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Devil's Kiss
Plan A--expose Warren!
Plan B --fall in love?
Warren Hunter had caused Miranda's family a great deal of pain. But he wasn't going to get away with it. Miranda had the perfect plan for revenge--a plan she hadn't hesitated to put into action.
But like all the best made plans this one backfired. Oh, it would have worked if Warren had reacted as expected; if he had been guilty of Miranda's accusations. And if he hadn't been the father of her unborn child....
Plan B --fall in love?
Warren Hunter had caused Miranda's family a great deal of pain. But he wasn't going to get away with it. Miranda had the perfect plan for revenge--a plan she hadn't hesitated to put into action.
But like all the best made plans this one backfired. Oh, it would have worked if Warren had reacted as expected; if he had been guilty of Miranda's accusations. And if he hadn't been the father of her unborn child....
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
1 person is currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Sally Wentworth
108 books95 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 13, 2017
Triggers: abortion. It opens with the heroine's sister in an abortion clinic, with the heroine vowing revenge against the man who discarded her sister and paid for the procedure with a credit card.
Career gal heroine sees our hero's name on the card, tracks him down, and figures out a way to headhunt seven people away from his computer company. The hero realizes what is happening and they finally meet during an angry lunch. The hero insists he was not her sister's lover, so they drive to York for the sister to confirm or deny his story. Sister has never laid eyes on the hero and heroine must now apologize and try to undo all the harm she has wrecked on his company.
I liked the story well enough at this point - although the abortion sub-plot made me uncomfortable. (I'm pro-choice as I think it should be a legal right. But since I didn't know either character - it felt very cold-blooded and hard for me to judge if this was the right choice.)
From there the story takes a turn. Leaving York, the H/h are in a car accident on a snowy road. They find an abandoned boat and spend the night. They end up having sex, but the heroine thinks the hero is disgusted by her the next morning. Since a good offense is the best defense - the heroine is horrible to him for the rest of the story.
The hero puts up with a lot actually.
It's sad for the heroine, but I thought the hero got the raw deal in how she treated him. When the hero hears her crying after their last confrontation, he comes back and she finally reveals her feelings. He's loved her all along. HEA
I believed the hero really did love her all along. He had infinite patience with her antics.
I can't imagine this story being written today - abortion now is so controversial and polarizing . SW shows how a pregnancy can derail your life and it does seem that she's showing that an abortion is okay with the sister's HEA of returning to be a happy university student. (I can tell you all kinds of real life stories that had this same outcome. So that rang true.)
The heroine had different views and made different choices which caused a lot of heartache. I remember this sort of attitude back in the day - discussion of abortion wasn't so black and white - there was a lot more nuance. But it's hard to read this matter-of-factly through the lens of 2017.
Career gal heroine sees our hero's name on the card, tracks him down, and figures out a way to headhunt seven people away from his computer company. The hero realizes what is happening and they finally meet during an angry lunch. The hero insists he was not her sister's lover, so they drive to York for the sister to confirm or deny his story. Sister has never laid eyes on the hero and heroine must now apologize and try to undo all the harm she has wrecked on his company.
I liked the story well enough at this point - although the abortion sub-plot made me uncomfortable. (I'm pro-choice as I think it should be a legal right. But since I didn't know either character - it felt very cold-blooded and hard for me to judge if this was the right choice.)
From there the story takes a turn. Leaving York, the H/h are in a car accident on a snowy road. They find an abandoned boat and spend the night. They end up having sex, but the heroine thinks the hero is disgusted by her the next morning. Since a good offense is the best defense - the heroine is horrible to him for the rest of the story.
The hero puts up with a lot actually.
It's sad for the heroine, but I thought the hero got the raw deal in how she treated him. When the hero hears her crying after their last confrontation, he comes back and she finally reveals her feelings. He's loved her all along. HEA
I believed the hero really did love her all along. He had infinite patience with her antics.
I can't imagine this story being written today - abortion now is so controversial and polarizing . SW shows how a pregnancy can derail your life and it does seem that she's showing that an abortion is okay with the sister's HEA of returning to be a happy university student. (I can tell you all kinds of real life stories that had this same outcome. So that rang true.)
The heroine had different views and made different choices which caused a lot of heartache. I remember this sort of attitude back in the day - discussion of abortion wasn't so black and white - there was a lot more nuance. But it's hard to read this matter-of-factly through the lens of 2017.
November 26, 2017
Re The Devil's Kiss - Sally Wentworth goes to her old revenge trope standby and then complicates that with a MOC when the h finds herself preggers after a drunken one night stand with her revenge target.
The story is straightforward at first. The h is in her twenties, has a younger 18 or 19 yr old sister who gets seduced by a man while visiting the h in London and ends up being booked by the bounder into a clinic for a termination.
She calls the h in tears and the h rushes to meet her at the clinic. The procedure is over by the time the h finds the place and there is a certain amount of guilt that the sister met the man on the h's watch, so to speak. Plus the h is genuinely hurt for her sister, especially since it was lil sis's first real romance and things went totally downhill in a hand basket for her.
The h bribes the clinic receptionist to get a name for the cad seducer. She then uses her contacts as a corporate headhunter to locate the guy and his company and then she embarks on hiring away his key people. The target for revenge does computer consulting along the lines of networking systems and software, so the h goes after people who are crucial to running his organization.
She makes a fatal error when she tries to hire away the target's number one assistant because the target himself shows up and there is a big fight in the restaurant where the h set up the meeting. She announces that the H not only uses his credit card to buy lunch, but also uses it to pay for his discards abortions and the H freaks out.
He drags her off to Yorkshire to confront her sister, who is obviously spreading lies about him, and the h has the presence of mind to bring her mobile phone- as she is possibly traveling with a deranged person.
She calls her sister to confirm the cad seducer's name and lo - it is the H's name as well. The h is now confident that she has the right man and she is basking in the aftermath of her righteous revenge. Until they get to Yorkshire and it turns out that the H's name is not the whole name of the guy that left baby sis up the duff. The H isn't the guy and the h is mortified, scared and now has to fix the damage she has already done - she also has to confess to the H what she did.
On the way back to London, it starts to snow and the h tells the H about the critical staff she hired away from him. He puts the Lotus he drives into a ditch and the h ends up soaked. The two of them break into a nearby house boat and booze and sex follow. The H wakes up the next morning and shouts out "Hell NO" and the h is once again mortified, she thinks the H hates her so she tries to blow the whole thing off as a bad romance moment fling.
We all go back to London and the h has to explain to her boss/boyfriend what she did to the H's company. The boss/boyfriend goes off to fix it and then the h takes him home for Christmas. But she realizes she is preggers and so more lies are necessary to get her out the predicament she created for herself. She toys with the idear of a termination, but since this h is very goal motivated, it is pretty clear she isn't going to do it. She breaks up with the boss/boyfriend tho and things just get worse for the h - largely thru her own misjudgment and fabrications.
SW makes an attempt at h self introspection, but the h is so busy avoiding the issue and lying left and right to her boss/boyfriend and the H - whom she has to find another staff member for, that the whole thing seemed a bit farcical to me. The h turns in her resignation and dumps her boss pretty vehemently by claiming he is boring when he asks her why she did this to him- she never tells him she cheated on him. The ex boss freaks out when the h has two weeks left to work out her notice and the H happens to wander in just as the ex boss/boyfriend is attempting to rape her.
The H offers the h a job and starts hounding her about what she is hiding. In the midst of looking for new premises and new staff for the H, the H realizes the h is preggers and uses that to force a marriage. The h tries to use the statement that she is getting an abortion as a club to drive the H away, but he isn't buying any of that and gives the h the standard HP speech about doing the best for the baby. The h falls for it with reservations and they meet each other's families and then get married.
It is a dismal affair, the families aren't happy about a shotgun wedding in a registry office and the h, tho she by now loves the H, is unable to contemplate having sex with a man who thinks she is horrible. The H is upset she won't ride the tower of power and things deteriorate from there. Then the h miscarries a few weeks into the marriage and the H shows up to blame her for fighting the baby and the marriage-making it seem that miscarriage was her fault and the h is naturally feeling guilty and is very defensive about the whole thing.
The H and h decide to divorce or annul or whatever, they are now done with each other. The h collapses hysterically on the floor after the H leaves. The H overhears her and comes back and the h tearfully admits her love for the H. He declares he loves her back and has since he met her, but they started off sooo badly with the one nighter and his exclamation was over how the fling messed up his opportunity to woo the h properly.
Mutual declarations of love abound and we leave the two lurving it up and happily contemplating future children for the HEA.
On the whole, this is the second book in HPlandia that deals with the subject of an unexpected pregnancy that might be terminated. SW does have the h contemplate, but it is less than a serious introspection and the h was really too busy lying and conniving to hide her seekrit to really think about what she was doing.
I found Penny Jordan's Too Short a Blessing to be far more contemplative on the subject and whole lot easier to tolerate. Mostly because I felt this h to be far more unlikable and using the termination potential as a club to use against the H. I wasn't too keen on the H in this one either tho, I felt his rage over not getting the lurve club sheathed was a bit over the top.
I mean, yes they did have a drunken one night stand, but the h was clearly unhappy about being pressured into marriage and I thought for all that he claimed to love the h, he was more about getting his groove on than he was actually wooing and winning over the woman he claimed to love so much.
Also SW reliance on the HP Approved Standard H Response to the pregnancy was just too generic and tropily trite - as were his arguments for getting married to begin with. I don't have feelings about abortion in romance one way or the other, I try to judge by the situation as presented by the characters and so unfortunately I found this to be lacking in heart and discernment.
Tho it does present a delicate situation in very real world terms, I could actually see this happening in the world outside HPlandia. So SW does deserve kudos for delving into a delicate topic and it is somewhat groundbreaking in it's very realism. Top marks for effort here and probably worth a read for a more realistic outing in HPlandia.
The story is straightforward at first. The h is in her twenties, has a younger 18 or 19 yr old sister who gets seduced by a man while visiting the h in London and ends up being booked by the bounder into a clinic for a termination.
She calls the h in tears and the h rushes to meet her at the clinic. The procedure is over by the time the h finds the place and there is a certain amount of guilt that the sister met the man on the h's watch, so to speak. Plus the h is genuinely hurt for her sister, especially since it was lil sis's first real romance and things went totally downhill in a hand basket for her.
The h bribes the clinic receptionist to get a name for the cad seducer. She then uses her contacts as a corporate headhunter to locate the guy and his company and then she embarks on hiring away his key people. The target for revenge does computer consulting along the lines of networking systems and software, so the h goes after people who are crucial to running his organization.
She makes a fatal error when she tries to hire away the target's number one assistant because the target himself shows up and there is a big fight in the restaurant where the h set up the meeting. She announces that the H not only uses his credit card to buy lunch, but also uses it to pay for his discards abortions and the H freaks out.
He drags her off to Yorkshire to confront her sister, who is obviously spreading lies about him, and the h has the presence of mind to bring her mobile phone- as she is possibly traveling with a deranged person.
She calls her sister to confirm the cad seducer's name and lo - it is the H's name as well. The h is now confident that she has the right man and she is basking in the aftermath of her righteous revenge. Until they get to Yorkshire and it turns out that the H's name is not the whole name of the guy that left baby sis up the duff. The H isn't the guy and the h is mortified, scared and now has to fix the damage she has already done - she also has to confess to the H what she did.
On the way back to London, it starts to snow and the h tells the H about the critical staff she hired away from him. He puts the Lotus he drives into a ditch and the h ends up soaked. The two of them break into a nearby house boat and booze and sex follow. The H wakes up the next morning and shouts out "Hell NO" and the h is once again mortified, she thinks the H hates her so she tries to blow the whole thing off as a bad romance moment fling.
We all go back to London and the h has to explain to her boss/boyfriend what she did to the H's company. The boss/boyfriend goes off to fix it and then the h takes him home for Christmas. But she realizes she is preggers and so more lies are necessary to get her out the predicament she created for herself. She toys with the idear of a termination, but since this h is very goal motivated, it is pretty clear she isn't going to do it. She breaks up with the boss/boyfriend tho and things just get worse for the h - largely thru her own misjudgment and fabrications.
SW makes an attempt at h self introspection, but the h is so busy avoiding the issue and lying left and right to her boss/boyfriend and the H - whom she has to find another staff member for, that the whole thing seemed a bit farcical to me. The h turns in her resignation and dumps her boss pretty vehemently by claiming he is boring when he asks her why she did this to him- she never tells him she cheated on him. The ex boss freaks out when the h has two weeks left to work out her notice and the H happens to wander in just as the ex boss/boyfriend is attempting to rape her.
The H offers the h a job and starts hounding her about what she is hiding. In the midst of looking for new premises and new staff for the H, the H realizes the h is preggers and uses that to force a marriage. The h tries to use the statement that she is getting an abortion as a club to drive the H away, but he isn't buying any of that and gives the h the standard HP speech about doing the best for the baby. The h falls for it with reservations and they meet each other's families and then get married.
It is a dismal affair, the families aren't happy about a shotgun wedding in a registry office and the h, tho she by now loves the H, is unable to contemplate having sex with a man who thinks she is horrible. The H is upset she won't ride the tower of power and things deteriorate from there. Then the h miscarries a few weeks into the marriage and the H shows up to blame her for fighting the baby and the marriage-making it seem that miscarriage was her fault and the h is naturally feeling guilty and is very defensive about the whole thing.
The H and h decide to divorce or annul or whatever, they are now done with each other. The h collapses hysterically on the floor after the H leaves. The H overhears her and comes back and the h tearfully admits her love for the H. He declares he loves her back and has since he met her, but they started off sooo badly with the one nighter and his exclamation was over how the fling messed up his opportunity to woo the h properly.
Mutual declarations of love abound and we leave the two lurving it up and happily contemplating future children for the HEA.
On the whole, this is the second book in HPlandia that deals with the subject of an unexpected pregnancy that might be terminated. SW does have the h contemplate, but it is less than a serious introspection and the h was really too busy lying and conniving to hide her seekrit to really think about what she was doing.
I found Penny Jordan's Too Short a Blessing to be far more contemplative on the subject and whole lot easier to tolerate. Mostly because I felt this h to be far more unlikable and using the termination potential as a club to use against the H. I wasn't too keen on the H in this one either tho, I felt his rage over not getting the lurve club sheathed was a bit over the top.
I mean, yes they did have a drunken one night stand, but the h was clearly unhappy about being pressured into marriage and I thought for all that he claimed to love the h, he was more about getting his groove on than he was actually wooing and winning over the woman he claimed to love so much.
Also SW reliance on the HP Approved Standard H Response to the pregnancy was just too generic and tropily trite - as were his arguments for getting married to begin with. I don't have feelings about abortion in romance one way or the other, I try to judge by the situation as presented by the characters and so unfortunately I found this to be lacking in heart and discernment.
Tho it does present a delicate situation in very real world terms, I could actually see this happening in the world outside HPlandia. So SW does deserve kudos for delving into a delicate topic and it is somewhat groundbreaking in it's very realism. Top marks for effort here and probably worth a read for a more realistic outing in HPlandia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 27, 2024
Blessed relief to have a HP with a h giving some Actual Thought to an abortion after a ONS pregnancy rather than going "oh my baby, my baby" and hurtling headlong and heedless into a lifetime of parenthood. Hot on the heels of her younger sister just having had one though, it did feel a bit like someone really ought to have explained the marvellous 20th/21st century concept of contraception to them both. Clearly their mother did not lay down the law like mine ("Get on the pill now. Take no chances. Do NOT get pregnant.") Stood me in good stead and worked for my own girls as well 😂 Anyhow, career girl recruitment consultant Miranda seeks vengeance for little Sis's sad story on the wrong guy. Her and Warren Hunter have the ONS on a boat after running off the road in a snowstorm. The rest of the book is her refusing his overtures essentially. Not exactly likeable but at least realistic (apart from Hs insistence on marriage.)
August 1, 2022
H is a nice alpha male in pursuit. She is not a virgin. She contemplates abortion after getting pregnant. It’s a good read so three stars.
May 12, 2014
Again with the revenge HP! Yes, indeedy.
I was on a kick from the heroine gets vengeful trope, and found this book. The revenge doesn't take up but a portion of the book before the heroine realizes that it's a case of mistaken identity, but as always, Sally Wentworth does a worthy corporate revenge.
Miranda is a successful corporate headhunter consultant and gets a phone call from her younger 18 y/o sister, who tearfully informs her that she's getting an abortion at one of London's clinics. Miranda rushes over there to find that it's already been performed and is enraged at the thought of a love 'em and leave 'em man who did this to her younger sister. She bribes a nurse at the front desk in order to look at her sister's file and finds that a Warren Hunter paid for the abortion by credit card.
She questions her sister only slightly on this issue, not wanting to risk hurting her sister more, and finds out that he's some owner of a computer company. She gets her company investigator to track down a Warren Hunter and finds that there indeed is such a man who is the head of a small but successful computer consultancy firm. I'm thinking it's probably software, but it's not described explicitly. She then double checks that this indeed is the man that her sister met, and then gets down to work:
Over the next few weeks, she finds jobs for people within Warren Hunter's firm, and recruits 7 of them to go work elsewhere, with them all tendering their resignation on the same day, Dec. 1. And then she decides to recruit WH's righthand man, and sets up a meeting with the antagonistic man. It falls apart, of course, because the man who meets up with her is Warren Hunter himself, not the righthand man, but Miranda isn't above embarrassing him at the restaurant, and shouts out at the end, "He's paying for the meal. By credit card. That's how he pays for the abortions of his girlfriends!" and stalks out.
And that's the end of the revenge, because WH comes back to find her and doesn't own up to defiling her sister. He vows to go up to York to find her sister, and Miranda goes along, because she doesn't want him upsetting her sister. She takes along a "portable phone" just in case something happens, and calls up her sister at a rest stop, and asks if the man she was involved with was called "Warren Hunter." But the sister replies, "How did you know!" Well, it turns out that the man was Piers Warren-Hunter (har-har) and not this man, and on the way back, they run into a blizzard and their car overturns when Miranda confesses the extent of her crime (headhunting 7 people from the same company). They find shelter, get it on under the influence of alcohol, and the next day part with some misunderstandings and head back to London.
Yadda yadda yadda, Miranda after a while decides to call it quits from her boyfriend/boss of the headhunting company, who gets angry with her and attempts rape which WH interrupts. Meanwhile, Graham (boyfriend/boss) promised a free headhunting of a sales manager and hands it over to Miranda who handles it until she's made to quit the company. WH offers her a job at his company, and she takes it given that it is temporary since she has since found out she's preggers. At some point, they're made to get married bc of the baby, but Miranda is unable to get it on with WH because of the one night they spent together, after which he woke up and looked at her and said, "Hell, no!!" in a horrified voice. Note to men: don't say this on the morning after. Guaranteed to cancel out all future nooky.
She stumbles one day on her way to get it on with WH and loses the baby. They talk and get it out of the open.
The baby-marriage plot is a common plot device in HP books, and this is the first time I've seen Sally Wentworth use it. Apparently, there's not much you can do with such a trope, but at least in this book, she utilized 2 tropes instead of one. The revenge made the book noteworthy. Now I want to see the movie, Headhunters.
I was on a kick from the heroine gets vengeful trope, and found this book. The revenge doesn't take up but a portion of the book before the heroine realizes that it's a case of mistaken identity, but as always, Sally Wentworth does a worthy corporate revenge.
Miranda is a successful corporate headhunter consultant and gets a phone call from her younger 18 y/o sister, who tearfully informs her that she's getting an abortion at one of London's clinics. Miranda rushes over there to find that it's already been performed and is enraged at the thought of a love 'em and leave 'em man who did this to her younger sister. She bribes a nurse at the front desk in order to look at her sister's file and finds that a Warren Hunter paid for the abortion by credit card.
She questions her sister only slightly on this issue, not wanting to risk hurting her sister more, and finds out that he's some owner of a computer company. She gets her company investigator to track down a Warren Hunter and finds that there indeed is such a man who is the head of a small but successful computer consultancy firm. I'm thinking it's probably software, but it's not described explicitly. She then double checks that this indeed is the man that her sister met, and then gets down to work:
Over the next few weeks, she finds jobs for people within Warren Hunter's firm, and recruits 7 of them to go work elsewhere, with them all tendering their resignation on the same day, Dec. 1. And then she decides to recruit WH's righthand man, and sets up a meeting with the antagonistic man. It falls apart, of course, because the man who meets up with her is Warren Hunter himself, not the righthand man, but Miranda isn't above embarrassing him at the restaurant, and shouts out at the end, "He's paying for the meal. By credit card. That's how he pays for the abortions of his girlfriends!" and stalks out.
And that's the end of the revenge, because WH comes back to find her and doesn't own up to defiling her sister. He vows to go up to York to find her sister, and Miranda goes along, because she doesn't want him upsetting her sister. She takes along a "portable phone" just in case something happens, and calls up her sister at a rest stop, and asks if the man she was involved with was called "Warren Hunter." But the sister replies, "How did you know!" Well, it turns out that the man was Piers Warren-Hunter (har-har) and not this man, and on the way back, they run into a blizzard and their car overturns when Miranda confesses the extent of her crime (headhunting 7 people from the same company). They find shelter, get it on under the influence of alcohol, and the next day part with some misunderstandings and head back to London.
Yadda yadda yadda, Miranda after a while decides to call it quits from her boyfriend/boss of the headhunting company, who gets angry with her and attempts rape which WH interrupts. Meanwhile, Graham (boyfriend/boss) promised a free headhunting of a sales manager and hands it over to Miranda who handles it until she's made to quit the company. WH offers her a job at his company, and she takes it given that it is temporary since she has since found out she's preggers. At some point, they're made to get married bc of the baby, but Miranda is unable to get it on with WH because of the one night they spent together, after which he woke up and looked at her and said, "Hell, no!!" in a horrified voice. Note to men: don't say this on the morning after. Guaranteed to cancel out all future nooky.
She stumbles one day on her way to get it on with WH and loses the baby. They talk and get it out of the open.
The baby-marriage plot is a common plot device in HP books, and this is the first time I've seen Sally Wentworth use it. Apparently, there's not much you can do with such a trope, but at least in this book, she utilized 2 tropes instead of one. The revenge made the book noteworthy. Now I want to see the movie, Headhunters.
June 26, 2012
HAhahaha
NO one does heroine get revenge stories like Sally Wentworth. Our heroine, Miranda goes after the hero because him for the jerk who knocked up and broke her baby sister's heart. Boy does Miranda nail it to the hero.
Spoilers Spoilers Spiolers
Reasons you may or may not like this book:
1. Heioine is a bit of a feminist.
2. Heroine has a real career
3. Heroine's sister has an abortion and heroine seriously considers having an abortion.
4. Heroine is attacked by her former boyfriend.
NO one does heroine get revenge stories like Sally Wentworth. Our heroine, Miranda goes after the hero because him for the jerk who knocked up and broke her baby sister's heart. Boy does Miranda nail it to the hero.
Spoilers Spoilers Spiolers
Reasons you may or may not like this book:
1. Heioine is a bit of a feminist.
2. Heroine has a real career
3. Heroine's sister has an abortion and heroine seriously considers having an abortion.
4. Heroine is attacked by her former boyfriend.
avoid
October 15, 2017Check out the Review and comments.
StMargarets's Review
StMargarets's Review
February 10, 2021
I find it interesting that HPs in the 80s and 90s were so much more provocative and "controversial" than they are in the 2000s. Recent HPs are cookie cutter and uninteresting because there's nothing exciting or angsty. This is the only HP book I've ever read that talked about abortion. This is a triggering issue for some but I'm pro-choice and I appreciate the way that SW wrote about the issue. The book starts off with the h's 18yr old sister having an abortion. This sets the h off on a quest for revenge for her baby sis and she uses her network and job as a headhunter to steal employees from the H's firm. The mistaken identity is cleared up and MCs have a ONS and the h becomes pregnant. She considers an abortion herself and again, I appreciated SW's deft handling of the things a woman considers when she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant. We're used to babies in HPlandia automatically leading to marriage so I enjoyed this HPlandia-unique take on all the things one has to consider when one is pregnant with a relative stranger.
I also liked that the h had a career and a sweet apartment. She had a lot going for her which evened the power dynamic in their relationship. The H respected her career and intelligence and was really nice to her considering her revenge plot. The h's hot and cold behavior and constant lying to the H did get annoying after awhile. The ending was abrupt (like the ending to this review).
I also liked that the h had a career and a sweet apartment. She had a lot going for her which evened the power dynamic in their relationship. The H respected her career and intelligence and was really nice to her considering her revenge plot. The h's hot and cold behavior and constant lying to the H did get annoying after awhile. The ending was abrupt (like the ending to this review).
May 19, 2023
To abort or not to abort? That is the question! (Wonder what Shakespeare would have thought about this? Then again, who cares?) This is a serious issue and should be included in a book that has a worthwhile story, not this mess where no one seems to care very much about anyone but themselves. No wonder the baby decided to abort itself, I'd have done the same thing if I was faced with having those two as my parents! Not much warmth or real feeling in this story, everyone came across as artificial, and it was difficult to believe either the h or H was capable of loving each other, let alone a baby conceived during a drunken hookup. BLAH!!!
April 21, 2023
"The Devil's Kiss" is the story of Miranda and Warren.
This book begins with a , ends with a , has a shrewd unlikable selfish lying heroine and a tolerant hero, mixed with un-necessary drama and some non con scenes. I wish she ended up in a ditch.
SWE
1/5
This book begins with a , ends with a , has a shrewd unlikable selfish lying heroine and a tolerant hero, mixed with un-necessary drama and some non con scenes. I wish she ended up in a ditch.
SWE
1/5
April 9, 2023
Sally Wentworth wrote some of my favorite HPs but this isn’t one. From a story perspective h lies a lot and H’s reaction to her initially, when he thinks she is luring one employee is over the top ridiculous. I can see hm angry she is recruiting seven key people but one is normal business practice.
I don’t like the whole “termination” thing, abortion is wrong and it’s disconcerting to see it in a book that has a guaranteed HEA.
I don’t like the whole “termination” thing, abortion is wrong and it’s disconcerting to see it in a book that has a guaranteed HEA.
July 9, 2012
Nobody does revenge heroine to hero like Sally Wentworth. The heroine goes after the hero for blood after mistaking him for the lose who used and abused her sister. This book was exciting especially when the herione played the hero like a violin. I love it when it's the hero doing the chasing and self doubting.
What I liked about this romance novel was how the heroine really thought about having an abortion. I've never seen any HP author touch on this subject in any meaningful way.
Reasons you may or may not like this book:
1. Herione has a real job and two degrees.
2. Herione was almost raped by her former finance.
3. Heroine's sister has an abortion and heroine considers having an abortion.
4. Heroine is a feminist.
What I liked about this romance novel was how the heroine really thought about having an abortion. I've never seen any HP author touch on this subject in any meaningful way.
Reasons you may or may not like this book:
1. Herione has a real job and two degrees.
2. Herione was almost raped by her former finance.
3. Heroine's sister has an abortion and heroine considers having an abortion.
4. Heroine is a feminist.
June 9, 2021
Plan A: expose Warren! Plan B: fall in love? Warren Hunter had caused Miranda's family a great deal of pain. But he wasn't going to get away with it. Miranda had the perfect plan for revenge a plan she hadn't hesitated to put into action. But like all the best made plans this one backfired. Oh, it would have worked if Warren had reacted as expected; if he had been guilty of Miranda's accusations. And if he hadn't been the father of her unborn child
August 25, 2014
Classic Wentworth!
Had to get over the visual reminder that "Warren" used to be my middle-aged design lecturer ... I thoroughly enjoyed this HP. That abortion was casually (but responsibly) included and its more overt feminist tones appealed to me very much.
Had to get over the visual reminder that "Warren" used to be my middle-aged design lecturer ... I thoroughly enjoyed this HP. That abortion was casually (but responsibly) included and its more overt feminist tones appealed to me very much.
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