Devil in Spurs

by Norah Hess

Growing up in a brothel and disguising herself as boy to escape unwanted attentions, Jonty Rand is distraught to learn that her Granny made Cord McBain, a notorious womanizer, her guardian, and when he discovers that she is a girl, they embark on a journey of unbridled passion and love. Reissue.

Genres: Historical Romance, Historical, Westerns, Romance, Western Romance, Genderqueer, Western Historical Romance

448 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1990

About the author

Always a daydreamer, and often scolded for it by the grandmother who raised her, Norah Hess always wanted to be a writer. At eighteen, she was sent to Chicago to live with an aunt after her grandmother's death. It was there that she met her husband. After raising three children, Norah decided to write her first novel, and since then has had fifteen published romances. After her husband passed away, she and her two cats moved to Palm Springs, where the desert and mountains inspire her to write her Western romances.

Reviews

[JennyG · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fast paced western romance which I at times had a hard time putting down.

Our heroine Jonty has grown up pretending to be a boy, for her own protection, since she was raised in a brothel. A pretence she has been sick and tired of for a long time and which she hopes will end soon. Unfortunately, that doesn't come to pass. Her grandmother dies making Cord McBain Jonty's guardian thus forcing her to continue with her disguise.

Cord McBain is a very reluctant guardian because he doesn't like the "sissified boy". He agrees to it only because the granny saved his life at one point. His goal is to make a MAN out of the boy.

Hero was unreasonably cruel in his conduct towards Jonty while he thought her a "sissified boy". Sometimes I thought his actions and reactions downright stupid. But once he found out that Jonty was actually a girl, his behaviour changed for the better. The only time he reverted to his old treatment (not as harsh) of Jonty was when jealousy was riding him hard.

Despite both the hero and heroine having their share of TSTL moments I enjoyed the book. I think I ended up liking it so much because the hero became so totally nuts about the heroine. I mean, he was cannot sleep, cannot eat, constantly thinking, pining and longing for her kind of hero.

P.S. There was an attempt of rape by another man. No rape by the hero. Hero kisses another woman in front of the heroine in order to make her jealous, otherwise no cheating.

[Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book combined my favorite trope (girl disguised as boy) with my all time most hated trope (NO ONE CAN COMMUNICATE) and the result was enraging. There doesn't even feel like any kind of resolution at the end. I thought there was a problem with my kindle....I thought SURELY there were another pages left. But no. That's how it ended.

Spoilers ahead!

So I think the entire point of this book was how Jonty's grandma was the fucking WORST and single handedly ruined her daughter and granddaughter's lives. If she had let her daughter be with Jim then they could have gotten married and Jonty wouldn't have been a bastard. Oh but Jim was an outlaw, we couldn't possibly allow that! Really? Jim was no good but you decided to raise your granddaughter in a whorehouse? Seriously? So now Jonty is basically an orphan forced to disguise herself as a boy because god forbid they leave the whorehouse. I mean, 18 entire years is PLENTY of time to find literally anywhere else. But no, her grandma has a penchant for terrible decisions so they stay. Of course the grandma refuses to tell Jonty that the man who visits frequently is her father and just pawns him off as 'Uncle Jim'. A charade that goes on for 99.9% of the book for some god forsaken reason. Can you imagine the psychological issues and dilemmas Jonty would have from being forced to be act and behave like a boy and have short hair and dress like a boy for her ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE. But that's never addressed because literally nothing in this book makes any sense. Don't worry, Grandma kicks the bucket...freeing us all. Before she goes though, she makes her final mentally challenged decision. Hey Jonty, you know that gruff man who bangs all the hookers in the whorehouse? You're going to be his ward and he'll take care of you from now on. What a fabulous idea. You have literally forced Jonty into hiding her sex to protect her from men who visit whorehouses and now you have given her up to a man who visits the whorehouse. HAHAHA!

Now, the entire next part was bizarre and yet very humorous. The hero, Cord *eyeroll*, thinks Jonty is a pretty, sissy homosexual. Strangely no one will clarify that Jonty is in fact NOT a gay man and that Uncle Jim is her father. That would have cleared up almost all the tension in this book.

"Are you fucking Jim?" Cord asks
"Ew gross, he's my dad." Jonty says.
THE END!

So Cord decides to work Jonty to death so he isn't such a pretty gay boy. Hard grueling labor and excessive amounts of verbal abuse. Once again, congratulations Grandma. You picked a real winner.
Now because Jonty is just oh such a pretty boy, other men start lusting after her. This is of course ALL Jonty's fault. I think Cord Mcbain is actually struggling with some repressed desires of his own and is taking it out on Jonty. Also, can I just say I hate the name Jonty. I also hate the name Cord.

After the big reveal that Jonty is a woman, they get sexy together. He decides the right thing to do is
to pretend to bang and be in love with another woman so that he can remain honorable to Jonty. Yes, a brilliant plan Cord. This of course makes Jonty hate him...but not hate him enough to prevent him from impregnating her.

Yada yada. She runs from Cord, he eventually finds her after she has his baby. He of course accuses her of having some other mans bastard kid. Tells her he doesn't want her. Kind of rapes her. Then runs off again. Jonty of course couldn't verbally explain that the kid is his. No no, that is too logical. No one makes rational decisions in this book.

A year later Cord sees her kid and realizes it's his....because apparently you can do that by looking at a one year old. Hahahaha. Cord demands they get married, so they do. He brings her back to the ranch and literally the rest of the book is him refusing to tell her that he is not banging nor in love with Tina. YOU COULD JUST TELL HER YOU AREN'T HAVING SEX WITH HER!!!! Jonty of course assumes that he is totes banging Tina and that he loves her so so much. He is too mentally challenged to refute this and it's awful. Just awful. Uncle Jim comes to find her, get's wounded by some character who keeps lurking around but is never dealt with for some reason. In his wounded state he finally tells Cord that he is in fact Jonty's dad. Cord forces Tina to explain to everyone that she is in fact NOT boning him. Jonty thinks 'Wow...Jim is my dad...and Cord DIDN'T fuck Tina.'......AND THAT'S IT! THAT'S THE END!!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?????? No! I rebuke this book.

[*CJ* · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Devil in Spurs” is the story of Jonty and Cord, and what an entertaining read.

When Jontys mother dies in childbirth, her grandmother Maggie knows a brother is no place to raise a girl and raises the half breed as a boy. As she becomes 18, grandma is eaten by consumption- and to avoid the girl from going back to her disreputable Father, thrusts her responsibility to the randy rancher and outlaw Cord.
What follows is their journey.
We have hero who thinks the h is a man, makes her work her ass off/abusing her verbally- yes there was once a slap too but he wasn’t mean- and usually full of regrets. We have a stubborn and strong heroine who fights for her beliefs. Discovering of identities. Hot steaming lovemaking. Separation. Evil OW/OM. Jealousy. Secret babies. Forced marriage.
Misunderstandings. Revelations.
I’m not a fan of crazy ow taking so much space in books but it was honestly intriguing to see Jontys reactions.
Though many times it exasperated me and made me tear up, it also kept me thoroughly engaged and I totally enjoyed it. My only sadness is that it ends abruptly without an epilogue.
Unsafe though the H is loyal once the couple gets together- previously she has caught him having sex with ow- kissing ow- and teasing her about them

3.5/5


Ps. The book has some sexist
/ fat shaming scenes as the hero is very chauvinistic- and maybe a little homophobic too. So discretion advised.

[Simona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much tamer affair than the other Hess books. Romance was left too late to develop. Hess is very capable of writing cruel hero typical for frontier living but something gets lost here as the hero is unaware of heroine's sex.

[Taboo Romance Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good grief. This book was such an absolute cluster fuck. Unsurprisingly this book follows the pattern of Norah Hess; orphan girl, reluctant guardian, friend who is half Native American, enemy of the couple who physically hurts the hero in someway and then the heroine must nurse him back to health. Here’s the thing though, I can do predictable from an author, sometimes I even enjoy it, it’s like reading a familiar tale, but this was absolute rubbish. Did the heroine and hero even make up? Who knows! We have a glimpse that the heroine says she’s happy and the couple embraces in the last three paragraphs of the book, other then that, the couple is pretty fucking terrible to one another.

[Erinn · Rating 1 out of 5]

i so wanted this to be good. i really did. the whole, girl-pretending-to-be-a-boy and cowboy-agonizing-because-he-might-be-gay is like. a great premise. but this was just. yikes.

i really dislike how the main characters just. loudly exclaim their thoughts? like, if i heard a grown ass man say out loud "hope lucy's rested up today, im not gonna let her sleep tonight!" i would scowl and immediately cross the street. what the fuck.

and then! what really was just. so fucking stupid to me, is that the girl, jonty, has a horrific fear of thunderstorms, and the only way the man, cord, can take her mind off of the horrible storm outside is to eat her out???? are you kidding me? i'm sorry, but between my legs is the absolute last place anyone is gonna end up when im terrified out of my wits.

so. did not finish.

[Eliza · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not a huge fan of this one.

There was a lot of ignorance drifting around in this book and it was hard to get over it. Lots of homophobia, racism, and sexism. That really doesn't bother me most of the time. Historical reads that feature these themes just make sense, times were different, and this is nothing new. Also, the book was written in 1990, so again, times were different. It was just shoved in your face from the beginning. I wasn't in the mood for any of that right now.

I also understood why our author made the H the way he was. I recognized the whole setup, and in theory, it should have worked, but it just didn't have a graceful landing. Something was off about it, and I hate to give low review with vague criticism, but it is what it is.

[North · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 Stars
Well, I can´t really say that this was Bad writing, and the storyline was silly cute in the HR way.
However, I found the book to be somewhat homophobic, sexist and racist and I really wasn´t too impressed by the relationship between the two MC.

Sooo, if you´re thinking about reading this book, think again.

[Nabilah · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 33%. I was hoping that the book might get better but I was simply too revolted by the actions of the supposed hero to continue. What an awful character!

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not really a historicals person. It's the way they talk, it just makes me cringe when authors write in their interpretation of "old english".

So I rated this a mere 3 stars partially because it is a historical, and also because it didn't seem like there was a firm resolution with Jonty and Cords problems. Sure, we can all assume its all up hill from the end, but I wanted to see it.

The characters are both riddled with their own problems, but it would have been nice for Jonty to openly explore Cords problems that left him treating her so poorly all the time even later in the book.

I liked Jonty's strength, although it still left me wondering about whether a woman can do the job of a man. I was raised to believe that basically yes, a woman could do most everything a man could do but sometimes lacks the same level of upper body strength. But maybe a woman can't do mostly everything a man could; Jonty was certainly always falling short, even before she needs to use her lacking upper body strength.

I do like the theme of identity confusion/concealment and that's what kept me reading till the end.

[Mita · Rating 2 out of 5]

it’s a ridiculous story

Nonstop foolishness. So much potential but it’s all negated by the constant misunderstandings and unnecessary angst. Ruined a perfectly good story once they separated.

[Zara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure I could hate Cord McBain more if I tried. What a jerk! He's cruel to Jonty for no reason and tells himself it's so he can make her "man up". Jonty's grandmother has just died (and for some inane reason makes Cord Jonty's guardian. Clearly she was going insane in her old age.) and Cord doesn't cut her any slack. He gives her so much do and not easy tasks either that both his friends insist he's being to hard. Maybe Jonty is too much feminine for a boy but how is that any of his business? Why does he feel the need to toughen her up?

Cord is disgusted when he sees her hugging a guy. A guy she repeatedly tells him is her "Uncle Jim" and yet Cord is convinced she is sleeping with him. Why? I have no idea, maybe it's because he's such an idiot. Uncle Jim, himself though isn't very smart, despite knowing that part of reason Cord is so hard on Jonty is because of what he perceives as their unnatural relationship, he does nothing to clear up his misconception. Would it kill him to tell Cord that he views Jonty as a son and nothing more? Apparently it does because he doesn't reveal this until the very end.
How much more stuff is there to come? (you're probably wondering). A lot more and none of it is any better.

Cord puts Jonty through more hell, yet again for absolutely no reason and then, when he discovers that Jonty is a girl, he falls madly in lust with her. Sleeps with her and then, deciding that he doesn't want to marry her, acts like the prick he is and pretends that he's having an affair with Tina.
At this point I was pretty mad at Jonty for sleeping with him after everything he did to her.

Anyway, Jonty is heartbroken and runs away to uncle Jim. Cord goes after (for, I don't even know what, reason). Months pass, Jonty finds out she's pregnant and gives birth to a boy. Cord finally find Jonty and sees her with uncle Jim. Gets jealous and thinks the child is uncle Jim's. He then proceeds to, I don't know, rape her? I mean, Jonty doesn't want him but eventually he seduces her (even though she keeps saying no) until she finally says yes. Afterwards he basically calls her a whore and tries to pay her.

More sh*t happens. More problems, miscommunication and back and forward between Jonty and Cord. I got so sick of it. I honestly don't know why I kept reading.
All of this mess would've been avoided with some very simple truths.
▪️Uncle Jim telling Cord that he has no interest in Jonty (at least not that way). Admitting that he's her father would also work.
▪️Cord telling Jonty that he was never interested in Tina and only pretended to like her to make Jonty jealous.

That's it. Those two sentences would've avoided all that unnecessary crap. Miscommunication is in nearly every romance I've read and I don't blame the authors for using to further the plot but when an author uses it to such a degree, its just being lazy.

All in all, this book was a huge waste of time. And if I ever write a novel, at least I know exactly what not to make my hero like.

Also that ending was awful.

[Aria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read the whole book, spent around 10 hours on it, now I wish I had those hours back. Both main characters are foolish and kept on accusing each other of in existent wrong doings, no communication whatsoever, whether for pride or stupidness I don’t know. It’s been a long time since I wrote a review, but it was just that bad, I love the concept of gender bender, most of those books I have loved, but even the era it was written it was confusing for me, like it was the cowboys era, but at the same time wasn’t.

I have to say I despised the H, he trashed our h just because of jealousness and misunderstandings, after calling h a whore he comes to her room to do “what she does best” and h just lets him do that!! Unbelievable, I hated more that h was such a mouse in these situations, you couldn’t trash and fight against someone who’s about to rape you? And she kept on bending to H wills, even after his horrible treatment both when she was a lad and when he founds her again after a year.

There were many more characters who were doing questionable decisions, aka h’s father, who was hiding that fact for no logical reason, and this book goes on.

Ending was so lackluster after dragging the whole book we end up with such ending? Another unbelievable moment. I definitely do not recommend reading the book unfortunately, after having it on wtr for 3 years I was exited for another gender bender, however it was best buried in the pile of numerous books to be read, and better belongs to the not to be touched ever again.

[Blueglass · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really surprised by this book - I really liked the first half, three quarters of this. Jonty's young mother died after childbirth and since her grandmother was a cook in a brothel, she decided that she had to make her a "boy" to keep her safe. When her outlaw father comes around when Jonty is five, she thinks it's her "Uncle" Jim because her grandmother still does not approve of him. He realizing that he needs to clean up his life before he can help his daughter agrees to this charade, but continues his visits.
FF a chapter and grandma is dying. Jonty is 18. She leaves her to the guardianship of gunslinger Cord McBain in the hopes that the money offered will help him to settle down. All Cord sees is a "sissy" boy that will be a burden to him, but due to his friendship with the granny, he agrees. Phew! That's the set-up! And it was a wild ride. Cord is very manly and sexy and he is thoroughly disappointed in the weakness in Jonty, never realizing that "he" is actually a very desirable female. But he will!!!
However, after a joining of bodies, there is a simple misunderstanding that takes like 150 pages or more to sort out. Then it's like a quick, weird ending.
But.. I really liked it! The other characters are all so interesting except for the pseudo side piece Tina. She was hateful.

[Terryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, fun read. He is a horse wrangler womaniser and she is young woman dressed to look like a boy to avoid detection in a brothel where she lives. She is visited a few times a year by a half breed she thinks is her uncle but he is really her father. When her grandmother dies she asks the wrangler to become a guardian to the so called grandson. Fun and games begin when he thinks the boy is a sissy and tries to make a man out of him. Lots of arguments and eventually when the boy is caught in a landslide the wrangler discovers that he is a she. It becomes a love hate relationship and she leaves not realising at first she is now pregnant to the wrangler. She returns to her uncle and he spirits her away. It takes a while for the wrangler to find her and by then she has had his son. The story has lots of action, twists and turns. HEA ending. Would probably read again.

[Julie Jacobus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second time I’ve read this book, the first was when it first came out in paperback.

I love the story and characters. The angst, miss understandings and drama are a thing I think I like the most because it really grows the characters personalities.

The thing I really disliked about the book was the author described Cade as dark haired, like the cover, and switched it out to him being a blonde man. I hate when they can’t figure their own descriptions of the key people in a story. Kinda puts me off. So this is why the 4 star review

I still love books written by Norah Hess and will still read her books.

[Mira · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a waste of time. My first review and I can't believe I'm wasting my words on this book but I was so disappointed, I had to vent. Where the heck is romance in this book? It was all angst and accusations and misunderstandings. Hero was an asshole and heroine, though was strong and had backbone, it all melted when he started touching her. Really? That whole "rape" scene... yes I call it rape because that's what it was; H wanting show h that she was whore. God what a mess! I want my two days back..

[Darshanetta · Rating 3 out of 5]

65% of the book was soooo good I thought I would at least have a 4 star book on my hand but sadly the last 35% of the book could have been edited out. It prolonged the story more than needed. I would have preferred the book been shorter with a chapter on the happiness they found together but instead we got a mediocre ending. The last chapter was like let's just close the loose ends. Another chapter to flesh everything out would have made it better. Now I feel like I wasted my time on a good book that had so much potential.

[Katherine (GoldMidnight)]

This book has dated itself so hard omg
Sissified? Unnatural feelings? God I hope the hero stops talking like this soon or I'll be forced to abandon this book, something I usually hate to do

Ughh I'm about 70% in and I physically can't read anymore :(
The love between the MCs is not established at all, the heroine has trust issues, rightfully so, she's better off with almost anyone else in the book considering every single man in the book wants her. The hero wants her but it's such a jerk to her all the time.. mean and a full time jerk ughhh

[Catarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

the first half of the book was good although it could have been discovered earlier in the story that the h was in fact a female
it dragged a little too much in the end and the lack of the communication between the couple wore me out

i felt at the end that the couple truly didn't resolve their problems nor they have told each other their true feelings for one another

[Auj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, I wasn't really sure how Jonty could have fallen in love with Cord because he was always rude to her.

OMG Tina was such a bitch! I hated her so much.
Of course, with any book where the girl disguises as a boy, I was eagerly awaiting her unmasking, which was around page 200 (185 I think). The first part of the book is so different from the latter half.

[Su · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much incredulity is involved. Almost half of the book H doesn't know h is a girl.! Not only him many people are think she is really a "he". And what about that fat hedonistic lazy man being so tenisous about his revenge of not only on one strong man but on several strong men? And he gets away with it every time until the very last page.!!!

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember reading this about 15 years ago and absolutely falling in love. Just recently I told my husband in passing about this and how I had lost it and he went out to find it. N I’m here after reading it again after so much years. It still frustrates me but it’s a good read. Also cheers to my husband, the Prince Charmings I’ve read through life in my real life lol

[Kim]

DNF It was rather long for the type of story but that's not what killed it for me. I have trouble with a woman falling for her abuser. Granted, while he thought she was a guy, but still. But, when he decides that his anger means her rape, I draw the line. The guy just always went for cruel. The only difference between him and Paunch, where women are concerned, is he's clean and good looking.

[Sam]

CW: abundant sexism, homophobia, racism… rapey scene as well. this book did not age well, to say the least. besides all of that ^ I was also constantly annoyed at Cord. such an asshole. also, too long. the premise seemed good, so I’m disappointed.

[Mysterious · Rating 1 out of 5]

Christ on the cross, this dragged on and on and on. The two main characters hated one another up until the last 1% over the dumbest crap.

Cord didn’t even find out Jonty was a woman until 42%! Thank God for KU, returning this ASAP.

[Freddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was rounded up to three as it was two and a half for me. The book needed at least two more chapters for the payoff of all the angst and misunderstandings I had to go through. To say it ended abruptly is an understatement.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love a good western....

And this is the author that give you one. My only problem was some of the events took to long to get to the point. But as always I would recommend this book and this author.

[ann_zack_cee_am_ann · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I’ve read. I abhorred hero who basically manwhores around esp at a brothel and there had been few scenes he had been pleasured by Lucy the whore which was completely unnecessary and ruined all fantasies I had about a supposed protector.

[Blaze King · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8 stars/points out of 5.
Love the beginning, liked the middle, and it had an okay end.