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reader_fictions 's review for:
The Devil's Web
by Mary Balogh
I've been anxious about The Devil's Web since The Gilded Web, because the relationship between James and Madeline is the sour note in an otherwise entirely fabulous romance novel. As expected, I had issues with this one, and I'd be loath to recommend it.
Madeline and James should, in theory, be my ship, because they're the only hate to love couple in the series, and that's often my favorite romance trope. The thing is that I love hate to love for very specific reasons. I like romances where I get to see the feelings two people have for one another shift as the book progresses; it's rare for me to enjoy a story where they're already in love (but not together) at the beginning of the book. And I love the hate aspect particularly when it's a misunderstanding based on pride and/0r prejudice, as clearly evinced in the Lizzy/Darcy relationship. In this case, though, the hate is way too convincing to be in any way romantic.
James and Madeline really do seem to hate each other pretty much permanently during all of the time they're together in the first book and this one (he's not in book two, which is the only reason they don't fight then). Even when they feel love, they also feel hatred. They're uniformly cruel to one another, particularly James to Madeline, although she will generally fight back with cruelty if he starts it. Their relationship is deeply unpleasant to read.
In The Devil's Web, they end up married even though both of them mostly don't want to be, because they mostly hate each other, but the tiny parts of them that feel "love" convince them to do wed. Then they are spectacularly unhappy everywhere but in bed for quite a long period of time. Then they have a fight and are ALSO spectacularly unhappy in bed. It's awful and painful to read.
Why are they unhappy? Well, that all goes back to James' tragic back story, which convinced him that a) he does not deserve love and b) he should not ever talk about his feelings. He's super fucked up and needs a lot of therapy. His arc could have been a good one like his sister's in the first book, but he never really works through everything. He knows what his issues are, but the book ends so soon after they make up that it's hard to believe he's truly worked through his communication problems. The romance also feels very unbalanced because Madeline does not have the same level of problems. Her issues are that she doesn't push James enough and gets willful and combative in reaction to his behavior, making everything worse. Even though those are also real issues to deal with, it's incredibly difficult not to loathe James throughout the course of this book, especially because he can be somewhat physically violent (again a product of how he was raised). I would have loved to see this done in a different way, but as it is I did not like this romance at all.
However, I rounded my mixed feelings up to three here because there were good things about this book too. First off, I do generally love Mary Balogh's writing style, and I read straight through this quite long, sad, frustrating book, which is pretty impressive. I tend to book hop if I'm displeased, but there was something that kept me reading.
On top of that, Mary Balogh writes her romances so they do not just focus on the main romance, meaning that there's a lot of delightful family and friend stuff going on as well, which offsets some of the pain of the main story line. For example, Jessica's romance with Pendleton (who lost an eye and a leg in book one) is absolutely precious (both in this book and book two) and notable because guys like him generally do not get to be romantic heroes. I only wish they had been the central romance, rather than a side ship. Similarly, there's an adorable romance for Madeline's mother that's thoroughly charming.
I'd be hesitant to recommend this one. It's worth reading if you appreciate Balogh's style and are attached to the series characters, but otherwise I would skip it.
Madeline and James should, in theory, be my ship, because they're the only hate to love couple in the series, and that's often my favorite romance trope. The thing is that I love hate to love for very specific reasons. I like romances where I get to see the feelings two people have for one another shift as the book progresses; it's rare for me to enjoy a story where they're already in love (but not together) at the beginning of the book. And I love the hate aspect particularly when it's a misunderstanding based on pride and/0r prejudice, as clearly evinced in the Lizzy/Darcy relationship. In this case, though, the hate is way too convincing to be in any way romantic.
James and Madeline really do seem to hate each other pretty much permanently during all of the time they're together in the first book and this one (he's not in book two, which is the only reason they don't fight then). Even when they feel love, they also feel hatred. They're uniformly cruel to one another, particularly James to Madeline, although she will generally fight back with cruelty if he starts it. Their relationship is deeply unpleasant to read.
In The Devil's Web, they end up married even though both of them mostly don't want to be, because they mostly hate each other, but the tiny parts of them that feel "love" convince them to do wed. Then they are spectacularly unhappy everywhere but in bed for quite a long period of time. Then they have a fight and are ALSO spectacularly unhappy in bed. It's awful and painful to read.
Why are they unhappy? Well, that all goes back to James' tragic back story, which convinced him that a) he does not deserve love and b) he should not ever talk about his feelings. He's super fucked up and needs a lot of therapy. His arc could have been a good one like his sister's in the first book, but he never really works through everything. He knows what his issues are, but the book ends so soon after they make up that it's hard to believe he's truly worked through his communication problems. The romance also feels very unbalanced because Madeline does not have the same level of problems. Her issues are that she doesn't push James enough and gets willful and combative in reaction to his behavior, making everything worse. Even though those are also real issues to deal with, it's incredibly difficult not to loathe James throughout the course of this book, especially because he can be somewhat physically violent (again a product of how he was raised). I would have loved to see this done in a different way, but as it is I did not like this romance at all.
However, I rounded my mixed feelings up to three here because there were good things about this book too. First off, I do generally love Mary Balogh's writing style, and I read straight through this quite long, sad, frustrating book, which is pretty impressive. I tend to book hop if I'm displeased, but there was something that kept me reading.
On top of that, Mary Balogh writes her romances so they do not just focus on the main romance, meaning that there's a lot of delightful family and friend stuff going on as well, which offsets some of the pain of the main story line. For example, Jessica's romance with Pendleton (who lost an eye and a leg in book one) is absolutely precious (both in this book and book two) and notable because guys like him generally do not get to be romantic heroes. I only wish they had been the central romance, rather than a side ship. Similarly, there's an adorable romance for Madeline's mother that's thoroughly charming.
I'd be hesitant to recommend this one. It's worth reading if you appreciate Balogh's style and are attached to the series characters, but otherwise I would skip it.