If you've been keeping up with the Devil DeVere series and the Devilish Vignettes that have been filling in the back story in anticipation of the next book, JEWEL OF THE EAST by Victoria Vane, coming sometime in late April or early May, then you're going to want to read THE TROUBLE WITH SIN. This humorous vignette fills in the back story of Simon Singleton, and takes up where we left off before he, and his two cohorts in crime, Ned Chambers and Ludovic DeVere, were sent from school after the lion incident - read DEVIL IN THE MAKING if you're not up on that.***eARC provided by author in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.
Blurb for THE TROUBLE WITH SIN:
**The Trouble with Sin (Devilish Vignette #2) is a comic romp that follows on the heels of Devil in the Making. It is also a prequel to Jewel of the East (book #5 in the Devil Devere series).
The Trouble with Sin … Is the devil within…
Aspiring poet Simon "Sin" Singleton, has lived his life only for larks, laughter, and ladies of easy virtue, eluding defying, and flouting all manner of authority until his impetuous misdeeds finally catch up with him. Having lost his muse, his allowance, and even his friends by edict from a tyrannical father and puritanical mother, Simon is ready to drown himself in drink, until receiving an ingenious proposition that could change everything.
The wages of Sin is…...twenty-five percent of the net!
It seems a fantasy come true when Simon is offered an independent income by combining his two great passions— poetry and lewd women —by writing poetry about lewd women! Unfortunately, maintaining anonymity may be much harder than he thought…
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Simon Singleton, or Sin as he's referred to by his pals, Ludovic DeVere and Ned Chambers, is in trouble with this parents. Having been sent home from school after aiding DeVere in stealing a lion from the King's Menagerie, he's had his quarterly allowance cut and been ordered by his parents to remove himself from the company of that "devil DeVere." Sin never makes life easy for himself or those around him anymore than DeVere does, so when asked to watch over something DeVere left behind while he is sent to the continent for his punishment, Sin takes on the charge only to discover it will cost him funds, funds he hasn't at his ease. But, if he can earn the funds, he believes his new charge will be such an excellent muse for his poetry that when a proposition comes along that goes against everything his parents would want for him, he knows what he should do. So what will he do? Well, earn the funds, of course - to win his muse and provide him the funds to enjoy life. But as usual things for Sin never quite go as they should.
Simon Singleton is the mean between Ned's somewhat traditional and prudish manner, and Ludovic DeVere's devilish and tawdry manner, which makes him all the more intriguing. He's a man who loves women, loves poetry, and would love nothing more than to spend his days enjoying good drink, good company and the company of a less than good woman. I looked forward to learning more about Sin and what happened to him between the time he was forced to leave school and when he ended up in the Army in America, but for the first time, I was a bit disappointed in how Victoria gave us a story.
THE TROUBLE WITH SIN by Victoria Vane is probably my least favorite installment of this series not because I didn't like Simon Singleton, but because this particular vignette seemed rather scattered and disjointed to me. It was humorous yet failed to draw even a giggle from me. I still wouldn't have missed reading it because it gives us a look into what Sin wants and desires from life and fills in those missing bits of information we will need to know if we are to enjoy JEWEL OF THE EAST. For the first time, I found Victoria's handling of a part of this expansive story to be erratic and not as flowing as she usually is with her writing. Every time I thought the story was going in one direction, it would quickly shift and move to another. I was never sure where we were going with Sin. I appreciated his misfortunes, his desire to pursue his poetry, and his need for a muse, but I was left confused at times. The last scene was cute and I admit to smiling but I did not get a belly laugh out of it. The epilogue is important and necessary to understanding where Victoria will be taking Sin in his story with Salime. Despite my criticisms of this naughty Devilish Vignette - and it is! - I still liked this story and I'm glad I read it.
If you wish to keep up with the Devil DeVere series by Victoria Vane, I do recommend you read THE TROUBLE WITH SIN - you'll want to keep up, because if you're like me, I'm sure you're eagerly awaiting JEWEL OF THE EAST as much as I am.
Happy Reading Everyone!
THE TROUBLE WITH SIN, a Devilish Vignette by Victoria Vane, Amazon Digital Services, available now in ebook formats.
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