Melanie's Book Reviews

The review

The Devil’s Flower was a good read, we find Rosalie Lockwood stranded one evening as her attempt to run away from home is not only thwarted by a broken down car but also a rampaging bear that sends her off running into the forest. When she eventually finds road again, she also finds Steele & his motorcycle and - Steele -going against his nature decides to play knight in shining armour only to discover he is stuck with Rosalie when her car is stolen and with no other choice, takes her to his motorcycle club house…home of ‘The Fallen Paladins’ of which is the VP. With Rosalie being so innocent & untainted, she quickly catches the attention of every biker in the bar and Steele has a feeling he has put her in more danger than ever but in the short time he has known her, she has brought a strong protectiveness out in him. There is something about her that has him reluctant to let her go and Steele is hiding a big secret but when some start to realise that Rosalie might indeed have a purpose there, the danger is amplified again and it doesn’t matter what they feel for each other, will it be enough to save their lives & their souls?

I enjoyed this book and I liked the idea behind it, this is one of those reviews where I can’t really give a lot away because it is a big part of the plot…. But I will try my best. I liked Rosalie’s character, she was sweet & yes, innocent but a little broken. In the beginning she did come across as being a spoiled princess but as we get to know her, she is shown in a different light which made her more endearing. I really liked Steele and he was the yin to her yang, where she was light he was dark in practically everything but they complimented each other. I liked how the connection between them brought out his protective side and you will understand how important this is when you read it because it goes against his nature and I also liked how Rosalie felt the need to protect him too even though he clearly was in no need of it. I didn’t connect to the relationship emotionally but I could appreciate it a lot and it was satisfying to see them spend time together. I also liked the secondary characters, I would like more from them too particularly Lithium & Lexie.

The storyline was good, it took a while to get going for me and even at 20% I had to check to see if I had picked up a contemporary read by mistake because it was reading like a good girl turns to bad boy biker for love and whilst that did happen, the paranormal element was what I was in this for and once that hit I was interested a lot more. Obviously from the synopsis you get that there is a light & dark element, good versus evil and all good books vie one against the other in love and war so think along those lines. I liked what the threat meant to Rosalie and with most of the book being set in a motorcycle club compound/town we are in for some no rules shenanigans. When the ball did get rolling with the big threat, I wasn’t surprised about who it was but I was about how it went down and it really fit with the tone of the book making it very believable & once the action got going, it was really good and built the book up to a great climax, letting the paranormal element emerge in a big way. I thought the pacing was a little off for me, bringing a couple of lulls where it felt like it lost its way but as a whole, it was a good, entertaining read & I would probably read a sequel. 3.5*s