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jackiehorne's review against another edition
3.0
2.5
Publishers Weekly just named this one of 2019's best romances, describing it as an "interracial, friends-to-lovers story that turns typical romance novel power dynamics on their head." That description intrigued me, so I picked it up and gave it a read, despite not having been all that impressed by London's historical romances. Unfortunately, I found Devil hardly lived up to this description, or to its title, given that its male protagonist, Rafe Fontana, is a quiet do-gooder type, not a devil at all. Or perhaps the title is meant to refer to the female protagonist, Hallie Prince??
Hallie hails from an extremely wealthy family, and is on the verge of making a big splash at her high society wedding to a handsome heart surgeon. But after catching her fiancé in bed with one of her bridesmaids, Hallie has called off the wedding, returned to her family's Texas ranch/mansion, and spends most of her time whining and complaining about her life, especially to her former best friend Rafe. Though we, like Rafe, are supposed to admire Hallie for her kindness and sunny spirits, her immaturity and lack of awareness of her own privilege just grated.
Hallie is a totally clueless type, with absolutely no idea that Rafe, two years older than she is, has been quietly, desperately in love with her ever since they were 12 and ten. But because his father works as the "majordomo" (?) for the wealthy Prince family, Rafe's always believed that a relationship between himself and Hallie is impossible. Rafe joined the army to escape the pain of his unrequited love; now that he's left the military, he's made plans to move to Chicago to start a charity for underprivileged kids once he's finished with his social work degree.
Hallie gradually begins to figure out that she's been living her life for other people's expectations, and takes small steps to break free of them (her Instagram campaign, "Deconstructing a High Society Wedding," is quite funny). And she begins to wonder if the long glances she and Rafe have been exchanging of late, and the electric sparks whenever they touch, might mean that they are meant to be more than just best friends.
Hallie's obliviousness, both to other people's emotions and to her own privilege, annoyed the heck out of me. She's hardly a model of an actively feminist character throughout much of the book; only at book's end, when she finally decides to find out what she really wants, and to stop relying so heavily on her family and Rafe, does she finally show a bit of independence and strength.
The "interracial" aspect of the book is very lightly sketched; Rafe describes himself as "Hispanic," rather than pointing to the particular country/culture/heritage from which his family hails, and there is very little suggesting that the Fontana family differs culturally from the Prince family besides a few mentions of Latino foods. Class, not race or ethnicity or culture, is presented as the differentiating factor here, a factor that the story suggests is easily overcome.
Does the "turning typical romance power dynamics on their head" refer to the fact that it is Hallie who is reluctant to give up her life and follow Rafe to Chicago after he declares his feelings and the start a sexual relationship? I really am not sure. And I wasn't at all sure why Hallie and Rafe decide to break up near the end of the book, either, without even having a conversation about the possibility of a temporary long-distance relationship—seemed more in the interest of just extending the plot/angst than based on any sensible reason.
I also found Hallie's mother, Delia, who is still mourning the death of her philandering husband, and who tells Hallie that he was still the man for her even in spite of his constant cheating, offputting. Have a little self-respect, why don't you?
The friendship/enemy-ship between Delia and her mother-in-law, the foul-mouthed wisecracking Dolly, was played for laughs but didn't appeal to my sense of humor. Dolly is the stereotyped comic relief here, rather than a fleshed-out human being.
All in all, not a book that will be on my "Best of 2018" list.
Publishers Weekly just named this one of 2019's best romances, describing it as an "interracial, friends-to-lovers story that turns typical romance novel power dynamics on their head." That description intrigued me, so I picked it up and gave it a read, despite not having been all that impressed by London's historical romances. Unfortunately, I found Devil hardly lived up to this description, or to its title, given that its male protagonist, Rafe Fontana, is a quiet do-gooder type, not a devil at all. Or perhaps the title is meant to refer to the female protagonist, Hallie Prince??
Hallie hails from an extremely wealthy family, and is on the verge of making a big splash at her high society wedding to a handsome heart surgeon. But after catching her fiancé in bed with one of her bridesmaids, Hallie has called off the wedding, returned to her family's Texas ranch/mansion, and spends most of her time whining and complaining about her life, especially to her former best friend Rafe. Though we, like Rafe, are supposed to admire Hallie for her kindness and sunny spirits, her immaturity and lack of awareness of her own privilege just grated.
Hallie is a totally clueless type, with absolutely no idea that Rafe, two years older than she is, has been quietly, desperately in love with her ever since they were 12 and ten. But because his father works as the "majordomo" (?) for the wealthy Prince family, Rafe's always believed that a relationship between himself and Hallie is impossible. Rafe joined the army to escape the pain of his unrequited love; now that he's left the military, he's made plans to move to Chicago to start a charity for underprivileged kids once he's finished with his social work degree.
Hallie gradually begins to figure out that she's been living her life for other people's expectations, and takes small steps to break free of them (her Instagram campaign, "Deconstructing a High Society Wedding," is quite funny). And she begins to wonder if the long glances she and Rafe have been exchanging of late, and the electric sparks whenever they touch, might mean that they are meant to be more than just best friends.
Hallie's obliviousness, both to other people's emotions and to her own privilege, annoyed the heck out of me. She's hardly a model of an actively feminist character throughout much of the book; only at book's end, when she finally decides to find out what she really wants, and to stop relying so heavily on her family and Rafe, does she finally show a bit of independence and strength.
The "interracial" aspect of the book is very lightly sketched; Rafe describes himself as "Hispanic," rather than pointing to the particular country/culture/heritage from which his family hails, and there is very little suggesting that the Fontana family differs culturally from the Prince family besides a few mentions of Latino foods. Class, not race or ethnicity or culture, is presented as the differentiating factor here, a factor that the story suggests is easily overcome.
Does the "turning typical romance power dynamics on their head" refer to the fact that it is Hallie who is reluctant to give up her life and follow Rafe to Chicago after he declares his feelings and the start a sexual relationship? I really am not sure. And I wasn't at all sure why Hallie and Rafe decide to break up near the end of the book, either, without even having a conversation about the possibility of a temporary long-distance relationship—seemed more in the interest of just extending the plot/angst than based on any sensible reason.
I also found Hallie's mother, Delia, who is still mourning the death of her philandering husband, and who tells Hallie that he was still the man for her even in spite of his constant cheating, offputting. Have a little self-respect, why don't you?
The friendship/enemy-ship between Delia and her mother-in-law, the foul-mouthed wisecracking Dolly, was played for laughs but didn't appeal to my sense of humor. Dolly is the stereotyped comic relief here, rather than a fleshed-out human being.
All in all, not a book that will be on my "Best of 2018" list.
romancejunkie1025's review against another edition
4.0
Overall I liked this story a lot and while there were a few moments that were not my favorite, it really reminded me why I love Julia’s writing so very much. Hallie is a young woman in need of a compass to find true north and lead her to her path in life and she finds it in the man she has called friend all her life. She will find her way with his assistance but it will definitely not be an easy path and she will have to use every bit of her determination and skill in order to not fail epically at everything she has decided she wants out of life. Rafe on the other hand has always known what he wanted and what he was willing to allow himself to want, but once he lets himself give in to Hallie everything changes and he has to find out if he can trust in himself—and Hallie—to give in to his new dreams. I loved seeing these two break through their beliefs about themselves and their understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses in order to find out who they truly were. The love and chemistry between them was hot but the sweetness of their emotional connection kept that flame from being so hot that it just spiked and burned out. Despite a few tropes that are not my favorite popping up near the end of the story, I am looking forward to what comes next and I suspect I know who the love interest will be for the final Prince sibling. Julia London’s historicals will remain my favorite of her genre writing, but this story makes me a little more open to her contemporary writing and I am going to go into the next story with a bit more of an open mind for sure.
For full Review see the blog at:
https://romancewitchreviews.blogspot.com/2019/10/arc-review-devil-in-saddle.html
For full Review see the blog at:
https://romancewitchreviews.blogspot.com/2019/10/arc-review-devil-in-saddle.html
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
Recommended by Erica. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sdevil%20in%20the%20saddle%20london__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
creativelifeofliz's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. This is a cute book with a good ending. Some stuff happens in the middle that made me lower my rating a bit, but I did enjoy it and would read others in the series.
aquariandancer's review against another edition
4.0
Princes of Texas Book Two.
Hallie Prince was devastated to find her fiance and best friend/maid-of-honor together soon before her wedding. When she tied one on and ended up by her car in her reception dress, Rafe Fontana found her and took care of her. The two have been friends since they were children, and Rafe has been in love with her almost as long. Now, Rafe is planning to finish his degree and move as far away from Hallie as he can. Hallie begins to see him in a new light, but Rafe is terrified that he is just her rebound.
If you wanted more from the Princes of Texas, this book delivers. Claudia and Dolly make appearances and add comic relief to the story.
Hallie Prince was devastated to find her fiance and best friend/maid-of-honor together soon before her wedding. When she tied one on and ended up by her car in her reception dress, Rafe Fontana found her and took care of her. The two have been friends since they were children, and Rafe has been in love with her almost as long. Now, Rafe is planning to finish his degree and move as far away from Hallie as he can. Hallie begins to see him in a new light, but Rafe is terrified that he is just her rebound.
If you wanted more from the Princes of Texas, this book delivers. Claudia and Dolly make appearances and add comic relief to the story.
paddlefoot55's review against another edition
4.0
ARC received via Netgalley for an honest review
This is only my second Julia London read (and no, the first read was not the first in the Princes of Texas Series, however this did not affect my reading of book 2).
Hallie Prince is the princess of this family. However to me, for a lot of the first half of the book, I was more inclined to think spoiled brat. I found her quite unlikable for a long time, however she did get better as the book progressed.
Rafe, sometimes he annoyed me, but mostly I adored this guy. Even when I wanted to slap some sense into him lol
I did enjoy watching these best friends become more - slowly but surely anyway. Though there was a time or two where I wanted to bang their heads together and tell them to get their act together.
I don't think at all the Rafe was a "devil in the saddle" - he's way too good of a man to be a devil anywhere at all.
I will go back and read the first book, and want to read the next book in this series.
This is only my second Julia London read (and no, the first read was not the first in the Princes of Texas Series, however this did not affect my reading of book 2).
Hallie Prince is the princess of this family. However to me, for a lot of the first half of the book, I was more inclined to think spoiled brat. I found her quite unlikable for a long time, however she did get better as the book progressed.
Rafe, sometimes he annoyed me, but mostly I adored this guy. Even when I wanted to slap some sense into him lol
I did enjoy watching these best friends become more - slowly but surely anyway. Though there was a time or two where I wanted to bang their heads together and tell them to get their act together.
I don't think at all the Rafe was a "devil in the saddle" - he's way too good of a man to be a devil anywhere at all.
I will go back and read the first book, and want to read the next book in this series.
audreylee's review
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
aqtbenz's review against another edition
2.0
This was ok - it was fun and I thought it was going in a good direction, but there was a twist at the end that just pissed me off and was unnecessary.
This was my third read for the romanceathon - accomplishing the challenges of an illustrated cover and a new to me author!
This was my third read for the romanceathon - accomplishing the challenges of an illustrated cover and a new to me author!