Reviews with content warning for Rape - Devil in Winter

The writing is serviceable in this novel, slipping towards well-written at a few intervals. The most hard-to-read portions were ones that I assume tied the series together. While I understand that I started with the third in the series, the forced description of our MC as a “wallflower” and always a “wallflower” felt hopelessly strained and needless: we understand her character at this point and it only serves to connect the series, meaning it read as poor writing. Besides that, much of the writing slid towards the classic pitfall: telling and not showing. Kleypas hammers certain points over and over again to the point of annoyance, making several chapters hard to read.

Characters: 2.75⭐️/5

I want to love the characters more than I do. Evie has the potential as the shy heroine, but her development is offset by her inconsistent character. Same with Sebastian. I would have loved to see Sebastian show consistency in his character, but he quickly loses his “villain” archetype to become the rich noble who just happens to know how to fight. It felt so sudden that I wanted to understand then what his history really was. The side characters also fell subsequently short of feeling real.

Plot: 2.75⭐️/5

The marriage of convenience plot starts strong and instantly beocmes strained. While I love the bad boy turns to caring lover trope as much as anyone else, Sebastian’s motives make as little sense as his inconsistent character. While he looks to marry our heroine to settle debts, he immediately reveals that he’s not much of an overspender, immediately squashing his whole reason for marrying Evie in the first place. Honestly, it would be more believable that he had been secretly pining after her for years, even in the interest of a one-night stand. The flurry of action at the beginning also created a distinct lull in the middle and end of the novel. And, the wrapping up of the attempted-murder plot came quickly, too much so, leaving us with no time to really feel like Evie might have ever been in danger.

Oh, also Evie’s dad died and she moves on very, very fast, which is maybe one of the more annoying parts of the plot.

However, it’s fun.

Who Should Read This Book?

Someone looking for a bodice-ripping romance novel

Content Warnings?

Misogyny, sexism, sexual assault, sexual content, rape, death of a parent, death, murder, blood, injury, medical content, terminal illness,

Post-Reading Rating: 3.75⭐️/5

It was fun, if not well-written.

Final Rating: 2.75⭐️/5

Content Warnings

smuttymcbookface's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

thefatpaperback's review against another edition

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1.5

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cepbreed's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Now this is what I'm talking about! After the trainwreck that was the last book I was seriously having doubts about my determination to give Kleypas another chance, and I wasn't disappointed! Unlike in It Happened One Autumn the main characters are actually very likable! Shocking considering how much redemption St. Vincent had to go through, yet Kleypas managed it. Everything he did in the previous book was terrible, and it made me hate him, yet the new side of him we saw, with the help of Evie's perspective made him an instant favorite for me. Maybe it's my bias for the shy girl and bold guy trope but this novel was infinitely better. St. Vincent became a male lead I actually loved, the slow realization that he's falling for Evie had me in such a chokehold, I eat that shit up everytime! I'm sorry for doubting you Lisa Kleypas 🙏 If I had read this before It Happened One Autumn maybe I would've given Lillian and Marcus more grace

Songs:

Sparks Fly - Taylor Swift
Norman fucking Rockwell - Lana Del Rey
Million Dollar Man - Lana Del Rey

Content Warnings

local_hat's review against another edition

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medium-paced

3.0

This one came out in 2009. Not even that old! And while it proves my point that romance used to get much better copyediting, the casual racism, casual fat-hate, casual classism, casual ableism, and casual iffy consent have aged a lot less well. I definitely used to love Kleypas and her multiple series set in the same universe... and now I think I'm glad I fell away from them and haven't re-read any recently.

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ionai's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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graceflvnt's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

HATE the way the author writes about fat people.

‘To Evie’s astonishment, her cousin Eustace was waiting inside, pale and corpulent, appearing like a baby whale that had been loaded into the seat. He locked her against the massive, stale-smelling folds of his body, exhibiting surprising strength as he plumped a fleshy forearm over her throat. “Got you,” he said, panting with effort. ‘

This kind of thing goes on throughout the entire scene. J.K. Rowling levels of fat = evil and disgusting.

Also the only non-white character was written in such a subtly gross way. A Romani character who is constantly described as exotic and mysterious, lithe and charming, always smiling.

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