The Devious Duke by Ella Edon

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He will save her life only to ruin her himself…
Two things make Lady Phoebe afraid: loveless marriages and hurt animals. Her first fear has made her a spinster. The second nearly kills her. Because in an attempt to rescue a puppy from a speeding carriage, she almost meets her death. And everything would be lost if it wasn’t for the handsome duke that saves her.

Could he be the one to fight away all her insecurities?
Carter Ravenel, Duke of Ravenwood, has only one desire: to avenge his family’s downfall. To succeed, he must ruin the person responsible-and his daughter, Lady Phoebe. His devious plotting includes earning her trust and then marring her reputation.
But revenge always backfires.
Phoebe bewitches Carter. Suddenly, she’s the one with the power to break him.
And she will use it when she discovers his scheme…
For she can never be with a man who only used her as a pawn-even if he makes her heart flutter.
To punish her for past mistakes, he will do whatever it takes…

Book Details
Table of Content

File Name:the-devious-duke-by-ella-edon.epub
Original Title:The Devious Duke: Historical Regency Romance
Creator:Ella Edon
Language:en
Identifier:MOBI-ASIN:B09Y1HKXWN
Date:2022-04-13T23:00:00+00:00
File Size:744.862 KB

Table of Content

1. Title Page
2. Contents
3. Thank you
4. About the book
5. Chapter 1
6. Chapter 2
7. Chapter 3
8. Chapter 4
9. Chapter 5
10. Chapter 6
11. Chapter 7
12. Chapter 8
13. Chapter 9
14. Chapter 10
15. Chapter 11
16. Chapter 12
17. Chapter 13
18. Chapter 14
19. Chapter 15
20. Chapter 16
21. Chapter 17
22. Chapter 18
23. Chapter 19
24. Chapter 20
25. Chapter 21
26. Chapter 22
27. Chapter 23
28. Chapter 24
29. Chapter 25
30. Chapter 26
31. Chapter 27
32. Chapter 28
33. Chapter 29
34. Chapter 30
35. Chapter 31
36. Epilogue
37. Extended Epilogue
38. Afterword
39. Do you want more Romance?
40. Between Two Gentlemen

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Do you want to read more?

41. Never miss a thing
42. Thank you
43. About the Author

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Ella Edon

Book author Ella Edon8fans

1 comments

Kiley O：

The Devious Duke was about Lady Phoebe Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Elton Lovelace, the Earl of Lovendale, and His Grace Carter Ravenel, the twelfth Duke of Ravenwood (the former duke had been his mother's cousin and had petitioned the Crown to make Carter his heir as the late duke had had no other male heir who could inherit his title). Side Note: This book was interminably long. Thirty-one chapters and an epilogue long. In my opinion...it was too long with a bit too much fluff in the middle. The author chose to do a very painful, drawn-out plot that...to be honest...wasn't at all necessary. Much of the back story was taken care of within the first 10 chapters. However, by the time the reader reached chapter 15, the story was getting old...and a touch boring, for all that was being covered is a repetition of Carter's need for revenge...and his need to protect Phoebe. That was more than a bit overdone, and this reader's mind started to wander...and consider dropping the book altogether. Thoughts of revenge 19 years in the making burrowed through Carter's thoughts and body when he noticed that the Earl of Lovendale and his lovely daughter were in attendance at his mother's birthday soiree. Memories of his birth parents swam before his eyes, how they had each been brought to an early demise because of circumstances brought about by that man's actions, and the need to make the Earl of Lovendale pay for what he had done to his family filled his cold heart with hate. After the soiree, Carter was at a men's club talking the even over with a friend who knew of his history with the earl. When the friend mentioned the daughter could be the way to avenge himself with the earl, the idea took hold of Carter, and would not let go. Even when his friend reminded him that the girl had done nothing to him and then asked if he was willing to destroy her in order to destroy her father. Carter was definitely willing to do so, but only in the eyes of her father...not in the eyes of Society. He would seduce her, inform her father of the fact...and refuse to marry her. So he and his friend, Harold, began the plot for revenge in earnest. Side Note: There were quite a few grammatical errors in this book. However, my biggest pet peeve was also prevalent...that of misnomers. I find it a deplorable thing when an author who purports themselves to be an "expert" on any subject...and then proves in the very writing that they are not. For instance, the Dowager Duchess of Ravenwood would NEVER be addressed as "Lady"...anything! She would have been addressed as Her Grace/Your Grace, or Her Grace the Dowager Duchess. Then, to have Carter addressed as "Lord Carter Ravenel, the Duke of Ravenwood,” was even more aggravating when he should have been addressed as "His Grace, the Duke of Ravenwood" (ironically enough, just a few paragraphs later, the author corrected her error). This, to me, is an unforgivable error on the part of any author writing any genre of a book about the aristocracy. With the plan in place, Carter waited for the right moment to pounce...and it came swiftly. Phoebe and her aunt were shopping when her Aunt Greta got distracted by a friend. The friend's daughter and Phoebe decided to go to other stores to shop, only for them to immediately run into a stray dog. Entranced by the pup, Phoebe tried to coax it to approach her, only to watch as the cruel man shoved the pup into the street. All Phoebe could do was watch as a carriage headed straight for it. Phoebe, terrified the small dog would get run over, leaped to save it...only to have Carter leap to save her in return. (Side Note: I was glad to read that Carter was NOT the villain who put Phoebe or the pup in mortal danger. If that had been the case I would have stopped reading the book immediately! I already had a problem with him due to his having an affair with a married woman with no semblance of a guilty conscience. I couldn't and wouldn't continue to read the story if he had had no compunction or if he had cared so little about putting the life of a person or animal in danger.) Without considering the danger to himself, Carter rushed to the aid of Phoebe and the pup. While his original plan did not go as he had expected, the end results were the same...he had met Phoebe and endeared himself to her...probably even better than he had expected, and he believed "it was only a matter of time before she would succumb to his advances". Though he felt a twinge of guilt the more he got to know her, that did not sway him from his determination to use her to avenge his family where her father was concerned. Though he was drawn to her, he chose to ignore that attraction and focused solely on his need for revenge. However, the closer he got to his goal, the more danger he found his own heart becoming. Side Note: What bothers me most about revenge-plotted novels is that, the one seeking revenge: 1)Doesn't think the plan out to the end, considering every scenario, 2)They always, always, always choose an innocent person on which to mete said revenge again, never truly considering the outcome for that person, and 3)The person seeking revenge rarely EVER does enough research to find out a: what really happened in the beginning, and b: did the person they are seeking revenge against REALLY do what they believed, was there more to it than met the eyes, or was the person seeking revenge looking at the situation through tinted glasses and not understanding the truth...especially if the person seeking revenge was a mere child at the time the whole thing occurred? As his friend kept asking him if he was certain he wanted to follow through on his plan, Carter kept questioning his right to use Phoebe to get to her father. But then he would "harden his heart" and convince himself that it didn't matter that she was innocent, that he was doing the right thing. His decision was not to simply bed her, but to perhaps go so far as to promise to marry her, then let the world know she was no longer a virgin...and call off the wedding. That way, her reputation would be ruined, her father shamed, and, thus his revenge complete. Then, he would leave for the Continent to attend business, thereby "I will avoid the worst of the gossip. By the time I return, the ton will have moved on to another scandal, and I can get on with my life.” But his friend's reaction was surprising to him, "This just doesn’t seem like you. I agree that the lady will indeed be ruined. I just worry that the consequences will be more serious than you are prepared for.” However, Carter was not to be swayed, "...he considered the statement. The pain was already familiar to him. It was time to introduce the earl to it as well." It was ironic to read how Carter fought with himself over the idea of ruining Phoebe. One minute he was appalled, the next, it was the right idea, etc. But then, he would see another man around her...and feel possessive, even jealous? Feelings he didn't feel for the women he pursued...and especially not one he was out to destroy. But then, he convinced himself, "The man at her side was simply in the way of his plan, so he needed to remove him". Ironically, Carter constantly skittered back and forth between the need to protect Phoebe at all costs and ruining her..."Yet even as he made excuses for his actions, he could not deny that his desire to avoid the scandal was borne out of a deep need to protect her, the same need that had made him leap across the street to save her from mortal danger." But then, Carter's friend, Harold, informed him that another man was intent on courting Phoebe...which shook him to his core. He was either jealous...or thinking he needed to step up his plan for revenge...or both. He did decide, though, that no one would court her but himself, and of that, he would be certain. Upon asking the earl for permission to court his daughter, the earl stated, "...I am lucky to have her. She is my pride and joy, and I take her happiness very seriously.” For Carter, it was the stamp that sealed the deal, for by the earl's admission, "he knew he had found the perfect means of hurting the man." Once the Earl of Lovendale, and thereby Phoebe, gave his consent for Carter to court her, he set the next step in his plan for revenge into motion. One of those steps was taken out of his control by the daughter of his adopted parents, Leona. She and his mother had heard of his courtship of Phoebe and Leona demanded that he should invite Phoebe, her father, and her aunt to a family dinner. Unable to deny them their request, he did so. After her family had left, his adopted mother gave him a letter to read...written by his birth mother just before she had died. That letter changed the direction of his actions. Upon reading his mother's missive, Carter realized he had fallen in love with Phoebe and no longer wanted revenge. Carter visited her father the day after they had dinner at his sister's home and asked to marry her. Three days later, the marriage took place. However, the following morning, his world fell apart as the truth of his deception was inadvertently made known to Phoebe. Things went from bad...to horribly worse from that point. Though it was a story fraught with errors, it was still a good one. The angst and drama were a bit over the top, and the fluff prevalent throughout the story was greatly irritating. The chemistry between the two main characters was a bit disappointing as it was almost stagnant in its presence...as was the romance between them. It took a very long time for anything to actually develop and take place in regards to a relationship, and still, it couldn't be considered even close to a simmer. The plot twists were bland and uninteresting. The rivalry was almost non-existent. It was all overshadowed by the repetitiveness of the revenge plot...and even that was starting to get annoying even before halfway through the book. The characters were neither mature nor well-developed. Carter was stuck as a ten-year-old boy who lost his parents in a manner that he couldn't understand at the time, and still couldn't 19 years later. He was nothing more than a pouty lost child who never really grew up. He was a man with no integrity, for he had no qualms about bedding married women or ruining the lives of people he felt had wronged him. The author even had him admitting at one point he would rather gamble, drink, and cavort with women than take up the responsibilities of his title and estate. Phoebe was a naive, self-absorbed, daddy's girl who took more pleasure in spending daddy's money than in facing reality. When life hit her in the face full force, she was lost as to how to react. At first, she was easily swayed by everyone, but she did eventually grow a backbone, but was it too late? All in all, it wasn't a horrible book. It was just way too long, with entirely too much fluff, not enough groveling on Carter's part, too quick to forgive on Phoebe's part, and a very dull HEA ending. It also left too many unanswered questions that honestly needed to be addressed. Perhaps not bad enough for a mere one-star rating, but definitely not good enough for a five-star rating either.

Reply2 years ago

Cora al：
Omg the amount of detail in this review <3, if we were at a bar I'd shout you a round of drinks mate! THIS is what a review should be!!
2 years ago