Review: The Devil's Match

Reviewed by Shelly
 

I couldn’t wait to read this book. I greatly looked forward to finding out how the devil gets his due. Victoria Vane – your writing had me a hello!

This is the best one in the series, not because it’s all about Ludovic and Diana but because this installment really kicked it up a notch with some strong character development. There’s some shit that happens to Ludovic while he’s in Constantinople that test his ability for compassion but I digress.

As these are such closely tied books, The Devil’s Match picks up directly after Diana and Ludovic’s first go-round in The Devil You Know, so there’s still some left over dealings between other characters (Vesta and Hew) to take care of. By the way, I still don’t like Vesta. After leaving England for four years in his quest to get over Diana, Ludovic returns home only to find that he still has feelings for her; and reasonably so Diana is very hurt and mistrustful of Ludovic’s return.

I sympathized with Diana’s feelings on Ludovic leaving. Knowing what she knew, it was hard for her to understand why he would leave not just England but her. This was a story of growth and redemption on the part of Ludovic. He had to learn that living up to his nickname of the devil was no longer making him happy and had not made him happy since laying eyes on Diana.

For Diana she did quite a bit of growing herself because she finally has to make the decision of what’s going to make her happy. Living by society’s rule of what a widow should or shouldn’t do or going after what she believes will make her happy. She comes to find out through Salime, a prostitute at the King’s Place Brothel, of Ludovic’s ability for sympathy and the lengths he’ll go through to protect and defend what he believes is the right thing. Salime turned out to be a gem and I would really like to see her character get flushed out a bit more in her own story [insert Puss in Boots eyes].

As this is a short story, if I start giving you more of the plot I’ll start giving spoilers and I don’t want to that but I do want to leave you with this exchange between Diana and Ludovic.

He knew! The bastard knew all along? “How?” She gasped, pulling from his grasp to rip off the veils. “How did you know it was me?”

“Your carriage, your form…your scent,” he answered. “They are all imprinted upon my brain. I would know you among a hundred women, Diana. Every time”.

Tell me that doesn’t tickle your fancy and I’ll call you out.

Not of these installments disappointed, but this one is definitely the hottest and most fun of the series. I really enjoyed this ride and I’m totally going to miss these two (unless Salime has her own story – oops, did I say that already?).

Happy Reading Folks!

Rating: B+

*ARC provided by author for review

Click to purchase: Amazon

The Devil's Match

by Victoria Vane

Release Date: August 24, 2012

Publisher: Breathless Press