Nice Mommy~Evil Editor

Okay, I admit it, I didn’t know I was going to join this challenge. But I like to reread, and I do quite a bit of it for some reason (I think it gives my brain a break) so when I saw Nath’s monthly reread challenge, which just happens to be today, and I was wondering about blog content anyhow, I knew it was fate.

I actually reread a couple books this month: Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn, Devil’s Bride and A Rake’s Vow both by Stephanie Laurens.

However, since I only reread Kitty and the Midnight Hour because I decided I wanted to see if I liked it better the second time (I didn’t really) and to read the books that followed in the series, I won’t talk about it here. Except to say that all this time I remember liking but not loving the book, and when I went back to read my “review”, it looks like I said I liked it more than I remember. And it’s not that I didn’t like the book, just that I felt kind of “meh” about it (and increasingly so about subsequent books). Enough meh that it took me three years to decide to read follow up books.

So, Devil’s Bride is one of those books that I can turn to for an enjoyable comfort read. While I was rereading it this past week, I was actually trying to figure out exactly what it is about the book that I like so well, and I finally decided it’s because I love a hero in pursuit story. I think it’s odd, but many of my favorite rereads (Stephanie Laurens, Catherine Coulter, Julie Garwood, Johanna Lindsey) are all historical. The reason that’s odd is because, if you look at my current reads, very, very few are historical. I don’t edit a lot of historicals either (though I do like them, but I only have a couple of authors who write them, including Gia Dawn and Lynne Connolly). Historical romance used to be one of my favorite genres, but that was probably over ten years ago and sometimes I wonder if I read so many of them because they were what’s available. Like, if paranormals and urban fantasy had been more prevalent then, would I have been reading less historicals?

But regardless, I return at least once a year to Devil’s Bride and I always enjoy it. I particularly like the first chapters of the book, the setup, where they meet for the first time, and she comes to realize who he is. Perhaps it’s politically incorrect of me, but I enjoy his bossy, domineering ways. And hello, the descriptions of him are positively delicious!

For me, the book is an easy read, always entertaining with both the main character interactions, the story, love story, secondary plot and secondary characters.

I enjoy the setup for future books with other Cynster relations, and though I haven’t read all the books in the Cynster series, I have read quite a few. I’ve moved on to rereading A Rake’s Vow , Vane’s story, and will probably read a few more in the series. I will tell you one odd thing about my rereading of this series, though: I never reread Richard (Scandal’s Bride ) story. I’ve never cared for it so I always skip it.

Anyhow, if you’ve somehow never read these books (Erin) and you’re looking for a historical romance read, I suggest trying out Stephanie Laurens and starting with Devil’s Bride.