book feel formulaic to me. Andreas is too alpha and an incredible jerk towards Regan. He demands marriage from her in order to replace the wife her father stole from him. That just sounds crazy. And he waits years before putting this plan in action. Even worse, Regan just goes along with the plan. I thought the story might pick up but then Andreas treats Regan poorly even convincing her that he has a mistress. Then the resolution comes swiftly and completely. I think there was just too much here going on and not enough true resolution to make this book worthy.
WORTH MENTIONING: DEVIL'S LOVER Is a 1980s category romance.
CONNECTED BOOKS: DEVIL LOVER is a standalone.
STAR RATING: I give this book 2 stars. -
This book was listed on the Harlequin site as a new release for November 2015. It's actually a "second chance" read from 1981! The story line is terrible, the characters unlikable, and the plot unbelievable. What a waste of time.
Plus it had a really dated vibe to the whole thing. I thought at first it might be an early work the author had only recently dusted off and published. Actually, it's just an old book that HQN is trying to sucker consumers into buying again. I wish I had looked closer before purchasing. Frustrating! -
To make it short : even for a fiction , the plot is unbelievable and the dialogues are hallucinating (specialy at the beginning when they know each other for a few hours only)
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Heroine's actions, her thinking in the book made not one lick of sense to me. How could she have married the hero when he had nothing worth a dime of true case to blackmail her with was beyond me. He hated her, and she too claimed to hate him but from the first moment she was very willing in his arms.
And till the end of the book I couldn't understand what had the hero seen in her except perhaps her desirability to fall in love with her.
This was a bad read for me. -
"Devil Lover" were one enjoyable ride about a marriage of revenge.
"You loved me even at Inverness?" His sudden change toward her became more understandable.
"Oh, yes." It was a sigh from the heart. "Why do you think I had the bedroom on Vatis especially prepared for you. I had visualized us spending many hours there...together. I wanted you to be happy there, to want to stay there...with me."
"You even love my red hair?" Teasing entered her voice as she felt all barriers between them crumbling.
He picked up one silky strand, letting it run through his fingers. "Especially your red hair. Regan, I love you more than anything else in this world, more even than my own daughter, and if you divorce me I shall be a broken man."
WOW this one was a hot ride full of angst and HEELUVA HOT chemistry between the fiery Regan Thomas and the arrogant greek tyccon Andreas Vatis.
I knew of Andreas plan from the start when he mentions that he has a mistress,and i know he did everything to make her react,and make her fall for him.His need for revenge were forgotten the moment he fell for her,and i knew exactly when it happened.
Poor Carole heroes,they never expect themselfes to fall in love..and when they do,nothing can stop them.
Andreas Vatis is one of the cold-blooded heroes of Carole and one i found fascinating and i just so admired Regan,she was so brave and stubborn and i can`t believe when she swung the bottle against Andreas...gosh how i laughed at that scene.
I just love you Carole,you are the best!!!! -
....that was......a thing. Finished it and my first thought was: what the heck did I just read? This story would have been a good book if the romance part was dropped entirely. And kept the mystery element, where the heroine needs to discover the truth about her parents. Instead we get a pretty gross hero. Think about it, he was plotting this entire thing since she was 10, ew. Planning on marrying her to make her atone for her father's sins...who is dead and can't be punished in any fashion. The heroine was very brave. This girl climbed out a 3rd story window to get away from the hero! The thing that make him the worst is 'i love you more than my own daughter'....that's awful. How about equal to her? Jerk. I did like the stepdaughter! She was the only normal person there, but the hero dad just barked orders at her all day long. I liked the bond between the heroine and the daughter which came over time, even though the book read like the heroine was like 4 years older than her, maybe she wasn't but it read that way. Disliked the random guy at the end who apologized 'hey didn't realize he was gonna screw you over sorry' thanks 'pal'. And after the heroine escapes the injuries she had were never mentioned again! Just...just skip this nonsense.
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3.3
