The Irish Devil [Paperback]

In a historical romance, set just after America's Civil War, we meet Viola Lindsay Ross. She's married a man she didn't love to protect her mother from being charged with treason, and followed him out west to a small mining town, Rio Piedras. When Viola's husband is killed, he leaves her penniless and alone to shoulder his gambling debts. Viola struggles to make a good life for herself by starting a laundry business, for her family has disowned her and she can't go home. But her business partner, fellow widow Maggie, betrays Viola, selling off her meager possessions and running away to get married while Viola collects the laundry for the day. Once again without money or support, Viola is forced to consider marrying Lennox, the man who killed her husband and only wants her for her family's money. With no other options and after listening to an earful of gossip from the local brothel, Viola sells herself as a mistress to the one man who can help her, William Donovan.

William Donovan is a Master in the art of lovemaking. The prostitutes in Rio Piedras swear by his skills. But his lusts are never satisfied, because he cannot be with the one woman he wants, Viola Ross. Not even the wealth Donovan has acquired with his shipping business can take the Irish from his blood and make him a respectable candidate for the well-bred Viola. But when the woman of his fantasies rejects Donovan's enemy, Lennox, and begs for Donovan's protection in return for her body, the tides change. Now that he has Viola in his bed, he's one step closer to being in her heart.

Diane Whiteside has written an erotic sizzler with "The Irish Devil". Bondage, spanking, and toys, oh my! And all set in the tension filled old west, where Apache attacks and mining shaft cave-ins are just part of normal life. While the romance is plain to see for the reader early on, it takes a lot of action, both in the bedroom and out, before our two main characters realize the love they share. My only complaint was the overuse of the endearment 'sweetheart' in what was otherwise a delicious and delightful read.

Emily Flippin Maruna

Diane Whiteside has written a hot gem, featuring sizzling sex and the kind of deliciously dominant hero to make any romance reader sigh.

The Arizona frontier is unforgiving, with its heat, mine cave-ins, and Indian attacks, but Viola Ross is determined to survive, even after her husband is murdered.

But when his ruthless killer tries to blackmail her into marriage, she has no choice except to seek the protection of William Donovan, a hot-blooded Irish businessman. Donovan is a master of the erotic arts with a taste for dominance, and Viola quickly finds him everything she's ever longed for in a man.

For his part, Donovan never dared dream a woman like Viola would want anything to do with an Irishman. He's delighted to show Viola a world of erotic pleasure as the two slowly fall in love.

But as the murderous Lennox seeks revenge, can Donovan protect his new lover?

If you want delicious sensuality, wonderful characters and a well-researchered, action-packed plot, Diane Whiteside is the writer for you!

Ms Whiteside is a new author for me and when I read about this book I was intrigued. I don't read Americana or Westerns as a general rule but the fact that it was an erotic western with an Irish hero piqued my interest. It's the story of two people from opposite ends of the social spectrum whose fortunes in life are radically changed.

Recently widowed Viola Ross, the daughter of a genteel, wealthy Cincinnati family, was disowned by them after she married a man of whom they disapproved. After realizing that her family had, indeed cut her off, he drags Viola all over the Western Territories in search of the gold that will make him rich. Unfortunately in Arizona he met his demise and Viola is left virtually penniless in the mining backwater of Rios Piedras. She is being relentlessly pursued by Paul Lennox who is desperate to marry her. After her experience with her husband she is determined not to marry again, but she needs money to sustain herself. She decides to approach the only other man in town with as much wealth as Lennox for help - Irishman William Donovan. He's a gorgeous man with a reputation for fairness (and for his skill in bed according to the local doxies).

William has come a long way from his poor beginnings in County Cork, Ireland. He's overcome poverty, starvation, the loss of his entire family and the "no Irish need apply" attitudes he encountered along the way. He's now the wealthy owner of a freight company with a government contract to haul supplies to the forts in Arizona being built to protect against the Apaches. He's acutely aware of Viola Ross and regularly fantasizes about her - she's his perfect faerie queen - but he's sure she'd consider him beneath her. So when she approaches him with a proposition to become his mistress, he is momentarily shocked, but he'll take any chance to have her, if only for three months.

And oh what heat these two generate! William wastes no time in initiating Viola in the ways of erotic pleasure and soon she's a willing partner in these activities. But is there more than just sexual attraction between them? And a few of the questions you'll wonder about are: Why did Viola marry her husband in the first place? Why does Paul Lennox pursue her to the point of obsession?

While I enjoyed the story, I'm not sure I bought into the erotic "education" he received back in (repressed, Catholic, Victorian!) Ireland, but I suppose it's not out of the realm of possibility. And I'm not fond of, shall we say "equestrian" metaphors for sex so every time he referred to "riding" or called her his "filly" I cringed a bit. Those looking for an obvious building of affection may feel that their relationship was primary based on sex. I also agree with another reviewer that "sweetheart" was way over used, though I loved that they used some Gaelic endearments (mo mhuirnin and mo cridhe) at the end. Still, the woman can write some seriously erotic sex scenes that really are hot, hot, hot! If you can take the heat and enjoy erotica with a capital E this story is for you!

I think there may have been some subtle hints that stories about William's friend and business partner Morgan Evans and Viola's brother Hal Lindsay may be in the cards. If so, I'll be in line to read them!