To Save the Devil (Berkley Sensation) [Mass Market Paperback]

I started reading this series because it was recommended to me by Amazon and I'm very glad that I did. Who would have thought out of the thousands of books they've recommended to me they would finally get one right? Starting with "To Tempt a Saint" this second novel in the "Sons of Sin" trilogy "To Save the Devil" is an exciting novel in its own right and if you liked the first book you're sure to like this one as well.

Being the second son of Sophie Rhys-Jones, a famed courtesan, Will Jones has had a hard time finding his place in the world. A former Bow Street Runner (policeman) Will has now made his main focus to find his missing younger brother and bring the men that have been hunting him to justice. During this hunt he is asked to help save one of the virgins being auctioned off at a seedy brothel known for its illegal acts.

Searching for some letters used in blackmailing her mother in the very same brothel, Helen is drugged and auctioned off to Will Jones. Refusing him her real identity Helen is drawn to Will but knows she must escape him in order to save her mother's reputation and return to the brothel. Finding no safe way to do this Helen is forced to enlist the aid of Will in order to help her mother and at the same time she is helping Will become closer to finding clues as to his brother's whereabouts.

The romance between Will and Helen is very hot and you can't help but hope for these two to fall in love. Will's wounded soul almost brought tears to my eyes at times and Helen was the perfect match for him. My biggest complaint against this book is that I wished it were a bit longer. Kate Moore's writing is so descriptive and brings such life to her characters that I could've read another four hundred pages or so. Either way its left me eagerly awaiting her next novel. If you are a fan of suspenseful historical romances then I would highly recommend this series to you. I would start with the first one (To Tempt A Saint) however, because you'll need it to fully understand this book.

Kate Moore's latest novel suffers from a heroine who just cannot put her faith in the hero. Her inability to trust both her instincts and the hero stole some of the magic from their romance.

Helen is saved from certain ruin from a brothel auction. She is drugged and senseless when hero Will Jones rescues her; he is undercover disguised as a foppish Continental on another mission entirely. He takes the groggy Helen to his home and Helen is less than happy that she is out of the brothel. Let me just say, right off that Helen's attitude was less than appealing toward the hero, she is angry with him for interfering and seemingly ungrateful that he has saved her from certain ravishment.

Helen has a ton of secrets, she keeps her identity under wraps and she is on a quest to find incriminating letters written by her mother. She believes they are housed in the brothel by a nefarious man and she will do almost anything to retrieve them. Her mother is unaware of Helen's mission and quite frankly I don't know if her mother would have dissuaded her if she had known. Helen has a strange family; her father is an unforgiving, harsh clergyman totally unaware of his wife's letters. Helen has plans to go back to the brothel even though she is hopelessly naïve and so far out of her depth with these London thugs that it is a miracle she has not been seriously injured already.

Will is an honorable man and a former Runner. He is the son of a famous courtesan and he is on the search for his lost brother of three years and he is fairly certain his brother is living in the slums of London hunted by a powerful man. Clues have led him to the brothel and the same man holding Helen's letters is the same man Will believes can lead him to his lost sibling. He feels a certain obligation to Helen and they form a reluctant partnership mainly so he can protect her.

Helen speaks in metaphors to Will, as if she is Helen of Troy, I guess he is her Paris and this got to be a bit old because she uses her Helen of Troy conversations to avoid real intimacy with Will. Helen is so focused on retrieving her mother's letters that she simply cannot see her obsession is leading her and others down a dangerous path. She embarks on half baked plans which she escapes either by sheer luck or Will coming to her rescue. She never really believes in his innate goodness as she never and I mean never shares some very important information with him like her family name. It's amazing that they fell in love as she adopts a persona that is not her own, although she is admittedly a very good mimic.

This novel, although high in action, just felt a little flat to me. I never really cared about the couple's romance because I was not invested in them emotionally. Their individual quests were intriguing but their romantic journey was not.

I'm sorry to say I didn't care for this newer historical at all. I was genuinely interested in the mystery involving the heroes kidnapped younger brother, Kit, but it overtook this `romance' novel. When I realized that was happening, from just a few pages in, I quickly lost interest. This is not a romance novel at all.

I've said this several times before lately and I'll continue to say it when necessary; these characters were underdeveloped and there was really no backstory on them. I need to know where they came from and what their lives were like before they met one another. Something else I've noticed with the last few newer books I've read; hero and heroine are strangers when they meet yet it doesn't seem like it. They almost seem like old acquaintances.