Book Review - In Bed with the Devil by Lorraine Heath

After being embarrassed about my voracious interest in Historical Romances and keeping anyone from finding it out, I finally decided that I didn't care what people thought about my reading preferences. Even though I have read hundred of novels I never leave my reviews because of this embarrassment. But with this new year I have decided to write a review for every book I read. Hope you enjoy the first one.

 In bed with the Devil was not Lorraine Heath's first book I read but the first one I fell in love with. This book is the first installment of her Scoundrels of St. James series which tells us the stories of 5 former members of the Feagan's gang (Luke, Jack, Frannie, Jim, Bill), a group of child thieves mentored by Feagan to steal and survive in the streets.

Book Cover

Lucian Langdon, Earl of Claybourne alias Luke was fourteen and on trial for murder when the then Earl of Claybourne proclaimed him to be his lost grandson. Seeking an opportunity to escape he pretends to be the lost grandson and is thus raised as the heir presumptive. But he always carries this guilt that he is an impostor and taking something which is not truly his. The then Earl also takes in Luke's friends and teaches them skills which will help them in life.

Luke has always adored Frannie and knows that one day he would marry her. But she loves him as a brother and is reluctant to fit herself in aristocratic circles. Luke then inadvertently one midnight finds Lady Catherine Mabry in his library wanting a favor from him, to help her kill someone. She wants the cruel husband of her best friend Lady Winifred, Duchess of Avendale killed so that he could no longer torture her or their son Whit. But fearing that Luke might not agree and alert the Duke she doesn't tell him about the identity of the person she wants dead. They strike a bargain, he would kill only when Lady Catherine has taught Frannie, a commoner the ways of Aristocracy. Luke has always been intrigued by Catherine since the first time he saw her at a ball when she boldly held his gaze. 

Each Midnight they go to Dodger's Drawing Room, a gambling establishment where Frannie works and lives so that Catherine could teach her. Soon Luke and Catherine strike a acquaintance and then an easygoing friendship as they each realize that he is not a devil and she not arrogant and proud. They both are attracted to each other but Luke always feels that he is betraying Frannie. Catherine begins to love Luke but does not want to come between him and Frannie and so she hides her love.

I love the authors writing style which is short and direct rather than prosy. She does not focus or describing unnecessary background settings but rather focuses on showing the characters nature through their actions and not their words. I immensely adore both the Hero and Heroine. The Hero sees a lot of character developemnt from a (supposed) blackguard to the kind, caring person (that he always was). The Heroine is practical, outspoken, willful and not afraid to do what she believes is right. The plot flows like butter with every scene having meaning and nothing seeming over-exaggerated or undermined. The lovemaking scenes were few and meaningful unlike some authors who pop in truckloads of romping sessions just for the sake of it.

I cannot describe in so few a words how much I loved this book. It was as good as, if not better that my all time favorite Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypass. This series gives me a hope that I would find that satisfaction that I got while reading Wallflower series by Lisa Kleypass. Overall, I'll give it a 4.7/5
and not a full score because sometimes I got irritated that the Hero couldn't gauge the nature of his feelings for the Heroine sooner.

Book Review - Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris

I was in this phase that I was really into WW2 fiction. But I had enrolled my friend Tanvi into reading a book with me. As I wanted her to not get bored, I chose this book as it had a female protagonist as well as plot about the lesser known Soviet labour camps. This is not a long book, roughly 330 pages, but it packed 13 years wonderfully into that limited space. I knew from the foreword that this had some disturbing events, but the extent to which those events went were unimaginable.

 Cecilia Klein was a 16-year-old Czechoslovakian Jew. She and her sister along with millions of Jewish girls were sent to Auschwitz II i.e. Birkenau Concentration Camp on pretext of working. Her Parents were also transported to concentration camp. There she caught the eye of a German high-ranking Officer, Schwarzhuber and was forced to become his sex slave in order to survive. She was made the overseer of Block 25, where women being sent to the gas chambers spent their last night. These positions of relative privilege helped her survive the camp, but also mentally traumatised her. At one point she even had to send her own mother to her death and had to watch her sister Magda die of typhus. She had very few friends in camp because she was seen as a Nazi collaborator. But she was very true to her friends Gita, Lale, Dana and Ivanka.

Cilka with her father and sister

Cilka in Auschwitz 

When Auschwitz was liberated by Russians, Cilka was very happy that she would finally be able to go home. But this happiness did not last for long, as she was sentenced to fifteen years of hard labour for helping the Nazi’s. Her fault was sleeping with the Nazi’s. This reasoning was so fucked up, I mean obviously a young girl cannot prevent her captors from raping her. But as I read the book and came to know that some people were sent to the labour camps for stealing a bread or for marrying someone belonging to a different nationality, I understood that Stalin was no different from Hitler. He too like Hitler wanted the prisoners to do maximum work before they died. They were just dispensable items to him who were to be used and the thrown away. While the Nazi’s selected people to die based on their religion, Stalin chose people who were educated and could be revolutionaries in the Soviet occupied territories, who were outliers and could bring about a change in the Russian society, or those who were prisoners of war and fought against Russia.

Though the conditions in the Vorkuta Labour Camp were better than those in Auschwitz, it was still a propaganda to control people. Here too Cilka tried her best to survive and got a better position as a hospital nurse. She befriended Josie, Natalya and Olga. Elena was an enemy who later turned into an ally. But she also had a blackmailer called Hannah who threatened to expose her job in Auschwitz to the other women in their block. Cilka formed a sort of trustship with her supervisor Dr. Yelena Georgiyevna and was able to later tell her about her life in Auschwitz. The most horrifying event came at the night, when men stormed into the women blocks and raped. Boris who is Cilka’s protector develops a one-sided attraction to her and she pretends to like him in return. This side of Cilka’s character to pretend attraction to men whom she didn’t like be it Schwarzhuber or Boris bothered me a bit, but as I understood the alternative was being manhandled I forgave her for her acts.  

The conditions of the babies born in the camp as well as their separation from their mothers at the age of two was appalling. This according to me was being done so that the kids when they grew up should have no connection with their roots and also so that they should not know the horrific face of the Soviet policies. Cilka is very brave as well, which is proved during her time in the ambulance duty.

Cilka for a long time tries not to fall in love as she knows that the camp holds no future for love. But she nonetheless falls for Aleksandr, a Czech prisoner in the camp. The interactions between him and Cilka when he is recuperating at the hospital are sweet. The last scene on the train when they both reunite in the train to Prague made me very happy. It’s great that Cilka married the love of her life and lived happily for the rest of it. Overall a good and interesting book which deserves a 4.8/5.

 

                                                                Cilka with her husband