A few months ago Leopold Bailey exchanged a small token in
return for the power to glimpse the future with the touch
of any other man's coin, but he still lacks entree into the
higher echelons of British society. It is large problem
with a simple solution, marry a woman of the aristocracy
and gain contact with and power over the class that has
slighted him all his life. Nothing is more important than
gaining more; more money, more influence and especially
more opportunities to lay low despised members of the Ton,
destroying futures and fortunes with his dark gift. His
wife is a delightful surprise, having hidden a keen mind
and adventuresome spirit beneath the banal facade demanded
by her role as an ingenue.
Anne Bailey, nee the Honorable Anne Hartfield knows little
of the man she has married, but the mores of her class have
accustomed her to a future tied to a stranger. She can only
be grateful that Mr. Bailey seems a man of steady
temperment and driving
ambition and counts herself lucky that he also possesses
admirable physical attributes. Still, something about Leo
Bailey sets the hair standing
on the nape of her neck. She comes to know his forthright
nature as he shares glimpses into his childhood and she
finds herself drawn closer than she thought
possible to this man, yet senses a dark secret held within
him.
Caught in the subtle coils of the Devil's intentions can
Leo win his way free before he and the woman he holds
dearest suffer the consequences of his greed?
Zoe Archer's Hellraiser series may perhaps be based
on the
historical Hellfire Club an apochryphal branch of which met
in limestone caverns carved
beneath a chapel in the the 1700's, but she delves more
deeply into the consequences of what may happen if a man
unwittingly gives his soul to the Devil
in exchange for power, and how that choice affects the
woman who comes to love him. DEMON'S BRIDE, the second in
the series fulfills the promise of the
ftheir
number has renounced his deal
with Mr. Holliday, as the Devil prefers to be known.
Zoe Archer writes historical paranormal romance like none
other. I thoroughly enjoyed her Blades of the Rose
series,
but am also enjoying the different
flavor she brings to the Hellraisers books. Unlike
the
Blades, the main male love interests teeter on the brink of
darkness, one short slip from tumbling
into the pit. They are saved through the love of good
women, yet the books avoid any hint of sanctimony basing
their redemption on love rather than
religious conversion (with plenty of exciting fight scenes
and pulse-pounding erotic encounters.)
The two women in the
books thus far are also very different from each other.
Zora in book one is a free spirited Gypsy who knows her
own strength of character well, while Anne discovers her
depths as her story progresses.
In the Blade's of the Rose the enemy lies within a specific
group who's aims to rule the world require certain
artifacts, each of which provides a central
goal which shifts for each story. In the Hellraisers, the
evil is defined in Mr. Holliday, and his influence on the
five friends.
The goal in each story (so far)
is the same: how to save the men from eternal damnation
without losing the love they have found. A tantalizing
question that might be found in each of
The Hellraisers books is how and when does the woman
discover the deal her beloved made with the Devil? How does
she reconcile loving a man who
is spreading evil without losing her own soul?
The Hellraisers books may be read as standalone
stories,
but the impact is much greater if read in order.A few
months ago Leopold Bailey exchanged a small token in
return for the power to glimpse the future with the touch
of any other man's coin, but he still lacks entree into the
higher echelons of British society. It is large problem
with a simple solution, marry a woman of the aristocracy
and gain contact with and power over the class that has
slighted him all his life. Nothing is more important than
gaining more; more money, more influence and especially
more opportunities to lay low despised members of the Ton,
destroying futures and fortunes with his dark gift. His
wife is a delightful surprise, having hidden a keen mind
and adventuresome spirit beneath the banal facade demanded
by her role as an ingenue.
Leo Bailey may have been born to poverty, but ruthless
business sense and sparkling intelligence have made money
worries a thing of his past. It doesn't hurt that the Devil
himself has granted Leo the ability to read the future. But
even infallible predictions are a declasse commoner's trick
to some members of the ton. They'll never see Leo as their
equal - one good reason to prove himself their better. And a
noble marriage is an obvious start.
Bookish Anne Hartfield,
daughter of a baron, is hardly the flashiest miss on the
marriage market. But her thoughtful reserve complements
Leo's brash boldness
in an attraction neither can deny. A whirlwind courtship
sweeps Anne and Leo into a smoldering marriage before either
can believe their luck. But happiness built on Leo's dark
powers can't last. Soon, Anne will have to save her
husband...or lose her heart.
© 2003-2025 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy