Rating: 
Summary: Quite a Romance novel!
Review: I read this book and I very much thought this book to be quite a sad/adventurous/historical type. The story was very nicely written considering the time period and all. I had a thrill of reading this book, the author wrote the novel so very vividly that it makes her reader get a sense of feeling that they are actually right there during that time period.
Rating: 
Summary: Long time passed
Review: I read this book several years ago when I was probably 13 and now I am 22. I will admit that untill I read the reviews here the acutual plot was very foggy but the title and the general idea have stuck with me for almost 10 years. I came here to find this book and hopefully buy it. I myself enjoyed the book, however I do not believe that I have ever read any of the authors other works.
Rating:
Summary: Long time passed
Review: I read this book several years ago when I was probably 13 and now I am 22. I will admit that untill I read the reviews here the acutual plot was very foggy but the title and the general idea have stuck with me for almost 10 years. I came here to find this book and hopefully buy it. I myself enjoyed the book, however I do not believe that I have ever read any of the authors other works.
Rating: 
Summary: Contradictory!
Review: No fooling. "Caution! Bad book!" It went flying across the room and hit the wall. *G* It started out okay, but the bloody idiot goes ahead and falls in love w/ her rapist. I lost all respect for the character. I admit, I didn't finish it. I skipped ahead and saw what happened. Bang, thump as it hit the floor. Then I gave it away to the first poor, unsuspecting teenage girl I could find. If you must read this book, stop halfway through, unless you too are in love with your rapist...in that case, go seek help. You need it.
Rating: 
Summary: I threw it across the room
Review: No fooling. "Caution! Bad book!" It went flying across the room and hit the wall. *G* It started out okay, but the bloody idiot goes ahead and falls in love w/ her rapist. I lost all respect for the character. I admit, I didn't finish it. I skipped ahead and saw what happened. Bang, thump as it hit the floor. Then I gave it away to the first poor, unsuspecting teenage girl I could find. If you must read this book, stop halfway through, unless you too are in love with your rapist...in that case, go seek help. You need it.
Rating:
Summary: Definetly a demonic rapist not a lover
Review: Readers that like trashy romance books will be displeased by this book. it is very well wrote, and in my opinion, one of the best of Victoria holt's(Jean Plaidy's, Philippa Carr's) books. It has a unique story line which includes Mystery, Romance, and History all combined into a thrilling and fun plot. It shows the two sides of human nature, good and evil, through Rollo a main character whom you will love and hate. I highly recomend this book and most of the authors other works.
Rating:
Summary: The title does NOT say it all
Review: Readers that like trashy romance books will be displeased by this book. it is very well wrote, and in my opinion, one of the best of Victoria holt's(Jean Plaidy's, Philippa Carr's) books. It has a unique story line which includes Mystery, Romance, and History all combined into a thrilling and fun plot. It shows the two sides of human nature, good and evil, through Rollo a main character whom you will love and hate. I highly recomend this book and most of the authors other works.
Rating:
Summary: Definetly a demonic rapist not a lover
Review: The story is certainly very well written but the end is more than disappointing. The story is about Kate, a gifted artist who paints a picture of the powerful and charismatic machiavellian Baron Centreville. The baron soon discovers that not Kate's father, a famous miniaturist, who is about to loose his eyesight paints him, but Kate. Instead of being furious he is inspired by her and patronizes her further career. Kate is erotically attracted by him but repulsed by his machiavellian use of power. She falls in love with the man the Baron wants to marry of to a former mistress. Due to the fact that Kate severly interferes with his plans he intends to punish her and her fianceé for their "insubordination". He kidnapps Kate, drugs her and rapes her several times and makes it very clear that this is meant as a punishment. There is no indication that the baron fiercly desires Kate or that Kate enjoys the whole thing and it would be very unlikely under the given circumstances. The whole thing is about power and the use of power. His original plan to marry of the now besmirched Kate to his rebellious subject is thwarted by Kate who now refuses to marry this man. The plot is interesting so far and I expected some poetic justice because Kate, a very spirited and strong woman could be the ideal person to revenge herself on the baron but this is not the case. Instead of it she gets pregnant and gives birth to a son. Of course she secretly yearns for the baron and let no other man touch her for years. Then after a failed marriage of the baron he finds out about the son and comes to claim him. The rest of the story is ridiculous nonsense. I don't critizise the fact that Kate in the beginning feels attracted to so unsympathetic a character. It is believable for the baron is handsome and powerful and that is in fact attractive. I wouldn't have minded the baron seducing Kate as a means of punishment (like Valmont seduced the virtuous Madame de Tourville). It would be more than believable that after that Kate is not able to forget her demonic lover. But her demonic rapist? He was a cruel barbarian and not a highly seductive and sinister Valmont who was a skilled lover not a neanterthaler who tears his woman in his cave. The story is very well written but the content is [...]. Because of it's very dubious moral I can only give one star.
Rating:
Summary: A Review
Review: This book gave a good description of the seventeenth century, and how women were inferior to men. Kate is an excellent artist, who is following in her family's footsteps. She gets the opportunity to go with her father and paint a miniature of Baron de Centreville, because her father is going blind. At this time, she was discovered as an artist. Kate falls in love with the man that raped her. It is hard to believe that a strong woman, like Kate, allows herself to be overtaken by a man. There is only one way for her to escape.
Rating: 
Summary: Disillusioned
Review: This novel used to be my favorite "trashy" romance but now I am horrified to see its many destructive elements. Holt tries to draw upon the "Pride and Prejudice" theme that men like women who are not sycophants but this does not hold up in "The Demon Lover". I realize now that the novel becomes pure trash when Kate falls in love with the man who raped and humiliated her, a notion horrifying to comprehend! Victoria Holt brings to life that somewhat misinterpreted "rape fantasy" that psychologists love to think women supposedly have. It is reprehensible that Kate (who is a strong, independent woman) allows herself to be dominated by a stronger man who offers her marriage in compensation for the loss of HER power (she wants him to use violence against her!). In fact, this novel presents power and conformity at its worst with a small percentage of people (i.e. the Baron) in power and the rest slotting into these positions he creates...even Kate is not immune. A better version of this story would stick to the interesting premise of the story and show Kate, as a woman and an artist i.e. a doubly marginalized person, coping with the hierarchal European power structure that the Baron so emphatically represents (his rape as a symbol for power, of control to reaffirm superiority over the marginalized class). She should have escaped to England after the war and redefined her identity rather than letting the Baron do it for her.
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