Yet another Lisa Kleypas book to love. Merritt and Keir are an absolute delight, the intrigue is compelling, and Merritt is exactly my kind of feminist heroine. It doesn't hurt that this cover is totally gorgeous. My one significant drawback is that as much as I love Sebastian St. Vincent (SO much), his appearances were such a significant part of this book it became a little bit too much about him, and drew us away from our main couple. Truly, a little bit of Sebastian can go a long, long way. I get that in this case, his importance is built into the plot, but...still.

This was a great romance read! The heroine is a strong independent widow, who meets a snark Scottish whiskey maker. After a steamy night of passion, Keir (the Scottish whiskey maker) is gravely injured in an explosion and forgets ever meeting Merritt (the widow) let alone being with her. Merritt then lies that they are engaged to be able to care for Keir as well as trying to keep Keir safe from the man trying to kill him. This is a great read with lots of romance and suspense!

I've had an overall positive experience reading The Ravenels historical romance series from Lisa Kleypas, but the latest installment Devil in Disguise is by far one of my favorites! In this novel, romance blossoms between Merritt Sterling, a widow who has taken charge of her husband's shipping company, and Keir MacRae, a Scottish whiskey distiller. But before they can properly figure out what to do about their undeniable chemistry, a secret is revealed that puts a target on Keir's back. Will they be able to find a way to overcome the threat and be together?

I really enjoyed Devil in Disguise! I don't read a ton of historical romances these days, but I can always count on Lisa Kleypas to write charming, lovely love stories that are all too easy for me to devour. In this particular case, the main couple played a large part in winning my favor, as I adored both Merritt and Keir. They have such similar personalities: strong-willed individuals who care deeply for those they love and will do what they believe is best to protect them. Merritt's independent nature, stubbornness and charm; Keir's hardworking, kind and outdoorsy nature; both of them were just so appealing, and it's unsurprising that I was invested in their romance immediately. The actual tale incorporates some typical historical romance tropes, but I didn't mind that all that much! It was still so fun to watch everything play out, and I was certainly entertained from start to finish. Throw in some great character cameos (from both this series and the Wallflowers series), a touch of banter and flirtation, a moment or two of vulnerability and softness and you'll end up with the perfect combination of what I personally enjoy in a romance.

The one aspect of this book that I didn't love (although I didn't completely dislike it either) came in at the very end. There's a detail to the way things wrap up for our main couple that just didn't feel like it was a necessary addition, and I genuinely could have done without it. Still, because I just wanted Merritt and Keir to be happy, I'm not against it either, so make of that what you will!

Devil in Disguise is easily one of the standouts in The Ravenels series. (Side note, I do find it funny that it's considered part of this series when the main cast doesn't include any Ravenel family members.) It was a great addition to this series (or maybe it's universe at this point, since one might argue that you can consider the Ravenels + the Wallflowers as a group). Just thinking about Devil in Disguise puts a smile on my face, and I can definitely recommend picking it up!

I have loved @lisakleypas books for years. If you enjoyed the Bridgerton books, I would recommend her Wallflower series! Thanks to @netgalley and @avonbooks for a chance to read this one!
Book 7 in the Ravenel series, Merritt is a young widow running her late husband’s shipping business who has no plans for a man in her life. In walks Keir, a Scottish whiskey distiller and suddenly those plans may go up in smoke. It seems though someone is trying to murder Keir.
I loved seeing Sebastian and Evie again from the Wallflower series. I would read any book those two are in. Seeing Marcus and Lillian again was icing on the cake. I flew through this book. I didn’t mind the Sebastian and Keir connection at all. This book was a win for me. 🙂

I loved this book by Lisa Kleypas! She really knows how to take you back and fall in love. I love Historical Romance and this author is one of the reasons why.

I’m still loving the Revenels and Lisa Kleypas’ writing. This is such a great series- with fun characters and lots of steam. In fact, I think Devil in Disguise might be the steamiest of the series, yet!

Lady Merritt Sterling, a strong-willed young widow running her late husband’s shipping company, knows London society is dying to catch her in a scandal. So far, she’s done a great job avoiding one, but then she meets Keir- a rugged Scottish whiskey distiller and sparks fly!

This is a fun, swoon worthy romance that will have you needing a fan! Plus, a couple of beloved characters from the Wallflower series show up! Four stars!

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon for an ARC of Devil in Disguise. It’s available now!

Another fun installment in the Ravenels/Wallflowers series. Merrit is a lovely heroine, and the family interactions are dynamite. However, the adventure plot is a little stale. The romance between Merrit and Kier is smoking hot.

I love Lisa Kleypas so much. Is this book objectively perfect? No. Is it perfect to me? Basically, yes.

This book follows Merritt, the daughter of Lillian and Westcliff from It Happened One Autumn, who is widowed and the owner of a shipping company that her late husband left her. Our other love interest is Kier, a Scottish distillery owner, who is rough but sweet in the way so many of Kleypas' heroes before him. The two have an immediate connection and I was weirdly loving the quick pace of their relationship building, but then there is an accident and things take a bit of a turn. There's a mystery that starts at this point where Sebastian keeps showing up and it's interesting enough, but honestly, at some point this book did feel like it crept into too much Sebastian. But the way LK writes a sick bed scene is always delicious and she is so good at writing romantic tension and also, I really love her characters at least 90% of the time. This book was definitely not an exception. Basically, this book had me riding a pure joy train for the three hours or so it took me to read it.

BUT I do have to say, this book has the magical cure for infertility trope and I was beyond aggravated because it really didn't need to happen? Anyway, other than finding that impossibly irritating, I loved this book. I am always here for a Lisa Kleypas romance and I doubt that's going to change any time soon.

3.25 ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
2.5 🔥🔥❤️‍🔥

This was a lovely treat for fans of the Wallflowers series. We get to see so many of our favorites back in action and Lord St Vincent (now Duke of Kingston) is delightful as always. While there are many wonderful moments, overall the storytelling just didn’t hold up to the incredibly high bar set by other Lisa Kleypas historicals.

What worked for me:
- MacRae as our rough Scottish hero and Merritt as our fierce widowed heroine. They are full, richly drawn characters.
- The sick bed hurt/comfort scenes. This trope! With a little dash of memory loss. Fantastic.
- Getting to see some of my faves from the Wallflowers and Ravanels!

What didn’t:
- The absolute insta-love. There is practically no tension or build up before they are kissing!
- The pacing/scene transitions. It seems choppy in a lot of places and the ending was quite abrupt.
- How Merritt’s ability to have children was handled. I really, really hated this aspect of their HEA and it makes me hesitant to recommend this book to friends.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was cute, and fun. I liked the characters and the story was fine. Merritt was a lovely widow, and a very progressive/forward thinking woman. I liked Kier as well, even as he was a little stodgy. I get it, falling in love is hard. Buuuuut.... overall....

I think the original Wallflowers are my main true loves. The women in those books were just something special, and while I liked Merrit, I feel like her story just fell a little flat for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I love Lisa Kleypas and the worlds she creates! They are so easy to fall into and wether you read her books as a stand alone or part of a whole series… they are so enjoyable!

I don’t want to give away any spoilers for this book but merrit and Keir were adorable. Their meet cute and dinner were one of my favorite scenes from the whole book! My only disappointment was that I felt like this book focused a lot on “Devil” and he is so well written and has a clear voice that sometimes our main couple fell flat compared to him. The best scenes were with him and while i enjoyed it, I wanted more development with Keir and Merrit, overall a great addition to the Ravenels series !

Keir and Merry are such a good couple. Their hearts, attraction, connection, and love jumps out in every chapter.

In Devil in Disguise I finally got what I've wanted so much which is a book about Westcliff's children. I still want to read about the rest of Evie's and Sebastian's children and at least have scenes with the other Wallflowers. I suspect these things are coming and the story doesn't lack for not having them.

The way the surprises are written in the story are just wonderful. Westcliff's and Kingston's involvement is written very well.

The suspense and danger in the story really come across. I felt myself tensing and worrying about Keir and Merritt.

Anyone that's a fan of Lisa Klepyas will inhale this book. Fans of Julia Quinn should read this series. It's written just as well as Bridgerton.

Five stars for Devil in Disguise

Wow, this book was hard to rate!Like, really hard.

Let’s start with the obvious… this is not a Ravenel’s novel. It’s just not. Why is it called that? I’m confused. I kept expecting a plot line the whole time that revealed how some character was unexpectedly a Ravenel. It never happened.

This is an insta-love trope. I didn’t mind that at all, myself. I guess I’m into those and I didn’t know it! I’m looking at you, Crave. It’s also a fake relationship trope- which I LOVE.

Ok next up, there are a lot of perspectives in this book. You really should read the wallflowers series in order to get a lot of what happens in this book! This should have been labeled a Wallflowers book and not a Ravenel’s book.

The description seems like it’s a book about Merit and Kier, but it was mostly a book about Sebastian.

That being said- it was very hard to rate because I think it was marketed as something that it wasn’t. Also, I forgot what the steam level was…so you’re welcome for this comprehensive review.

stars: 2.5-3.5

steam: 3.5?

This book, very simply, really ruined Devil in Winter for me.

I will say that I loved Meritt and watching her grow and run a business, but most of the book left a bad taste in my mouth. The amenesia seems like an overplayed trope that was thrown in explicitly to cause conflict. I hated Evie's characterization and I felt that she came across nothing like she was. She may have had a stutter and been shy, but she grew so much in Devil in Winter: taking charge of her life, challenging and questioning Sebastian, expecting loyalty and care. This felt like a regression of her character and felt, frankly, disrespectful.

How can we include these characters that we love and not see them deal with this. We see Evie almost blindly be accepting of this. There's a year gap, but I absolutely hated seeing Sebastian take for granted Evie's support and love. It really felt like a disrespectful book to my favorite wallflower. Not to mention this took away from time that could've been used to build Merritt and Keir's relationship. I want some sort of heavy acknowledgement from Sebastian to Evie. She deserves that (I know this is a character and it's all not real, but Lisa you've made me love them and now this careless use of plot devices is stripping away my enjoyment). Highly disappointing.

I don't understand why we made Keir a by blow. But I guess this is at Lisa Kleypas's discretion. It does make the characters feel highly inconsistent.

The writing, as always, was great. And that is why I can't rate this 1 star. But the almost disrespectful characterization of characters I've come to love is disappointing. Keir and Merritt were fine as characters and I felt happy that Keir got the love of his biological family, but I just felt that the Evie and Sebastian's involvement in this ruined the book for me and no one is more sad than I am about it.

Pacing was the main issue for me, which is unusual for a Kleypas novel. The beginning moved very quickly, and then suddenly the book lost its momentum. The climax was anti-climatic.

I also thought that the issue of infertility could have been handled better. I was also disappointed that we didn't get to see Merritt in action as a business women more. When it was no longer convenient for the story, that whole side of her character fell away.

Sebastian stole the show as he usually does, and I loved that aspect of the plot.

I loved the research and attention to detail. The dialogue is great, and I was entertained the whole time. Even with its flaws, I had a good time reading it. I love this world and these characters.

ennie and I have a joint review that went on Dear Author. Here's an outtake:

Jennie: The story opens in London in 1880. Lady Merritt Sterling is a widow running her husband’s shipping company. She encounters Keir MacRae, a Scotch whisky distiller (he’s of the *aggressively Scottish* genus of Scotsmen) when there’s a problem with the off-loading of his very important, very expensive barrels of whisky, which he’s come to London to sell.

MacRae is upset about the delay that may mean he has to pay duties upfront, which would be financially disastrous for him. Merritt’s brother Luke, who works for her, has been dealing with the situation, but Merritt steps in to smooth things over and make sure that Keir suffers no penalties for a delay that isn’t his fault.

(MacRae is also angry because an accident on the dock has resulted in some of his whisky being spilled, and he is one of the things the whisky has been spilled on.)

Merritt and Keir fall into lust at first glance, which annoyed me a bit at first. I got over it quickly, maybe because it did somehow manage to feel more organic than insta-lust usually feels to me.

Janine: Agreed on both counts. At first, the instantaneous mutual attraction made me feel the romance was unearned but my irritation dissipated quickly. Their attraction didn’t seem forced for long.

Jennie: Merritt takes Keir to her office, gives him coffee and shows him her secretary’s new-fangled typewriter, on which they each type their names. Keir impulsively pockets the piece of paper that their names are typed together on.

Later, when she shows him the room above the warehouse where Keir can stay while his whisky is unloaded, they start kissing but stop themselves before things go further. By the end of the evening, Merritt has invited Keir to dine privately with her at her home the next evening (he does not agree, but two guesses as to whether he goes).

Devil in Disguise is at the heart an across-the-tracks romance. Merritt is the daughter of an earl, used to the finer things in life. Her decision to run her late husband’s business marks her as unconventional, but she’s still very much a lady. Keir is the only child of an older couple, both now deceased. He was raised in his father’s whisky business on the remote Scottish island of Islay, and he is a rough-hewn man focused on growing his business. Both of them are aware that the attraction between them can’t really go anywhere.

Complications arise when it appears that someone is trying to harm Keir; first, he’s attacked on the street by a stranger and stabbed, and then a fire sweeps through the warehouse, with Keir deliberately trapped inside. Are these incidents tied somehow to Sebastian, Duke of Kingston’s, seeming interested in Keir? Sebastian is the hero of the aforementioned Devil in Winter and family friend of Merritt’s.

Janine: Merritt and Keir are winsome and their personality characteristics well-defined. Merritt possesses a maternal trait of managing things to her satisfaction but for good ends—making others feel comfortable and relaxed.

Jennie: I did like Keir referring to her several times as “a wee bully.” That was cute.

https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-minus-reviews/review-devil-in-disguise-by-lisa-kleypas/

We were all hoping for a high grade for Devil in Disguise weren’t we? Well, good news friends! This longtime Kleypas fan was well pleased by the story and the romance, and I couldn’t read it fast enough. There are some problems – instalust really isn’t my jam; I think our hero might be skirting a fine line between character and caricature (lots of slang that I’m not sure is always necessary to show that he’s Scottish); and our heroine doesn’t do a ton of work despite her characterization as a savvy businesswoman. But despite these complaints, Kleypas kept me entertained from the first page to the last. I fell in love with this pair and I’m happy to recommend Devil in Disguise to you.

In this book, the devil is in the details. If you’re a Kleypas fan and you pay attention to pesky things like book titles and book blurbs, you probably already guessed the big surprise in this story. But if you haven’t, or you still can’t guess what it might be, read on – I won’t be giving it away in this review.

After her husband perished at sea, Lady Merritt Sterling (daughter of Marcus, Earl of Westcliff and Lillian (It Happened One Autumn)) stepped in to run his successful shipping company. With help from her younger brother Luke (who agreed to take over management of the company once he learned the ropes), the pair managed to grow the business and prove skeptics wrong about Merritt’s business acumen. Beloved by her employees, tough but fair, Merritt enjoys her work. But on this day, things get off to a rough start. When Luke knocks on her office door and reports he’s got an angry client on the dock and he needs her help to calm him down, Merritt is both alarmed and amused by his response when she asks what happened. Apparently, MacRae Distillery’s cargo (twenty-five thousand gallons of extremely valuable single-malt whisky) was delivered to the wrong location, and then a cask of whisky slipped from the hoisting gear, broke on the roof of a transit shed, and poured all over MacRae. After informing a laughing Merritt that she’s good with big and mean, Luke tells her MacRae is ready to murder someone—which is why I brought him up here to you. Unfortunately, she isn’t prepared for the wrathful Scotsman who bypasses Luke and plants himself on the other side of her desk. He’s soaked and scowling, big and sexy and strong and astoundingly good looking, and very angry.

Keir MacRae is pissed. He’s hungry, covered in whisky, worried about his shipment, and unprepared for the beautiful widow who coolly greets him and assures him Sterling Enterprises can fix the problem with his shipment. After accepting his condolences on the loss of her husband, Lady Sterling calmly responds to each of his questions, sends Luke out to ensure the work is done, and then offers to escort him to the company flat so that he might change. Much to his chagrin, she ignores his concerns about accompanying him unchaperoned and insists on escorting him to the flat. Lady Sterling, he soon discovers, is used to getting her way. She somehow manages to cajole him into several cups of coffee, a bite to eat nearby, and a change of clothes before delivering him to the docks. Keir tries to ignore how she smells, how she looks, how capable and knowledgeable she is, and what he’d like to do to her if they were alone in bed (ahem!), all the while desperately reminding himself that he’ll forget all about her once he gets back to work, but friends, the struggle is real. Oh, you poor Scottish fool. It’s already too late.

You see what I mean about instalust? Yep, don’t you doubt it, Merritt is feeling it, too. I know what you’re thinking. Really? A couple of hours in each other’s company – a handsome and twice soaked Scot gruffly muttering slightly hilarious Scottish slang and trying not to be managed, and a beautiful – good smelling! – widow deftly ignoring said Scotsman – cannot possibly lead to true love. You’re wrong! It does! And all this lovely foreplay is merely a delicious prelude to the dinner date wee bully Merritt insists they have two nights hence. Fist pump for Merritt. Get it, girl! (wink, wink: she does!)

But wait! There’s more. Before the dinner date, Keir has to sell his whisky, and after several successful meetings with local buyers, he heads to a meeting with Horace Hoagland, the managing steward of Jenner’s (Devil in Winter), to sell a special batch of single malt he discovered after his father’s death. Hoagland has tasted MacRae whisky once before, and is familiar with its quality, and impresses Keir with his appreciation of the samples he provides. The two have just struck a deal when Hoagland spots the Duke of Kingston (who owns Jenner’s). After a brief conversation, Hoagland offers a dram to His Grace and starts to introduce Keir to the duke. Kingston is in the midst of refusing when he spots Keir. And then things get awkward. Keir isn’t sure why the duke is acting so strangely – asking after his family and his upbringing, and the steward seems equally confused. He’s relieved when Hoagland returns their conversation to the whisky sale and the duke departs.

Keir and Merritt each spend the interim before The Dinner Date trying to stay focused on their actual lives – he selling whisky; she running a shipping concern – but all they really do is think about each other. A lot. And we wait expectantly for the sexy times to commence and wonder how this love affair will sustain a full length novel. But then Keir is assaulted on his way to Merritt’s for dinner and nearly killed. Um, what? Yep, Kleypas sets in motion a parallel suspense plot that unfolds just as Merritt and Keir begin to fall in love. It’s not the strongest part of the story, but it works!

Oh, reader. I loved the chemistry between this pair and Kleypas does a wonderful job juxtaposing Keir’s gruff, slightly rustic persona with the lovely, dazzling (not averse to a potentially scandalous love affair), Merritt Sterling. Devil in Disguise features two mature adults who adore each other from the moment they first meet, and aren’t too shy to admit it. She deftly shows how overwhelming and intense and wonderful and surprising and confusing these feelings are for both principals, but readers are never left in doubt these two are meant for each other. Keir and Merritt spend a passionate, extremely sexy night together before Kleypas pulls the rug out from under them, and this reader WAS HERE FOR IT. The heat level in DiD is a bit higher than other Kleypas novels, and reader, it’s a treat. Keir is a capable, enthusiastic lover and he’s so, so good to Merritt. I loved everything about this pair and their steamy love story.

What I didn’t love? The altogether too chummy and smug and oh so perfect Wallflower character cameos. One of these devilish characters is a bit too ever present in the Ravenel series, and his late life perfection grows tedious. We get it, he’s reformed; he’s the greatest father/husband/duke/businessman/friend/everything. Enough. No one – not the wallflowers and not their husbands – is perfect, and neither are their marriages. Characters are allowed to have flaws and readers will still love them. So, no need to gild the lily every time, Ms. Kleypas. We’ll still like them. Probably. Oh, but don’t change Ransom or Garrett. They’re great just the way they are.

Devil in Disguise is a terrific addition to the Ravenel series, and I’m happy to recommend it to Kleypas fans old and new. It even inspired me to start listening to the series, too! Look, this trout was happy to be guddled by this author… and I’ll be eagerly anticipating whatever she comes up with next.

This was my first historical romance from Lisa Kleypas and I really enjoyed it! I mostly listened to the audio version but did find myself engrossed in the ebook version a few times. The narrator of the audiobook did an excellent job and I was blown away by her ability to change voices and accents for each character.

The story itself was fascinating and I loved the little twist that Lisa through in there for the Scotsman.

I feel this might be my least favorite of the Ravenels series, but having said that, it's still a Lisa Kleypas novel, so of course there's still plenty to enjoy. I just had a few tiny gripes.

Lady Merritt Sterling is the grown daughter of one of the original Wallflowers who married a noble, so it's curious to see what she inherits from each parent. Merritt runs her late husband's shipping business, which is how she crosses paths with Keir MacRae a ridiculously good-looking Scotsman and whisky distiller, who ends up soaked a lot. She's there to help him get dry!

While their chemistry is instant between them, I don't think it delivered on the page. Merritt is a widow and therefore not a shrinking miss when it comes to sex, I felt that there wasn't enough time to build the romantic tension either with dialogue or action before things get serious ... both in their interactions and because MacRae is in danger from someone who is trying to kill him.

There is a bit of telling and not showing that's at fault though. It's mentioned a few times about how Merritt needs to keep her reputation spotless in order to run her business, but I don't get much of a feeling of how she's seen by the outside world. Also, something I usually enjoy about Kleypas is how deeply she researches the time period, so I was hoping to see a lot more of Merritt being the badass boss lady, but there was only a tiny bit of that.

For diehard Kleypas fans, there's fun to be had when we meet A LOT of the original Wallflowers gang, a little older but still entertaining and fully realized (in fact, possibly better realized than Merritt and Keir). We also get to revisit the over-the-top circumstance of Merritt's birth, which is still my favorite name origin story. And for those who pay attention to how Kleypas titles her novels, there's a bonus secret at play in this novel.

Overall, I felt I didn't get to luxuriate in the time period the same way I normally do with her novels ("Chasing Cassandra" was fantastic). I was left wanting more of the courtship, the business side, Scotland and the fun characters we barely met, etc. There was a distinct anticlimactic element for me that just made things feel a bit rushed.

Review based on an ARC provided by Avon and Harper Voyager through Netgalley

Lisa Kleypas you’ve done it again. All hail the Queen of historical romance.

Lady Merritt and Keir fall in love at first sight and their story is absolutely breathtaking. I would describe their relationship as something soft, compassionate and yet fiery and all consuming. Keir is so incredibly romantic, he is the definition of swoon worthy and everything I never knew I wanted in a hero.

“My joy…my lover…my dearest companion and the spark of my soul. ‘Jo’ is a small word of large meaning…perfect for the woman who means everything to me.”

I couldn’t put this book down! The only thing I enjoyed more than the MC’s blossoming relationship was the inclusion of past characters from both the Wallflower and Ravenel series. If I had to complain about anything it would be that I wanted a lengthier epilogue. I hope we continue to see these characters in future books because they have become a necessity in my life.