Kleypas's second contemporary is just as stunning as the first

books:


	• Blue-Eyed Devil Lisa Kleypas St. Martin's Press, 2008 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 53 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Would have been 5 stars, BUT....

I love Lisa Kleypas' books and really enjoyed this book, but several things kept me from giving it 5 stars.

***SPOILER ALERT***

I kept waiting for Haven to stick up for herself! If not with her abusive husband, then at least with her so-called "boss". Especially since Haven had all the power in that relationship--all she would have had to have done was hinted that she was going to quit and tell her brother why on the way out the door and Vanessa would have been kissing her feet and begging her to stay.

Why didn't she use her brain and be creative? Doormats are not attractive and they just invite continued abuse.

And believe me, if my abusive ex-husband came back into town and was stalking and threatening me, I'd make sure to carry a can of mace, a sharp knife and a cell phone on my person AT ALL TIMES!!!! (As well as at least fill out a restraining order! If worse comes to worse, I at least would want people to know who killed me when my dead body shows up in a field somewhere.)

I'd have enjoyed this book MUCH better if Haven wasn't such a wimp and would have saved herself occasionally instead of waiting for others to do it for her.

I love Lisa Kleypas's books, but I wish we could cross Haven's personality with some of Linda Howard's strong women characters who TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES!

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WONDERFUL

This book is one of the most touching wonderful stories I have read. I love Haven and Hardy. I must admit I was not too fond of Hardy after reading "Sugar Daddy", but in this book, we are able to see his real character and what makes him tick. I love them together and their interaction. The chapters in which Nick beats Haven were very disturbing. But she fights back in her own way and makes her life a good one. I hope Lisa is planning to write Jack or Joe's story next.

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Ahhh, Hardy. I think I love you.

I am not always the easiest critic for Lisa Kleypas books, but I will admit when one just works extremely well. And this one was great. I read 'Sugar Daddy' and 'Blue-Eyed Devil' back-to-back over the last two days, and if there was a third in the series I would have kept on going. What I think I loved the most about this series, and especially about Hardy and Haven's story in BED, is that Kleypas has found a way to break the predictable romance novel mold and delivers a fresh story telling style that I can't say reminds me of any other author. It really is original, at least to me, and I loved it.

I have easily read over 1,000+ romances, and I recognize a 'been there, done that' plot pattern, so I give big kudo's to Kleypas for her originality and risks with this contemporary series. I have read most of her historicals, so her historical fans should beware that she has stepped into a new writing style with these great contemporaries. There is a bit, and only a bit, of 'chick lit' styling in them, as we learn much more about the heroine's full life than what is typical in a straight romance. If you can deal with a more serious non-fluff topic in your romance, but not so deep to be depressing or distracting, I really recommend this book (and series.) Kleypas does deliver a yummy and sexy alpha male (OMG is he sexy!), and a heroine to relate to and love. And with no TSTL moments, not even one!

So what didn't I like about this book? Well, not a lot actually. It was hard for me to get used to the first-person dialog, but I couldn't imagine this series any other way now. I am glad I read Sugar Daddy first so I better understood Hardy's character, but for those who have yet to read Sugar Daddy know that this is a stand-alone book and can be read in any order. (Though I was glad I read them in order to give Hardy's character a bit more understanding) I look forward to her next contemporary. And while I am writing, I might as well go the distance and beg that it will be Jack's story.

Overall, a great contemporary romance read with a great couple, a compelling story, and a sexy as all get out relationship.

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Kleypas's second contemporary is just as stunning as the first

Haven Travis grew up in the shadow of her family's wealth and notoriety as old Texas money. Determined to prove that she wasn't the bourgeois beauty queen that people expected her to be, Haven attended Wellesley and fell in love with a boy named Nick from the wrong side of the tracks. When her father told her he would disown her if she chose to marry Nick, she was fine with it. Their love would keep them together. Haven and Nick elope to the Florida Keys and then begin their marriage, only it's nowhere near as idealistic as Haven had imagined. Before she realizes, Nick is berating her father for disowning her, Haven for her appearance and inability to iron his shirts properly, and when his verbal and emotional abuse turn physical, she knows she has to do something to get away--before she's stuck forever...

Hardy Cates is a Texas roughneck who has clawed his way to the top of the oil industry. A self-made millionaire, Hardy is no friend of the Travis family after swindling Haven's brother Gage Travis in a business deal. But when his old friend Liberty decides to marry Gage, Hardy can't pass up the opportunity to crash her wedding. When he sees Haven, he finds himself enthralled by her beauty, inflamed by her passionate nature, and desperate to find out more. When Haven elopes, two long years pass before Hardy runs into her again. But when he does, he realizes all the old emotion is still there, and the flames have been fanned over the years. Hardy is determined that he'll have Haven Travis, whether she likes it or not.

Blue-Eyed Devil is the sequel to Kleypas's first contemporary novel, Sugar Daddy. I loved that book. Loved it. Stayed up all night and was nearly late to work the next day I loved it so much. So I was skeptical about a sequel, because at the end of Sugar Daddy Hardy Cates had left a bad taste in my mouth. I needn't have worried. There are few authors who can pull emotion out of me like Lisa Kleypas.

First of all, the character of Haven Travis a well-drawn, well thought out, carefully executed heroine. It would be easy to dislike someone who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and determined to reject it. And having an abusive husband when you know she has the resources to get herself out of it could have made Haven come off as someone who enjoyed being a victim. But that's not how it was. My heart bled for the abuse that Haven endured and I cried when she finally worked up the nerve to leave Nick. I was broken for her and could completely understand how she wouldn't be ready for another relationship anytime soon--nor should she be.

Then enter Hardy Cates, a man who I knew had it in him to be a white knight, but who hadn't displayed those characteristics at the end of Sugar Daddy. And from the way he took care of her, from the very beginning, the way he tried so hard to put the broken pieces of Haven Travis back together again, I fell in love. I don't even know why I doubted it. Lisa Kleypas has rarely done me wrong, and after finishing this books I can't even remember which ones I didn't like.

Blue-Eyed Devil is romantic, engaging, and dazzlingly well written. I've said it before and I'll say again that if all of Kleypas's contemporaries are going to be this stunningly emotional and well told then I can't fault her for going this route. Before enjoying Blue-Eyed Devil, I'd recommend reading Sugar Daddy, but just know that each is also fantastic on its own. And while you're waiting for her next contemporary, a couple of my favorite Kleypas historicals are Someone to Watch Over Me (Bow Street, Book 1) and Suddenly You.

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"Healing Old Wounds"

Domestic Violence is a difficult topic. Difficult to explain, difficult to comprehend, and difficult to imagine. In "Blue-Eyed Devil" Lisa Kleypas boldly, yet with sensitivity and insight, delves into this horrifying reality that so many women face.

Haven Travis, sister to Gage Travis from "Sugar Daddy", marries a man that her family has reservations about. Although she is in love with Nick and excited to be married to him, she inadvertently has an erotic "encounter" with Hardy Cates, also from "Sugar Daddy"...read it first! Unfortunately despite her interest in Hardy, she elopes with Nick.

Nick and Haven's relationship is infiltrated with abuse. Kleypas brings the reader into the marriage and we painfully see the control, manipulation, power, and domination that Nick uses to abuse Haven. It is heartbreaking and very, very real.

Haven escapes with her life, but not much else. She is wounded emotionally and physically, and spends the rest of the book wrestling with the long process of healing. Enter Hardy Cates. He has never forgotten Haven and starts a slow and very romantic pursuit of this lost and broken woman.

I love this book! It is not fluff. It is filled with complex and multi-dimensional characters that become very real to the reader. I CARED for Haven and wanted her to find peace and happiness. I also loved Hardy and was relieved that Lisa Kleypas was able to make him a "hero" in my eyes once again. This book is filled with witty and thought provoking dialogue. The discussions between Haven and her counselor are informative and so very sad. The scene when Haven and Hardy finally consummate their relationship is one of the most emotionally riveting love scenes that I've ever read. It's worth the read just for those few pages!

This is a keeper. I will read it again, but not for a while. I want to let the intensity of this book, the evolution of Haven, and the sweetness of the Happily Ever After "settle in" just a little bit longer!

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, page 8, 9, 10, 11

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