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Wicked Deceptions #3
The Lady Hellion
Lady Sophia Barnes doesn’t take no for an answer. Especially when she’s roaming London’s seedy underground…dressed as a man.
A rabble rouser for justice, Sophie’s latest mission is to fight for the rights of the poor, the wretched—and the employees at Madame Hartley’s brothel. She’s not concerned about the criminals who will cross her path, for Sophie has mastered the art of deception—including the art of wearing trousers. Now her fate is in her own hands, along with a loaded gun. All she needs is instruction on how to shoot it. But only one person can help her: Lord Quint, the man who broke her heart years ago. The man she won’t let destroy her again…
The last thing Damien Beecham, Viscount Quint, needs is an intrusion on his privacy, especially from the beautiful, exasperating woman he’s never stopped wanting. A woman with a perilously absurd request, no less. For Damien is fighting a battle of his own, one he wishes to keep hidden—along with his feelings for Lady Sophia. Yet that fight is as hopeless as stopping her outlandish plan. Soon all Quint knows for certain is that he will die trying to protect her…
A rabble rouser for justice, Sophie’s latest mission is to fight for the rights of the poor, the wretched—and the employees at Madame Hartley’s brothel. She’s not concerned about the criminals who will cross her path, for Sophie has mastered the art of deception—including the art of wearing trousers. Now her fate is in her own hands, along with a loaded gun. All she needs is instruction on how to shoot it. But only one person can help her: Lord Quint, the man who broke her heart years ago. The man she won’t let destroy her again…
The last thing Damien Beecham, Viscount Quint, needs is an intrusion on his privacy, especially from the beautiful, exasperating woman he’s never stopped wanting. A woman with a perilously absurd request, no less. For Damien is fighting a battle of his own, one he wishes to keep hidden—along with his feelings for Lady Sophia. Yet that fight is as hopeless as stopping her outlandish plan. Soon all Quint knows for certain is that he will die trying to protect her…
338 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 26, 2015
321 people are currently reading
1846 people want to read
About the author
Joanna Shupe
34 books2,573 followersWant a free Gilded Age read? Sign up for Joanna's newsletter and receive a link for The Knickerbocker Bride. You'll also be the first to hear about new books and discounts!
http://www.joannashupe.com/newsletter/
USA Today bestselling author JOANNA SHUPE has always loved history, ever since she saw her first Schoolhouse Rock cartoon. Since 2015, her books have appeared on numerous yearly “best of” lists, including Publishers Weekly, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Kobo, and BookPage.
She currently lives in New Jersey with her two spirited daughters and a dashing husband.
http://www.joannashupe.com/newsletter/
USA Today bestselling author JOANNA SHUPE has always loved history, ever since she saw her first Schoolhouse Rock cartoon. Since 2015, her books have appeared on numerous yearly “best of” lists, including Publishers Weekly, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Kobo, and BookPage.
She currently lives in New Jersey with her two spirited daughters and a dashing husband.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 302 reviews
January 31, 2025
This is an entertaining, well-written, steamy historical romance novel. It deals sensitively with mental illness, and has a likable female protagonist, a brilliant male protagonist, wit, a touch of humor, murder, intrigue, an unexpected twist, and a gratifying conclusion. This is a fabulous culmination of Ms. Shupe's outstanding Wicked Deceptions series, and it can be read as a stand alone, but it is even better when read in order, as loyal readers will appreciate the appearance of characters from the previous two novels. I listened to the audio book, and the narrator, Ms. Carmen Rose, has a lovely voice and does an outstanding job voicing the characters.
January 15, 2016
This is a tough review to write because it has to go negative and I dislike writing negative reviews. I try to be constructive but that's tough with this one.
The nuts and bolts of the writing on display here was alright. But the story, the characterization and (perhaps as a consequence of the latter) the romance were all seriously lacking. If historical romance were a swimming pool this author is well and truly in the shallow end with this book.
It suffers with CILD (contemporary in long dresses) syndrome. Young, unmarried woman going around London, dressed as a man investigating the mysterious deaths of prostitutes, sneaking into he hero's house and having sex with him in the middle of the night.
The hero has anxiety and agoraphobia of a sort which wasn't handled that well speaking as someone who has suffered awfully with anxiety in the past.
The mystery bored me and had no meat to it, I skimmed at the end, I didn't care what the resolution was and the secondary storyline with the hero's home office stuff was a level of unnecessary complication.
Then there were the American anachronisms:
"That's too bad!"
"No way she was doing that!"
"I guess she's upset!"
I guess it's too bad that there's no way I can recommend this book.
The nuts and bolts of the writing on display here was alright. But the story, the characterization and (perhaps as a consequence of the latter) the romance were all seriously lacking. If historical romance were a swimming pool this author is well and truly in the shallow end with this book.
It suffers with CILD (contemporary in long dresses) syndrome. Young, unmarried woman going around London, dressed as a man investigating the mysterious deaths of prostitutes, sneaking into he hero's house and having sex with him in the middle of the night.
The hero has anxiety and agoraphobia of a sort which wasn't handled that well speaking as someone who has suffered awfully with anxiety in the past.
The mystery bored me and had no meat to it, I skimmed at the end, I didn't care what the resolution was and the secondary storyline with the hero's home office stuff was a level of unnecessary complication.
Then there were the American anachronisms:
"That's too bad!"
"No way she was doing that!"
"I guess she's upset!"
I guess it's too bad that there's no way I can recommend this book.
no-way-jose
June 7, 2025No rating, DNF too soon. The heroine was just TSTL for me. Too modern for HR too.
I thought I would give this 3rd book in the series a try, even though the woman undercover in men’s clothes trope is one of my least favorite in the genre. I actually only got as far into the book as I did with the 2nd book in the series, The Harlot Countess.
I thought I would give this 3rd book in the series a try, even though the woman undercover in men’s clothes trope is one of my least favorite in the genre. I actually only got as far into the book as I did with the 2nd book in the series, The Harlot Countess.
November 20, 2021
Joanna Shupe does it again!! I really enjoyed this one.
I've been wanting to try Shupe's earlier books for awhile, and I decided to start with book #3 in the Wicked Deceptions series solely because I found a physical copy at a used bookstore lol. While certain elements of it read like the UK version of The Devil of Downtown (one of Shupe's Gilded Age NYC books that I love) I still had a great time reading it!
I loved both the hero and the heroine, Quint/Damien and Sophie. They were both true to themselves and offered slight grumpy/sunshine trope vibes with Quint as an agoraphobic scholar and Sophie as a bold and brazen lady running amok in London with little regard for propriety. The murder/mystery elements were woven in well and I enjoyed seeing Quint and Sophie work together while helping one another become better people and falling in love.
The couples from the first two books in the series play a fairly prominent role in this story, so if that might bother you I'd recommend reading the series in order. It didn't affect my understanding of the story at all, but I also wasn't able to appreciate the friendships among the characters as Shupe likely intended. Also we randomly get a POV from the hero from the first book for a few paragraphs at the end of one chapter, which was really strange and felt unnecessary.
Lastly, I did find this to be a bit slow in the beginning, but around the 25% mark it really picked up and I could not put it down. Overall, I'd recommend it and will most likely return to the previous books at some point in the future.
I've been wanting to try Shupe's earlier books for awhile, and I decided to start with book #3 in the Wicked Deceptions series solely because I found a physical copy at a used bookstore lol. While certain elements of it read like the UK version of The Devil of Downtown (one of Shupe's Gilded Age NYC books that I love) I still had a great time reading it!
I loved both the hero and the heroine, Quint/Damien and Sophie. They were both true to themselves and offered slight grumpy/sunshine trope vibes with Quint as an agoraphobic scholar and Sophie as a bold and brazen lady running amok in London with little regard for propriety. The murder/mystery elements were woven in well and I enjoyed seeing Quint and Sophie work together while helping one another become better people and falling in love.
The couples from the first two books in the series play a fairly prominent role in this story, so if that might bother you I'd recommend reading the series in order. It didn't affect my understanding of the story at all, but I also wasn't able to appreciate the friendships among the characters as Shupe likely intended. Also we randomly get a POV from the hero from the first book for a few paragraphs at the end of one chapter, which was really strange and felt unnecessary.
Lastly, I did find this to be a bit slow in the beginning, but around the 25% mark it really picked up and I could not put it down. Overall, I'd recommend it and will most likely return to the previous books at some point in the future.
September 13, 2022
⭐⭐⭐💫
3½ stars.
➕ What I liked :
Interesting main characters and interesting plot.
Tall heroine.
➖ What I disliked:
The story has a somewhat contemporary vibe to it …. how they talk and behave etc.
3½ stars.
➕ What I liked :
Interesting main characters and interesting plot.
Tall heroine.
➖ What I disliked:
The story has a somewhat contemporary vibe to it …. how they talk and behave etc.
March 16, 2022
I'm reading Joanna Shupe's backlist and this is the last in the first series she wrote (that I'm aware of). "Wicked Deceptions" in an accurate title for the series, as there is a lot of lying and manipulation in these stories. That being said, I think this third and final installment is the best of the lot.
The male main character, Damien/Quint, is a brilliant man convinced that he is prone to mental illness like his father. He's engrossed in cracking a cipher for the government for most of the book while also documenting and attempting to treat panic attacks that started after he was shot at the end of the last book.
The female main character, Sophia, is a "spinster" at 27 whose father insists that she get married this year. She has several reasons for avoiding marriage. She has been spending her evenings investigating a series of disappearances of women who work in brothels and gaming hells. She had nursed Quint after his injury, but he doesn't remember that time.
So we have the main romantic storyline of the two friends discussing Quint's "fits" and Sophia's investigations and Quint’s work for the government. Of course, they grow together, as is expected. The subplots were interesting and involved friends and family nicely. All six characters from the series make appearances, with the men playing fairly major roles. I think that was memorable, as lots of series let characters from previous books fade into the background.
The male main character, Damien/Quint, is a brilliant man convinced that he is prone to mental illness like his father. He's engrossed in cracking a cipher for the government for most of the book while also documenting and attempting to treat panic attacks that started after he was shot at the end of the last book.
The female main character, Sophia, is a "spinster" at 27 whose father insists that she get married this year. She has several reasons for avoiding marriage. She has been spending her evenings investigating a series of disappearances of women who work in brothels and gaming hells. She had nursed Quint after his injury, but he doesn't remember that time.
So we have the main romantic storyline of the two friends discussing Quint's "fits" and Sophia's investigations and Quint’s work for the government. Of course, they grow together, as is expected. The subplots were interesting and involved friends and family nicely. All six characters from the series make appearances, with the men playing fairly major roles. I think that was memorable, as lots of series let characters from previous books fade into the background.
October 18, 2015
Great Book. Great Series! Highly recommend them all (audible review)
Wow this story was probably my favorite of the entire series, and they are all very good. I really enjoyed the heroine. She was smart, spunky, daring, beautiful, and just a joy. I also really enjoyed the hero. He was just great. I loved that his character was handsome, smart, and a bit flawed with his anxiety issues. The chemistry between these two was great! Genuine, real and very hot and steamy. Yes there are some very well written hot and steamy sex scenes, but not over the top.
The story line and plot was great! There is a serial killer on the loose and our heroine has take it upon herself to find out who the culprit is. Very good story line. And the killer, that was a surprise for sure. I was glad to see the characters from the previous books show up. That was nice.
This story is fool of dialogue. Lots and lots of it. Which made the story even better. Not full of angst or any of that nonsense. I really have enjoyed this author so much.
As for the narration. It seemed to get better as the books went on. I do think she still needs to work on her mens voices for sure. (the odd thing was the voice she used for Sophia when she was dressed as a man investigating was better than the hero's voice) She should use that voice for her hero's. She does do all the cockney voices well like Alice her maid. The reading voice was less robotic too.
I highly recommend this series 100%! I hope to see more of her books on audible in the future.
Wow this story was probably my favorite of the entire series, and they are all very good. I really enjoyed the heroine. She was smart, spunky, daring, beautiful, and just a joy. I also really enjoyed the hero. He was just great. I loved that his character was handsome, smart, and a bit flawed with his anxiety issues. The chemistry between these two was great! Genuine, real and very hot and steamy. Yes there are some very well written hot and steamy sex scenes, but not over the top.
The story line and plot was great! There is a serial killer on the loose and our heroine has take it upon herself to find out who the culprit is. Very good story line. And the killer, that was a surprise for sure. I was glad to see the characters from the previous books show up. That was nice.
This story is fool of dialogue. Lots and lots of it. Which made the story even better. Not full of angst or any of that nonsense. I really have enjoyed this author so much.
As for the narration. It seemed to get better as the books went on. I do think she still needs to work on her mens voices for sure. (the odd thing was the voice she used for Sophia when she was dressed as a man investigating was better than the hero's voice) She should use that voice for her hero's. She does do all the cockney voices well like Alice her maid. The reading voice was less robotic too.
I highly recommend this series 100%! I hope to see more of her books on audible in the future.
December 19, 2020
I tried, I really did, but... DNF.
February 6, 2023
3.5⭐
Better than the previous part of the series. Just because there's more action, which I like.
I have to admit that I rolled my eyes a couple of times because of the heroine.
Better than the previous part of the series. Just because there's more action, which I like.
I have to admit that I rolled my eyes a couple of times because of the heroine.
February 10, 2016
Frumoasa, amuzanta, plina de emoție, iubire si cu o buna doza de suspans!
October 29, 2017
За мен това е най-слабата книга от поредицата Порочни лъжи. Доста ме подразни параноята на Куинт и страха му от полудяване...В началото си помислих, че ще бъде интересно разследването на изчезналите момичета от Софи, но така и не беше разгърната тази история в сюжета.Не и така, че да ми стане интересно кой е убиеца, а от друга страна не ми допаднаха и самите герои.
April 25, 2015
I have really enjoyed this series, and was really looking forward to the third book because of the unusual, quirky and uselessly cute hero. Joanna Shupe is a talented new historical romance author.
However, once I read the blurb I knew this wouldn’t be my favourite in the series. The woman undercover in men’s clothes trope is far and away my least favourite in the genre.
One of the biggest problems with this theme is that I can barely buy a regular woman of the Georgian era dressing as a man and going undercover in brothels. But as the historical romance genre is obsessed with the aristocracy we have a daughter of nobility doing it, and that’s one massive anachronism too far for me.
I don’t think this is a bad book, not at all. It still has the complex plotting and the good writing that I’ve seen in the author’s other work. It’s just that it was too unbelievable for me to really get into. When I read books in this genre I sometimes stop and think: What would Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet do? And she definitely wouldn’t have done anything the characters in this book did!
I’ll give the author props for the proper spelling of arse, but must point out that outside of America it’s knives and forks, not forks and knives!
If you’re fine with cross-dressing heroines in your historical romances, you’ll probably really enjoy this, especially so if you don’t stop and wonder how nobody noticed the “man’s” voice was a woman’s! However, it just wasn’t my sort of book, though I would strongly recommend the others in the series.
Review copy provided by NetGalley.
However, once I read the blurb I knew this wouldn’t be my favourite in the series. The woman undercover in men’s clothes trope is far and away my least favourite in the genre.
One of the biggest problems with this theme is that I can barely buy a regular woman of the Georgian era dressing as a man and going undercover in brothels. But as the historical romance genre is obsessed with the aristocracy we have a daughter of nobility doing it, and that’s one massive anachronism too far for me.
I don’t think this is a bad book, not at all. It still has the complex plotting and the good writing that I’ve seen in the author’s other work. It’s just that it was too unbelievable for me to really get into. When I read books in this genre I sometimes stop and think: What would Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet do? And she definitely wouldn’t have done anything the characters in this book did!
I’ll give the author props for the proper spelling of arse, but must point out that outside of America it’s knives and forks, not forks and knives!
If you’re fine with cross-dressing heroines in your historical romances, you’ll probably really enjoy this, especially so if you don’t stop and wonder how nobody noticed the “man’s” voice was a woman’s! However, it just wasn’t my sort of book, though I would strongly recommend the others in the series.
Review copy provided by NetGalley.
July 25, 2015
This was a good ending to the trilogy, but wish we could have had a epi as I would have liked to have known how Quint was doing long term. I do hope that JS is going to write McLean a story, as he has been built to be such an intriguing character in the book. PS I checked her website and she wrote a epi for the entire series, but it got cut, but is posted on her website under extras. It was pretty sweet and I thank her for putting it up.
Read
August 16, 2015My Favorite One!
I've loved all the Wicked Deceptions book, and this is by far my favorite. Quint believes himself broken, but as we know today PTSD is not untreatable. And Sophie is by far an unconventional heroine. While Quint isn't the reformed rogue or the manly man that Nick and Simon, he is definitely my favorite hero of this series!
However, I have high hopes for the Scotsman MacLean and hope he gets a book soon!!
I've loved all the Wicked Deceptions book, and this is by far my favorite. Quint believes himself broken, but as we know today PTSD is not untreatable. And Sophie is by far an unconventional heroine. While Quint isn't the reformed rogue or the manly man that Nick and Simon, he is definitely my favorite hero of this series!
However, I have high hopes for the Scotsman MacLean and hope he gets a book soon!!
September 17, 2016
I've given this a C at AAR.
This is the final book in Ms Shupe’s Wicked Deceptions trilogy in which the stories are linked by the three male protagonists, who are long-term friends. I enjoyed the first book (The Courtesan Duchess) and felt Ms Shupe was an author to watch. She writes well, her characters are strongly drawn and she can certainly turn up the heat when called for.
Yet I was a little reluctant to pick up this book, despite having enjoyed meeting its hero, Damien Beecham, Viscount Quint, in the previous stories. My lack of enthusiasm was entirely due to the fact that the eponymous Lady Hellion spends a lot of time running about dressed as a man in order to pursue the investigations she undertakes – and “chicks-in-strides” is my least favourite trope in the entire canon of historical romance.
But I was keen to reacquaint myself with Quint, so I decided to suspend my disbelief and read The Lady Hellion anyway - and it turned out to be an okay read, if not an especially deep one. The story picks up shortly after the previous book leaves off; and we learn that Quint, who was shot trying to help Lady Maggie Hawkins escape the clutches of a murderous blackmailer, is seriously ill.
Lady Sophie Barnes, daughter of the Marquess of Ardington, is vibrant, beautiful, unmarried and intends to remain so. Now aged twenty-eight, Sophie believes that a youthful indiscretion has rendered her unfit for marriage, a circumstance which led to her rejecting the one suitor (Quint) she truly cared for some years earlier. In any case, she doesn’t want to surrender her independence or the purpose she has found in undertaking investigations on behalf of those who are too poor and insignificant to be able to seek justice for themselves – most of whom are female servants or prostitutes.
Her investigations often take her into many of the less respectable parts of London, so Sophie, who is tall and lithe and who wears her hair short, disguises herself as a young man. The author attempts to make it seem plausible that she manages to get away with it by mentioning that she disguises herself only at night (because the light is poorer) and saying that Sophie has to alter the pitch of her voice – but as anyone who listens to audiobooks as often as I do will know, there is only so far even the most highly skilled vocal actress can go in making herself sound like a man. And I just couldn’t buy the ease with which the daughter of a marquess is able to sneak in and out of her home at all hours of the day and night. As I said, the whole girl-in-breeches thing rarely works for me – so instead, I focused my attentions on Viscount Quint, who is a charming, rumpled, sexy geek of a hero, and definitely the best thing about the book.
Following his recovery from a serious fever, Quint has become something of a recluse, finding himself unable to put a foot outside his home without turning into a quivering wreck. As a boy, he watched his father succumb to madness, and now, given the terrible fits he has begun to experience, Quint believes himself to be travelling the same path. He reminded me rather of Dorian Camoys, the hero of Loretta Chase’s The Mad Earl’s Bride in that respect; it’s easy for the reader to figure out what’s wrong with him given our twenty-first century viewpoint, but all Damien knows is that he is subject to debilitating episodes and fears the worst.
Having seen his father’s condition destroy his mother, Quint knows that marriage is out of the question, no matter how much he still longs for Sophie. When he learns of her secret double life and the reasons for it, he is horrified – not because of a sense of outraged propriety, but because he fears for her safety – fears which are borne out when she is set upon one night and almost killed. Unable to accompany her, and knowing she won’t listen to his pleas for her to stop, Quint instead agrees to help her by working behind the scenes and makes her promise to keep him fully informed and not to act without his consent.
This is an odd set up – a heroine who can’t (or won’t) stop putting herself into danger from which the hero is physically unable to extract her because he can’t leave his house. Sophie, is, of course, convinced that she will be able to “fix” Quint, an attitude I found incredibly patronising seeing as she has no idea that what he’s really suffering from are severe panic attacks – and he’s convinced he’s going round the bend, so before the sexytimes commence, he makes it clear he isn’t planning to marry her. It’s true that Quint is supposed to be eccentric and unconventional, but I found it difficult to believe he would be THAT unconventional. He’s a gentleman, and to have sex with a well-bred young woman and have no intention of marrying her (for whatever reason) just doesn’t ring true. Mind you, Ms Shupe gets some brownie points for writing a hero who uses contraception other than the withdrawal method! And while I’m on the subject, the sex scenes are written in a way rather unusual for the genre; instead of the usual euphemisms, when we’re in Quint’s PoV, we get correct anatomical terms which, while perhaps intended to indicate Quint’s erudition, are not very sensual or romantic.
There’s a sub-plot about Quint’s work for the government as a code-breaker which doesn’t add much to the overall story (and is another instance of the author over-egging the pudding, as I found with The Courtesan Duchess), and I did get rather tired of Sophie’s refusal to acknowledge the danger to which she repeatedly subjects herself. Quint is a one of my favourite kinds of hero – the beta with a take-charge streak – but he’s wasted here. There’s a fair amount of chemistry between the couple, but ultimately, the story wasn’t strong enough for me to be able to forget my dislike of the cross-dressing trope, and Sophie strayed too close to TSTL for my taste. I plan to read more by Ms Shupe, but The Lady Hellion, in spite of its being well-written, was a bit of a disappointment.
This is the final book in Ms Shupe’s Wicked Deceptions trilogy in which the stories are linked by the three male protagonists, who are long-term friends. I enjoyed the first book (The Courtesan Duchess) and felt Ms Shupe was an author to watch. She writes well, her characters are strongly drawn and she can certainly turn up the heat when called for.
Yet I was a little reluctant to pick up this book, despite having enjoyed meeting its hero, Damien Beecham, Viscount Quint, in the previous stories. My lack of enthusiasm was entirely due to the fact that the eponymous Lady Hellion spends a lot of time running about dressed as a man in order to pursue the investigations she undertakes – and “chicks-in-strides” is my least favourite trope in the entire canon of historical romance.
But I was keen to reacquaint myself with Quint, so I decided to suspend my disbelief and read The Lady Hellion anyway - and it turned out to be an okay read, if not an especially deep one. The story picks up shortly after the previous book leaves off; and we learn that Quint, who was shot trying to help Lady Maggie Hawkins escape the clutches of a murderous blackmailer, is seriously ill.
Lady Sophie Barnes, daughter of the Marquess of Ardington, is vibrant, beautiful, unmarried and intends to remain so. Now aged twenty-eight, Sophie believes that a youthful indiscretion has rendered her unfit for marriage, a circumstance which led to her rejecting the one suitor (Quint) she truly cared for some years earlier. In any case, she doesn’t want to surrender her independence or the purpose she has found in undertaking investigations on behalf of those who are too poor and insignificant to be able to seek justice for themselves – most of whom are female servants or prostitutes.
Her investigations often take her into many of the less respectable parts of London, so Sophie, who is tall and lithe and who wears her hair short, disguises herself as a young man. The author attempts to make it seem plausible that she manages to get away with it by mentioning that she disguises herself only at night (because the light is poorer) and saying that Sophie has to alter the pitch of her voice – but as anyone who listens to audiobooks as often as I do will know, there is only so far even the most highly skilled vocal actress can go in making herself sound like a man. And I just couldn’t buy the ease with which the daughter of a marquess is able to sneak in and out of her home at all hours of the day and night. As I said, the whole girl-in-breeches thing rarely works for me – so instead, I focused my attentions on Viscount Quint, who is a charming, rumpled, sexy geek of a hero, and definitely the best thing about the book.
Following his recovery from a serious fever, Quint has become something of a recluse, finding himself unable to put a foot outside his home without turning into a quivering wreck. As a boy, he watched his father succumb to madness, and now, given the terrible fits he has begun to experience, Quint believes himself to be travelling the same path. He reminded me rather of Dorian Camoys, the hero of Loretta Chase’s The Mad Earl’s Bride in that respect; it’s easy for the reader to figure out what’s wrong with him given our twenty-first century viewpoint, but all Damien knows is that he is subject to debilitating episodes and fears the worst.
Having seen his father’s condition destroy his mother, Quint knows that marriage is out of the question, no matter how much he still longs for Sophie. When he learns of her secret double life and the reasons for it, he is horrified – not because of a sense of outraged propriety, but because he fears for her safety – fears which are borne out when she is set upon one night and almost killed. Unable to accompany her, and knowing she won’t listen to his pleas for her to stop, Quint instead agrees to help her by working behind the scenes and makes her promise to keep him fully informed and not to act without his consent.
This is an odd set up – a heroine who can’t (or won’t) stop putting herself into danger from which the hero is physically unable to extract her because he can’t leave his house. Sophie, is, of course, convinced that she will be able to “fix” Quint, an attitude I found incredibly patronising seeing as she has no idea that what he’s really suffering from are severe panic attacks – and he’s convinced he’s going round the bend, so before the sexytimes commence, he makes it clear he isn’t planning to marry her. It’s true that Quint is supposed to be eccentric and unconventional, but I found it difficult to believe he would be THAT unconventional. He’s a gentleman, and to have sex with a well-bred young woman and have no intention of marrying her (for whatever reason) just doesn’t ring true. Mind you, Ms Shupe gets some brownie points for writing a hero who uses contraception other than the withdrawal method! And while I’m on the subject, the sex scenes are written in a way rather unusual for the genre; instead of the usual euphemisms, when we’re in Quint’s PoV, we get correct anatomical terms which, while perhaps intended to indicate Quint’s erudition, are not very sensual or romantic.
There’s a sub-plot about Quint’s work for the government as a code-breaker which doesn’t add much to the overall story (and is another instance of the author over-egging the pudding, as I found with The Courtesan Duchess), and I did get rather tired of Sophie’s refusal to acknowledge the danger to which she repeatedly subjects herself. Quint is a one of my favourite kinds of hero – the beta with a take-charge streak – but he’s wasted here. There’s a fair amount of chemistry between the couple, but ultimately, the story wasn’t strong enough for me to be able to forget my dislike of the cross-dressing trope, and Sophie strayed too close to TSTL for my taste. I plan to read more by Ms Shupe, but The Lady Hellion, in spite of its being well-written, was a bit of a disappointment.
February 4, 2023
The mystery holds us until the end. Although at times the investigation swallowed the romance between the MCs (I prefer to read more romantic interactions between characters than properly about investigations and agents), I liked the book quite a lot.
The characters have good chemistry, and Quint's paranoia is also peculiar. Maybe this book was my favorite of the series; I don't know; it's at the level of the first book for different reasons!
The characters have good chemistry, and Quint's paranoia is also peculiar. Maybe this book was my favorite of the series; I don't know; it's at the level of the first book for different reasons!
August 27, 2025
This was a fun series.
February 27, 2015
But don't take my word for it... Check out Quint, an agoraphobic genius, and Sophie, a lady dressed as a man and running amok in the London night.
November 4, 2017
Is it amazing, when you stumble into an exqisite writer you didn't know you'll love and they've already published a bunch of books? The Lady Helloin has opened my eyes to Joanna Shupe and I'm a convert. This was a bold, steamy, lovely, emotional regency escape for me, I highly recommed it and I'm getting the rest of her books asap.
August 24, 2022
4'5/5⭐
May 21, 2015
If you have been reading the first two novels in Ms. Joanna Shupe’s wickedly entertaining Wicked Deceptions series, then you have been just as anxious as myself in learning of Lady Sophia Barnes’ latest adventures – or should I say ‘misadventures’. After all lady Sophia has emerged as one of the most rebellious rabble rousers for justice. Not that the ton knew what she was up to as she donned the persona of Sir Stephen while roaming London’s sordid underbelly of gaming hell’s and brothels.
From the very beginning of this series, there has been a malevolent evil stalking the innocent ladies of the evenings who make a living working the brothels. As her two best friends and co-conspirators have settled into marriage and impending motherhood, Sophia feels it is her duty to carry on and discover who is killing and maiming the women. However, as it unfolds, playing the part of Sir Stephen has landed Lady Sophia in somewhat of a jam as she has been called out to participate in a duel. The only person she can call on to help her is Damien Beecham, Viscount Quint - the one man who had broken her heart and whom she needs to teach her how to shoot a gun!
What Sophia didn’t know is that Quint, has never gotten over her and is fearful he is on his own way to a break down, just like his father who had gone mad. He is trying his best to keep Lady Sophia at bay, rather than let her know just how much he wants her and will practically die in the process of trying to protect her.
In LADY HELLION Ms. Shupe has outdid herself in creating the suspense and romance that has gained her such a following with her first two books in this series. I really loved the idea of using a hero, who was going through his own very emotional battle to while trying to do all he could to protect the woman he could not openly love.
With Sophia, she felt that she would never be a lady wife so she took her chances of ruination should her alter ego be discovered. Her self-esteem had been destroyed along with her innocence years ago and her passionate nature was something that she had been made to feel ashamed of. After all, Quint, the one man she been loved above all others had gone ahead and proposed to someone else soon after she had kissed him, so naturally he couldn’t have felt anything for her.
With so much going on - LADY HELLION simply sped along, so many secrets, betrayals, miscommunication, as well as humor and one very evil villain all added to a most entertaining read and a great ending to this marvelous series! Bravo Ms Shupe - can’t wait to see what you come up with next.
Marilyn Rondeau
From the very beginning of this series, there has been a malevolent evil stalking the innocent ladies of the evenings who make a living working the brothels. As her two best friends and co-conspirators have settled into marriage and impending motherhood, Sophia feels it is her duty to carry on and discover who is killing and maiming the women. However, as it unfolds, playing the part of Sir Stephen has landed Lady Sophia in somewhat of a jam as she has been called out to participate in a duel. The only person she can call on to help her is Damien Beecham, Viscount Quint - the one man who had broken her heart and whom she needs to teach her how to shoot a gun!
What Sophia didn’t know is that Quint, has never gotten over her and is fearful he is on his own way to a break down, just like his father who had gone mad. He is trying his best to keep Lady Sophia at bay, rather than let her know just how much he wants her and will practically die in the process of trying to protect her.
In LADY HELLION Ms. Shupe has outdid herself in creating the suspense and romance that has gained her such a following with her first two books in this series. I really loved the idea of using a hero, who was going through his own very emotional battle to while trying to do all he could to protect the woman he could not openly love.
With Sophia, she felt that she would never be a lady wife so she took her chances of ruination should her alter ego be discovered. Her self-esteem had been destroyed along with her innocence years ago and her passionate nature was something that she had been made to feel ashamed of. After all, Quint, the one man she been loved above all others had gone ahead and proposed to someone else soon after she had kissed him, so naturally he couldn’t have felt anything for her.
With so much going on - LADY HELLION simply sped along, so many secrets, betrayals, miscommunication, as well as humor and one very evil villain all added to a most entertaining read and a great ending to this marvelous series! Bravo Ms Shupe - can’t wait to see what you come up with next.
Marilyn Rondeau
October 1, 2020
You can lump this under the PC historical romance category.
I've enjoyed how Joanna Shupe's Wicked Deceptions works with independent heroines without being too on the nose. On a complete side note, give Amanda Quick all the applause for writing independent and smart heroines back in the 90s. They may be a lil quirky sometimes but they show, not tell.
Lady Sophie in The Lady Hellion is one of those independent heroines. Her interests include dressing up as a man in order to help courtesan friends communicate with each other across different brothels, so she is basically a walking pager/one-woman messenger service for brothel workers. Lady Sophie soon gets embroiled in a mystery of dead women and Damien is, against his will, pulled in to help her discover who is the killer before it is too late.
Let's applaud a very unique hero and heroine in The Lady Hellion. From the very first page, Lady Sophie is the active energy of the story. She literally saves Damien from near-death and without her, nothing would happen. Why?
Because after the events of The Harlot Countess, Damien thinks he is going to have early on-set Alzheimer's, so he decides to barricade himself in the house and wait for the crazy to come to him.
I have a problem with Damien's decision because it is uncharacteristic of him. However, I don't have a problem with the fact that Damien's solution is meditation. Always a great idea. His inability to go anywhere reminds me a lot of Anna Campbell's Untouched, one of my favourite stories. Damien's other thing is that he is badly dressed. I am trying to remember a messy hero but I think Damien is the first badly dressed hero that I've read in a long while - ever? Damien is so much in his own world that he doesn't own a valet and so his clothing is always slightly off since he puts anything clean on and goes back to his business.
Lady Sophie and Damien are intriguing together but the plot wasn't intriguing enough. Their back story is also muddled. So Damien kissed Sophie once but she told him something he misconstrued so he proposed marriage to someone else in order to prove something to Sophie? Now they haven't seen each other in a few years until Sophie decides to waltz into his place late at night? Some of my favourite romances make absolutely no sense when you spell them out but I still love them. The Lady Hellion isn't one of them.
I've enjoyed how Joanna Shupe's Wicked Deceptions works with independent heroines without being too on the nose. On a complete side note, give Amanda Quick all the applause for writing independent and smart heroines back in the 90s. They may be a lil quirky sometimes but they show, not tell.
Lady Sophie in The Lady Hellion is one of those independent heroines. Her interests include dressing up as a man in order to help courtesan friends communicate with each other across different brothels, so she is basically a walking pager/one-woman messenger service for brothel workers. Lady Sophie soon gets embroiled in a mystery of dead women and Damien is, against his will, pulled in to help her discover who is the killer before it is too late.
Let's applaud a very unique hero and heroine in The Lady Hellion. From the very first page, Lady Sophie is the active energy of the story. She literally saves Damien from near-death and without her, nothing would happen. Why?
Because after the events of The Harlot Countess, Damien thinks he is going to have early on-set Alzheimer's, so he decides to barricade himself in the house and wait for the crazy to come to him.
I have a problem with Damien's decision because it is uncharacteristic of him. However, I don't have a problem with the fact that Damien's solution is meditation. Always a great idea. His inability to go anywhere reminds me a lot of Anna Campbell's Untouched, one of my favourite stories. Damien's other thing is that he is badly dressed. I am trying to remember a messy hero but I think Damien is the first badly dressed hero that I've read in a long while - ever? Damien is so much in his own world that he doesn't own a valet and so his clothing is always slightly off since he puts anything clean on and goes back to his business.
Lady Sophie and Damien are intriguing together but the plot wasn't intriguing enough. Their back story is also muddled. So Damien kissed Sophie once but she told him something he misconstrued so he proposed marriage to someone else in order to prove something to Sophie? Now they haven't seen each other in a few years until Sophie decides to waltz into his place late at night? Some of my favourite romances make absolutely no sense when you spell them out but I still love them. The Lady Hellion isn't one of them.
June 15, 2022
I enjoyed the first book in the series, so when this came on sale I bought it. I got to 48% before I couldn’t go on. There were too many implausible things, such as the heroine being able to sneak out every night dressed as a man, or flit about during the day unchaperoned, visit a bachelor day after day and not get caught. Maybe once or twice, but constantly? Also, if she’s out every night investigating, when the heck does she sleep???
I ended up skipping to the end to see who the killer was—and I didn’t recognize the character as having been introduced earlier ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The hero was a scientist, so love scenes written from his pov used clinical terms which I found rather jarring for a romance.
I just wasn’t invested in the characters at almost halfway through, so this is DNF.
I ended up skipping to the end to see who the killer was—and I didn’t recognize the character as having been introduced earlier ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The hero was a scientist, so love scenes written from his pov used clinical terms which I found rather jarring for a romance.
I just wasn’t invested in the characters at almost halfway through, so this is DNF.
April 30, 2015
Lady Sophia Barnes is a head strong and independent who wants to live her life her way. In the times when woman don't have many choices. She has to work with her limitations. Lady Sophia is smart and confident who wants to help ladies who can't get help. Damien Beecham, Viscount Quint is struggling with some of his own issues. He wants to lock himself up in his private world. Lady Sophia is a force in herself, she invades Damien's household and tries to help him. It is a sweet and heartfelt story. I love this series. I am very happy to discover this wonderful new author. I received a complimentary copy from the publisher thru NetGalley for an honest review.
December 17, 2017
Цялото ревю тук: http://thecrazyadmins.info/index.php/...
Джоана Шуп има талант, повече от приличен стил на писане, който завладява със своята детайлност и колоритни герои, които не спазват обществените порядки и дори са заклеймени от каймака на оществото, което винаги е предпоставка за вълнуващ сюжет. Като обобщение мога да кажа, че поредицата е една от най-интересните в жанра, почти толкова колкото "Тайни" от Нермин Безмен или книгите от Лорейн Хийт. "Дяволската лейди" дори има претенции да е нещо повече от предшествениците си - "Херцогинята куртизанка" и "Графинята блудница", като надгражда образите на всеки един от героите и дава на читателя един достоен завършек на трилогията.
Джоана Шуп има талант, повече от приличен стил на писане, който завладява със своята детайлност и колоритни герои, които не спазват обществените порядки и дори са заклеймени от каймака на оществото, което винаги е предпоставка за вълнуващ сюжет. Като обобщение мога да кажа, че поредицата е една от най-интересните в жанра, почти толкова колкото "Тайни" от Нермин Безмен или книгите от Лорейн Хийт. "Дяволската лейди" дори има претенции да е нещо повече от предшествениците си - "Херцогинята куртизанка" и "Графинята блудница", като надгражда образите на всеки един от героите и дава на читателя един достоен завършек на трилогията.
April 18, 2022
Lady Sophia is on a mission to find the killer of young prostitutes. Dressed as Lord Stephen, she visits brothels at night to find clues. Lord Quint is the man she's loved for several years. When she finds him wounded, nothing will stop her from healing him. Once he learns of her quest he has to protect her, only he panics trying to leave his house after being shot. Is he going mad? Finding a murderer, cracking a code, trying to protect Sophia and overcoming his affliction, Quint can't let Sophia out of his heart, no matter how hard he tries.
Shupe's rollercoaster who done it is an adventurous ride to the end.
Shupe's rollercoaster who done it is an adventurous ride to the end.
July 29, 2018
I liked how Joanna Shupe wrote the male lead in this one. He's the one staying at home, while she's the one going out, kicking ass and taking names. It was a nice change of pace!
May 21, 2018
Lady Sophia
I absolutely loved this series! The final book featuring Sophie was the best of them all!!
I absolutely loved this series! The final book featuring Sophie was the best of them all!!
May 28, 2024
I would hate to live in a time when having a panic attack meant I was basically dead or going to be committed.
October 22, 2015
* First published on book blog WillReadforFeels.com
* I received this book for free from Tasty Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
When you come to the last book of any series, even if it’s just a trilogy or a quartet, you’ve followed from the first book onward, the experience is always a little bittersweet. On one hand, you are happy that you’re getting closure (ideally an HEA for the heroes and a suitable form of punishment for the villains), but on the other, you’re sad because you’re uncertain you’ll see snippets of those characters’ futures in the author’s other books. Add to that the excitement of the knowledge that, in a series, the best books are usually the first and the last, and you’re desperately hoping your author has decided to end things with a bang.
Joanna Shupe did not disappoint with Book 3 in the Wicked Deceptions trilogy, The Lady Hellion. This book turned the spotlight on the adorably nerdy Viscount Quint, whom we first met in The Courtesan Duchess (Book 1) and fell slightly in love with in The Harlot Countess (Book 2), and on the intrepid Lady Sophie Barnes, who made a striking debut into our consciousness in The Harlot Countess. When I finished Book 2, I decided Quint’s story was going to be the best one of the trilogy, and boy was I right!
First of all, by the time this novel ends, there’s no hesitation about the eminent book-boyfriend-worthiness of Damien Beecham, Viscount Quint. He’s noble and self-sacrificing, staggeringly independent, and adorably vulnerable. Unlike his two friends, who might has well been dragged kicking and screaming into love, he is and has always been in love, and he’s not the kind of man to lie to himself, no matter how much he might deny it to others. He’s got a terrifying future ahead of him, yet with Sophie’s help, he works to overcome the things that stand in his way. And when she needs him most, of course, he is absolutely there for her, fears notwithstanding.
Sophie, on the other hand, is everything I have said I loved about Regency heroines. Unmarried at 28, she could be a retiring spinster resigned to her spot on the shelf, but instead she has noble and oftentimes dangerous pursuits of her own, and she’s got all the fire and ferocity you could want in a female heroine from any romance, historical or contemporary. She also has no problems at all acknowledging to herself how much she cares for Quint. And she’s determined to help him, even (and perhaps especially) when he isn’t inclined to help himself.
And that’s the beauty of this story, that love is never in question. It hardly is, in romance, at least that’s the automatic presumption a reader is going to have when he or she picks up a book in this genre. But if most romance novels I’ve read are anything to go by, you couldn’t tell the hero and heroine that. Such is not the case here, and it’s absolutely refreshing.
But love isn’t all that’s in the story. There’s a good dose of intrigue too. Who’s been breaking into Quint’s house? Who’s the spy in his household? Who is killing prostitutes and throwing their mutilated bodies into the Thames? It must have been a challenge to write about a serial killer before the term (or the knowledge of such evil people) became public knowledge. And readers like myself who are fans of thrillers and of police procedurals are quick to identify the UNSUB’s signature and victim profile, but it’s interesting to see the characters struggle with it, as was necessitated by the time period. Plus, unlike the other two books, I wasn’t able to guess the culprit until just before the big reveal, so Ms. Shupe has definitely leveled up on her mystery-making magic.
To wrap things up, I do want to say that this is the best of the three books, but it’s very likely partially because of the feels that started building in Book 1, continued on in Book 2, and culminated in this third book. I suppose it could be read as a standalone, although I don’t think a reader would appreciate it quite as well without reading the other books first. That being said, when I came to the end of this book, despite an acknowledged instant book hangover, I couldn’t help doing a little mental cheer that Ms. Shupe had delivered on everything that was promised and hinted at—and more!
* I received this book for free from Tasty Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
When you come to the last book of any series, even if it’s just a trilogy or a quartet, you’ve followed from the first book onward, the experience is always a little bittersweet. On one hand, you are happy that you’re getting closure (ideally an HEA for the heroes and a suitable form of punishment for the villains), but on the other, you’re sad because you’re uncertain you’ll see snippets of those characters’ futures in the author’s other books. Add to that the excitement of the knowledge that, in a series, the best books are usually the first and the last, and you’re desperately hoping your author has decided to end things with a bang.
Joanna Shupe did not disappoint with Book 3 in the Wicked Deceptions trilogy, The Lady Hellion. This book turned the spotlight on the adorably nerdy Viscount Quint, whom we first met in The Courtesan Duchess (Book 1) and fell slightly in love with in The Harlot Countess (Book 2), and on the intrepid Lady Sophie Barnes, who made a striking debut into our consciousness in The Harlot Countess. When I finished Book 2, I decided Quint’s story was going to be the best one of the trilogy, and boy was I right!
First of all, by the time this novel ends, there’s no hesitation about the eminent book-boyfriend-worthiness of Damien Beecham, Viscount Quint. He’s noble and self-sacrificing, staggeringly independent, and adorably vulnerable. Unlike his two friends, who might has well been dragged kicking and screaming into love, he is and has always been in love, and he’s not the kind of man to lie to himself, no matter how much he might deny it to others. He’s got a terrifying future ahead of him, yet with Sophie’s help, he works to overcome the things that stand in his way. And when she needs him most, of course, he is absolutely there for her, fears notwithstanding.
Sophie, on the other hand, is everything I have said I loved about Regency heroines. Unmarried at 28, she could be a retiring spinster resigned to her spot on the shelf, but instead she has noble and oftentimes dangerous pursuits of her own, and she’s got all the fire and ferocity you could want in a female heroine from any romance, historical or contemporary. She also has no problems at all acknowledging to herself how much she cares for Quint. And she’s determined to help him, even (and perhaps especially) when he isn’t inclined to help himself.
And that’s the beauty of this story, that love is never in question. It hardly is, in romance, at least that’s the automatic presumption a reader is going to have when he or she picks up a book in this genre. But if most romance novels I’ve read are anything to go by, you couldn’t tell the hero and heroine that. Such is not the case here, and it’s absolutely refreshing.
But love isn’t all that’s in the story. There’s a good dose of intrigue too. Who’s been breaking into Quint’s house? Who’s the spy in his household? Who is killing prostitutes and throwing their mutilated bodies into the Thames? It must have been a challenge to write about a serial killer before the term (or the knowledge of such evil people) became public knowledge. And readers like myself who are fans of thrillers and of police procedurals are quick to identify the UNSUB’s signature and victim profile, but it’s interesting to see the characters struggle with it, as was necessitated by the time period. Plus, unlike the other two books, I wasn’t able to guess the culprit until just before the big reveal, so Ms. Shupe has definitely leveled up on her mystery-making magic.
To wrap things up, I do want to say that this is the best of the three books, but it’s very likely partially because of the feels that started building in Book 1, continued on in Book 2, and culminated in this third book. I suppose it could be read as a standalone, although I don’t think a reader would appreciate it quite as well without reading the other books first. That being said, when I came to the end of this book, despite an acknowledged instant book hangover, I couldn’t help doing a little mental cheer that Ms. Shupe had delivered on everything that was promised and hinted at—and more!
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