dirtymartini 's review for:

The Devilish Mr. Danvers by Vivienne Lorret

4.0

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Hedley and Rafe. I really liked this book even if the motivations were a bit convoluted. Rafe used to be betrothed to Hedley's sister years ago, until she threw him over for a more promising target. Hedley Sinclaire knew of him and had a crush on him from afar, but he didn't know of her. Nobody did. The Sinclair family secret, she was kept locked in the attic a lot of the time. Now she has finally gotten away from her evil mother and sister through an inheritance of an old run down estate that came from her grandfather. Her family doesn't care. They are happy to be rid of her but they refuse to give her any money or help. So here she is with barely enough to live on and a huge ramshackle mansion with holes in the roof. Then who should her neighbour be, but Rafe. He lives nearby on purpose, because the estate used to be in his family and it is rumoured to have treasure. He is pretty pissed to find out the house he thought belonged to him is still in the hands of a 'hated Sinclaire'. He is even more pissed when Hedley's sister shows up to force her way in and search for the treasure herself. Don't worry about OW drama though except that she is a very dislikable person. In fact I found it pretty hard to believe Rafe could have ever been enamoured with her. Anyways, so there's Hedley between a rock and a hard place and nobody to help her. It's a fun read, and a slow build romance. An instant attraction, but Rafe is pretty hard headed. The side characters were interesting and the ending was sweet. oh, yeah, and to make it more complex, Rafe and his three friends have a wager that whoever remains unmarried at the end of the year wins the bet.