New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas returns readers to the world of the Ravenal family and Victorian England in Devil In Spring.
Lady Pandora Ravenal is quirky, brilliant, beautiful and completely opposed to marriage. She’s participating in the London social season solely to support her twin sister, whom she adores. Determined to endure the endlessly boring hours of balls and soirées without causing a scandal, Pandora finds corners to hide in and declines gentlemen’s offers to dance.
One warm summer evening, her dress becomes caught and she’s stuck in the wooden carvings of a settee. When handsome, eligible, cynical bachelor Lord Gabriel St. Vincent comes to her aid, their host finds them in an innocent, yet compromising, position. Honor demands Gabriel offer marriage.
His frustration at the situation quickly becomes fascination, and he’s determined to claim the high-spirited Pandora. She is equally determined to find a way out of their predicament without damaging her family’s reputation and her sister’s marriage prospects. When the two spend long hours together at Gabriel’s family seaside estate, Pandora quickly realizes she can’t resist the powerful attraction that draws her to Gabriel. But when independent, business-minded Pandora inadvertently runs afoul of Irish terrorists, danger threatens her life. Can these two strong-willed, passionate people survive a love neither expected but cannot live without?
This thoroughly delightful novel is a showcase for Kleypas’ strengths as a writer. The time period details are flawlessly executed and the relationship between the hero and heroine, two people who at first meeting appear to be wildly disparate, intrigues and delights. The dialogue is witty and often hilariously funny, while the characters are engaging and eminently likable. Readers will find themselves thoroughly absorbed in this deeply emotional tale and anxiously awaiting the next novel in the series.
Lois Dyer writes from her home in Port Orchard, Washington
