Fallen Angel

by Elizabeth Thornton

Beautiful, fiery Scotswoman Maddy Sinclair held one man responsible for the scandal and tragedy that ruined her family: Viscount Deveryn. The unrepentant rogue known as The Fallen Angel was a scoundrel and cad with a heart as cold as ice. But when Maddy fell blindly into his powerful embrace, she was unaware the man who kissed her so skillfully was her sworn enemy--until it was too late. Though her heart may be lost, her will to foil Deveryn's scheme to steal her legacy is stronger than ever. Deveryn, whose reputation with the ton's ladies left no doubt that he cared little for true love, certainly hadn't come looking for it in lverness, Scotland. He had his sights on Maddy's castle and her tempting beauty--but not her affections. That changed as he found himself challenged by her wit, her guile, and her ability to turn the tables on his best-laid plans, offering him a lesson in seduction that proved Heaven does indeed exist on earth--and that perhaps only one thing can redeem a fallen angel.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Regency, Historical, Enemies To Lovers, Dark Romance, Scotland

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Mary Forrest George, née Baxter was born and educated in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she taught school for a number of years before establishing her own nursery school, St. Swithin Street Nursery School, an institution that is still going strong today.

She and her husband then emigrated to Canada with their three young sons. She taught kindergarten and Grade One for a number of years in Winnipeg, Manitoba, before becoming lay minister at a Presbyterian Church in Winnipeg.

As part of her continuing education, she enrolled in evening classes at the University of Winnipeg to study Classical Greek. Five years later, having completed an Honor's thesis on Women in Euripides, she received her B.A. (Classics Gold Medalist).

After reading her first romance, a Regency by Georgette Heyer, she was captivated by the genre. Hereafter, writing became her hobby. In 1987, her first book, a small Regency entitled, Bluestocking Bride, was published by Zebra books.

She is the author of twenty-four historical romances, and two novellas. She has been nominated for and received many awards including the Romantic Times Trophy Award for the best New Historical Regency Author and Best Historical Regency. Seven of her novels have been finalists in the Romance Writers of America Rita awards, Scarlet Angel, Strangers at Dawn, Princess Charming and The Perfect Princess, Shady Lady, The Marriage Trap, and The Bachelor Trap. Her books appear regularly on national best-selling lists and have been translated into many languages.

Elizabeth's hobbies include reading (particularly mystery and suspense novels, biography, and history), and traveling to do research for her novels. She is also an avid Harry Potter enthusiast.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read: 2/18/25
4.5 stars!

I just loved this book! It had so many problems and the secret marriage was annoying. Still, I ate it up. The parts that should have bothered me didn't. I give credit to excellent writing and a fast-paced story.

Some might not like the H, and the issue of consent their first time is questionable. I liked that he knew what he wanted. He fell in love at first sight. She's his other half. Typically, man expects her to fall in line and feel exactly as he does. It doesn't go well. He went about things all wrong, but I still loved him.

Poor Maddy! Everything went wrong. She went from having freedom to everyone, telling her what to do and having her life uprooted. She has to rebel a little. Though there are several misunderstandings, I understood her side more.

I wish they didn't hide their marriage. They got married by announcing their vows in front of an attorney in Scotland. The H is waiting for her grandfather and the guardian to approve the match. He wants another marriage in England. The H is too cautious. It would have been better if he took his wife home instead. So, we waited the whole book before the news/secret finally became known. I don't know why I wasn't bothered by this fact.🤷‍♀️

Conclusion: This might not be a great love story, but I was entertained. I'm becoming jaded after so many books, so it's nice to be surprised.

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 5 out of 5]

This rating should be taken with a pinch of salt. The hero is a complete prick, and on many occasions I wanted to wallop him. But his one redeeming grace is that he's completely in love with the heroine and doesn't try to beat around the bush about it. So, despite myself, I still keep returning to it.

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[Jena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fucking garbage book. Self note: never, ever re read this again.
Its full of misogyny, OW dramas, cheating, misunderstandings, and betraying body tropes. (safety info at bottom).

***FULL Spoilers *** for my future self, because I just re-read this to my horror due to not enough info and spoilers!


- H (30) is a narcissist, a manwhore, a cheater, a rapist, and an abuser. He's angelically beautiful with blonde hair. When he walks into a room, women starts drooling.
He's rich with a title blah blah, and the title of this book - Fallen Angel- comes from his looks.

-The h (19) is a fucking DOORMAT in all caps.
There are levels of DOORMATitis, shes max 5/5.
She's so spineless, pathetic, and needy that if her husband molested her children, she's the type who would choose her hub and allow the abuse to continue so that she could stay with him.
Shes pretty with red hair and brown eyes, and she's a dead bore with no personality.
Book said she's " beautiful " but no one acts like she's beautiful, merely attractive. Other women are always WAY more beautiful, and men arent attracted to her. No other men in the entire book EVER looked at her in lust, and only time they showed interest was for her money.
Author tells us how intelligent she is, but was shown how STUPID she is.
Author was born in the 40s... misogyny was EVERYWHERE.


Story: Book opens with death.

The H and her stepmom (his mistress) had an affair, then he bankrupted her father (through gambling), so her heartbroken father committed suicide the day after Christmas.
- Her father, after telling the h that he loved her, apologized for being a bad father, explained what her future will hold (sending her to her grandfather, and engaged her to a man. He was acting strangely),
in the morning, he walked out, took off his clothes, folded it neatly, and walked into a freezing lake and drowned.
Her father cherished and loved her beautiful stepmom, and died a broken man.


What does the h do?
She’s mad and is considering revenge (who wouldn't?) --- until she meets the H a WEEK later, then it’s all about her betraying body.
He’s so fucking hot that nothing matters apparently, she cant think straight when he's near her! 🙄
Was the author smoking crack writing this, who acts like this after losing a parent!
Who acts like this with a man who caused the death?
Where’s the intelligent resolution to this plot? Betraying body trope is lazy writing and doesn’t make any sense!
AND trashing the dead parent doesn't lessen the heroines betrayal!
Yes, her father obsessively loved the stepmom, he loved her more than the daughter, more than ANYTHING, and he neglected her to spoil the cheating stepbitch, even bankrupting himself trying to please her...but this still doesnt lessen heroines betrayal of her father's memory.

- Later in the book H tries to say that her father couldnt have committed suicide, because he wasnt completely bankrupt, and he had investments... lol yea, right. If you read this book, you'll laugh too, even the h didnt believe it.

- She stops grieving just 2 weeks in (WTF), and by 40%, her father's death is completely swept under the rug, like its nothing.
No big deal at all that the H cuckolded her father and had given her home to his erstwhile mistress (stepmom)! And the H and the stepmom NEVER apologizes in the book.
In fact, he's arrogant and says he's not responsible!
He says he's glad he met and had an affair with her stepmom, because she led him to the heroine.
WTF... it this suppose to be romantic? Remember, their affair led to her fathers death! How insensitive!
Also h refuses to tell anyone, even her bestfriend the truth about what really went on, because she feels like she's betraying the H! Are you kidding me?


So her father kills himself, and a week later his body is found.
Her stepmom travels to her father's estate Drumoak in Scotland, where the heroine lives, with the Hero. He is traveling there with his ex mistress, because he won her father's estate in a card game before he died, so Drumoak is actually his estate, and the stepmom had told him that the father had written her out of the will.
He's there to protect his ex mistress's interest basically, because no one except the h knows that her father had committed suicide, everyone else thinks it was an accident.

MC's meet in town, and its love at first sight for both of them, until she finds out his name. Her father, while drunk that night had mumbled the H's name and had said that H had stolen his wife, so she knows who he was...
So after much chasing by the H, and not enough resisting by the h, he forces her to marry him.
But she basically allows him to force her, because she's feeling guilty for WANTING to marry her fathers murderer.
Then after she's firmly married to him, the H reveals the secret that he is the real owner. The will meant nothing, because her father had nothing left.
In the will, her father had left her everything, he didnt want her stepmom to live in that estate, but since H is now the owner, he gives the house to the mistress!
His mistress-stepmom is allowed to live there, and all profit from the estate will be hers for life or until she remarry.
Not only that, he will completely renovate the heroine's- now the H's estate, for his ex mistress, and also continue to fund her living expense- in Scotland or her townhouse in London.

So just imagine, h married the man who caused her fathers death, and then THAT woman will be allowed to live there, which is against her fathers wishes! Her father didn’t want her in that house.
More betrayal for her poor dad even in death. 😭
"This whole thing has been premeditated. She(stepmom) didn't want my father, but she wants his estate. And you're going to give it to her on a platter! You always meant to!"


⛑️Safety⛑️

- Lots, lots, LOTS of ow drama.

- H cheats.
After they were married, and have been sleeping with each other for a few weeks,
he got mad at her one day, and went to a brothel to cheat on her.
He came back after, stripped naked and got in bed with the h, before trying to arouse her, and she woke up here, because H smelled like a whore.
He said "Nothing of any significance happened" but that can mean anything, since the H had a wandering eye, and he reacts to beautiful women even when the h is in the room.
So he might've gotten a blow job, or something.
His naked skin smelled like perfume, so things did happen.
Some women think its not cheating if fucking wasnt involved, and some thinks its not *really*cheating since "he didnt finish while he was fucking." *massive eyeroll*.
A husband went to a whore house, came home smelling like a whore, is that cheating to you?
There's intent, and he tried...he touched and was sexual with another woman, all of that is cheating to me personally.
Here's what he says, when the h smacked him and pushes him away because she could smell ow on him;

"You're no better than the whores I've come from."
In a mood of heedless anger, he had attempted to forget his sorrows in the time honoured way of gentlemen. But the inferior brandy and sensual delights of Mrs. Chapelstow's superior bawdy house had lost their efficacy. He had wanted to punish Maddie.
"Try to understand. It's been hell for me. Those women . . . they're unimportant. They mean nothing to me."
"Maddie, please," he begged. "It was a mistake. Nothing of any significance happened—nothing that makes one jot of difference to us. It's you I love. I'll be . . ."


- Theres so many ow in this book, that I dont remember them all, but just consider that the h thinks he is cheating on her with all of them, and continues to have sex and pine for the H, because of the betraying body crap.
She's in fear that HE will dump her, and at the end of the book, she says,"She would have forgiven him a hundred women, a thousand."

- He reacts and is aroused by her stepmom during dinner while the h was watching them.
“Maddie(h) watched as her stepmother's sharp, white teeth nibbled on one of the plump grapes which brushed her mouth. There was something suggestive if not downright obscene about the gesture. Without volition, Maddie's glance travelled to the viscount(H). Stranger though she was to a man's passions, she knew intuitively that his senses were stirred. The fingers of his right hand toyed restlessly with the slender stem of his wine glass and a dark tide of colour had deepened his eyes to slate. He watched Cynthia(stepmom) as if mesmerized, like a puir wee rabbit watches a weasel before, too late, it realizes its jeopardy, thought Maddie; wrath, boiling and bitter, rose like bile in her throat.“

He knows he hurt the heroine by watching that happen, so
here's what he - the condescending piece of shit H - tells the h about what she saw;

“She(stepmom) is beautiful, and knows how to use that beauty to ensnare men. In an unguarded moment, my interest was caught, but only for a moment. I can't promise you that I shall never look at other women again, Maddie. But I swear that when I do, it shall be from a distance."
He broke this promise when he went to a whorehouse 3 weeks later, look above "cheating."


-H emotionally cheats.
Stepmom/mistress is the primary ow, and she wants him, was in love with him, and lets her know of it. She will ALWAYS be in their lives.
The H puts her above the heroines feelings, provides for her emotionally and financially, protects her, supports her, and even flirted with another woman, just so he could charm her into introducing the stepmom to society. That woman is also an OW...and these 2 ow became good friends because of the H.
AND at 90% of the book, he says this, because the h has been cold towards her, and H thinks she should be nicer to his ex mistress - "Maddie(h) would be civil to Cynthia Sinclair(stepmom) or he would play the heavy-handed husband. On this, there would be no compromise."
H is supposedly crazy in love with the h (massive eye roll), he loves her so much that he says they're fated mates (massive eye rolls), but he continues to IGNORE the h's pain, to ease the stemom's life.
His ex mistress's feelings and comfort are more important than the heroine's pain..
That's love to you?


- OW1 & 2:
h runs away to london after their marriage, so the H follows her with his ex mistress.. Stepmom walked into his hotel room and strips naked, he was also butt naked, nothing happened because they were interrupted by a group of men. He gets into a fight with them trying to protect her and broke his ribs. Word got out, they were discovered in a compromising position in his bed-chamber, so knowing how sensitive h is about her stepmom, he asked his other ex mistress to say that it was actually she who was in bed with him, and not the stepmom.
He continues to see this other ex mistress in London as a cover up (and hurts the h), but a few people saw who it was (stepmom) and the h learns the truth later in the book.

- H visited the stepmom a few times in London without the heroine, but with other people in the group.

- H rapes the h, but I didn’t give a shit. The RAPE is brutal, and the h doesnt gain any pleasure from it. Again, I didnt give a shit, because I despised her, she is a garbage person for me, I have no respect for her AT ALL.
But I realize this is a huge trigger for some readers, so beaware, the rape is detailed and brutal.
She does get aroused in the beginning, but she forces the rape, angers him intentionally, because of her guilt towards the father.


- He is violent towards the h.

- minor om drama. He’s only a friend, and only thinks of her as such.

At the end of the book, H said he has been faithful to her the whole time. ROFL



"She kent that it's the woman who maun make sure that her man keeps tae the straight and narrow.""

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason Verney, Viscount Deveryn was almost 30 and like most men his age, not ready to settle down. There were always women falling at his feet. One he was trying to get rid of. He did not dally with married women but Cynthia Sinclair had let him to believe it was okay with her husband.
When Jason seen him at the club drinking and pining over his wife he broke it off. After Donald Sinclair died though Jason agreed to go with Cynthia to Scotland to try and help her get something to live on as she had told him her step daughter was a selfish thing who would not help her.

Jason had to get away from Cynthia so he was walking in the Scottish town they were in. As he headed towards the church in the snowy weather he heard something and suddenly a girl was in his arms begging for a kiss.
It was love at first site and torture from then on.

Maddie Sinclair hated the man her father told her took his wife and all his worldly goods. And then her father died and she was sure he took his life because of this man named Deveryn. She had to go see Malcolm and talk to him about it. As she ran in his arms and then into the church, she found the man was Malcolm. He was giving her comfort and listening to her tale and then the stable boy came in and called him Deveryn. She took off towards home and then next day was surprised when he walked into her home, until she seen Cynthia with him.

The story is full of misunderstandings.

Maddie don't believe he is any less of a rake before she married him and he wants to keep the marriage quiet which has led into many more situations.

[Ilze · Rating 1 out of 5]

Complete trash. Neither of the main characters has any redeeming features, the female is terminally stupid, and there is a brutal rape by the male of the female in the first part of the book that is totally disgusting, even though he seems to feel it is justified.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not up to par with other works by this author. Confusing and the so-called hero was despicable. Sorry I took the time to finish this book.

[Nadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Serious issues with consent imo

[Being Human · Rating 1 out of 5]

Starting was promising but after a while everything fell apart. The major error was to write unnecessary chapters involving unnecessary secondary characters which were written just for the sake of filling up the pages. What irked me most was even though they said iloveyou to each other pretty much in the very beginning of the book, I failed to see any soulful aspect of love between them till the end.

[Tracyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oops forgot to update finished this ages ago. This was one Hero that was NOT going to take NO for an answer come what may. Usually in most reads it's the Hero that changes the most, where-as in Fallen Angel i felt as though the Heroine changed the most.

[Sharon Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished Fallen Angel and had such a smile on my face. Read what happens when women try to buck the system.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seemed great starting out but sloooooowwwwwed down after about 1/3 of the way