The Devil's Luck

by L.S. Baird

Years ago, a foolish wastrel once played a hand of cards with the devil... and lost. Now Frey has inherited his uncle's double curse: the Devil's claim written on his body in crimson letters, and the impossibly good luck that comes with it. Death is Frey's only escape from his destiny, but not even Etienne, an expert assassin from the Order of the Crimson Seal, can defeat Frey's luck alone. And when Etienne finds himself growing too fond of his victim, he doesn't know if Frey's good nature or the luck is to blame. However, Etienne will give his all to preventing the Archdemon's return, even if his all includes wearing a corset, and killing a friend.

217 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 29, 2020

Reviews

[R.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adding the synopsis from Amazon here, since it's not showing up: "Years ago, a foolish wastrel once played a hand of cards with the devil... and lost. Now Frey has inherited his uncle's double curse: the Devil's claim written on his body in crimson letters, and the impossibly good luck that comes with it. Death is Frey's only escape from his destiny, but not even Etienne, an expert assassin from the Order of the Crimson Seal, can defeat Frey's luck alone. And when Etienne finds himself growing too fond of his victim, he doesn't know if Frey's good nature or the luck is to blame. However, Etienne will give his all to preventing the Archdemon's return, even if his all includes wearing a corset, and killing a friend."

I really liked this book. It has a snappy opening, as being in Etienne's head as he played at being Frey's new bride-to-be all while trying to murder him was entertaining as hell.

I took off one star because I felt the plot slowed considerably as soon as they returned to the Order, and never quite regained the beginning's head of steam. Part of it was the POV shift from Etienne to Frey, and part was that things felt like they just stopped happening for awhile. Frey has a lot of catch-up learning to do about what has happened and why and what plots he's been embroiled in without knowing it, and in the meantime everything else seems to wait. There's also some secondary characters that are introduced (to say which ones would be a spoiler), but though they have their own interesting motives and parts to play, they get one POV chapter and then are seen from Frey's POV for the rest of the book, making them feel a little underbaked.

Toward the end, though, things pick up again, and there's some late-game twists and reveals that keep everything moving along, if not quite as smartly as the beginning. Overall, a fun, light read that was worth it for the first third alone.

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good read. Lots of action, humour, the characters are well drawn, it’s lots of fun. Can’t believe I didn’t notice Baird had written another book, I loved her first book so much I keep checking back to see if she’s written another. There are a few twists and turns, I didn’t guess what was going to happen. Always feel I have to point out flaws and there was one plot point that seemed improbable to me, but it’s one thing in the middle of lots of action and at that point I was won over and willing to happily overlook it. Seems like it could maybe be set up for a sequel. I would like to see these characters again. Or anything else by this author. Hope it’s not so long before the next one ☝️

[Sol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pesar de lo accidentado de la lectura por la mudanza y tal, me ha gustado mogollón. Los personajes son super carismaticos y el worldbuilding es sencillo pero atrapa.
Y los diálogos>>>>>
Pensaba que el cambio de pov no me funcionaba mucho al principio pero la verdad es que Frey es super adorable y me gusta mucho ver a Et a traves de sus ojos. Queria que estos dos acabaran liados pero en verdad ha resultado bastante fresco que no pasara nada entre ellos mas allá de la quimica que tienen??