KATHERINE SUTCLIFFE

Devotion

Rated 3.0
Copyright 1996
Reviewed 7/28/97 by Isolde

Maria Ashton doesn't like the every day life in her father's house. Mr. Ashton is a vicar but he exploits his parish and he preaches only for his own advantage. Now it is possible for Maria to change her life. She becomes the orderly of Trey Hawthorne, the Duke of Salterdon (he is the twin brother from Clayton Basingstoke, known from the book"Miracle").

The Duke is ill. He is paralyzed and laying in a self-induced coma because the was brutally injured by thieves as he attempted to resist a robbery. When Maria first meets him she thinks he is a "monster" or better already dead because nobody cares about him and on occasion he emerges from his coma only to be violent. She starts to nurse him and after a while he fully awakes from the coma.

Between Maria and Trey arises a special connection. With her help he learns to speak and later to walk again. Trey professes his love for Maria at the end but there is his grandmother, the Duchess, who wants him to marry Lady Laura because English dukes are not supposed to marry servants. So, what will win, Trey's sense of duty or his love for Maria?

I can't say I liked the book very much. To many rebellious and nerve-racking servants and a "monster" as a hero --> very hard to believe.

Katherine Sutcliffe's earlier books were better, for example "Renegade Love," "Once A Hero," and "My Only Love." Try one of these if you haven't read her books before.