The Wicked Waywards, Book 1
From the publisher:
Lord Devlin Wayward, gambler and dedicated rake, returns home for the first time in years, and lands himself and his identical twin, Daniel, the good reverend, in deep trouble. Devlin ends up with a broken leg and unable to travel to London, yet he must return. He’s got an important deal that will make or break his fortune. He persuades the reluctant reverend to take his place in London while he temporarily minds his brother’s flock.
Miss Mary Tomblin is taken with the devastatingly handsome reverend. He represents everything she desires in a husband, after narrowly evading a ruthless rake last Season. Mary knows she’ll make him an excellent wife, but the vicar rebuffs every advance – until he suddenly accepts her help with pastoral duties while his broken leg heals. Mary seizes the chance to show the good reverend what an excellent helpmeet she will be.
The devil takes on the role of village vicar and discovers it’s nowhere near as easy as he imagined—especially when he falls in love with an angel who mistakes him for a saint.
Identical twins pull a switcheroo in early 1800’s England and their lives are turned upside down. When Daniel, the local vicar, complains that a local young woman has been pursuing him, his twin, Devlin, decides to help his brother out. Donning the vicar’s garb, he pretends to be his saintly brother and tries to scare off Mary, but she is not scaring easily, and she’s awfully pretty. In making his escape, Devlin takes a tumble and breaks his leg. He needs to get back to London to close a business deal, but he really can’t travel. He talks his brother into taking his place, and he will take care of Daniel’s flock and get rid of Mary once and for all.
Try as he might, Devlin can’t seem to scare off Mary and every time he gets close, his pangs of guilt over making her feel bad kick in and they make up. Over and over again. For Devlin has fallen in love with Mary, although he fights it every step of the way. He knows she is too good for a rogue like him. He may have graduated from seminary school like his brother, but he never was ordained. Instead, he moved to London and ruthlessly built a fortune, while having fun with lightskirts.
When they are forced to face the truth, everything that could possibly go wrong does. It takes some finagling and begging and lots of apologies to set everything to rights, and for Devlin to get the girl.
This was a fun read. I liked the characters a lot, and the twins were an unusual storyline, at least for me. I loved Mary and was rooting for her to get her happy ending, and she did.
6/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™
THE DEVIL’S OWN by Liana LeFey. Entangled: Amara (June 14, 2021). ASIN: B0893QHX7F. 228 pages.
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