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The Devil's Shadow
Sibling rivalry threatened to destroy their love
Charlotte Page ran into Craig Bishop at the Sandowne Races. She'd never forgotten him, ever since her sister first brought him home to the Abbey six years ago.
It had been love at first sight. Not that he was interested in her,with her glamorous sister Verity to hold his attentions.
Charlotte was no longer a teenage tomboy. She'd grown into a beautiful and sophisticated woman whom Craig could love. Then, just when a happy ending seemed in sight for them, Verity came back on the scene.....
Charlotte Page ran into Craig Bishop at the Sandowne Races. She'd never forgotten him, ever since her sister first brought him home to the Abbey six years ago.
It had been love at first sight. Not that he was interested in her,with her glamorous sister Verity to hold his attentions.
Charlotte was no longer a teenage tomboy. She'd grown into a beautiful and sophisticated woman whom Craig could love. Then, just when a happy ending seemed in sight for them, Verity came back on the scene.....
188 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1989
2 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
Sally Wentworth
106 books94 followersDoreen was born on 1936 or 1937 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, UK. She married Donald Alfred Hornsblow, with whom she has a son Keith, in 1968. The family lived in Braughing, England.
Doreen began her publishing career at a Fleet Street newspaper in London, where she thrived in the hectic atmosphere. She started writing after attending an evening class and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1977, she published her novels under the pseudonym Sally Wentworth. Her novels were principally set in Great Britain or in exotic places like Canary Islands or Greece. Her first works are stand-alone novels, but in 1990s, she decided to create her first series. In 1991, she wrote a book in two parts about the Barclay twins and their great love, and in 1995, she wrote the Ties of Passion Trilogy about the Brodey family, that have money, looks, style, everything... except love.
Doreen was an accounts clerk at Associated Newspapers Ltd. in London, England, and accounts clerk at Consumers' Association in Hertford, England. In 1985, she was the founding chair of the Hertford Association of National Trust Members, and named its life president. She also collected knife rests and she was member of The Knife Rest Collectors Club.
Doreen Hornsblow died from cancer on 30 August 2001, at 64 years of age.
Doreen began her publishing career at a Fleet Street newspaper in London, where she thrived in the hectic atmosphere. She started writing after attending an evening class and sold her first novel to Mills & Boon in 1977, she published her novels under the pseudonym Sally Wentworth. Her novels were principally set in Great Britain or in exotic places like Canary Islands or Greece. Her first works are stand-alone novels, but in 1990s, she decided to create her first series. In 1991, she wrote a book in two parts about the Barclay twins and their great love, and in 1995, she wrote the Ties of Passion Trilogy about the Brodey family, that have money, looks, style, everything... except love.
Doreen was an accounts clerk at Associated Newspapers Ltd. in London, England, and accounts clerk at Consumers' Association in Hertford, England. In 1985, she was the founding chair of the Hertford Association of National Trust Members, and named its life president. She also collected knife rests and she was member of The Knife Rest Collectors Club.
Doreen Hornsblow died from cancer on 30 August 2001, at 64 years of age.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 9, 2017
Re The Devil's Shadow - this one really squicked me out. I pretty much had to hold my nose thru this one cause it was waaaay to icky for a casual read. It has GREAT dramarama wreckiness, but the situation is just so eeeekkkk! that I was not feeling anything but major disgust.
The heart of this story is two sisters who hate each other fighting over the prize that is the H. He, in the meantime is srsly enjoying playing them off against each other and it was cruel. The word gaslighting strongly appears in my mind on this one, and I can't help but speculate on the ultimate fate of the h after the end. Unfortunately this h proves to be one of the neurotic SW type h's and that certainly doesn't help matters much.
The story opens with the h falling in love with the H at 16, it is love at first sight for the h. He is interested in her manipulative sister tho, (big sis met him in London and brought him home to impress him with the family estate,) and the h's father has never been interested in the h at all. The h is a horsey, nature loving, more technically minded girl and the sister is the budding HP Harlot Vamp OW type.
The mother died several years earlier and the h has been cast out of the magic circle of the sister and the father ever since. Jealousy is rampant and that is the motivation for every action in this book, except for the H and he just likes to stir the pot and see what bubbles up.
The h tells the H a bunch of lies about her sister and her flirtations, she implies that the sister is keeping the H on string with several other men. The sister IS doing this actually, but the h doesn't have specifics and she grossly exaggerates the sister's actions. This leads to a big fight between the H and the sister and they break up. The sister has no problem smacking the daylights out of the 16yr old h, vowing she will get revenge no matter what or how long it takes. Six months later the sister takes off for Hollywood and is determined to be a big movie star - which she is successful at.
The h gets a business degree and a job in a finance firm and stays home caring for her elderly and completely disinterested father. She meets the H again six years later and needless to say, the h has grown up and looks fantastic - but still not as good as her sister.
The H and h start dating and the h is in love, tho their relationship hasn't been subjected to the lurve club mojo yet. Then the father dies and guess who is coming to dinner? Yep, the sister is back in all her Evil Harlotry and boy is she ready to take revenge. She forces the h to divide the huge family homestead into flats and the h will have to give up her home. The father's will left everything equally between them, the H will be the designing architect - he and his new firm are just starting out in the area and the sister takes every opportunity to let the h know that she is having regular appointments with the H's love club.
The H decides to invest in the house conversion as well, and he pretty much takes the sister's side over the h's every step of the way. The h is too neurotic and hopelessly dependent on the H and his attention to actually think about things and get some outside solicitor advice. Instead she spends page after page alternately angsting or fighting with the H and her sister's ploys. It was exhausting and not all the Cpt. Morgan in the world was making that page count go faster.
The H is of course caught in every compromising position except actually poking the lance of love with the sister that a man can be in and he even avoids taking the h to bed, presumably because he is indulging the sister, but ostensibly because he wants to wait with the h until the time is right. The h is eaten with jealousy and finally after the sister describes an intimate scar the H carries and the H confirms it, the H and h break up. The sister, house conversion well in hand, goes back to Hollywood to marry a director whose marriage she just broke up.
Meanwhile the house conversion is still going on and the h actually has an opportunity to hook up with a local rugby player. She doesn't (foolish girl, a rugby player in hand is worth ten architects in the bush,) but does manage to get herself in a compromising position with said rugby player and the H immediately jumps on the fact that it looks like the h and the rugby guy spent the night together.
Disregarding the fact that he and the h are done and have been for a while, the H accuses her of cheating and manipulates the h into believing that he thinks she is cheating on him just she believed he cheated on her. The only problem with that is that the cheating the H did (which is of the have your cake and eat it too variety,) actually was cheating, cause I totally believe he did some wall lancing with the sister. The h did not cheat, but irregardless, even if she and Mr. Rugby had done some boudoir bouncing, she was single and free to do so. The whole overnight thing where Mr. Rugby passed out from boozing it up on the h's couch happens at least a month or more after the H and h called it quits.
The h however, believes the H when he accuses her of playing away, so her response is to quit her job, move out of the house and sell her horse to be totally committed to the H. He cheerfully accepts the implied willingness to subjugate herself and look the other way when he wants a casual fling, so the HEA consists of them going off in big yellow cab to finally get around to the lancing of lurve.
I wasn't buying the HEA. The h needed to grow up, the H needed to move on and I hope the lurve lancing was so unfulfilling that the h comes to her senses and dumps the lot of them for the nice Mr. Rugby. What probably really happened is the H got his groove on, tortured the h some more with OW insinuations, then married her when she was suitably chastened and proceeded to lurve up her sister whenever the mood occurred to both of them. The h whined all the way through it all until she got drunk one night and broke her neck when she jumped her horse and landed wrong. The H collected on the h's inheritance, kept the sister's number handy until she got too old and over processed and then married a nice sweet motherly type from Kent and had the usual grand Country Home, 2.5 kids and a few dogs over in HRtopia a few years later.
In terms of wrecki drama and stomach punching disgust this book is five star, in terms of HEA believability and actual likability of the characters, it is negative a hundred trillion. Still SW in drama mood is hard to beat, so if you have the angst junkie addiction, load up on the vino and the chocolate and have a true HPlandia wrecki time.
The heart of this story is two sisters who hate each other fighting over the prize that is the H. He, in the meantime is srsly enjoying playing them off against each other and it was cruel. The word gaslighting strongly appears in my mind on this one, and I can't help but speculate on the ultimate fate of the h after the end. Unfortunately this h proves to be one of the neurotic SW type h's and that certainly doesn't help matters much.
The story opens with the h falling in love with the H at 16, it is love at first sight for the h. He is interested in her manipulative sister tho, (big sis met him in London and brought him home to impress him with the family estate,) and the h's father has never been interested in the h at all. The h is a horsey, nature loving, more technically minded girl and the sister is the budding HP Harlot Vamp OW type.
The mother died several years earlier and the h has been cast out of the magic circle of the sister and the father ever since. Jealousy is rampant and that is the motivation for every action in this book, except for the H and he just likes to stir the pot and see what bubbles up.
The h tells the H a bunch of lies about her sister and her flirtations, she implies that the sister is keeping the H on string with several other men. The sister IS doing this actually, but the h doesn't have specifics and she grossly exaggerates the sister's actions. This leads to a big fight between the H and the sister and they break up. The sister has no problem smacking the daylights out of the 16yr old h, vowing she will get revenge no matter what or how long it takes. Six months later the sister takes off for Hollywood and is determined to be a big movie star - which she is successful at.
The h gets a business degree and a job in a finance firm and stays home caring for her elderly and completely disinterested father. She meets the H again six years later and needless to say, the h has grown up and looks fantastic - but still not as good as her sister.
The H and h start dating and the h is in love, tho their relationship hasn't been subjected to the lurve club mojo yet. Then the father dies and guess who is coming to dinner? Yep, the sister is back in all her Evil Harlotry and boy is she ready to take revenge. She forces the h to divide the huge family homestead into flats and the h will have to give up her home. The father's will left everything equally between them, the H will be the designing architect - he and his new firm are just starting out in the area and the sister takes every opportunity to let the h know that she is having regular appointments with the H's love club.
The H decides to invest in the house conversion as well, and he pretty much takes the sister's side over the h's every step of the way. The h is too neurotic and hopelessly dependent on the H and his attention to actually think about things and get some outside solicitor advice. Instead she spends page after page alternately angsting or fighting with the H and her sister's ploys. It was exhausting and not all the Cpt. Morgan in the world was making that page count go faster.
The H is of course caught in every compromising position except actually poking the lance of love with the sister that a man can be in and he even avoids taking the h to bed, presumably because he is indulging the sister, but ostensibly because he wants to wait with the h until the time is right. The h is eaten with jealousy and finally after the sister describes an intimate scar the H carries and the H confirms it, the H and h break up. The sister, house conversion well in hand, goes back to Hollywood to marry a director whose marriage she just broke up.
Meanwhile the house conversion is still going on and the h actually has an opportunity to hook up with a local rugby player. She doesn't (foolish girl, a rugby player in hand is worth ten architects in the bush,) but does manage to get herself in a compromising position with said rugby player and the H immediately jumps on the fact that it looks like the h and the rugby guy spent the night together.
Disregarding the fact that he and the h are done and have been for a while, the H accuses her of cheating and manipulates the h into believing that he thinks she is cheating on him just she believed he cheated on her. The only problem with that is that the cheating the H did (which is of the have your cake and eat it too variety,) actually was cheating, cause I totally believe he did some wall lancing with the sister. The h did not cheat, but irregardless, even if she and Mr. Rugby had done some boudoir bouncing, she was single and free to do so. The whole overnight thing where Mr. Rugby passed out from boozing it up on the h's couch happens at least a month or more after the H and h called it quits.
The h however, believes the H when he accuses her of playing away, so her response is to quit her job, move out of the house and sell her horse to be totally committed to the H. He cheerfully accepts the implied willingness to subjugate herself and look the other way when he wants a casual fling, so the HEA consists of them going off in big yellow cab to finally get around to the lancing of lurve.
I wasn't buying the HEA. The h needed to grow up, the H needed to move on and I hope the lurve lancing was so unfulfilling that the h comes to her senses and dumps the lot of them for the nice Mr. Rugby. What probably really happened is the H got his groove on, tortured the h some more with OW insinuations, then married her when she was suitably chastened and proceeded to lurve up her sister whenever the mood occurred to both of them. The h whined all the way through it all until she got drunk one night and broke her neck when she jumped her horse and landed wrong. The H collected on the h's inheritance, kept the sister's number handy until she got too old and over processed and then married a nice sweet motherly type from Kent and had the usual grand Country Home, 2.5 kids and a few dogs over in HRtopia a few years later.
In terms of wrecki drama and stomach punching disgust this book is five star, in terms of HEA believability and actual likability of the characters, it is negative a hundred trillion. Still SW in drama mood is hard to beat, so if you have the angst junkie addiction, load up on the vino and the chocolate and have a true HPlandia wrecki time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2020
HAIKU BOOK REVIEW: The Devil's Shadow, by Sally Wentworth
Two bat-shit crazy
sisters fight over the bone
that is the hero.
Two bat-shit crazy
sisters fight over the bone
that is the hero.
March 26, 2022
The reviews for this are just down right disappointing. Really, this was a four star for me, but the one stars are just completely unfair to the heroine.
She was jealous and insecure for absolutely legitimate reasons.
Her sister refers to him as "Craig, darling", hugs him, kisses him, threatens to take him from her sister, lies to sister that she is sleeping with him, has slept with him, and will sleep with him in the future. Her father constantly ignores her, belittles her, all while praising and complimenting her sister. Never has anyone ever made this woman feel secure and loved. She's an emotionally battered woman and those calling her a doormat are incredibly lacking in empathy. At the end where most reviewers call her clingy or desperate, she is showing Craig that she is finally willing to trust him and in their love in the most extreme way she can. Craig needed this, SHE needed this. Before the end, she had never trusted anyone so completely before without fear of being hurt, being lied to, or most of all, being unloved.
Ironic, really, that her sister is named Verity.
She was jealous and insecure for absolutely legitimate reasons.
Her sister refers to him as "Craig, darling", hugs him, kisses him, threatens to take him from her sister, lies to sister that she is sleeping with him, has slept with him, and will sleep with him in the future. Her father constantly ignores her, belittles her, all while praising and complimenting her sister. Never has anyone ever made this woman feel secure and loved. She's an emotionally battered woman and those calling her a doormat are incredibly lacking in empathy. At the end where most reviewers call her clingy or desperate, she is showing Craig that she is finally willing to trust him and in their love in the most extreme way she can. Craig needed this, SHE needed this. Before the end, she had never trusted anyone so completely before without fear of being hurt, being lied to, or most of all, being unloved.
Ironic, really, that her sister is named Verity.
July 13, 2019
2.5🌟
It was painful reading this - I couldn't get over how there was mistrust, the jealousy of h over her sister ironically she is called Verity. The hero could have taken charlotte out of her misery by professing his love, propose etc but if anything he did nothing but fuel her mistrust in him. The story was doing really well until midway it went off the rails and it all became a. It too much. The ending was too abrupt.
Not one to reread for sure. Is not as bad a to have and to hold by Sally wentworth -that's worse!
It was painful reading this - I couldn't get over how there was mistrust, the jealousy of h over her sister ironically she is called Verity. The hero could have taken charlotte out of her misery by professing his love, propose etc but if anything he did nothing but fuel her mistrust in him. The story was doing really well until midway it went off the rails and it all became a. It too much. The ending was too abrupt.
Not one to reread for sure. Is not as bad a to have and to hold by Sally wentworth -that's worse!
March 28, 2017
Dnf'd due to the heroine. I found her to be callous and unsympathetic. By chapter 4 I gave up being interested in the drama to come. Also the writing style was very dry. That was underwhelming.
September 8, 2010
3.5 stars
Lack of trust was a big issue in this book. Charlotte found it extremely difficult to trust anything about Craig, despite falling in love with him at first site as a chld of sixteen. Craig would not have inpired my trust either, though, as he seemed to put himself in situation after situation that could be easily misinterpreted. Put a completely evil and self-centered sister in the mix and there was trouble brewing until almost the last page.
Lack of trust was a big issue in this book. Charlotte found it extremely difficult to trust anything about Craig, despite falling in love with him at first site as a chld of sixteen. Craig would not have inpired my trust either, though, as he seemed to put himself in situation after situation that could be easily misinterpreted. Put a completely evil and self-centered sister in the mix and there was trouble brewing until almost the last page.
December 2, 2020
I stopped reading this book and just scanned the rest of it.
The reason for that is the h. In the beginning of the book she is fat. Her beautiful sister has a goodlooking boyfriend. The h immediately falls in love with her sister’s boyfriend, the H.
That can happen. But what made me dislike the h so much, was that she told the boyfriend that her sister had many men. She tells the boyfriend she loves him and he kisses her.
Soon after that the H dumps the sister.
After 6 years the h and H are in a relationship. The H tells the h that he knew she lied about all the men her sister had had. But what she had told him, was the reason he broke up with her sister.
He tells her he never had sex with her sister, although her sister says they did have sex. He says he was in love with her sister and he admits he asked her to marry him. I therefore do not believe that the H and her sister never had sex.
Anyway, I didn’t care about the h. Even if you don’t like your sister, you don’t talk bad about her to her boyfriend behind her back. Her purpose was not to save him from her sister, but to end the relationship he had with her sister, so he would take her instead of her sister.
So no. Absolutely no.
The reason for that is the h. In the beginning of the book she is fat. Her beautiful sister has a goodlooking boyfriend. The h immediately falls in love with her sister’s boyfriend, the H.
That can happen. But what made me dislike the h so much, was that she told the boyfriend that her sister had many men. She tells the boyfriend she loves him and he kisses her.
Soon after that the H dumps the sister.
After 6 years the h and H are in a relationship. The H tells the h that he knew she lied about all the men her sister had had. But what she had told him, was the reason he broke up with her sister.
He tells her he never had sex with her sister, although her sister says they did have sex. He says he was in love with her sister and he admits he asked her to marry him. I therefore do not believe that the H and her sister never had sex.
Anyway, I didn’t care about the h. Even if you don’t like your sister, you don’t talk bad about her to her boyfriend behind her back. Her purpose was not to save him from her sister, but to end the relationship he had with her sister, so he would take her instead of her sister.
So no. Absolutely no.
March 29, 2015
Wow, Charlotte is the most clingy character I've read in a book. I know some romance novels are over the top, but this is ridiculous. When she first starts dating Craig, she notes that her friends are still trying to reach her but she has little interest in them anymore now that she's with her new love. When he gets a break from work and calls her for a surprise lunch, she walks out of her office (where shes worked for years) and tells her boss she's leaving, daring him to stop her. She makes it clear that if he stops her from going to lunch with her boyfriend, she'll quit right then and there! At the end of the book, to show her trust of Craig, she runs to him and lets him know she's moved out of the house she's selling, has quit her job, and gotten rid of her horse at the house to prove her commitment to him. He, being a normal enough character, is surprised. I'm sure he's wondering what kind of nut case she is! The thing is he's not even controlling! He tries to get her to make decisions often about renovating the house she must sell but she has no interest in making any decision.
Sadly the book actually started well - apparently but the middle the author found it so ridiculous she hurried through it. The ending is one of the most abrupt departures I've seen.
Sadly the book actually started well - apparently but the middle the author found it so ridiculous she hurried through it. The ending is one of the most abrupt departures I've seen.
June 16, 2023
Very boring. The idea was good. The execution was terrible.
There was no story really. It just dragged on and on.
There was no story really. It just dragged on and on.
May 21, 2020
SKIP! Nothing is resolved! And this ends like the sopranos! Just over. The evil sister is just evil with one sentence of why but she's dumb and she has a lot in common with the heroine who is ALSO dumb. The second she remeets the hero she loves her freaking mind and is a blubbering moron. SKIP!!!!
May 22, 2025
An extra star for the horses.
This could’ve been excellent angst porn if the sister wasn’t so ridiculous and there was less back and forth with the jealousies. It’s weird because I liked the two of them together, it was just so overwhelmed by the annoying obstacles. I like reveling in the tortured period apart, not sighing impatiently because they can’t get their act together. Especially disappointing because SW usually does angst so well!
This could’ve been excellent angst porn if the sister wasn’t so ridiculous and there was less back and forth with the jealousies. It’s weird because I liked the two of them together, it was just so overwhelmed by the annoying obstacles. I like reveling in the tortured period apart, not sighing impatiently because they can’t get their act together. Especially disappointing because SW usually does angst so well!
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March 12, 2013انه اول يوم لي في الاعدادية رايتها في قسم محاطة ببنات اخريات في تلك اللحضة صدمتني تلك الملامح الرائعة الجمال تاركة اترها العميق في قلبي فلمى مرت الايام مع رئيتها احسست ان دالك الشعور الدي لم يتركني ان اعيش متل الناس انه الحب
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