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A review by katiev
The Demon Lover by Victoria Holt
4.0
Eta: I had to go from 3 to 4 stars because I've found myself rereading parts of this and it has really made an impression. Still full of rage inducing wtf'ery and not exactly romance.
The writing was good/engaging and I liked the heroine, but I never really bought that the Baron wanted her / loved her. I was really torn on the rating, because it did keep me reading and I loved the heroine.
*****************************spoilers*********************************
Kate was engaged to the Baron's cousin, but the Baron had wanted the cousin to marry his ex-mistress instead. When the cousin tells the Baron he doesn't want his castoff, that's when he decides to abduct and rape Kate - that way his naughty, defiant cousin will not be defying him after all, as Kate will then be one of his castoffs as well.
After he holds her captive for 3 days in his castle and rapes/forcibly seduces her repeatedly, he just lets her go. No goodbye, no f* you very much, nada! He not only lets her go, but he demands that his cousin go ahead and marry her as well. Apparently, he doesn't care if another man has her. I prefer my bodice ripper H's to be far more possessive than that.
Unfortunately for the Baron, the rape drives a wedge between Kate and his cousin and they never marry, so his petty revenge fails.
Of course, Kate turns up pregnant and she's terrified about what to do with morals/times being as they are. Unbeknownst to her, the Baron sends his ex-mistress to befriend her and take her into her home in Paris (which he owns and pays all the bills for).
So, granted, he does take care of her, but I wasn't impressed. I think it was sort of a code of honor with these men to make a good settlement on an ex-mistress (which is what he considered her) and pay for the upkeep of their bastards when they are done with their mothers. He was basically doing the same thing for Nicole(the ex-mistress he sent to befriend Kate).
IMHO, if he'd truly given a crap, he wouldn't have disappeared for 5 years. Granted, if he had stayed away because of guilt and a desire to do what was best for the h, I'd have been able to deal with that. The sort of thing where he pines away for her and sneaks around trying to catch a glimpse of her now and then, but I have no indication he did that. And guilt was not in this man's vocabulary, so he does not stay away to spare her his presence.
Nope, dude just secretly paid all the bills and then out of the blue decides to appear 5 yrs later for reasons I am yet to understand. He first befriends the little boy when he goes to the park with his nanny and never even sees Kate until she happens to come to the park one day herself. Then he's all, "I think about you all the time, my life is miserable, I hate my wife.... blah, blah, blah. Our time together was so wonderful. I want you and my son."
Kate is terrified, but tells him in her own polite English way to go f himself and makes sure the boy only goes to the park when the Baron won't be around. Again, he doesn't come after her. No OTT stalker behavior and again, I refuse to believe it was for honorable reasons.
Soon after, the Franco-Prussian war comes along and Paris is about to be placed under siege. The Baron comes to Paris to take Kate, Nicole, his son, and the nanny back to his rural castle - a place that the very idea of traumatizes Kate. She refuses and he just shrugs (literally) and leaves. This guy is not above abduction and this time there's an actual reason for it (Nicole ends up dying in the siege after Kate refuses to leave) but this time he just shrugs.
He does turn up a few weeks later to take them out of Paris and is more forceful about it, so that gave him a point or two, I suppose.
The thing is, I never bought his undying love for her due to the 5 FRICKING YEAR thing. I think he was more interested in the boy (since the one he had with his wife was not actually his). He does claim that Kate is the most important to him and that even without the child he'd want her and he loves her more than anything, but again I wasn't impressed. He expects her become his mistress and he will legitimize the child. Kate refuses. But they do end up together in the end when the wife dies. Unfortunately we don't get to see them actually together, which was something I needed to believe in their HEA.
The writing was good/engaging and I liked the heroine, but I never really bought that the Baron wanted her / loved her. I was really torn on the rating, because it did keep me reading and I loved the heroine.
*****************************spoilers*********************************
Kate was engaged to the Baron's cousin, but the Baron had wanted the cousin to marry his ex-mistress instead. When the cousin tells the Baron he doesn't want his castoff, that's when he decides to abduct and rape Kate - that way his naughty, defiant cousin will not be defying him after all, as Kate will then be one of his castoffs as well.
After he holds her captive for 3 days in his castle and rapes/forcibly seduces her repeatedly, he just lets her go. No goodbye, no f* you very much, nada! He not only lets her go, but he demands that his cousin go ahead and marry her as well. Apparently, he doesn't care if another man has her. I prefer my bodice ripper H's to be far more possessive than that.
Unfortunately for the Baron, the rape drives a wedge between Kate and his cousin and they never marry, so his petty revenge fails.
Of course, Kate turns up pregnant and she's terrified about what to do with morals/times being as they are. Unbeknownst to her, the Baron sends his ex-mistress to befriend her and take her into her home in Paris (which he owns and pays all the bills for).
So, granted, he does take care of her, but I wasn't impressed. I think it was sort of a code of honor with these men to make a good settlement on an ex-mistress (which is what he considered her) and pay for the upkeep of their bastards when they are done with their mothers. He was basically doing the same thing for Nicole(the ex-mistress he sent to befriend Kate).
IMHO, if he'd truly given a crap, he wouldn't have disappeared for 5 years. Granted, if he had stayed away because of guilt and a desire to do what was best for the h, I'd have been able to deal with that. The sort of thing where he pines away for her and sneaks around trying to catch a glimpse of her now and then, but I have no indication he did that. And guilt was not in this man's vocabulary, so he does not stay away to spare her his presence.
Nope, dude just secretly paid all the bills and then out of the blue decides to appear 5 yrs later for reasons I am yet to understand. He first befriends the little boy when he goes to the park with his nanny and never even sees Kate until she happens to come to the park one day herself. Then he's all, "I think about you all the time, my life is miserable, I hate my wife.... blah, blah, blah. Our time together was so wonderful. I want you and my son."
Kate is terrified, but tells him in her own polite English way to go f himself and makes sure the boy only goes to the park when the Baron won't be around. Again, he doesn't come after her. No OTT stalker behavior and again, I refuse to believe it was for honorable reasons.
Soon after, the Franco-Prussian war comes along and Paris is about to be placed under siege. The Baron comes to Paris to take Kate, Nicole, his son, and the nanny back to his rural castle - a place that the very idea of traumatizes Kate. She refuses and he just shrugs (literally) and leaves. This guy is not above abduction and this time there's an actual reason for it (Nicole ends up dying in the siege after Kate refuses to leave) but this time he just shrugs.
He does turn up a few weeks later to take them out of Paris and is more forceful about it, so that gave him a point or two, I suppose.
The thing is, I never bought his undying love for her due to the 5 FRICKING YEAR thing. I think he was more interested in the boy (since the one he had with his wife was not actually his). He does claim that Kate is the most important to him and that even without the child he'd want her and he loves her more than anything, but again I wasn't impressed. He expects her become his mistress and he will legitimize the child. Kate refuses. But they do end up together in the end when the wife dies. Unfortunately we don't get to see them actually together, which was something I needed to believe in their HEA.