The Devil’s Bride feels a bit like a general mass-market sort of romance, but seemed to lack the same explicitness, romance focus, and length I’ve come to recognize as rudimentary for such novels. At a little over 200 pages, this book has very mild sex scenes that convey things swiftly and subtlety, so there’s a greater focus on the story outside of the bedroom.
But somehow I still felt that the romance was a bit lacking for a book that’s supposed to have that as its main focus; there was so much talk of Calvina getting dresses or attending social events or helping at the charity house that we really don’t get more than maybe six or seven worthwhile romantic scenes between her and Rupert, with dashes of smaller, less interesting interactions thrown in. It’s not as if the romance isn’t there, but it just felt like the author paid more attention to the things they did in their everyday lives more than skipping around to circumstances that would bring them together in some romantic way so that readers could get all warm and fuzzy over watching love bloom. Pages and pages went by where they were apart for weeks and there was definitely a few times where lust was mistaken for love or I got a sort felt like things weren’t unfolding realistically. I also felt that the twist and danger Calvina was put in was sort of unnecessary and not very well worked in, it could have been, but the execution was off and I think the shortness of the novel coupled with its rather tame depiction of darker themes is to blame.
That all being said, I don’t feel this is a bad book by any measure. Just perhaps not to my tastes; when I read a romance, I want to be moved and absorbed in the relationship, and this just didn’t do that for me. The author executes a pretty good handle on the history and language of the era; the characters were believable for the time in their words and mannerisms. In this regard, I was impressed and give the author my praise.
Overall, the plot was simple and a pretty straight shot that follows the “didn’t marry for love but through time spent together through trials and tribulations and a mutual attraction they find they are falling for each other” sort of formula, and was pretty well executed (except for the lax focus on someone threatening Calvina’s life). Since this is a standalone, everything is presented and wrapped up in one shot. I didn’t notice anything inherently problematic, though Calvina is nearly assaulted a few times so heads up on that front. I don’t really have strong feelings for this book one way or another; I didn’t really care for it, but I don’t hate it either. It was easy to polish off in a single setting without making me feel like I was dragging myself to the end. I think if you’re in the market for a quick, simple romance and are interested in how things develop this could definitely be a nice little novel to pick up. I rate it more highly on its writing than story, but I think that’s more a matter of personal taste than an inherent flaw in the plot development. Overall three stars for being a decent read; two stars dropped because it could have been better had the author devoted more time to romantic scenes and better executing the other subplots.
*I received a copy of this for free from Net Galley, but in no way did that affect my review!*