The Sutherland Devil

Written by Caroline Lee

Narrated by Antony Ferguson

She'll become a squire to search for the Sinclair jewels . . . even if her new master is the very Devil himself!

Everyone in the Highlands knows three things about the Sutherland laird: 1) He's got more bastards than he can count. 2) He's already buried three wives. 3) He's the very Devil himself. Which is why, when Saffy-one of the Sinclair Jewels-finds evidence that her family's missing brooch is in the Sutherland Devil's possession, she's certain she's taking her life into her own hands to reclaim it. She hadn't planned on being accused of spying and thrown into the dungeons to starve!

Merrick Sutherland is harried from all sides: his alliances are falling apart, his children are adorable monsters, and his illegitimate brother has declared war in an attempt to claim his title. The last thing he needs is a distraction in the form of a lippy little cross-dresser. Thrust into a sensual game of wits with her new master, Saffy is surprised to learn that what everyone knows about him isn't quite true. As his squire, she's in a prime position to search for the missing Sinclair jewels. But will she lose her heart in the process?

Contains mature themes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Feb 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666188943

Caroline Lee

Caroline Lee leads the animal behavior and welfare team at CSIRO, Australia. Her research interests include developing novel methods to assess affective states, assessing cognition and learning and improving welfare assessment of farm animals.

Reviews for The Sutherland Devil

[Menolly Robinton · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The narrator makes the characters and books sound very sing-song-y and overly simplistic. Every single thing out of a female character’s mouth sounds like a schoolmarm giving a lesson to a five-year-old. Which, as you can well imagine, significantly detracts from the love scenes. And he pronounces “ye” as “ye,” which ends up making everything very stilted and awkward. I’ll have to read the book to decide what I think. I like Caroline Lee, so I’m giving the book the benefit of the doubt.

[Susan Grunner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think this book would be a better reread than initial read. There's a few things that the reader assumes which are bad, and it turns out to be incorrect. It's not like they were big reveals to begin with, it just made the characters seem worse. On a reread those little things are "spoiled" so maybe it'll be a more pleasant read.

The age gap is a bit awkward, made more so by the fact that the book keeps mentioning how close Saph is in age to his eldest. But I'm glad she's old enough to know what she wants ..even if it doesn't fully make sense in the societal context. He's kind of a hypocrite for not wanting his daughter to sleep with her boyfriend, when he is sleeping with a woman.

But it was still an interesting book, more plot than the others, and more characters with actual personalities.