ARC Review: The Devil's Own (The Wicked Waywards #1) by Liana LeFey
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Series: The Wicked Waywards #1
Author: Liana LeFey
Published June 14th 2021 by Entangled: Amara
Goodreads Synopsis
All hell breaks loose, when the devil falls in love with an angel.
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.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.
Miss Mary Tomblin has never had a true home, having to move around so much for her father's work. But, at her newest village, she starts to fall for the handsome vicar, Daniel Wayward, who hasn't so much as looked at her twice. But, all of a sudden, he starts to want to spend more time with her, and she has the opportunity to prove she is the perfect choice for a reverend's wife, tending to his parishioners and helping him with his troubles. The thing is, though, that the reverend who is paying attention to Mary is in fact Devlin Wayward, the vicar's rakish twin, who decided to masquerade as him one day, and broke his leg in full view of the village. Now he has to 'be' the vicar until he's healed, and he realises that though his brother is good and proper, he hasn't seen that perfection he has in front of him, and Devlin falls for Mary. Will the truth be revealed, or will they both be doomed to fall for the wrong person?
This book had everything you could want from a story of mixed identities. However, I found the main characters - Mary, Devlin, and Daniel - to be arrogant and annoying, especially at first. Devlin grew on me, as he matured a lot throughout the story, and it became clear that a lot of his initial impression was a facade of bravado to protect himself from the rejection he felt from his family. Mary was shallow and seemed only concerned with getting Daniel, at any cost, and I'm not surprised he wasn't interested with how full on she was being. There was no subtlety with her feelings, and though I liked her more towards the end of the book, she still never fully grew on me. We don't really see much of Daniel once Devlin takes on his role, as he travels to London to pretend to be Devlin instead. The relationship between Devlin - as 'Daniel' - and Mary was alright - nothing too special, but enjoyable nonetheless. The plot 'twist' was expected, and I think it just all felt a little too stereotypical and cliched that although I flew through the book, I didn't love it. I might read the sequel, to see what Daniel got up to in London, but I'm not in a big rush to do so.
Dates Read:
July 11, 2021
Rating
3 Stars
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