Reviewed for THC ReviewsI've seen a number of Loretta Chase fans say that The Last Hellion is equally as good if not better than her incomparable Lord of Scoundrels which is part of the same series. Before I had even finished the first chapter, I could see why. It began with a prologue which explored the hero's background, creating a sympathetic character right from the start who had some pretty good reasons for being a hellion and a dissolute rake. Then readers are introduced to a highly unconventional heroine who is his match in both wit and intelligence. From there, it took on its own form and tone which in some ways was similar to Lord of Scoundrels but in other ways quite different, and although it didn't entirely measure up to that perennial favorite for me, it was a very good story in its own right.Oddly enough, I felt that the narrative focused a little more on the heroine than the hero, which is rather unusual for a romance. Lydia was a bluestocking journalist, an independent, working woman of the middle-class. She spent the early years of her childhood growing up in poverty until an aunt and uncle took her in as a teen. She does have some family ties to Dain the hero of Lord of Scoundrels, and has watched him from afar for years. However, Lydia has never been a part of the Ballister family, because her mother was essentially disowned when she married Lydia's father. Even though she wasn't nurtured in the Ballister family fold, her bloodlines definitely show through in her feisty temper and spirited personality. Much like Dain was nicknamed Beelzebub, Lydia has been dubbed such things as Lady Grendel, the monster, and dragon-lady. It makes her sound pretty terrible, and on the outside she was full of vim and vinegar, but inside, I think she had a bit of a romantic's heart even if she wouldn't admit it. What I loved about her was how she took up the cause of women everywhere, because of the tragedy which befell her own mother and sister. When it came to women and children, she was a real soft-heart. I enjoyed reading about her trying to rescue young girls who were being tricked into prostitution, and how she boldly wrote the ugly truth about living conditions for impoverished women and other social issues, not caring one whit what others thought of her for it. She was a real scrapper too, and I couldn't help but laugh when she managed to knock Vere on his backside at their first meeting. Lydia was just full of brashness and ingenuity. I'm a very different sort of person than Lydia, so I can't say that I related to her on a really deep level. I will admit though that aside from when her feminist ideals started to get in the way of her possibly marrying Vere, I did admire her in many ways.Vere, of course, is the subject of the book's title. He considers himself to be the last hellion in the Mallory family line, and as such behaves like one quite often. Mostly though it's about him trying to cover up the pain of loosing a large number of family members to accidental death and illness in a very short span of time. In fact, he was far from being the next in line for the title of Duke, but ended up with it, when everyone else passed away. He's almost as unconventional as Lydia, never really behaving much like a high-ranking member of the nobility. The image Vere projects to the public at large is one of a cynical, dissolute rakehell who cares for no one but himself, but buried beneath all that bluster, is an honorable man who tries to do the right thing. It takes a while for Vere to realize that he bears no fault for the sad and unfortunate demises of his relatives, and that it is OK to be a “good” man.Vere and Lydia together are almost like oil and water. Normally, I'm not a big fan of love/hate relationships or of couples who spend a large part of the story bickering, but I couldn't help but like them especially in the beginning when they're first getting to know one another. The sarcastic wit that they employ in their bantering was pure genius, and it also built some excellent sexual tension between the pair. I was completely expecting a passionate explosion when they finally gave in to their desires, but the love scenes were a little more subdued than that and consequently, a bit disappointing. The thing I really liked about all their fighting is that the author very subtly lets the reader in on the fact that it is mostly just a form of posturing to mask their fears and insecurities. Lydia wears her tough girl mask to hide the frightened little girl inside, and refuses to allow bad things to happen to her or anyone like her again. Vere hides behind his mask of dissolution and indifference to hide the pain and grief of loosing so many loved ones. Bringing out these emotions in Lydia and Vere, albeit from a distance, was an ingenious way to help the reader understand what makes them tick.The Last Hellion had a sizable cast of secondary characters. Dain and Jessica (Lord of Scoundrels) both appeared, as did Dain's son. Vere has a pair of errant young wards, Elizabeth and Emily, who share their cousin's penchant for getting into trouble. Helena Martin, who first appeared in Captives of the Night, plays one of Lydia's best friends and confidants. Francis Beaumont who was murdered in that same book also appears, so this story apparently comes before Captives of the Night chronologically even though it falls later in the series. He is involved with a madame who becomes Lydia's arch-enemy when she rescues a hapless girl from her clutches. Lydia took that girl, Tamsin, who is a real sweetheart, into her home, where she became Lydia's other best friend and biggest supporter. Then there is the highly amusing Bertie Trent who ended up being a good friend for Vere. Bertie is a little slow on the uptake. In fact, he can be an utter nitwit at times, but he has a good heart that makes him quite endearing. He is so completely different from the type of guys Vere usually hangs out with that it made him the perfect foil. Bertie previously appeared in Lord of Scoundrels and The Mad Earl's Bride. In a weird sort of way, I had liked him in both of those stories and was happy to see him finally get his own HEA. Overall, The Last Hellion was a very good read. The main thing that kept it from being a keeper for me is that the pacing was a little slow in places, particularly in the middle between the time that Vere proposed and the scenes where they were informed that Vere's cousins were in grave trouble. At that point, I found my mind wandering more than it had at other places in the book, and I felt that the previous wittiness had either lost some it's edge or had started to wear thin on me. Otherwise, The Last Hellion was a good wrap-up for the Scoundrels series that I would definitely recommend to my fellow romance readers particularly those who have previously enjoyed Lord of Scoundrels or Loretta Chase's other works.
I had so much fun reading this book. Thank you Catherin for tempting me with it.Here are some quotes that I loved:He gave her a wounded look. "I was not trying to pay any scores. I was consumed by curiosity."Her eyes narrowed. "About what?""How you did it." He let his gaze fall to her manly chest. "It isn't binding, is it? What have you done with your breasts?"She opened her mouth, then shut it. She looked down at herself, then up at him. Then her jaw set and between her teeth she said, "It's a specially designed corset. The front is shaped like a man's torso. The back is like any other stays.""Ah. Back lacing.""Yes. Not in the least interesting. Nothing you haven't seen many hundreds of times before." She turned away and returned to the drainpipe. "If you want to make yourself useful, you could give me a boost up.""I can't," he said. "I can't aid and abet your burgling a house.""Since when have you become a champion of law and order?""Since you pointed out my failure to provide an example of high moral tone," he said. "I'm studying to become a saint.""Then study someplace else. I'm not going to steal anything. I only want to get my clothes.""I've wed you," he said impatiently. "I don't want a lady. I shouldn't know what to do with one." He grasped her shoulders. "I hope you're not turning missish on me."He danced a bit, jabbing the air with his right, then his left. "Come, what are you afraid of? Here's your chance to give me the pair of stinkers you promised in Vinegar Yard. Or was that all boasting? Did the tap on my jaw hurt your little hand too much, my delicate flower? Did you learn your lesson then?"It came from nowhere. Lightning fast and low, her fist shot toward his privates.He nipped aside in the nick of time. "Not there, Grenville," he said, swallowing his astonishment. "Think of our children."There was a silence, during which, he assumed, the parcels on the bed finally attracted her attention."You wicked man." Her voice was low and not quite steady. "Have you been buying me gifts?""Bribes," he said, sneaking a glance at her. She had left the chair to go to the bed, and stood looking at the packages. "So I wouldn't be obliged to sleep in the stables."[I love it when they have important conversations, both of the make it sound like a joke]
What do You think about The Last Hellion (1998)?
"Y él se preguntó qué maligno poder había creado a un monstruo tan extraordinariamente bello."Vere es un animal con una muy mala opinión del género femenino, hasta que una le hace caer de culo y atrapa su atención. Obviamente, Lydia no es como las demás así que él rápidamente mete mano y se propone atraparla. "[...] contemplando aquel desastre humano que tenía por marido."A mí me pareció que Lydia es quién lo atrapó. Son dos animales, Lydia prefiere ir saltando y pegando golpes a diestra y siniestra a tener una conversación frívola. Y Vere, podría manejar su lengua pero se empeña en ofender al mundo con su boca. Y cuando la boca de él y la boca de ella se encuentra, chispas. "Eran criaturas desafiantes y temerarias y de sangre caliente. No eran del todo civilizados, ni jamás lo serían."Es entretenido como todo de la sra. Chase. Nos lleva por todos lados, de acá para allá, persiguiendo a esta pareja que termina junta sin saber por qué. El final es largo, y hay cosas que no me quedaron muy claras, pero me gustó. Y es un alivio saber que Trent encontró a alguien y que Jess y Dain están bien y que Dominick, el hijo de Satán, sigue vivo.
—Laura V.
What can I say? I just loved this. I loved the heroine, I loved the hero, I loved the dog. I really don't have anything bad to say.Loretta Chase has a talent beyond romance. She took a very unpleasant fact of life in the 18th century - one that is rarely addressed in romance novels - and created the base for a great pairing. At its core this book deals with the fact that dealing with death was very much a part of everyone's daily lives during this time in history. In particular the death of children.Of course children die today, but in wealthy countries it's almost as infrequent as to be blessedly rare. There are the tragic accidents and some cancers/birth defects we haven't cured yet, but overall most children do make it to adulthood. We have antibiotics and vaccinations now. For many of us, death is something that mostly stays in it's place and visits the old. Honestly, it's hard to imagine how people made it through the things that were facts of life in those days. Both the hero and heroine had their own little ghosts as well as the loss of various older (but not old enough to die) loved ones to shoulder. The heroine lost her young sister to tuberculosis and the hero his young ward to diphtheria. Both of them dealt with their losses in vastly different ways, but the courses of both of their lives were deeply affected.Was this book depressing? NO! It wasn't. That's what's great about this author. She sees both the tragedy and the comedy in life and, despite what has happened to the characters, manages to make you laugh as well as cry and the tone is overall very positive and fun.I really don't know what to say. I have nothing snarky to add. The narrator was fabulous. Revisiting Dain and Jessica was fabulous. Jessica's goofy brother from the previous book even turns out to be a pleasant surprise with more depth than expected.I highly recommend this and plan on going back to the first 2 novels in the series. Obviously, these don't need to be read in order to be enjoyed or followed.
—KatieV
I really enjoyed this one. It's not fluff, but has some nice entertaining fluffy bits in it, and all the main characters are incredibly likeable.It kind of lost its' way a bit towards the end, which is why I marked it down, but it hit all the right buttons for me: heroine that is a serious scrapper and can fight dirty, hero that is more of a Peter Pan combined with 6 ft of sex god, and a cast of fabulous sidekicks (wonderful to see Bertie Trent make a reappearance). I even like the dog, and I'm not an animal person at all.I also like that much of the geographic references are correct. Guildford still has steep cobbled streets and the Devil's Punchbowl is a famous local spot nearby. It's these small details, combined with colorful over-the-top characters, great dialogue and some realistic emotional stuff that make me enjoy this one.4 stars.
—Ruth
