A Review of The Devil Take Tomorrow, by Gretchen Jeannette

The Devil Take Tomorrow is a rollicking historical romance, set during the American Revolution. The romance is delightful, and the plot is pure romantic suspense. Juicy!

Setting

Philadelphia, 1777.

Main Characters

Maddie Graves is the loyal daughter of an American spy. Her father has been convicted of treason and is rotting on a British prison ship. And he was put there by Maddie’s loyalist step-uncle, in whose house Maddie now lives. She is a devoted patriot, and determined to help the patriot cause.

Ethan Matlock is a patriot spy posing as a loyalist in order to infiltrate Tory high society and gain valuable intelligence about a catastrophic threat to the American army. He has deadly skills and a burning desire for revenge on the British.

Romance

Ethan stages an attack on a wealthy loyalist businessman so he can conveniently come along and rescue the man and his family, thus winning his trust. He did not expect to find the man’s niece so beguiling, but he has no room for love. His heart is cold with revenge, and at any moment, his life as a spy could find him on the wrong end of a British noose.

Maddie is drawn to Ethan, but refuses to betray her principles by giving in to the allure of a vile loyalist. Even a loyalist who doesn’t turn her in when he catches her trying to spy on the British Commander in Chief while her uncle entertains the general in his house.

Ethan doesn’t dare reveal his true loyalties, for his own safety and for Maddie’s. But when her uncle tries to marry Maddie off to Ethan so Ethan can keep her line, Ethan is sorely tempted. And when marriage becomes his best means of protecting her, he desperately hopes she will say yes for his own sake and not for the sake of the cause.

Plot

Ethan is in Philadelphia trying to uncover a plot to kill George Washington before it can be set in motion. The loss of Washington would mean the disintegration of the American armies. His “rescue” of Maddie’s uncle gains him a commission to hunt patriot spies for the British. That gives him valuable access, but puts him in perpetual danger as he tries to protect the spies he supposed to hunt, and hunts the one the British are trying hardest to protect.

Maddie, not knowing Ethan is really serving the Americans, risks her own safety to gain intelligence from her uncle. She further risks her safety trying get it through the lines to her best friend’s fiancé, who Ethan is supposed to capture.

The plot takes twists and turns worthy of a good spy novel, as well they should, since Washington’s spy ring was legendary. The final chapters of the book had me up far into the night, because I could not put the book down until I finished.

Historical Worldbuilding

This book does a wonderful job of putting readers right in revolutionary Philadelphia during the war. The details about the uniforms, weapons, spy tactics, and war history are all on target. This book may appeal to readers looking for a good Revolutionary War era suspense novel, as well as historical romance readers.

Plots against Washington’s life were rampant during the war, because the British new he was glue that held the army together, so the plot is rousing and realistic.

Tropes

This story rocks the secret identity trope, with Ethan unable to reveal his true identity, even as the romance unfolds. It is also a classic protector romance, since Ethan is a highly skilled army officer, with deadly skills he uses repeatedly throughout the novel to keep her safe.

Secondary Characters

Maggie’s step-mother, Agnes, is a thoroughly believable delight. Maggie’s uncle is a worthy villain, and if his manservant veers a bit far into villainy, it still works. There are a number of officers on both sides of the war who are well developed and enjoyable to live with for a few hundred pages.

Point of View

The point of view shifts fairly often, and includes many of the secondary characters, and often multiple characters in a single scene.

In Summary

• This story has a heartwarming romance and edge-of-your-seat adventure and suspense, based in solid history. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
• It is a historical romantic suspense, set in Philadelphia during the infamous Valley Forge winter during the American Revolution.
• The main characters are vivacious and exciting, and completely made for each other. Their reasons for not diving into each others arms right from the start make perfect sense, so when they do finally get there, it is eminently satisfying.
• The history is on target and fun.
• The tropes are hidden identity and protector.
• The heat level is about a 1.5 on a 5 point scale. It is sensual, but all actual sex takes place off the page.
• The novel takes place during a war, and therefore violence is part of the story, as are military justice and vigilantism.

Keep them coming!

Thank you to folks who have alerted me to new books, and please do continue to let me know about historical romances set in the Americas (including the Caribbean). I really fee like I am missing good historical romances set in Canada! My next novel takes place during the Seven Years War, and therefore involves Canadians, but it is set in upstate New York.

And please always remember that the easiest kindness you can do an author is to leave a review of their books on Amazon and other retailers’ sites!

Photo credit: National Park Service Digital Image Archives, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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