Blue-Eyed Devil (Travises, #2) in Happily Ever After Cafe

Feb 08, 2009 Danielle The Book Huntress rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hot-and-steamy-romance, bad-first-marriage, favorite-or-autobuy-author, self-made-hero, abused, hero-i-want-to-lick, sigh-worthy-hero, chick-lit-or-women-s-fiction, i-want-a-southern-boy, owned-copy

Okay. How to write this review without the whole thing turning into a Hardy Cates droolfest. It's going to be very hard, because I love the man!

One Upon a Time, There was a Guy Named Hardy Cates...:
I met Hardy Cates in Sugar Daddy, and I have to say that I sure did fall hard for him. Big time! Hard as a young Liberty Jones did. I could see that beneath that mind-numbingly sexy bad boy veneer was a sensitive, loving, good-hearted person. My feelings never changed for him. (view spoiler) ...more

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Apr 13, 2009 Tammy rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary-romance, chick-lit, 2009-reads

Blue-Eyed Devil would have earned a solid 5-star rating from me if it had been written from Hardy Cate's point of view.

Don't get me wrong - I liked Haven Travis. I sympathized with her during the abuse scenes with her narcissistic, whack-job of a husband. But Haven was not the sort of person I could see myself becoming friends with. In spite of all the horrible things that happened to her and the way she started to turn her life around, her character still smacked of the poor little rich girl c ...more

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Mar 27, 2008 Auntee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lisa-kleypas, 2011_reads, contemporary-romance

This won't be much of a review because I'm dying to get back to Smooth Talking Stranger (which I already started). Just some of my thoughts...

Hardy...Hardy...Hardy! God, how I adored this character (and his 'mink' hair--I think LK went a little overboard on that description)! I love all the good, and the wee bit of bad, in Hardy. I love his charming side, his teasing side, his sexy side, his compassionate side, and his roguish side. What a perceptive, lovable, blue-eyed scamp! I was a bit worrie ...more

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Apr 14, 2009 MelissaB rated it it was amazing

Shelves: best-heroes, favorite-contemporary-romance, 2009-reads, contemporary-romance, favorite-romances, kindle, abused-heroine, 2022-reads

Loved it! The story just grabbed me from the beginning and kept me entertained the entire time. Hardy Cates is such a hot, sexy hero! Haven was a bit harder for me to identify with than Liberty was but I still liked her. Her horrible relationship with her ex-husband was hard to see but at least she was able to get out with the help of Her brother Gage who was wonderful in this book too. I enjoyed seeing more of Liberty, Gage and Carrington.

Hardy was a wonderful hero, he was very patient and kind ...more

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May 01, 2008 鈾arlyn P鈾� rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-contemporary, read-2008

I am not always the easiest critic for Lisa Kleypas books, but I will admit when one just works extremely well. And this one was great. What I think I loved the most about this series, and especially about Hardy and Haven's story in BED, is that Kleypas has found a way to break the predictable romance novel mold and deliver a fresh story telling style. It really is original, at least to me, and I loved it.

I have read most of her historicals, so her historical fans should beware that she has step ...more

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Feb 28, 2009 Lady Jayne *~*The Beach Bandida*~* rated it it was amazing

Shelves: author-lisa-kleypas, romance-contemporary, reviewed, owned-read, favourites, series

5 Stars

Blue-Eyed Devil is the story of Haven Travis and Hardy Cates. I really enjoyed this one compared to Sugar Daddy. I flew threw it! Hardy Cates?! *siiiighs* He鈥檚 one sexy blue-eyed devil! Every time he appeared on the page, I felt an electric buzz go through me. LOL Seriously! He鈥檚 kind of a contemporary St. Vincent who manages to redeem himself from some bad choices. And even though Sugar Daddy was nothing like Kleypas鈥� trademark historicals, I鈥檓 glad I read Sugar Daddy first, to get to kn 5 Stars

Blue-Eyed Devil is the story of Haven Travis and Hardy Cates. I really enjoyed this one compared to Sugar Daddy. I flew threw it! Hardy Cates?! *siiiighs* He鈥檚 one sexy blue-eyed devil! Every time he appeared on the page, I felt an electric buzz go through me. LOL Seriously! He鈥檚 kind of a contemporary St. Vincent who manages to redeem himself from some bad choices. And even though Sugar Daddy was nothing like Kleypas鈥� trademark historicals, I鈥檓 glad I read Sugar Daddy first, to get to know Hardy as a young man. He was intriguing from the beginning. I definitely wanted more Hardy and I got it in BED! *snickers* BED as in Blue-Eyed Devil, of course. :-) And I was also really glad that I got a bit more of Gage in BED, too. ;-) My main issue with Sugar Daddy was there was not enough of Gage! (And Hardy, of course). I really loved Gage and loved seeing his relationship with his sister, Haven. The double entendres relating to the oil business in a particular scene in here were hilarious! :-)

**Potential Spoilers**

I thought this book dealt with the issue of domestic violence and bullying very well. I went on a difficult emotional journey with Haven, and as the 鈥渙utsider鈥� looking in, I was so angry with the abusers/bullies. There was one violent scene, in particular, that was very difficult to read. I loved how this book also dealt well with the issues of healing and moving on with the scars of the past. I love Lisa Kleypas' writing.

My fave quotes from this book:

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 already see it, nothing I say could make you see it.鈥�

鈥淭he bad memories had been woven into the fabric of my body, threaded through every nerve.鈥�

鈥淥ne of the blessings human beings take for granted is the ability to remember pain without re-feeling it. The pain of the physical wounds is long gone 鈥nd the other kind of hurt, the damage done to our spirits, has been healed. We are careful with those scarred places in each other."

"I no longer believed in the idea of soul mates, or love at first sight. But I was beginning to believe that a very few times in your life, if you were lucky, you might meet someone who was exactly right for you. Not because he was perfect, or because you were, but because your combined flaws were arranged in a way that allowed two separate beings to hinge together."

"His love came with no strings attached, which I thought was the greatest gift one human being could give another."

"You know, I'm just as much me when I'm with you, as I am without you."

It would have been awesome to have Hardy's POV, too. For a little bit of a taste of Hardy's POV that Lisa Kleypas wrote, but was not in the book - Yowza!:

...more

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Jan 05, 2011 Yz the Whyz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: lisa-kleypas, owned-books-read, 2012-challenge-books, 2012-reads, aar-s-top-100-romances-2018

Wow! This books is pretty powerful stuff.

A woman trying to find herself. A man working on escaping who he is. Together, maybe because of what they have gone through, they are just perfect for each.

We met Hardy Cates in the first book of this series, Sugar Daddy, where he started out as hero material and ended as the villain of the piece. But now he gets his book...and despite the 'rascal' exterior, Hardy is a hero through and through.

Haven, the only girl in the powerful, wealthy Travis family, h ...more

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Aug 25, 2016 Julianna rated it really liked it

Shelves: desert-island-keepers, contemporary-romance, womens-fiction, heac-big-city-setting, read-2016

Reviewed for
"4.5 stars" I was rather appalled to discover that it鈥檚 been nearly four years since I read Sugar Daddy, the first book in the Travis Family series, or any other Lisa Kleypas book for that matter. Apparently this is the year I get to catch up with a few old favorite authors who鈥檝e somehow fallen by the wayside. Unfortunately, I now only remember bits and pieces of Sugar Daddy, but I do recall very much enjoying it, so between that and the outstanding ratings that Blue-Eye Reviewed for
"4.5 stars" I was rather appalled to discover that it鈥檚 been nearly four years since I read Sugar Daddy, the first book in the Travis Family series, or any other Lisa Kleypas book for that matter. Apparently this is the year I get to catch up with a few old favorite authors who鈥檝e somehow fallen by the wayside. Unfortunately, I now only remember bits and pieces of Sugar Daddy, but I do recall very much enjoying it, so between that and the outstanding ratings that Blue-Eyed Devil has, I鈥檝e really been looking forward to reading it. Don鈥檛 get me wrong, I enjoyed it a lot, but it just wasn鈥檛 quite as perfect a read for me as it seems to have been for most other readers. I know that there鈥檚 a pretty strong consensus among Lisa Kleypas fans that this is one of their favorite of her books, but this won鈥檛 be the first time I鈥檝e gone against the grain, and at least, this book was much better for me than the previous book I disagreed with other fans about. There were just a few little things that bothered me, which I鈥檒l get to in a moment.

Haven is the younger sister of Gage (Sugar Daddy) and the other Travis boys. Being from a wealthy Texas family and being the only girl in the family, her mother put a heavy burden on her shoulders to behave like a perfect lady, when Haven would have much preferred to be a tomboy. Also, being part of a family of controlling alpha males, I think she found it difficult to get an independent foothold and find herself. Going off to Wellesley, a liberal women鈥檚 college, helped some. I liked that Haven wasn't stuck up in spite of being part of the powerful Travis family, and that she's someone who cares about other people. I also liked that she doesn't want to be perceived as taking favors from her family, and wants to work her way up and earn her position, not just be handed one by a family member. However, I think that Haven suffered to some extent from a lack of self-esteem due to the way she was raised and who her family is, and I think she was also eager to get away from them and make a life for herself. All that played into her marrying the wrong man, who ended up severely abusing her and nearly breaking her spirit. Like many women in that position, she initially thought it would get better and she was also too ashamed to tell the people in her life who would have cared for her. But eventually, she showed a lot of bravery and backbone in leaving her husband and getting a divorce. However, the whole experience has left her broken and afraid of getting involved with another man.

Hardy was the third wheel in the love triangle of Sugar Daddy, so readers got to know him pretty well in that book, although this far past reading it, I couldn鈥檛 remember him very well. He turns out to be a pretty intense alpha male, not unlike Haven鈥檚 brothers, and he鈥檚 probably the reason so many readers ended up loving this book. I, on the other hand, am not usually a huge fan of alpha heroes unless they鈥檙e the kind who have a soft gooey center.:-) Some of those alphas have captured my heart, but for the most part, I can only take them in small doses. Again, don鈥檛 get me wrong, I did like Hardy a lot, but there were times that he was just a tad too alpha for my taste. I can't deny that he's a consummate seducer, and I like that he seemed to 鈥済et鈥� Haven. The special gift he sent her showcases that beautifully. However, in their first almost love scene, he's quick to get angry and take things the wrong way when she pulled back, when a beta male would probably have been more in tune with her emotions and fears, probing to understand, instead of seeming to be focused on nothing but having sex with her. In their early interactions, he didn鈥檛 seem to be thinking beyond the single-minded goal of bedding her. I admit that later on, Hardy could be a gentleman and was a little more perceptive than I initially gave him credit for. His patience and gentleness with Haven in helping her overcome her fears associated with sex was extremely commendable and one of my favorite parts of the book. But despite that I鈥檓 not quite sure I could pinpoint exactly when and why he fell in love with her. This is where I think only having Haven鈥檚 first-person POV was a bit of a detractor. I wanted to be more inside Hardy鈥檚 head to understand what he was feeling and thinking, not only about Haven and their relationship, but also about his own tortured past that seems to keep dogging him everywhere he goes and about which he was slow to open up.

Because at least two-thirds of the book is devoted to the hero and heroine鈥檚 building relationship that has an HEA ending, I鈥檓 comfortable with classifying it as Contemporary Romance. However, some readers have placed this book in the Women鈥檚 Fiction category, which I think is equally valid. Aside from Hardy and Haven sharing an accidental kiss in the first chapter, when she mistakes him for her fianc茅 in a darkened wine cellar, they don鈥檛 have any other interactions for the first third of the book. During that time, the story focuses solely on Haven鈥檚 increasingly abusive marriage and how she survives it and eventually gets out. I liked that Hardy and Haven鈥檚 attraction was established very early on, but even with that, I felt like things moved a little too quickly between them. They share an instant combustible chemistry that can鈥檛 be denied, but at times, it seemed to be more about their sexual tension and that drive toward their first love scene, when I wanted a few more getting-to-know-you moments. They don鈥檛 actually get to the sexy scenes until the final third of the book, and admittedly they鈥檙e very hot and sensuous as I would expect from Lisa Kleypas. While I can appreciate how Hardy and Haven took a step back for a little while, I still can鈥檛 pinpoint exactly what it was that made Haven really trust Hardy. They both keep their pasts bottled up pretty tight with neither of them really telling the other much about what happened to emotionally damage them until very late in the story. Therefore, the connection between them, while definitely there, to me, felt more like a sexual one than the emotional one I was craving.

All that said, I did still enjoy Blue-Eyed Devil quite well and I would definitely be game for re-reading it at some point, so I didn鈥檛 feel that marking off more than a half star would be appropriate. Even though their personalities were just enough removed from my own that perhaps I didn鈥檛 quite 100% relate to them, I still liked Haven and Hardy. I鈥檓 also always up for a story that delves into the darker side of abusive relationships, and I have to give Ms. Kleypas kudos for her research into that area as well as narcissistic personality disorder and her ability to include it in the story in an organic way. Although I can tell they鈥檙e every bit as alpha as Hardy, I鈥檓 looking forward to reading the stories for Haven鈥檚 brothers, Jack and Joe. Jack鈥檚 is next in Smooth-Talking Stranger, and I think it will be interesting to see what kind of woman it takes to finally pin down this commitment-phobic playboy who has a different woman on his arm every week. ...more

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May 05, 2010 Pamela(AllHoney) rated it really liked it

Shelves: library-book, contemporary-romance, tormented-heroine, divorced, 1st-pov, across-the-tracks, loc-usa, abusive-ex, chicklit

This is the second book in the Travises' series by Lisa Kleypas. Okay, I continued the series because my local library had the books. I wasn't too fond of the 1st in the Travises series, Sugar Daddy, but the 2nd was a big improvement. Still not thrilled with the 1st person POV but Blue-Eyed Devil seemed more like a romance than the first one did. I'm actually looking forward to the 3rd in the series now :) ...more

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Apr 14, 2009 Colleen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library-has-it, 2009, contemporary-romance, favorites

Another hit for me. I was'nt sure Hardy would be able to reform himself (at least in my eyes) after what he pulled in Sugar Daddy - but he did (for me). Definitely some sensitive topics in the book (abuse/rape), so be forewarned! I went out today and bought Smooth Talking Stranger b/c I'm enjoying this series so much! I couldn't wait for my turn with the library! ...more

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