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The Devil's Eden
Her assignment was reasonably straightforward
At least that's what Coralie Rhodes--working under the name of Lee Roman--expected. She was to go to Bermuda and interview an industrial tycoon.
But that was before she met the tycoon--and more importantly, it was before she met his nephew, Jordan Colyer.
Eight years ago, Jordan Colyer had made his hatred and disgust of her quite clear--and although he didn't seem to recognize her now, it would only be a matter of time. And time was what she didn't have....
At least that's what Coralie Rhodes--working under the name of Lee Roman--expected. She was to go to Bermuda and interview an industrial tycoon.
But that was before she met the tycoon--and more importantly, it was before she met his nephew, Jordan Colyer.
Eight years ago, Jordan Colyer had made his hatred and disgust of her quite clear--and although he didn't seem to recognize her now, it would only be a matter of time. And time was what she didn't have....
- GenresHarlequin Presents
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
32 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Power
145 books33 followersFollowing in her father's footsteps, Elizabeth Power wanted to be a writer from a very early age. Once she realised that copying Rupert Bear stories word for word from her albums wasn't really the thing to do, she was on her way!
By the age of fourteen, Elizabeth had produced her first full-length novel—alas! never published—and by the age of fifteen her teenage years meant life was so full that all literary ambitions became somewhat overshadowed.
Married in her early twenties, Elizabeth found that the needs of the home became her priority. Despite the ever present nagging little voice in her conscience that constantly reminded her of those unfulfilled writing ambitions, the creativity had stopped.
A few weeks before her thirtieth birthday, Elizabeth was thinking about what she had done with her first thirty years and realised she had been telling herself that she would "start writing tomorrow" for at least twelve of them! She couldn't help wondering, "whatever happened to that dream?" Within two weeks her "tomorrow" would come when fate took a hand in the form of redundancy!
Writing was now Elizabeth's life. After several attempts, the letter that was to change her life arrived from Mills & Boon. They wanted to publish her book. The novels flowed, and they have continued to publish her books ever since.
Living in England's beautiful West Country, she likes nothing better than taking walks with her husband along the coast or in the adjoining woods, and enjoying all that nature has to offer.
Travelling ranks very highly among Elizabeth's pleasures, and so many places she has visited have been recreated in her books.
Of her writing, emotional intensity is paramount. She says, "Times, places and trends change, but emotion is timeless." A powerful storyline with maximum emotion set in a location in which one can really live and breathe whilst the story unfolds is what she strives for.
By the age of fourteen, Elizabeth had produced her first full-length novel—alas! never published—and by the age of fifteen her teenage years meant life was so full that all literary ambitions became somewhat overshadowed.
Married in her early twenties, Elizabeth found that the needs of the home became her priority. Despite the ever present nagging little voice in her conscience that constantly reminded her of those unfulfilled writing ambitions, the creativity had stopped.
A few weeks before her thirtieth birthday, Elizabeth was thinking about what she had done with her first thirty years and realised she had been telling herself that she would "start writing tomorrow" for at least twelve of them! She couldn't help wondering, "whatever happened to that dream?" Within two weeks her "tomorrow" would come when fate took a hand in the form of redundancy!
Writing was now Elizabeth's life. After several attempts, the letter that was to change her life arrived from Mills & Boon. They wanted to publish her book. The novels flowed, and they have continued to publish her books ever since.
Living in England's beautiful West Country, she likes nothing better than taking walks with her husband along the coast or in the adjoining woods, and enjoying all that nature has to offer.
Travelling ranks very highly among Elizabeth's pleasures, and so many places she has visited have been recreated in her books.
Of her writing, emotional intensity is paramount. She says, "Times, places and trends change, but emotion is timeless." A powerful storyline with maximum emotion set in a location in which one can really live and breathe whilst the story unfolds is what she strives for.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 11, 2017
Re The Devil's Eden - Elizabeth Power's second HP outing takes us to Bermuda - Isle of the Devil is the old name for it and much emphasis is given to the Pride of India or Paradise trees, hence the play on words title.
This one starts with the 25 yr old h in Bermuda at a party, where she meets the H again after eight years. Since they have a fractious past, this is not a good thing for the h. Fortunately the H doesn't recognize the h as he tries to put the moves on her and she encourages it with the aim of getting a little revenge for the last time they met.
Her planned interrupter of the H's seduction attempt doesn't show up, so the h has to make a big scene with the H coming off as a pervy stalker to get away from him. The H is definitely not happy about the h's escape or her manner of getting rid of him. We then find out that the h had been living with the H's father eight years earlier. Her own father had died and the H's dad took her in until she was old enough to look after herself. She was 17 at the time and the H's father was very ill. He hid that from the h and when his illness was in it's final phases, he sent the h to Florida and made his will out with her as the beneficiary.
The first time the H and h met, she was dancing at a club and he yanked her off the floor. Then he proceeded to berate who he thought was his father's mistress for dumping her sugar daddy in his time of mortal need. Since that assumption was backed up by the father's assistant, who is now the H's assistant and determined to get her hooks into the H, the h did not see the point of challenging the H's or the OW's lies and took off on her own.
The h got all the H's father's money, but she has never used it except to make donations to the researchers who study the blood disease the H's father died of. Instead she took her father's printing shop and turned it into a magazine. She is in Bermuda to do an article on a reclusive industrialist. She is hoping the article will boost her failing magazine and so it is with no little horror that she finds out the reclusive industrialist, who had a bad accident a year and half earlier, is the H's uncle.
The H is still in revenge for the dumping mode and when his OW assistant shows up, the h starts to really worry that they will recognize her from the past. She uses a different name now, but the OW was always around eight years earlier and the h had thought they were friends until the OW lied that she was a rich man's play toy. There are several antagonistic arguments about the h and her trying to get her hooks into his uncle, but the h just likes the guy and feels bad about him being in a wheelchair. The H's uncle likes her too, and he insists the h stay with him while she does her article.
Eventually the OW reveals who the h really is at a party the uncle had the h hostess and when the h runs off after being publicly embarrassed, the H follows her for a forced seduction moment. He gets interrupted by a business call and the h is left alone on the beach where she is attacked and robbed. She winds up in hospital with a concussion and when the H comes to collect her, he takes her to his own cottage and seduces her.
The H is forced to realize that his assumptions about the h were wrong, cause she was very obviously grooming unicorns before him. Then he accuses her of getting some sort of twisted revenge on him for making all those assumptions. Since the h was told by the H's father that they were estranged, she tells the H he obviously wouldn't care and hints that he was just trying to score on the memory of his father. Then she goes back to New York to try and save her magazine.
She is having mopey moments tho, cause she fell in love with the H and he thinks she is some kinda twisted vengeful person. Then the H shows up and they start an affair. The h is getting more worried about her magazine and is finally pressured into selling it. She is also warned that the H drove his own father out of business and that the H is ruthless when it comes to women and revenge in business dealings. The final bombshell is that the H has bought her magazine and never told her he was doing it. She kicks him out cause she figures he did it for revenge for her getting his father's money when he died.
The h calls the H up, but gets the OW, who tells her she is getting married. The h assumes that the H is marrying the OW and when she learns the H is in Bermuda, she goes to get her magazine back. She takes a check that is the sum of the money the H's father left her and throws it at the H, she tells him it three times what he paid for the magazine and she wants the magazine back and he can have his stupid revenge.
The H is painting his cottage and is surprised to see the h there. She tells him off for being a two timing slime slurper when the H claims the woman he is marrying knows about the two of them.
This disgusts the h and she throws the paint at him when he tries to make her admit she loves him. The H loses it then and tells her that he bought the magazine to help her, he loves her back and he is really sorry about all the mean things he said and thought about her.
He was frustrated she wouldn't confide in him and when he called her a 17 yr old gold digger, he did not know that the h's own mother had abandoned her and her father for a rich guy. Since the h has never spoken to her mother since she dumped her, the h was really hurt at the accusation.
The H also explains that he and his father were estranged because his father refused to modernize his business and the H set up his own company to keep the family name alive and viable in the business world. His dad refused to acknowledge his success, he just closed up shop and moved to New York, the H thinks maybe he was too sick to keep working anymore.
The h also finds out that the reason the H's father left her all his money was because her father had rescued the H as a boy from a burning hotel. The h's father would never take repayment from the H's dad, he just asked the father to look out for the h if anything happened to him. The H's dad knew the H was making big bucks on his own, so he left his fortune to the h in repayment to her father for saving his son.
This all means that the Hand of Fate was involved with bringing the H and h together, or at least the h believes so, she declares undying love and devotion and the H declares a paint removing shower seduction is in order. After which they can plan their wedding and the h can plan her next big magazine articles, the OW doesn't work for the H anymore as she is marrying someone else and the h is happy she got the H and her magazine back for the big HEA.
This one was okay, a bit draggy at the Bermuda bits, but it worked out in the end. EP hasn't quite got the pacing down yet, a lot of stuff is info dumped in the last two pages. But she does do the falsely accused h who gets out of jail free with barrier breaching well enough to make her a consistent contributor to HPlandia outings and aside from terribly jealous h's and OTT OW who get off scot-free, this one is a pretty average HPlandia venture but worth a few hours of entertainment.
This one starts with the 25 yr old h in Bermuda at a party, where she meets the H again after eight years. Since they have a fractious past, this is not a good thing for the h. Fortunately the H doesn't recognize the h as he tries to put the moves on her and she encourages it with the aim of getting a little revenge for the last time they met.
Her planned interrupter of the H's seduction attempt doesn't show up, so the h has to make a big scene with the H coming off as a pervy stalker to get away from him. The H is definitely not happy about the h's escape or her manner of getting rid of him. We then find out that the h had been living with the H's father eight years earlier. Her own father had died and the H's dad took her in until she was old enough to look after herself. She was 17 at the time and the H's father was very ill. He hid that from the h and when his illness was in it's final phases, he sent the h to Florida and made his will out with her as the beneficiary.
The first time the H and h met, she was dancing at a club and he yanked her off the floor. Then he proceeded to berate who he thought was his father's mistress for dumping her sugar daddy in his time of mortal need. Since that assumption was backed up by the father's assistant, who is now the H's assistant and determined to get her hooks into the H, the h did not see the point of challenging the H's or the OW's lies and took off on her own.
The h got all the H's father's money, but she has never used it except to make donations to the researchers who study the blood disease the H's father died of. Instead she took her father's printing shop and turned it into a magazine. She is in Bermuda to do an article on a reclusive industrialist. She is hoping the article will boost her failing magazine and so it is with no little horror that she finds out the reclusive industrialist, who had a bad accident a year and half earlier, is the H's uncle.
The H is still in revenge for the dumping mode and when his OW assistant shows up, the h starts to really worry that they will recognize her from the past. She uses a different name now, but the OW was always around eight years earlier and the h had thought they were friends until the OW lied that she was a rich man's play toy. There are several antagonistic arguments about the h and her trying to get her hooks into his uncle, but the h just likes the guy and feels bad about him being in a wheelchair. The H's uncle likes her too, and he insists the h stay with him while she does her article.
Eventually the OW reveals who the h really is at a party the uncle had the h hostess and when the h runs off after being publicly embarrassed, the H follows her for a forced seduction moment. He gets interrupted by a business call and the h is left alone on the beach where she is attacked and robbed. She winds up in hospital with a concussion and when the H comes to collect her, he takes her to his own cottage and seduces her.
The H is forced to realize that his assumptions about the h were wrong, cause she was very obviously grooming unicorns before him. Then he accuses her of getting some sort of twisted revenge on him for making all those assumptions. Since the h was told by the H's father that they were estranged, she tells the H he obviously wouldn't care and hints that he was just trying to score on the memory of his father. Then she goes back to New York to try and save her magazine.
She is having mopey moments tho, cause she fell in love with the H and he thinks she is some kinda twisted vengeful person. Then the H shows up and they start an affair. The h is getting more worried about her magazine and is finally pressured into selling it. She is also warned that the H drove his own father out of business and that the H is ruthless when it comes to women and revenge in business dealings. The final bombshell is that the H has bought her magazine and never told her he was doing it. She kicks him out cause she figures he did it for revenge for her getting his father's money when he died.
The h calls the H up, but gets the OW, who tells her she is getting married. The h assumes that the H is marrying the OW and when she learns the H is in Bermuda, she goes to get her magazine back. She takes a check that is the sum of the money the H's father left her and throws it at the H, she tells him it three times what he paid for the magazine and she wants the magazine back and he can have his stupid revenge.
The H is painting his cottage and is surprised to see the h there. She tells him off for being a two timing slime slurper when the H claims the woman he is marrying knows about the two of them.
This disgusts the h and she throws the paint at him when he tries to make her admit she loves him. The H loses it then and tells her that he bought the magazine to help her, he loves her back and he is really sorry about all the mean things he said and thought about her.
He was frustrated she wouldn't confide in him and when he called her a 17 yr old gold digger, he did not know that the h's own mother had abandoned her and her father for a rich guy. Since the h has never spoken to her mother since she dumped her, the h was really hurt at the accusation.
The H also explains that he and his father were estranged because his father refused to modernize his business and the H set up his own company to keep the family name alive and viable in the business world. His dad refused to acknowledge his success, he just closed up shop and moved to New York, the H thinks maybe he was too sick to keep working anymore.
The h also finds out that the reason the H's father left her all his money was because her father had rescued the H as a boy from a burning hotel. The h's father would never take repayment from the H's dad, he just asked the father to look out for the h if anything happened to him. The H's dad knew the H was making big bucks on his own, so he left his fortune to the h in repayment to her father for saving his son.
This all means that the Hand of Fate was involved with bringing the H and h together, or at least the h believes so, she declares undying love and devotion and the H declares a paint removing shower seduction is in order. After which they can plan their wedding and the h can plan her next big magazine articles, the OW doesn't work for the H anymore as she is marrying someone else and the h is happy she got the H and her magazine back for the big HEA.
This one was okay, a bit draggy at the Bermuda bits, but it worked out in the end. EP hasn't quite got the pacing down yet, a lot of stuff is info dumped in the last two pages. But she does do the falsely accused h who gets out of jail free with barrier breaching well enough to make her a consistent contributor to HPlandia outings and aside from terribly jealous h's and OTT OW who get off scot-free, this one is a pretty average HPlandia venture but worth a few hours of entertainment.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2020
Enjoyable read. So much happened in this book. It definitely kept me reading.
A virgin h, yes! And a smitten H with love/hate feelings for the h because he thought she used to be his father’s mistress. The desire he feels for her gives you warm fuzzies.
Many HP h’s are stupid or bitchy. This h isn’t. What a relief.
And oh yeah, finally a HP h who isn’t blonde, but darkhaired. Kudos to the writer for having the courage to write about a h with dark hair. All other HP writers, take note: it’s not only a blonde woman who can capture a stunning man’s heart.
A virgin h, yes! And a smitten H with love/hate feelings for the h because he thought she used to be his father’s mistress. The desire he feels for her gives you warm fuzzies.
Many HP h’s are stupid or bitchy. This h isn’t. What a relief.
And oh yeah, finally a HP h who isn’t blonde, but darkhaired. Kudos to the writer for having the courage to write about a h with dark hair. All other HP writers, take note: it’s not only a blonde woman who can capture a stunning man’s heart.
June 4, 2025
This was okay, and I learned something more about Bermuda besides the pink sand, as I'd never heard of the Gombeys before.
Aside from that, the story was similar to one I'd read before from this author, where there's a big misunderstanding between the H and h from back in the past (when the h was a teenager) and it takes eight years to clear it up, as they don't see each other in all that time. They both have issues, due to troubled parental relationships (the h with her estranged mother, the H with his late father), and it accounts for their wariness about each other, though I do think that his assuming she had been his father's teenaged mistress was going a bit far!
Also taking things too far was all the incredible coincidences the author tacks on to explain things about the past and to get the H and h together for their HEA. They were as convincing as the author expecting us to believe the h lives in Manhattan and takes her car to work each day!! (It's obvious Ms. Power never lived in Manhattan!) And the h is struggling to keep her magazine from folding, is worried about money and how she's going to pay all her expenses, and yet has no problem affording the rent in a NYC apartment that has more than one room, a balcony, and overlooks Central Park without a roommate???? (These days, she'd need about 3 of them, or a sugar daddy!) Sometimes these authors really insult our intelligence!
Ms. Power never explains how the h started her magazine at only 19, either and made it into a success so fast! it would have made much more sense for he to have been struggling for the past few years and now - at 25 - hitting her stride, rather than trying to make us believe she was more successful at 19??? Come on!!
Anyway: the book has the OW (his secretary) and the OM (her magazine photographer), and while the OM was a playboy and the OW marries someone else, for a time they were both wishful thinkers, to the point where they each caused some trouble by opening their big mouths once too often. But their meddling didn't get either of them what they wanted.
I wish they had made more out of the h's artistic talent and the H's obvious love of art, inherited from his late mother, who was a promising artist at one time.
And I also wish one of these HP authors would explain the fact that so many of these h's who seem content to go it alone and keep men at a distance, just can't seem to resist wearing the skimpiest of bikinis! I wonder what Sigmund Freud would have said about that!
Aside from that, the story was similar to one I'd read before from this author, where there's a big misunderstanding between the H and h from back in the past (when the h was a teenager) and it takes eight years to clear it up, as they don't see each other in all that time. They both have issues, due to troubled parental relationships (the h with her estranged mother, the H with his late father), and it accounts for their wariness about each other, though I do think that his assuming she had been his father's teenaged mistress was going a bit far!
Also taking things too far was all the incredible coincidences the author tacks on to explain things about the past and to get the H and h together for their HEA. They were as convincing as the author expecting us to believe the h lives in Manhattan and takes her car to work each day!! (It's obvious Ms. Power never lived in Manhattan!) And the h is struggling to keep her magazine from folding, is worried about money and how she's going to pay all her expenses, and yet has no problem affording the rent in a NYC apartment that has more than one room, a balcony, and overlooks Central Park without a roommate???? (These days, she'd need about 3 of them, or a sugar daddy!) Sometimes these authors really insult our intelligence!
Ms. Power never explains how the h started her magazine at only 19, either and made it into a success so fast! it would have made much more sense for he to have been struggling for the past few years and now - at 25 - hitting her stride, rather than trying to make us believe she was more successful at 19??? Come on!!
Anyway: the book has the OW (his secretary) and the OM (her magazine photographer), and while the OM was a playboy and the OW marries someone else, for a time they were both wishful thinkers, to the point where they each caused some trouble by opening their big mouths once too often. But their meddling didn't get either of them what they wanted.
I wish they had made more out of the h's artistic talent and the H's obvious love of art, inherited from his late mother, who was a promising artist at one time.
And I also wish one of these HP authors would explain the fact that so many of these h's who seem content to go it alone and keep men at a distance, just can't seem to resist wearing the skimpiest of bikinis! I wonder what Sigmund Freud would have said about that!
March 19, 2023
Glinstering op de golven
June 1, 2019
Coralie Rhodes - working under the name of Lee Roman - had expected her assignment in Bermuda to be reasonably straightforward. But that was before she met the tycoon she was to interview. And, more importantly, it was before she met his nephew - Jordan Colyer. Eight years ago Jordan had made his hatred and disgust of her uite clear, and although he didn't seem to recognise her now it would only be a matter of time. And time was what she didn't have .
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews