Pretty good, but the title is not appropriate. Gorgeous eligible duke is assigned to protect gorgeous eligible titled miss from a French plot. Suspense, romance, danger ensue.

Male romantic lead: Duke of Claremont, leader of Young Corinthian spies,must protect Lady Lucinda from French plot, by his physical presence, so he pretends to court her.

Female lead: Lady Lucinda Grey,wealthy and unattached female, turning down all suitors, in favor of horse breeding with her aunts, allows Claremont's courtship for a chance to win his prize stallion.

Other characters of note: The Furies, otherwise known as the three aunts, all widowed, very protective of their niece.

Quirkiness: Lots of horse talk, everyone is into breeding horses and racing. ( )

Lord William Randall, known as "Iron Will", is used to having his own way. Big, bold, and with a marked disregard for the conventions of society, Will is well-known as an unequaled rake. That's just the way he planned it, for his roguish reputation makes a perfect cover for his work as an elite undercover spy. However, his latest assignment as a member of the highly-placed spy network, The Young Corinthians, has him in a quandry. He is to charm his way in the good graces of Lady Lucinda Gray, court her and protect her life from those who seek her fortune. Will's deadliest enemy, a master of disguise, returns from the dead to wreak havoc and have his revenge against "Iron Will". In order to woo Lucinda, Will must undo his carefully fashioned reputation as a decadent devil. He takes tea with Lucinda and her aunts, a trio known as "The Furies", presents himself at perfectly respectable social events, and does his best to feign civility. Will is a large, grumbly bear of an Alpha male, and he is quite unprepared for his intense reaction to the petite blonde beauty in his care. He has the same effect on Lucinda, who longs to be free of many of society's restraints. She is intelligent, resourceful, witty, and she has turned down all possible suitors. Will tempts her with the one wish she can't resist: a prize thoroughbred for her stables. He strikes a bargain with her involving their courtship. If she allows him three months to court her, he will give her the horse whether or not she agrees to marry him. Trying to convince herself she is only interested in the horse, Lucinda agrees to Will's request. They enjoy each other's company, and soon their passion flares to full fire. When their relationship deepens, Lucinda declares her love for Will. However, Will's secret agenda and his painful family history make it seem impossible for him to fully embrace his love for Lucinda. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, and "Iron Will" is the biggest of them all.

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This is my first book by Stefanie Sloane and I have to admit that I found it just average. I adored Joanna Bourne's spy books so I had high hopes for this one but I found it slow going in the first 4 or 5 chapters in the book. Plot was not bad ... a notorious sexy rake who’s really a spy in disguise uses a prized stallion to entice a very rich and stunningly beautiful woman into a courtship so he can protect her from an assassin’s kidnapping plot. However, it's a bit too cliche for me with the hero a sexy duke and heroine a fabulously weathly (the richest woman in England no less) and beautiful too. I'm really tired of those types of characters in historical romances. It's getting boring. The characters all seemed rather flat. Except for the three funny aunts but we don't see too much of them. Then about half way through the plot just went downhill and I started skimming. Not good. ( )

People who sneer at romance novels, take note: Stefanie Sloane's THE DEVIL IN DISGUISE is excellent fodder for your horrible snap judgments. It's every bit as bad as the meanest literary snob could hope.

Heroine is Lady Lucinda Gray. She's the richest woman in England. She's heart-stoppingly beautiful. She's popular and well-respected. She's got powerful friends and, as an orphan without a husband or brothers, nobody tells her what to do.

For the first half of the book she complains a LOT about what a horrible BURDEN it is to have to field so many marriage proposals from so many men. Like, if that's the worst you can come up with...I just...I'm sorry. I've never been able to make a list of my problems that only has one item on it and reads, "TOO MUCH OF EVERYTHING I WANT", and I can't muster a whole lot of sympathy for Lucinda.

Hero is half hardened spy and half dissolute rake but, in this case, his halves don't add up to a whole. He's a horrible spy - which, you know, spying is hard so I'll cut him some slack there. But he's also a horrible rake. His raking consists entirely of sleeping around a little, a little bit of drinking, and swearing more than is entirely proper. His behavior is too moderate to be really rakish.

Everything about the romance is flat, dull, distancing. The hero and heroine seem really poorly matched as a couple and, if their story continued, I suspect we'd get a depressing novel about a failed marriage. The romance is not romantic and the sex scenes are cringeworthy. ( )

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The Devil in Disguise was an entertaining read but not a super duper one. While we can all admit that the premise of Regency Era spies is not new it remains a fun idea. William and Lucinda were nice characters, not bland, just "nice". Lucinda was raised by aunts who have had negative dealings with marriage. They understand that as women, the only freedom they can have is as spinsters. They wanted their niece to grow up strong and self reliant, but they also (possibly unwittingly) taught her to not trust marriage. William had an abusive father and his mother simply ignored it (or so it seemed). He has grown up with a deep distrust of relationships and has avoided marriage. I did enjoy that fact that Will was floored by Lucinda's beauty when he first saw her. Gawking is not normally what we expect of our romance heroes. While they were clever and the witty banter was funny, they just never connected with me. It was like I was observing Will and Lucinda through a window, watching them go through their little adventure.

My main problem with The Devil in Disguise was that the story didn't develop so much as it seemed to make leaps and bounds. I understand that relationships in romance novels develop quickly but they make sense within the realm of the book. William an dLucinda's relationship felt that it moved to quickly with no warning. And it's not like the characters were wishy washy, I'm talking major advances with no warning. It actually started to distract me.

The Devil in Disguise was not the best Regency Era spy romance that I've read. I enjoyed Soane's characters, her writing made me chuckle, but I just didn't get invested in the characters and the story didn't flow as nicely as I would have liked.

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