Fallen Angel

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly Engrossing Read
Review: Deveryn - it was a name that Madeleina (Maddy) Sinclair would hate forever. It was the name of the man who had cuckolded her father's young wife and disgraced him to the point that he took his own life. Through blinding tears she raced through the moors to find her childhood friend Malcolm and spotting the back of his golden head blindly rushed into his arms. Jason Verney, Viscount Deveryn did not know who this strange tiny force was that clung to him so forcefully but he did know that she felt wonderful and the sweet little lips were too much of a temptation not to kiss. To this unorthodox beginning would herald their tempestuous relationship. Deveryn, who was a known reprobate, whose fickleness with ladies and light skirts was renowned in the fashionable ton circles, had never been in love, nor did he ever expect to find it in Inverness, Scotland of all places. But he was so taken with the spirited minx that rushed into his arms and begged to be kissed that he knew at once that she was to be his forevermore.

Maddy felt the same for this golden man. Jason Verney was his name and even in those first moments, a stranger and knowing she shouldn't be with him, she felt it was right - until a stableboy came in to call for Lord Deveryn. The name struck terror in her heart that this might be the man she had sworn revenge upon for her father's disgrace. The battle in her heart was monumental as she tried to deny her love for the man they referred to as the 'fallen angel'.

Oftentimes, it is hard to be objective, particularly when the hero in a novel is such a possessive, arrogant 'brat'! It is coup for the author though that can elicit such a response from the reader on the strength of her writing. If it were not for the fact that Jason truly was in love with Maddy you would really despise his arrogant possessiveness that bordered on cruelty. Maddy on the other hand, waffled from sensual passion to guilt over the betrayal she thought she was doing to her father's memory. Suffice it to say, the relationship was complex and the reader will be thoroughly immersed in this stormy battle of the sexes as love will overcome all obstacles. There is a tremendous amount of historical references sprinkled throughout this novel which I found to be a thoroughly engrossing read and it is quite a sensual read as well though not for the timid who may be shocked by scenes that could be construed as rape.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put it Down!
Review: I've only read a couple of romantic novels and had almost given up on the entire genre until I read this book. The author writes the book with great style so you feel as though the book hasn't been written for a fifth grader (as many of the romance novels are written at the fifth grade reading level...I'm a teacher so I know).

Ms. Thornton develops a passion between the two main characters with a dilemma that makes you want to throw the novel at Maddy, the main character, for being so ridiculous, as often 19 yr. olds are, but at the same time, you fall in love with both Maddy and Deveryn that you have to read to find out if Maddy will give in to her heart. The romantic scenes are protrayed in a matter that is relevant to the book. The author adds the scenes to express their love, not to just through in some porn.

Great book and I can't wait to read more by the author!

Rating:
Summary: Four and a half stars.
Review: If there was one man Madeleina never wanted to lay eyes on, it was the scoundrel who'd seduced her fashionable young stepmother and disgraced her beloved father. The spirited Scottish lass knew his name: Deveryn. Then she met dashing Jason Verney, and as he waltzed her into his strong embrace and piled her with practiced charms, Madeleina forgot about scandals and betrayals. She was too besotted to ask the young man his full name and too much in love to guess that Jason was really Viscount Deveryn, known to London as The Fallen Angel.

Jason Verney, Viscount Deveryn, changed mistresses more often than he changed his snowy cravat, but the profligate peer had never been smitten with love - until he met Madeleina Sinclair. The worldly reprobate couldn't believe his reeling senses when he first kissed the mischievous young chatelaine of Drumoak Castle. If he could trick her into a clandestine marriage, he could possess her virgin beauty and her castle as well. He expected the spirited minx's pulse to race in response to his burning kisses, but he never guessed that innocent Madeleina could foil his devious scheme......by fair means or foul. He never dreamed that she could capture the heart and clip the wing of her infamous, sensuous Fallen Angel.

Rating:
Summary: Four and a half stars.
Review: If there was one man Madeleina never wanted to lay eyes on, it was the scoundrel who'd seduced her fashionable young stepmother and disgraced her beloved father. The spirited Scottish lass knew his name: Deveryn. Then she met dashing Jason Verney, and as he waltzed her into his strong embrace and piled her with practiced charms, Madeleina forgot about scandals and betrayals. She was too besotted to ask the young man his full name and too much in love to guess that Jason was really Viscount Deveryn, known to London as The Fallen Angel.

Jason Verney, Viscount Deveryn, changed mistresses more often than he changed his snowy cravat, but the profligate peer had never been smitten with love - until he met Madeleina Sinclair. The worldly reprobate couldn't believe his reeling senses when he first kissed the mischievous young chatelaine of Drumoak Castle. If he could trick her into a clandestine marriage, he could possess her virgin beauty and her castle as well. He expected the spirited minx's pulse to race in response to his burning kisses, but he never guessed that innocent Madeleina could foil his devious scheme......by fair means or foul. He never dreamed that she could capture the heart and clip the wing of her infamous, sensuous Fallen Angel.

Rating:
Summary: Left a bad taste in my mouth
Review: Sorry, but I just did not like this book. The plot was good and technically it was well written, but I could not stand the characters. The book was first published in 1989 and I guess "acceptable behavior" for a romance novel character has changed greatly over the last 15+ years.

For example, the hero Deveryn practically rapes Maddie, the heroine, early in the book and then blames the poor girl for his loss of control. She made him "angry." Ha.

I found Deveryn's character to be cruel and gratingly chauvinistic. He treats Maddy like a child: he ignores everything she says, repeatedly sends her to bed without any supper (even though they are staying in her house where she is supposedly in change), and he makes her eat porridge even though he has been told it makes her sick. To me Deveryn should have been cast as the villain of the story and not the hero.

In the beginning of the book I sympathized greatly with Maddy. She wanted Deveryn to pay for what he had done to the father. (Early in the book you find that Deveryn slept with Maddy's stepmother and when Maddy's father found out he got drunk, gambled away everything he owned (to Deveryn no less), and retuned home a penniless disgrace.) I wanted Maddy to avenge her father. I wanted her to find a big stick and take Deveryn down a peg or two or twenty. But Maddy turned out to be a wimp. She talked a lot about revenge but at every turn she meekly accepted Deveryn's dictates. I wanted to slap the girl silly. Finally I just threw the book in the garbage.