Diane Whiteside can be a hit or miss author. She does have a talent for writing unusual, creative, and sensual love scenes and scenarios. That’s not the case with The Northern Devil, though – the love scenes are boring and overused. The book also misses the mark with over-the-top villains.

Rachel Davis is a widow about to come into quite a deal of money from her dead husband. She, along with her mother and sister, are being held captive by Albert Collins, her late husband’s principle trustee. Collins plans to force Rachel to wed his son and so produce the child necessary to collect the inheritance. Rachel feels she would not long survive after the marriage, and through some interesting maneuvering on her part, is able to escape, winding up in the arms of her friend and savior, Lucas Grainger.

Rachel’s husband was Lucas’s mentor and superior officer in the Union Army during the war. Lucas has always admired Rachel and kept in touch with her through letters as he ventured out west. When he finds out what has happened to Rachel, he comes to her rescue and offers to marry her for her protection. He is not at all averse to trying to get Rachel pregnant so she can get her money and believes that this may also be a way for him to find fulfillment in his own life. They quickly marry, consummate the marriage to the fullest and then go on the run as they try to find a way to outwit the greedy people who want them both dead.

I had a hard time warming up to Rachel and Lucas. Their personalities fell flat and their love scenes were cold, impersonal, and unoriginal. I found myself yawning as our two lovers boinked liked bunnies, ran from the bad guys, and then boinked some more. I also found myself cringing whenever the word “pearl” was invoked to describe a certain part of a woman’s anatomy – and it was used over and over and over again.

For an “on the run” story, there was very little action. Most of the action, when there was any, took place on trains, at train depots, or the surrounding area. The limited locations made this seem less of a road romance and more of a cabin romance – it certainly gave me cabin fever! The secondary plots were underdeveloped and made no sense to the overall story. It was like Whiteside became bored with her own story and began writing on automatic pilot – I know that I was bored.

I really wish I could express any enjoyment for The Northern Devil. I was very disappointed by the overall story and worry that the once original Whiteside seems to have lost her spark.