One word to describe this book: EWW!
It's grossed me out whenever I chanced upon Heroes that are much, much older than the heroine.
Not only did this Hero way older than the 18-year-old heroine, he liked her since she was a wee little girl (merely 8 years old ... pedophile much?). On top of that, he was enamored with her because he had been in love with the girl's mother. How utterly disgusting was that!!!
I simply could not like this Hero.
From the above facts itself, I couldn't capture the chemistry. It's too far off.
So this was an unfinished read for me.

I don't know...I wanted more romance, I guess. I wanted to see the heroine falling in love with the hero. And was that gang rape truly necessary? Because when the villains were finally caught, their punishments occurred off-page, so what was the point? And I did not see that plot twist about her governess coming!

Great book

Very disappointed. Expected better from this author. Repeated rapes and violence lead to love???? Forced myself through it but the predictable story line only sank lower. Wish there were negative stars to award to this effort.

Yeah. The Earl of Clare is a sick, twisted bastard. Obsessed with this girl for years (her whole life but only sexually for the past year or so) he kidnaps her, rapes her, and confines her. He smugly tells her that she will marry him, but she's got all the time in the world to agree (so long as we're having sex). There is never any doubt in his mind that she'll refuse him (conceited ass). He makes her brother and fiancé think she is dead. Why? So her fiancé can begin to forget her - otherwise it would be cruel to let him think he might still have a chance with her. Since naturally, you will be MY wife.

I'm not a big fan of the whole I-have-to-rape-you-so-you'll-fall-in-love-with-me thinking. Methinks he's going about it all wrong. Well - unless he was actually aiming for Stockholm Syndrome. Which is a possibility. Wouldn't it make more sense to just kidnap the girl, hold onto her for a few months and let her actually fall in love with you (not your penis) and then have sex with her? Why does sex have to come first? I didn't buy his argument for that. And you love her so much that you will take her against her will? Really? That's love?

And yes - the heroine.  I swear I was so ecstatic when she left the Hero(psycho) and went off to America that I actually applauded my ereader. I thought, wouldn't it be so nice if our Hero found that he couldn't actually have her or had to actually chase after her and beg her forgiveness or at least give her a Fucking choice!!!??? But no - less than a day after he arrives she's telling him how much she loves him and he's ready to thrash her for leaving him. Grrr. Not the ending I wanted.

So why two stars in stead of one? Because this book pokes fun at itself constantly. There are two characters I love for this reason.

Oddly enough, one is the heroine. First, I love the insults. At one point she calls him an "Officious bore." How lovely. But mostly, she has a way of turning his actions around on him so he has to consider them. It's just a shame he's so hardheaded.

Talking about the pirate Barbarossa… "He much enjoyed pillaging, taking the men for slaves in his galleys and ravishing the women, a pastime I find hardly romantic."
Cassie slowly turned at his words, "And just how would you describe the ravishing of women my lord?"

Then there's the Scottish crewman Scargill. This guy had some good insight. While talking about having he heroine watch someone being lashed in her place…

"She called me a braying ass not long ago. Now I must bequeath that charming title to you. Under no circumstances would I do anything so reprehensible."
"Ye abducted a lady, my lord, against her will."

Yeah, Scargill alone brought the book up to 2 stars, but the lack of a plot nearly dropped it back down. This book probably could have just skipped the villainy...

**comes out from under the bed**

Yes I liked this book. Yes, it was degrading, yes both the heroes in this story were complete IDIOTS. Yes, the heroine was a simpering mess and made some pretty lame choices.

That being said, I still enjoyed this book. It was degrading, unbelievable, and made me want to beat every character. Yet, I found myself not wanting to put this book down. I still think it was well written, and although a darker romance, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. IT'S FICTION. Not real-life. It was an escape for me, and an enjoyable one at that.

In true bodice-ripper fashion there is love, kid-napping, adventure, villians, exotic locations and in the end a happy ending (if you like the kidnap, rape, seduce, beat, rape, seduce, escape, chase after you, but I love you anyway sort of thing)

It was an entertaining read and that's all I can ask for in a book. and *GASPS* I'll probably read it again.

**promise you won't throw too many tomatoes at me please**

Rating: 4 stars
Warning: Kidnapping, Rape, Torture, Love Triangle

My Ratings:

5*****I loved this book, consider it an all time favorite
4**** Thoroughly enjoyed the book and will recommend it
3*** I liked it well enough,
2** Brain Candy - It was okay. Writing mediocre, will
keep/re-read if part of a series
1* didn't like/possibly not finished. (less)

Devil's Embrace is one of my Favorite Books. I loved everything about Anthony !

He knew what he wanted. And so he took it...in other words he kidnapped Cassie because she was about to get married. He takes her aboard his yacht and starts on there way to italy..
And from there this story keeps getting better. It's filled with action daring escapes not to mention her falling in love with him but not wanting to admit to it especially to herself.

This book will keep you guessing what's about to happen next you'll laugh you'll cry it's an emotional read but well worth it.!

One of my favorite parts of this book is almost at the end. Cassie has left Anthony and he crosses a ocean to come for her...

And he ends up into a duel where they fight with swords he is fighting the man that Cassie once believed she loved and the part I love is in the middle of them fighting when she puts herself in between them because she knows that Anthony is losing because he does not want to live without her so she places herself into harms way and he stops instantly my heart was pounding as I was reading.. the love he had for her was so strong

I feel like any rape is too much rape. This had waaaay too much rape.

I had to write this review to try to warn people away from this book. I wish I could forget some of the awful things I read in it.
The worst part for me was the very detailed gang rape of the heroine. The hero did rescue her, but proceeded to sew her perineum back up and bide his time to wait until he was healed enough so that he could rape her, since he loved her so much that he'd be gentle with her.

Of course all this happened after he initially kidnapped her and raped her.

Then toward the end the heroine actually marries (or almost marries? She's living with him and sleeping with him) another man who is actually nice to her, only to return to the "hero" for no reason I could possibly understand.

I have never disliked a book as much as this one.

Good

I just really enjoyed this story. I love an alpha male hero. He was a major alpha. He loved her in a creepy way at first from afar but then their love grew. It was such an unusual story, and held my attention through the whole book.

I honestly don't know what to think of this book. It sounded interesting at the time of reading and I was intrigued by the notion of Welles kidnapping Cassandra because he wanted her, but it seems like he essentially raped her. Sure he wasn't horrible of vicious about it but she didn't want him.

My biggest issue with the book was her seeming love for Edward, her fiance. It would have been easier, I think, to know that Cassandra didn't want to marry him than to believe she loved him and that Anthony was keeping her from him, no matter how it turns out in the end. I really think Coulter took it too far when Cassandra is abducted yet again and brutally raped by four men.

Part of me wants to like this book because I didn't actually mind the parts on the ship after Anthony has taken her to be his bride but so much after that was hard to swallow and read.

I didn't hate the book. In fact, I'm rather curious about their daughter who will be in the second book, enough so that I'm swapping for it over at Paperbackswap. The thing is that I truly hope their daughters life is a lot less brutal than Cassandra's has been so far. But then I also plan to swap this book as I probably will never read it again.