I was going to read Between the Devil and Ian Eversea (2014) by Julie Anne Long as soon as it came out, but my library purchased an ebook and not the Kindle version. After much waiting, I got the message to check it out, and I realized I couldn’t read it. I was disappointed, but there are a lot of other books out there, and I was soon distracted. It was only recently that I finally decided to suck it up and borrow the paper version. I’m a big fan of many of Julie Anne Long’s books, and I knew I would read it eventually. I had high hopes, but unfortunately I was disappointed.
Tansy Danforth recently lost her parents in an accident in America. She’s come to England to be the ward of the Duke of Falconbridge and find an eligible bachelor to marry–preferably one with a title. Ian Eversea is a rake. We first met him in an earlier book when he is caught by the Duke of Falconbridge in the bed of the Duke’s fiance. That doesn’t go well, and no one in the Eversea family, including Ian, thinks he could be a potential suitor for Tansy. In fact, most of them are intent on keeping Tansy and Ian apart.
I was just re-reading this novel, but it was just the Falconbridge bits specifically. There is never enough Alex and Genevieve for my tastes. I agree that the book fell somehow flat. It was a fun and cleverly written as Long always is, but I never really latched on to the characters either. It’s a shame as I really enjoyed Ian in the other books and was eagerly awaiting his book. The same was true of Jonathon Redmond’s book, It Happened One Midnight. I enjoyed it at the time, but I haven’t gone back to it. Long is due for another great one is how I’m choosing to look at it. Although how Olivia and Lyon’s book can possibly live up to the build up is beyond me.
Have you read A Notorious Countess Confesses? It can be a skooch twee (Long’s besetting sin), but is extremely enjoyable over all.
Agreed. I love the idea of a reformed rake and the idea that Tansy also needed to be reformed could have been an interesting angle. But the reformation wasn’t really flushed out and the 2 spent too much time apart.
That being said, Long will forever be one of my favorites because What I Did for a Duke is just so fantastic.
I did read A Notorious Countess Confesses, and I liked it. It had some great scenes, but it wasn’t my favorite. I think my favorites (so far) by Long are What I did For a Duke, The Runaway Duke, and How the Marquess Was Won.