The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux

I am so glad I took a chance on this book! The title and cover looked enticing, and the book ended up being excellent! The story is about Ruby, a 90 year old (in)famous author who goes about writing her memoir; each chapter focuses on a man who has made a difference in her life. The story is told with the backdrop of historical context and within lots of settings as Ruby travels! Ruby is such a fun, entertaining character, she gets into all sorts of trouble and intriguing situations over the course of her long life. I think this book is going to make a splash when it is released in January 2024…I’d recommend it!

Thank you very much to NetGalley, and Aria and Aries for the advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A charming little book about an elderly author writing her final book, a memoir of the men in her life. The book takes us through decades of her relationships and has the men wrapped in a very interesting social history of tge decades.

Of course, today, Ruby’s life seems hardly scandalous. It is certainly interesting and the author has added a twist at the end which puts an interesting closure to Ruby’s story.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

Ruby Devereaux, a 90-year-old author, is asked to chronicle her life. She does this by sharing her experiences with 12 different men who shaped and influenced her life. The book begins in 1947 and takes us on a journey to different countries and historical events until her death in 2021.

I chose this book because the cover and description looked interesting. I expected a straight-up fictional book. What I got was a fictional book written like a memoir. Memoirs are not normally on my reading list. The author made this story extremely interesting in the way she broke each chapter into the 12 men. She even provided an unexpected twist with the 12th man.

I would recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Aria and Aries for the ARC.

Ruby Devereaux, a 90-year-old author, is asked to chronicle her life. She does this by sharing her experiences with 12 different men who shaped and influenced her life. The book begins in 1947 and takes us on a journey to different countries and historical events until her death in 2021.

I chose this book because the cover and description looked interesting. I expected a straight-up fictional book. What I got was a fictional book written like a memoir. Memoirs are not normally on my reading list. The author made this story extremely interesting in the way she broke each chapter into the 12 men. She even provided an unexpected twist with the 12th man.

I would recommend this book.

The word that comes to my mind when describing Ruby is enchanting. The way that the author portrays her makes one feel that she is a real person of whom you would like to know and experience life with. Whether it be encountering the VC in the jungles of Vietnam, acting the part of a spy in Berlin or posing as a muse, she experienced all situations with gusto. Told through her experiences in time with the twelve men, all had a story which came through in her feverish typing that led to her novels. She became the characters that she created in these books. I liked the ending that led to Jude especially as her child profoundly affected her and her life thereafter. Like one states as the best song ever written, I think she lived her best life that should not have been changed for a minute.

A Delight..
Quite apart from the glorious cover, this book is an absolute reading joy. Meet Ruby Devereaux, nonagenarian
author extraordinaire. Ruby is eccentric, delicious and, most of all, Ruby is determined to live life on her own terms. When her agent advises that her publisher is demanding one more book as per her contract, Ruby eventually agrees to write her long awaited memoir. This will be a memoir like no other. In a slap to the publisher and to her agents utter delight, Ruby’s memoir will be her life in men. Beautifully done, bubbling over with wonderful characters - not least the delightfully straight talking Ruby- and wholly immersive.

Thank you to @netgalley and @AriaAndAries for this ARC. Ruby, an accomplish author is under contract to finish one more book. At the age of 90, she thought it best, with help of a typist, to write a memoir of her scandalous life with twelve different men. Each chapter she loving writes about the love and loss she has had during her 90 years. I love this book. I couldn't put it down and it left me wanting to read about the next man. I have read 5 other books by Mandy Robotham and they just keep getting better and better. Do yourself a favor and pre-order this one for just $2.99 #TheScandoulousLifeofRubyDevereaux #MandyRobotham #Jan2024 #AriaAndAries

I was drawn into this book by the description of the protagonist, Ruby, and I'm so glad I was! We're taken through a journey of Ruby's life through her relationships with twelve different men spanning over seventy years and it is quite a ride from start to finish.


I loved Ruby's personality, her self-confidence and her ability to tell it like it is. The different men we meet are all painted vividly and fully and while it seems far fetched for one woman to have gone through all of this, it never felt like fantasy - if it was going to happen to anyone it was going to be Ruby Devereaux. The historical landscapes of the book are always well painted and I learnt lots about time periods I know very little about.


There are some highs and lows in the book and one part in particular may be very upsetting for some people.


If you're a fan of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Lessons in Chemistry then I think you'll enjoy this book.


Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

Can I just start this review by saying this book is perfect. Absolutely, all-consuming, 100% perfection. Just everything about it. It was enticing and had me hooked from the very start to the very end.

It is a book within a book and Mandy has managed it so well that it just feels right, like it couldn't have been written in any other way.

I adore Ruby. I adored her from the very first moment. She is 90, her own woman with her own voice, and she's unapologetic about it. She felt like a ruder - maybe not ruder....blunter version of everyone's beloved nan, and I am here for it!

For a woman who grew up throughout the 20th Century, especially in decades where women were meant to be subservient to men, Ruby stands up for herself. She knows what she likes and what she wants, and isn't going to answer to any man. Which I know sounds a bit contradictory, considering that she often writes about the men from her past. But that's okay too. Men are often applauded (throughout history) of having many notches on their bedpost, but women, even today, are often judged for the same. And this was just one reason why I loved her so passionately.

I know we are technically reading Ruby's words, not Mandy's, but whosever they are, they read like poetry, like silk off the page. It's lyrical and poetic and beautiful.

It is like reading a memoir, but of a real person, and now I want to find out more about her, just like if Ruby was a real person and not just fictional, and I'm sad that I won't get any more from her.

it was a lot more moving than I thought it would be. I don't know what I was expecting, but Ruby Devereaux ha been through some things, let me tell you. I often found myself tearing up, but not only at the sadder moments. I found it emotional in all ways, and I celebrated Ruby's joys and mourned Ruby's losses.

It's really inspirational. Okay, so Ruby is this prolific, successful author with many books under he belt, whereas I have approximately zero under mine. But there was just something about Ruby and her passion for words and the way Mandy has created her, that has inspired me to get my notebook out again and start making sense of my scribbles.

I'm so sad I've finished it. It's one of the most joyous reads I've had the pleasure to read. I'm not ready to leave Ruby, and whilst I rarely reread books nowadays, I could easily read this again and again, back to back. It is definitely going to be one of my most recommended books of 2024.

Wow, Ruby.......what a character and what a life!!
Ruby, an author, is in her nineties and has reluctantly agreed to write her memoirs with some help from a young man called Jude.
Ruby's life story is told through twelve men who have featured in her life.......and what a life she has lived! As a writer, Ruby was present during some of the biggest historic events including the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the swinging sixties.
I loved Ruby. . What a character- determined, free-thinking but also vulnerable. She really came to life on the page and the tales she tells are truly captivating. I liked the way the author has written the book- as Ruby has her memoir- where each chapter is dedicated to Ruby's story with one of the men in her life.
By the end of the book I grew to love Ruby, as if she was someone I had actually met in real life. A fab read!

What a lovely read! We read along as famous author Ruby Deveraux finally writes her memoir and her life is every bit as exciting as you would want. While most of the chapters are about Ruby's adventerous past, some are in the present and follow both her publisher Marina and Ruby herself in her nineties.

The characters in this book are so easy to love and the stories that Ruby tells are absolutely charming and thrilling at times. At many points in the book, I wished that I either knew someone with stories as fun as Ruby's or that I could have a life half as interesting!

Will be recommending this one to purchase for my library!

When 90-year old Ruby Devereaux is told by her publisher she must write one more book to fulfill her contract obligation or potentially face the legal consequences, Ruby sets out to tell the long-awaited memoir of her mostly illustrious, sometimes sketchy, always entertaining life. As her arthritic fingers are beyond their capacity to type such a long manuscript, Jude, a young student, is hired for the job. As Jude and Ruby begin to form an unlikely, if not unusual bond, Ruby pours out the story of the twelve men who have shaped her life. From the cousin she shouldn’t have known ‘in that way,’ to the loss of the love her life, to the spy, and her son, Ruby divulges all while secretly hoping to save her young scribe from himself. When the last chapter is all that is left, Ruby is dumbstruck by her publisher’s revelation that no one (including this reader) saw coming.

This book is one of those I feel I need to break my comments into two parts: The book and the writing.

The book is good, beyond good, very good, better than most good. Ruby is a hoot. She’s fresh, feisty, independent, witty, carefree (read doesn’t give a *bleep* about what anyone things), and is looked at as much more of a writer than she gives herself credit for. As for it being scandalous, the only thing truly scandalous is that some may think her 12 men are nearly a dozen too many. I for one, thought it refreshing to see someone write about a woman’s escapades rather than keeping the female boxed into a moral one or two lovers.

As for the writing - have your dictionary or your Google close at hand while reading this one. I absolutely LOVE that Mandy Robotham did not dumb down her prose for the reader. I guaranty, there will be more than one word or turn of phrase you will learn from this one; why don’t more authors write this way? The flow of the sentences, the clever descriptions, again, the broad usage of language took what may otherwise have been a more average book to another level. Well done, Mandy Robotham. I will look for more of your work.

Thank you to NetGalley, Head of Zeus and Aria & Aries for this advanced reader copy. All views are my own and unpaid.

Ruby Devereaux is an elderly author who owes another book on her contract. It is the difficult task of Marina Keeve, her agent, to convince her to produce just one more work and, finally, she agrees to tell the story of her life. Jude Dempsey is employed, to help her with the typing and cooking and the pair settle down so Ruby can begin.

In this fictional memoir, Ruby tells the story through her relationships with twelve men. She begins in 1947 with her relationship with art student, Michael, and then each man takes her through a stage of her life and of the history of the twentieth century. From New York, to Saigon, through London and Venice and Budapest, Ruby tells of the Cold War, Vietnam, the Swinging Sixties and much more.

This is a very enjoyable read and a clever way of making history personal. Ruby is a lovely character and, what is more, both she – and the author – are, like me, Beatles fans. This would be a good choice for a reading group, as it has so much to discuss. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

A lovely read Ruby is a character I wont forget following her life her experiences and now she is ninety and she owes her publisher one last novel.I was completely drawn in and hated to say goodbye to Ruby.#netgalley #aria&aries

I judged a book by its cover and was glad that I did. This was a great read, told through a frame narrative, about a woman looking back on her life and the men who changed her in one way or another. Like with Daisy Jones and the Six, I found myself wanting to google, 'is Ruby Devereaux a real person.' Mandy Robotham has done a brilliant job of creating a rounded character who you really root for.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book

This is just a delight! The lovable characters and Ruby's charming and thrilling stories make this a book truly enjoyable and heartwarming read

The Scandalous Life of Ruby D, was definitely more sensational than scandalous if we compare it to the antics women get upto in today's times.

Ruby D the lead , sure lead a full life , in a way experiencing most of what life has to offer. I sure did enjoy her scandalous life cycle.

Ruby Devereaux is ninety, her publisher Grantham & Harris wants her to write one last book and Ruby isn't the type of person to walk slowly away from a challenge. Ruby employees an assistant, the person needs to be able to type, make a decent cup tea, cook and most of all have an open mind and not be easily shocked. Ruby last literary endeavour will be a biography, about herself and she's going to go out with a big bang.

Ruby had a dull childhood, her father was always working and her mum didn’t really like being a mother and burnt everything she cooked. Ruby was sent to the country during the Second World War, here Ruby feels free, and she dreams about her future and has her first crush.

Ruby grows up and starts working at a literary agency in Bloomsbury, her boss mistakenly reads her scribbled manuscript, publishes it and she's officially an author. Ruby travels to New York, Venice, Vietnam, Berlin during the Cold War, back to London and twelve people play an important part in Ruby's life and are a major influence.

Ruby uses what happens in her existence and conversations with people as inspiration for her books, like all authors she suffers from writers block, she’s always searching for something and has no idea what it is. Ruby D. likes to have a good time, attend parties, drink too much, fall in love and sometimes it works out and others times it ends in disaster and it wasn’t always Ruby’s fault.

I received a digital copy of The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux by Mandy Robotham from Aria & Aries and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is brilliant, so different to other novels I have read by Ms. Robotham, it made me laugh and Ruby is a unique character, cry, I rode all of Ruby’s highs pardon the pun, her lows and everything in between.

A narrative about friendship, love, messy break ups, heart break, scandal, adventure, war and loss. Five stars from me, I'm sure Ruby rocked her Mary Quant miniskirt, she had great taste in music as well, and when I think of Ruby, one quote comes to mind "it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all".

First, the cover of the ARC I received drew me in hard! So good. A story told in vignettes about men and the relationships she was in with them. Highly original and FUN. Highly recommend.

LOVED this book. So good!!! It was so interesting to read and Ruby is just the best character. I laughed throughout and had tears.

I do love a good scandal, and with a name like Ruby Devereaux, and a lovely cover to match; this was read at the earliest opportune after downloading.

Ruby Devereaux is a famous author, in her later years, who so far has refused to write a memoir.

Eventually her publisher persuades her and the book are her recollections, as narrated to her assistant.

The main thread are the men in her life. Those she has loved and left behind, or who have left her behind, and it was a good way of doing it. Ruby just finishes her relationship and literally moves onto another chapter, or lover.

I cried with Ruby, I shook her head at some of her choices. At one point literally saying to her walk away this one is trouble.

This is one to look out for as something tells me this is going to be one of the biggest titles in 2024.

Ruby is an author who has lived quite a life but she's older now, and cannot type as well as she could so she hires a young man to write her final story.

I enjoyed reading The Scandalous Life of Ruby Deveraux. The book was written as if one is reading a memoir, about the men, in formidable Ruby's well-lived life and how time with each person strengthened or made her discover a part of herself. The author described the feel of each decade beautifully.


Thank you to Netgalley and Aria & Aries for the e-arc in exchange for an honest opinion.

This was a great book. Very interesting and was hard to put down once I started reading.The Scandalous Life of Ruby Deveraux is a book I would read over and over again because of Ruby alone. A true heroine that captivated me with her life and the adventures she had. The author Mandy Robotham has great word play that allows the story to leap off the pages, everything was easy to follow with a mix of comedy and romance.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% my own.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This book is perfect for fans of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Ruby is a brilliantly written main character who draws you straight in. I really enjoyed the trip through so many historical moments through Ruby’s eyes.

I wish some of the 12 men were written a bit more in depth. Some of them were a lot easier to connect with than others. Rubys relationships with these men seemed to be under explored as well, which was odd considering this is the whole premise of the book.

How can I make Ruby Devereaux a real person and then an adoptive Aunt?

A 90-year old woman, who everyone knows, is nearing the end of her life. Her publishers push for one last book from her, so Ruby hires an assistant, someone to type out her stories....and oh, man...those stories. Ruby was in the middle of parties, scandals and so many adventures. This is the story of Ruby's life and her many loves.

This is an excellent adventure book through the life of a zany woman. I love every minute of it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

A lovely book and a wonderful read about 90yo Ruby who is writing a memoir and this is her story. We go back in time and learn all about Ruby's life and loves. So what is the scandal?

This is such a charming read and I loved hearing all about the journeys (life and otherwise) Ruby has endured. The interesting part was the men in her life and this is how the chapters are written. A bit different from other books I have read and I really enjoyed it.

The cover, the title it all drew me in and the story-telling is what kept me reading. I highly recommend this book as it is different, interesting and very well written.

Thank you NetGalley and Aria & Aries for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I absolutely loved this book! I could not put it down! I was absolutely mesmerized by this story and I loved every word of it. This may is my favorite book for the year so far!! 5 star read!!!
I just reviewed The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux by Mandy Robotham. #RUBYMDEVEREAUXALIFEINTWELVEMEN #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Kudos to Mandy Robotham for writing a fabulous novel. Ruby Deveraux is an author of many books and lived a legendary life.. Poor Marina Keeve. Her boss has ordered her to get her ninety plus year old client to write one more book - her memoir. Ruby eventually agrees.. Chapters about the men throughout her life will thrill you, maybe amuse you and break your heart. Interspersed between the chapters, readers will find themselves back in present day with Marina. I don’t mind the flip-flopping in timelines, but there are those who do. I feel this book will not pose that problem to the readers who do not care foe jumping around since the shift in times are clearly named in those chapters. An interesting read about an interesting (even though fictional) woman.

Her publishing house wants to squeeze one more book out of 90 year old author Ruby Devereaux. She has led a colorful life and her memoir might be just the thing. A Boy Friday is hired to assist her in recording her memories and also in providing her tea and refreshments. She has traveled the world and had adventures few women of her time have experienced and chooses to recount her history by focusing on her interaction with twelve men in her life. Thus we learn of her history from the days of World War II through the present.

I have read and enjoyed a number of Mandy Robotham’s historical fiction books, particularly those set during the World War II and Cold War eras. This book is quite different and yet it is a chronicle of the times spanning the days from the 1940s onward. While alternating chapters between a book within a book style and interactions with Ruby’s present publisher and staff, Robotham captures well the culture of the various time frames…including the post war peace, the machinations of the Cold War, the haze of the 60s, the hell of Vietnam…while also revealing the personal loves and pains of Ruby’s experiences, as well as a bit of the writing process

Ruby is an indomitable character, and I enjoyed this romp through life with her. I also loved the different international settings, from London to New York, Venice, Budapest, Vietnam.

This was a sweeping story of the life of Ruby Devereaux set against the backdrop of the second half of the 20th century in New York, Germany, Venice and Vietnam as the main character tells her life story through the men she had relationships with. It was a fun read with an interesting premise and structure.

The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux
By: M.J. Robotham
Genre: Fiction


Summary:
Ruby Deveraux is a well acclaimed author. Not only is successful, but she still owes her publisher one more book. She finally agrees to give them the memoir they've been asking for, but only if it's done on her terms. So, Ruby Devereaux tells her life story- through the men who had the biggest impression on her.

Ruby Devereaux may be 90, but she is still a force to be reckoned with. So, while it's easier to give her publisher the memoir they want, she's doing it her way. What follows is the 12 men who have shaped her life and left the biggest impressions on her. She shares her firsts: love, sexual experience, heartbreak and betrayal. Beginning in the late 1940s and going to 2020, you'll journey history through her life and heart. You'll see her fall in love, get her heart broken, navigate betrayal, get married and suffer gut wrenching losses- just to name a few.

She'll tell stories of an actor, politician, artists, her Dad and others. She'll fall head over heels and, sometimes, just love the person for the moment. As she lays out her history, you'll run the gamete with her. You'll fall in love. You'll fall in lust. You'll feel her joy. You'll feel her pain. You'll see a woman embrace life in all it's emotions and experiences. Some will scar, some will enrich. And some will forever change you.

Ruby as a spy? Ruby as a wife? Ruby in love? Ruby learning the truth of someone she thought she knew. Ruby being the nurturer to a man who's own trauma threatens to take over. Ruby having the time of her life and getting arrested- at 52 years old. It's all in these pages and more.

It was fun to see her life unfold. Ruby lived so many different lives, but all those lives were the pieces that made Ruby who she was. I grew attached to her and wanted to see her happy and succeed. No matter what love brought to her, or did to her, she was the feisty woman I rooted for every time.

There's no way to escape the inevitable comparisons to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. They are similar in many ways, but don't dismiss Ruby. Don't underestimate Ruby. You will enjoy her story, her loves, her life, her guts, her grit. Curl up and get to know a woman who lived a long, incredible life.

Overall, it was a very gripping read. The writing is flawless, the pace is satisfying. Ruby is an alluring and quite charismatic character, I enjoyed getting to know her and these twelve relationships in her long and fulfilled life. However, the very first relationship disgusted me, and another relationship was a little bit less interesting to me (the plot became a bit unrealistic) but in some other relationships, grief was explored a couple of times and I love grief in novels. The way the author dealt with grief was enthralling.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Ruby Devereaux is in her nineties and is finally putting her incredible life down on paper, in order to fulfil a book contract. She’s enlisted the help of a young, attractive gentleman by the name of Jude, who’ll type up her memoirs now that Ruby’s arthritis-riddled fingers are no longer capable.
Ruby has lived a hell of a life – and had liaisons with many different men. It’s a thoroughly entertaining novel, with evocative descriptions of locations all around the globe, covering the big events of the last century. I found myself wondering how many of the places the author had visited (and indeed how many of the events she’d lived through!) as they were all so detailed and believable. There are times when the episodic nature of the book can detract a little from the flow – it reads almost like a series of vignettes or short stories - but Ruby is at the heart of the novel, holding it all together.
Overall I was swept up on the ride with Ruby D, thoroughly enjoying the highs and devastated by the lows, until it reached its unexpected conclusion with a final twist.
4.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Aria.

Some people live big lives - Ruby Devereaux is one of those people.

The book starts with Ruby being forced into writing a final book. She is loathe to participate because her publisher wants a memoir. She only agrees because she is the last to have survived.

The story takes us from her as a child, to being a muse, an author, a spy, a globetrotter, a mother, a lover, a fighter, and so much more. All of this combined makes an exciting, intriguing and memorable life story.

I really enjoyed how the story was told based on Ruby's 12 men and each man represents an era of her life. But not all the men were lovers, so before you jump to comparing this story to another historical fiction book which bases a memoir on the men in her life, this is not that book.

Arguably the life and adventures of Ruby are too fantastical to be true. She was always in the right place, at the right time. But, for me, this didn't matter. I read to escape. I read to be entertained. I read to be transported into another life. This book achieved those things for me.

A wonderful story of a life well-lived, a charming if not entirely reliable narrator in Ruby Devereaux, and a richly woven memoir that draws you in, makes you comfortable and then throws some surprises at you. Wonderfully comforting read and what a lively spirit Ruby is!

"The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux" by Mandy Robotham is an enthralling tale that takes readers on a journey through the life of the enigmatic Ruby Devereaux. From her teenage years in wartime England to her adventures across New York, Berlin, Vietnam, and beyond, Ruby's life is filled with scandal, passion, and intrigue. As an author with a writing career spanning seven decades, Ruby's story is a captivating blend of history, romance, and personal growth.
Robotham skilfully weaves together the different stages of Ruby's life through her relationships with twelve different men, each representing a chapter in her personal history. The episodic nature of the narrative adds depth and richness to Ruby's character, giving readers a glimpse into the significant moments and relationships that have shaped her over the years.
The story moves seamlessly between different timelines and locations, offering a rich tapestry of historical events and personal experiences. Ruby's vibrant personality and zest for life shine through the pages, making her a compelling and relatable protagonist. The vivid descriptions of various cities and historical events create a vivid backdrop against which Ruby's story unfolds.
As Ruby recounts her life story with the help of Jude, her young assistant, readers are drawn into a world of glamour, intrigue, and heartbreak. The novel explores themes of love, loss, resilience, and the enduring power of storytelling. Ruby's unconventional narrative style and her refusal to conform to societal expectations make her a truly unforgettable character.

"The Scandalous Life of Ruby Devereaux" is a captivating and evocative novel that immerses readers in a world of passion, scandal, and adventure. Ruby's journey of self-discovery and personal growth is both inspiring and relatable, making this book a must-read for fans of historical fiction and compelling character-driven narratives. Mandy Robotham has crafted a story that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, leaving a lasting impression on readers long after they have turned the final page.