A few months ago Leopold Bailey exchanged a small token in return for the power to glimpse the future with the touch of any other man's coin, but he still lacks entree into the higher echelons of British society. It is large problem with a simple solution, marry a woman of the aristocracy and gain contact with and power over the class that has slighted him all his life. Nothing is more important than gaining more; more money, more influence and especially more opportunities to lay low despised members of the Ton, destroying futures and fortunes with his dark gift. His wife is a delightful surprise, having hidden a keen mind and adventuresome spirit beneath the banal facade demanded by her role as an ingenue.

Anne Bailey, nee the Honorable Anne Hartfield knows little of the man she has married, but the mores of her class have accustomed her to a future tied to a stranger. She can only be grateful that Mr. Bailey seems a man of steady temperment and driving ambition and counts herself lucky that he also possesses admirable physical attributes. Still, something about Leo Bailey sets the hair standing on the nape of her neck. She comes to know his forthright nature as he shares glimpses into his childhood and she finds herself drawn closer than she thought possible to this man, yet senses a dark secret held within him.

Caught in the subtle coils of the Devil's intentions can Leo win his way free before he and the woman he holds dearest suffer the consequences of his greed?

Zoe Archer's Hellraiser series may perhaps be based on the historical Hellfire Club an apochryphal branch of which met in limestone caverns carved beneath a chapel in the the 1700's, but she delves more deeply into the consequences of what may happen if a man unwittingly gives his soul to the Devil in exchange for power, and how that choice affects the woman who comes to love him. DEMON'S BRIDE, the second in the series fulfills the promise of the ftheir number has renounced his deal with Mr. Holliday, as the Devil prefers to be known.

Zoe Archer writes historical paranormal romance like none other. I thoroughly enjoyed her Blades of the Rose series, but am also enjoying the different flavor she brings to the Hellraisers books. Unlike the Blades, the main male love interests teeter on the brink of darkness, one short slip from tumbling into the pit. They are saved through the love of good women, yet the books avoid any hint of sanctimony basing their redemption on love rather than religious conversion (with plenty of exciting fight scenes and pulse-pounding erotic encounters.)

The two women in the books thus far are also very different from each other. Zora in book one is a free spirited Gypsy who knows her own strength of character well, while Anne discovers her depths as her story progresses.

In the Blade's of the Rose the enemy lies within a specific group who's aims to rule the world require certain artifacts, each of which provides a central goal which shifts for each story. In the Hellraisers, the evil is defined in Mr. Holliday, and his influence on the five friends.

The goal in each story (so far) is the same: how to save the men from eternal damnation without losing the love they have found. A tantalizing question that might be found in each of The Hellraisers books is how and when does the woman discover the deal her beloved made with the Devil? How does she reconcile loving a man who is spreading evil without losing her own soul?

The Hellraisers books may be read as standalone stories, but the impact is much greater if read in order.A few months ago Leopold Bailey exchanged a small token in return for the power to glimpse the future with the touch of any other man's coin, but he still lacks entree into the higher echelons of British society. It is large problem with a simple solution, marry a woman of the aristocracy and gain contact with and power over the class that has slighted him all his life. Nothing is more important than gaining more; more money, more influence and especially more opportunities to lay low despised members of the Ton, destroying futures and fortunes with his dark gift. His wife is a delightful surprise, having hidden a keen mind and adventuresome spirit beneath the banal facade demanded by her role as an ingenue.

Book Summary

Leo Bailey may have been born to poverty, but ruthless business sense and sparkling intelligence have made money worries a thing of his past. It doesn't hurt that the Devil himself has granted Leo the ability to read the future. But even infallible predictions are a declasse commoner's trick to some members of the ton. They'll never see Leo as their equal - one good reason to prove himself their better. And a noble marriage is an obvious start.

Bookish Anne Hartfield, daughter of a baron, is hardly the flashiest miss on the marriage market. But her thoughtful reserve complements Leo's brash boldness in an attraction neither can deny. A whirlwind courtship sweeps Anne and Leo into a smoldering marriage before either can believe their luck. But happiness built on Leo's dark powers can't last. Soon, Anne will have to save her husband...or lose her heart.