nononanette's review against another edition
3.0
Wonderful story taking place just before and during the French Revolution. Holt writes great characters even if they tend to be formulaic. I loved both the marquis and his imperiousness and the heroine who's name I'm forgetting.
valfreya's review against another edition
1.0
I actually didn't quite finish this book! the romantic male lead is a French nobleman (the Comte) during the French Revolution. there's a lot of weird politics included in this book. the Comte once ran over and killed a small child with his carriage, because he was in a bad mood and driving his carriage recklessly made him feel better - so he adopted the boy's twin and sends the family money. he has his own daughter sent away during a surprise pregnancy and the baby is fostered out and when the daughter comes home grieving, the Comte is like, she must marry as soon as possible (which makes the daughter even more sad). way back in the day, the Comte's dad had a dude imprisoned because he wanted to get at that dude's wife. I don't know, I think this French guy is supposed to be romantic because he's always played around and he doesn't respect or care about anyone, and the main character is supposed to be his One True Love who changes everything. ummm but he's been married the entire time he's talking to Minelle, this One True Love, and he keeps saying stuff like "but what if I weren't married...!" and Minelle is like oh man I need to get out of here, but then instead of explaining to anyone that this dude has asked her to become his mistress, and she doesn't approve, she just tells people she can't stay because she doesn't have any clothes, so they make her fancy clothes. and every time she has a conversation with him she has to run away from him back to her room, where she always notes that her face is flushed and her hair is in disarray. I just didn't want to read all of their creepy gross flirtations. especially when in the rest of the story all of these French people are sick of being oppressed and poor, while the aristocrats have been treating them horribly (as the Comte treats people). not romantic?!
p.s. just wanted to see Minelle say something like this:
Spoiler
so I skipped to the end, saw which dude Minelle ends up with, and tapped out.p.s. just wanted to see Minelle say something like this:
jenniferntremblay's review against another edition
5.0
I was given The Devil on Horseback by a friend during my first year of University. Up until that point I had never read a Victoria Holt novel. I am very grateful to that person for having chosen this book as a gift. It was a great introduction to Victoria Holt. Now she is one of my favourite authors.
bosullivan's review against another edition
2.0
Contrived story with little motivation for the heroine to choose the hero. Seemed to be written by a precocious teenager, from the use of stilted dialogue.
valfreya's review against another edition
1.0
I actually didn't quite finish this book! the romantic male lead is a French nobleman (the Comte) during the French Revolution. there's a lot of weird politics included in this book. the Comte once ran over and killed a small child with his carriage, because he was in a bad mood and driving his carriage recklessly made him feel better - so he adopted the boy's twin and sends the family money. he has his own daughter sent away during a surprise pregnancy and the baby is fostered out and when the daughter comes home grieving, the Comte is like, she must marry as soon as possible (which makes the daughter even more sad). way back in the day, the Comte's dad had a dude imprisoned because he wanted to get at that dude's wife. I don't know, I think this French guy is supposed to be romantic because he's always played around and he doesn't respect or care about anyone, and the main character is supposed to be his One True Love who changes everything. ummm but he's been married the entire time he's talking to Minelle, this One True Love, and he keeps saying stuff like "but what if I weren't married...!" and Minelle is like oh man I need to get out of here, but then instead of explaining to anyone that this dude has asked her to become his mistress, and she doesn't approve, she just tells people she can't stay because she doesn't have any clothes, so they make her fancy clothes. and every time she has a conversation with him she has to run away from him back to her room, where she always notes that her face is flushed and her hair is in disarray. I just didn't want to read all of their creepy gross flirtations. especially when in the rest of the story all of these French people are sick of being oppressed and poor, while the aristocrats have been treating them horribly (as the Comte treats people). not romantic?!
p.s. just wanted to see Minelle say something like this:
Spoiler
so I skipped to the end, saw which dude Minelle ends up with, and tapped out.p.s. just wanted to see Minelle say something like this:
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