I had conflicting feelings about this one. I LOVE Kleypas's Wallflower series. I re-read it at least once a year. So when she began writing their kids into her books, I was THRILLED. But this one...Just didn't hit the right notes for me. Sure, it was enjoyable and an escape for a few hours, but I realize the parts I enjoyed the most were seeing Evie, Lillian, Marcus, and Sebastian again, rather than their offspring. The ending to all the build up in conflict was also pretty tame and a huge let down after all the panic and drama. The plotline is pretty predictable (though I can tell the author is trying to spice it up a bit), but it just didn't hit the right notes for me. This wasn't my favorite, though, again, I am probably going to re-read anything with Sebastian in it.

An all-around delight. This book kept me thoroughly entertained on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Unlike a lot of readers I have not read all the books in the Wallflower and Ravenels series, and the ones I have read I read years ago. So while I was familiar with some of the people in the book and could easily tell who had been featured previous books, I could not have told you everyone’s backstory. I’ve had issues with less skilled authors relying on readers having read previous books in the series to understand the setup. I found that I did not need to have read all the books prior to this one to enjoy the story. Lisa managed to incorporate the necessary information from previous books to make everything seem whole. I will say that now I want to go back and read all the books in both the Wallflower and Ravenels series (and let’t be honest all of Lisa’s other books) because this world was absolutely wonderful.

I loved both Merritt and Keir. I adored Merritt from the moment her brother described her as table syrup and then she proceeded to prove him correct. I loved that Merritt was unapologetic about what she wanted even when propriety said otherwise. She was a very strong woman and didn’t cower to anyone. Keir was equally wonderful. I loved his pure bafflement of Merritt and his undeniable attraction toward her. I loved that he would call her a “wee bully” and then still do what she said.

I think I’ll stop there as to not reveal any spoilers. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was an absolute love letter to the fans of the Wallflower Series, especially those readers that love and adored Devil in Winter.

We see so many of our beloved characters, I was absolutely giddy through out this amazing book.

Merritt is an absolute delight, she has so much of her mother and father in her. She’s funny and absolutely fierce. Keir is a rugged Scotsman with a heart of gold. He’s a cinnamon roll hero, with a fierce protective streak, but the thing I love best is that they don’t always agree on everything, but for the most part treat each other as partners.

“All he knew was that after he left, he’d have to learn how to love with his heart beating somewhere far away.”

I’ll be yelling from the rooftops for quite awhile, but this book brought me absolute JOY! Get this one on your TBR/preorder it!

I always love when a new Lisa Kleypas book comes out. This one was great. I loved all of the characters from previous books were a part of this one as well.

This book made me smile, giggle, and clap my hands. It was pure joy. I soaked in every minute of it. I didn’t want to put it down. It felt like there was something the tickled my fancy around every corner. You need this book. Enjoy!


I voluntarily read an early copy.

I am so conflicted on how to rate this because did I devour this book and love the characters? Yes. But were there things that I disliked or didn't make sense? Yes.

I think that if you love LK and her series you'll enjoy this book. It was wonderful to be back in this world and see familiar characters. I think it's safe to say that seven books into this particular series, I am personally reading for the characters, not for the plot. Kier was swoon-worthy, Merritt was smart, capable, and relatable, and who doesn't love Sebastian? The tropes are also there in abundance, the amnesia plotline was delightful!

The issues with this book happen if you look too closely at the plot. There are lots of loose ends and things that are brought up but never resolved. Personally, I had to remove a star because of the magic baby. Honestly, I hated it so much. If you're going to name a condition that women actually struggle with and call her "barren", don't end the book with a magic baby. I don't care how virile the family line is, it's a slap in the face to women who actually struggle with this condition. It would have been just as easy to say she thought she and her first husband couldn't have children and then end with the baby epilogue. It was incredibly frustrating.

All in all, it was a decent read! Even her not-so-great books are still good, and I was happy to finish out the series!

My love for Scotsmen runs deep and this book certainly flames that fire!

Devil in Disguise is the 7th book in the Ravenels series although this doesn’t necessarily follow that family and focuses on the offsprings from the Wallflowers series. A bit confusing if you hop around Kleypas’ books and don’t read in any particular order. Thankfully, I had already read Devil in Winter so had a bit of familiarity.

I absolutely adore Keir MacRae and couldn’t help but read him as Sam Heughan/Jamie Fraser. A big, burly, whiskey distiller, with the most intoxicating Scottish burr. I loved his whirlwind romance with Merritt and found their chemistry extremely palpable.

My small hang up with this story is the drama surrounding Keir’s paternity. I felt like it distracted from Keir and Merritt’s story. I also struggled because Merritt referred to Kingston as Uncle Sebastian and I was concerned this was going to turn in incestuous 🥴
Thankfully I gathered that she only refers to him as that because his close friendship with her father... *whew*. This is when reading the earlier books would be helpful!

I really wish the ending would have tied up a little differently. I wanted more Keir and Merritt and less of their parents. Also... because I’m baffled... the title is a bit frivolous. I don’t know who the “Devil in Disguise” is because it certainly can’t be Keir. I suspect it’s a call back to Sebastian and his book- Devil in Winter. I love Keir and wish he wasn’t overshadowed by Sebastian since he already had his own story.

The next generation of Wallflowers continues to find love in this newest installment from Lisa Kleypas. Marcus and Lillian's independent daughter, Merritt, is a young widow running her late husband's shipping business in 1880s London. When a handsome Scotsman appears, dripping wet with whiskey and outrage over his botched shipment, she's both intrigued and attracted. For his part, Keir MacRae will do his best to stay away from the lovely and spirited lady.

But there are secrets Keir doesn't even know about his own past (the "devil" in the title is a big clue), even as they put his life in danger. Merritt comes to the rescue, but will it jeopardize the future for both of them?

I enjoyed returning to the world of the Ravenels, and visiting with the now middle-aged Wallflowers. Merritt and Keir are well-matched, even as they encounter some very large obstacles. My only quibble is that the main plot wrapped up rather abruptly, and without the confrontation I was expecting.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed the romance between the widowed Lady Merritt Sterling and Scottish whisky distiller Keir MacRae, a continuation of The Ravenels series with a large dose of The Wallflowers series included. A life endangered and an unknown heritage are mixed in with a strong and immediate attraction, but it will take help from a number of relatives and friends to sort out the happy ending. Lisa Kleypas delivers another winner.

If you follow me on IG or saw my Most Anticipated Books for 2021 post, Devil in Disguise, has been at the top of my list.

But with that anticipation there is also trepidation.

Why? Because I knew it would concern the fictional love of my life, Sebastian, from Devil in Winter. The thought of something jeopardizing my feelings towards him, towards the Wallflowers, has literally kept me up nights in anxiety.

But I am already getting ahead of myself because this story is about Lady Merritt Sterling, the widowed daughter of Marcus and Lily from It Happened One Autumn, and Keir MacRae, a burly and rugged Scottish whiskey distiller.

Merritt stands on her own and is not a reincarnation of her mom, Lily, which I am thankful for. Not that I don’t love Lily, but she is not as confrontational. Merritt is a natural problem solver. A level-headed woman that while slightly defying conventions of her time, is someone that knows how to navigate her place in the world and stand on her own two feet. She is the kind of woman that you would love to unload all your worries to because you know she would have great advice and be a good friend to depend on.

And Keir. He is one big and burly delicious package. The Scottish burr. The temper. The strength of his character. Lisa Kleypas excels at heroes that make your cheeks feel flush and your heart race. He is a gentle giant of a man that can be unloading casks of whiskey and then charming you out of your drawers the next with his natural sensuality. But he is not one to use his brooding good looks to get ahead. As a matter of fact, he is really considerate and cautious, which makes the moments of Keir and Merritt circling each other in a haze of lust and romance all that more delicious.

But there is a lot for me to unpack here.

I finished this book in one sitting, at 4am in the morning, and woke up with my head all in a whirl. So I do apologize if this review is long, critical and slightly chaotic as I have a LOT of thoughts.

Mostly conflicted.

The biggest issue I take away after reading this book is that it felt it was trying to be too many things at once. Merritt and Keir should be the main focus, the buildup of their relationship, how they fall in love, how they combine the parts of their lives that are complicated and messy and make it work. I’m not saying that none of those things happen, but the origin’s of Keir and his connection to Sebastian took precedence and felt like a hammer waiting to drop until all was revealed. I sat with a pit in my stomach because I knew where it was going and while I don’t hate it, and it didn’t jeopardize my overall feelings for Sebastian (I mean honestly what could? He’s bae) it kept taking me out of the romance I was trying to enjoy between Merritt and Keir. And it also took away from the true conflict of the story that just so happens to get resolved quickly, off the page, and with unsatisfactory lack of true confrontation.

It also felt like a fan service to those of us that adore the Wallflowers series. Don’t get me wrong, if LK wants to continue writing about all of the Wallflowers and their kids, I am 100% ready to preorder. But all of these moments between Sebastian and Evie and Marcus and Lily, while I loved their time together, again it took away from Merritt and Keir.

And I think what I am most confused about is why this is considered under the Ravenel’s. I know it is slight in the grand scheme of things, but we only ever see Dr. Gibson, Ethan and a little bit of Phoebe. No other Ravenel’s were involved. And while I don’t know how they could be with EVERYTHING going on (and there is a lot of troupes going on) it just felt weird that this wasn’t book for a different spinoff, as it should be. And maybe it will be. I hope it is, as we meet Merritt’s youngest brother, Luke, who I thought would have more of a part in this story but he fades away pretty early on.

So I think what has me truly conflicted is how to rate it and how to feel about it. If just based on Merritt and Keir, it would be a solid 4.5 stars. I would knock off half a star as there was little concern or follow up to things like Merritt’s business she took over from when her husband passed. She was strong in her role as business woman and excelled at it while earning the respect of those employed by her, but it was a little lackluster with how little that part played into the overall conclusion of the story. Plus everything that goes on with Keir, I would have loved to find out how he handle his new title and role in the world in which he was never part of prior.

But overall, I think this is just one of those books I may need to come back to and reread once my emotions aren’t so high to gauge how I really feel. Because conflicted is the best way to describe how I feel. It’s a solid 4.5 stars in romance, and a 3 in execution and direction of plot. So I will give this 4 stars which feels too low for the parts I loved, and too generous for the things I don’t.

Thank you so much Avon for the ARC!

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH is all I have to say.

This may be the quickest I've ever requested a book on NetGalley. I have been so flipping excited to read this book.

This book follows Merritt (daughter of Marcus and Lillian), a widow who is running her late husband's shipping business, and her romance with Keir, a Scottish whisky distiller.
Tropes: Widowed heroine, class differences, amnesia, instalove

And yes, I'm not going to say what they are, but the theories I had about Keir going into this book were correct AND AMAZING.

The romance between Merritt and Keir felt slightly instalove-y and quick. I found the ending was also incredibly rushed, I could have done with another chapter or two to wrap up some loose ends.

Overall, I would give the romance in this book a 4/5 stars. However, all of the Sebastian, Evie, Marcus, and Lillian stuff bumped this book up to 5 stars for me. ESPECIALLY THE SEBASTIAN STUFF I CANNOT STRESS HOW MUCH I LOVED HIM IN THIS BOOK!

Main question I have is this really a Ravenels book? It did not feel like one - it felt much more like a continuation of the Wallflowers series.

Pls write more @ Lisa Kleypas I am begging you

I have absolutely loved every book in the Ravenels series and this one is no exception. I will read anything Lisa Kleypas writes because I know it will be fabulous! And I know the cover isn't the most important part, but they are all gorgeous. Lady Merritt was an interesting character and her chemistry with Keir sizzled.

*Review will be posted to my blog on 6/7/21*

*4.5 STARS*

Likes:
*I am a big fan of Lisa Kleypas and have read all her books. As this is the seventh book in the Ravenel series, I absolutely love seeing how characters from past books intersect in this series. The Wallflowers and their escapades were among my favorite of her books so seeing Sebastian, Evie, Marcus and Lillian and their kids is like having a family reunion! It’s chaotic but lovely at the same time.

*Merritt is a widow and she’s got a head for running her late husband’s business. She’s smart, knows herself, nice and yes she has an instant connection with one of her clients. A sexy Scotsman who makes whiskey. Keir MacRae is in lust with Merritt right away but he knows he is beneath her station and tells himself not to make a move. But that doesn’t last long since the attraction between them is hot. Their love story is sweet though, I love how they are together.

*There is a reveal in this story and without revealing it, I thought it fit well and enjoyed it but some fans may not like it.

*I read this in one sitting because like I said, I am a big fan and I tend to devour Lisa Kleypas historical romances pretty quickly!

Random Notes:
*This is an arc version and near the end, a whole chunk of paragraphs need to be edited out because they are repeated haha. So that made me pause in my reading for a moment.

Final Thoughts:
I devoured the Devil in Disguise and I’m ready for the next Lisa Kleypas. This book gave me everything I wanted in a historical romance! It had the perfect balance of sexiness, warmth, humor and nostalgia. If you like historical romance, definitely try out Devil in Disguise.

Calling this part of the Ravenel series is a stretch tbh. However, it is always a delight to spend time with the Duke of Kingston and family and this book has them in abundance.
When Keir MacRea walks in to Lady Merritt’s office wet and covered in spilled whiskey she is instantly enthralled. Likewise Keir is instantly smitten with the wee bully Merritt. However, when Keir is attacked multiple times during his stay in London it becomes clear that for some reason someone is trying to kill him. When he is caught in a warehouse explosion and suffers a concussion he loses the magical week he just share with Merritt. For his own safety, Keir is whisked off to the Challon family home to recover and remain safe while Ethan Ransom investigates just what is going on.

Do you like men with mysterious identities? Enjoy women who know what they want and aren't afraid to go after it? Are you looking for Wallflowers and Ravenels fanservice without feeling like you're missing out on a new couple's story? Then you'll definitely want to read Devil in Disguise. This is a wild ride of a novel, with a sexy Scotsman (he's so sexy he has to wear a beard otherwise the women pursue him too much. Not even kidding.), a mysterious assailant, a touch of amnesia, and of course a connection to the most famous Devil of them all, Sebastian Challon (former Lord St. Vincent).

Kleypas doesn't leave out her signature historical details, this time providing us with tidbits about the whisky industry in Scotland, shipping companies, and plenty of mouthwatering food descriptions. But at its heart, this is a romance between two characters who can't keep their hands off of each other. We are docking half a point for that epilogue (if you know, you know), but the rest of the book was just pure, page-turning delight.

In The Devil in Disguise, widow Merritt Sterling and Scottish whisky distiller Keir MacRae meet, ignite and then everything they know instantly changes.

“Stabbing, explosions, and debauchery” ensue as their story twists and turns keeping my interest throughout. The mystery element as to who is after MacRae gives this romance an extra twist. And as you’d expect, Lisa Kleypas brings the heat between Merritt and Keir.

Characters from The Wallflowers and The Ravenels series are involved in this book. Dr. Gibson and Ethan (Hello Stranger) along with Phoebe (Devil’s Daughter) help Merritt and Keir navigate through the mystery and romance of The Devil in Disguise.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm biased because I'm now an admitted Kleypas and Ravenels/Challons fan, but I enjoyed every minute of Devil in Disguise, devouring it in one uncontrolled binge. It's brilliant like the other romances in the Ravenels series. Beautiful, capable widow Lady Merritt Sterling meets and is immediately attracted to Keir Macrae, a rough hewn Scottish whiskey distiller from the small island community of Islay who's a client of Merritt's shipping company. Despite his modesty and trepidation, their connection is undeniable. At the same time, a series of mysterious calamities befall Keir and Merritt and a mystery starts to unfold around why someone seems to be targeting the sweet and enigmatic businessman. Bonus points for extended cameos from members of the Wallflowers family. I loved almost all of it with the slight exception of a storyline involving infertility that goes slightly off the rails. Definitely recommend with the one caveat that if you're sensitive to infertility issues you might want to proceed with caution.

I absolutely loved Devil in Disguise! Merritt is a great heroine, with lots of spunk. She and Keir connect right off the bat, but it doesn't feel like the somewhat annoying instalove. They're immediately attracted to each other for sure, and get along from the start, but it takes some time for true love to bloom. The plot was a bit all over the place, but it was second fiddle to the romance and so I was content to just roll with it.

I really enjoyed seeing characters from the previous books again. I haven't read Kleypas' other series, so I didn't connect as much with some parents who were around, but I've loved the other Ravenel books and enjoyed those cameos. I think it's really fun that Kleypas ties her books together instead of having each new series being a new version of the historical romance world.

Devil in Disguise felt like it was a bit higher on the sexy scale than some of the other books. Both characters are experienced to some degree from previous relationships, so there's none of the nervous virgin stuff that's in a lot of historical romances. And while the intimate scenes are obviously sexy, they're also sweet. Merritt and Keir are truly great together, and the care they show for each other shines through in those moments.

And just a note, there's a thing I see a number of people who anticipate the book worrying about, and I just want to say that I felt a certain twist was pulled off well.

Fourteen years ago, I drove like a madwoman an hour away to my nearest B&N with a cranky teething baby to get my hands on Devil in Winter on release day. I read the book in one sitting and then turned back to page one and re-read it again. Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent became my book husband that day and has been ever since. Needless to say, I was thrilled to see him reappear in Ravenel’s series and to see his children get their own HEA’s. 

Then this book happened. 

First, I’ll address the huge Scot elephant in the room. Yes, the title is a huge tip-off but I was holding out hope that Lisa wouldn’t do me like this 😒The revelation came around the middle of the book but by then I already knew that no twist was coming. Sebastian had fathered a child before he met Evie. I can’t properly convey how much I hated this. I hate that he had a child with some random woman and that the child grows into a man who looks more like him than his children with Evie. I reject this with every cell in my body and plan to scrub this revisionist history from my memory forevermore 😆

It’s hard for me to summarize this book because it is such a mess. Merritt, Lillian and Westcliff's eldest daughter, meets Keir when he is doing business with her shipping company and it’s pretty much insta lust/love. I have no problem with this as long as I get some relationship development but there was very little relationship or character development. Instead, there was a lot of telling about how their relationship developed over one dinner. The reader is never shown any of it until they sleep together. After, he leaves her because he gets a serious case of I’m Not Good Enough For You. He changes his mind almost right away and goes back to confess his feelings. Yes, this is after one night together from which the reader only gets to see the sexy times. He gets seriously injured though by the invisible assassin and then the book turns into the Bringing You Back from Death’s Door trope that Lisa Kleypas is so good at. Sebastian brings him to the safety of Heron’s Point to recover.

This is now about halfway through the book when Keir receivers consciousness but turns out he has amnesia. Reader, I wish I was kidding. And it wasn’t even the fun full-on amnesia but selective amnesia where he only doesn’t remember Merritt or their night together. 

I’m a pretty forgiving reader but this was so eye rollingly unnecessary to throw on top of the murder plot and the secret baby nonsense. Then everything suddenly gets resolved about 50% into the story the reader is told not shown who was behind the murder attempts and why, and who Keir’s real father is. We never see the murderer or the man behind the plot. The latter half of the book then turns into a Wallflower reunion between the Westcliff’s and the Kingston’s. I loved seeing Westcliff and Lillian again and seeing the two couples interact but this meant that Keir and Merritt are relegated to secondary characters int heir own book. With all the external conflict gone in one swoop, there is only some flimsy internal conflict keeping the main story dragging along. Keir’skind-of-sort-off amnesia gets resolved and then it’s Merritt’s turn to half-heartedly push him away for his own good. The good old We Can’t Marry Because We Are Too Different becomes the conflict. Shortly after, the assassin plot comes back and the last few pages are devoted to this. 

All that being said, I still swooned pretty hard with Kei,r and even though neither him nor Merritt ever popped off the page for me, they had some pretty romantic moments. Sebastian, of course, stole the show every time he walked onto the page and there was a really romantic scene with him and Evie.

Maybe my expectations were too high and my annoyance at the secret son trope colored every aspect of the book for me. I get that LK wanted to join the two favorite Wallflower couples through their children but I don’t feel it was necessary.
The book would have worked just as well if not better had Keir been just a distiller from Scotland.

I won’t mention the miracle baby :: eye roll::, or the fact that Merritt abandons the company she was running, or the weird character revision on Sebastian where at one point he tells Keir if he had known about him he would have done anything to keep him. Excuse me, Lisa Kleypas? Do you need a re-read of It Happened One Autumn? The Sebastian before Evie would not have taken responsibility for a by blow. He might have placed him with family but raise him himself? Never.

All in all, I thought the book a disjointed badly paced mess with some pretty swoony moments here and there but it wasn’t enough to save it for me. It was almost a tepid copy of Hello Stranger with the Wallflowers thrown in. My most anticipated book of the year is the most disappointing. I'm pretty bummed about it. That being said I hope she brings her A game to the next book.

⭐⭐💫/5
🔥🔥🔥/5


Thanks to @netgalley and @avonbooks for the complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Firstly, Kleypas is an expert and this is her arena clearly. It was nice to see the wallflower gang and even the men - Westcliff and Sebastian back even though in a minor role. Their books were so good that I still remember them pretty well. Here the heroine, Merritt, is absolutely interesting and refreshing as she is that boring, insipid young one instead is mature, independent and feisty. The hero, Keir is a swoon worthy Scot without a doubt.

Though it is obvious Keir’s past is going to come up at some point, there was a lot of drama and action while unraveling his birth and how Ravenels were involved in it. Keir is here from Scotland to handle his whisky business and someone is bent on killing him when he hardly knows anyone outside Scotland. Merritt is smitten right away by this Scot and is ready to pursue him but will he respond once he loses his memory forms the major part of the plot. I truly enjoyed this steamy and funny book and it was interesting to read two generations of characters involved without feeling overwhelmed by them.