Lucifer's Champion

by Juliet Blyth (Pseudonym), Stella Riley

Penniless orphan Vanessa Tremaine had no choice but to accept the shelter of the fifth Duke of Lyndhurst--who claimed honorable intentions but whose reputation was far from honorable--and finds herself falling in love.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Regency, Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1989

About the author

Juliet Blyth (Stella Riley) trained as a teacher in London and now lives in Shropshire, England. She enjoys amateur dramatics and belly-dancing.

Her her first novel, The Marigold Chain, was published in 1983 and was followed by A Splendid Defiance, The Parfit Knight, The Mesalliance, The Black Madonna, and Garland of Straw.

After a break in her writing career, she is now committed to publishing her back-catalogue as e-books.

See also Stella Riley's pseudonym Anna Marsh.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! Stella Ridley writes another fantastic story!

This book is definitely influenced by These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer:
✔️ H's nickname Devil, Lucifer
✔️ H has done some unethical things
✔️ H rescues h to use for revenge
✔️ sister helps the h become a lady
✔️ h won't let anyone speak badly of H
✔️ everybody loves the charismatic h
✔️ H's friend helps the h

I probably could find more similarities between the two books if I tried. Though influenced by GH's book, the story has it's own charming tale along with excellent writing.

Plot: the newly orphaned Vanessa runs away from home after her cousin kisses her. She's on the way to London to see her Godmother when her carriage gets stuck in the mud. Lyndhurst reluctantly helps the h to an inn. They have one interesting conversation then part ways.

Vanessa finally arrives in London at midnight. Unfortunately, her Godmother, who she's never met, has moved residents. Without money and no place to go, she let's the watch take her to Lucifer's home. He again reluctantly helps her out - which really goes against his nature

She mets her stuck up Godmother the next day . The woman believes Vanessa is a whore who is sleeping with the enemy. Needless to say , it didn't go well! Lyndhurst decides to help her out. He makes her his ward and gives her a season to find a husband. Why?? Well if the fates give him a tool for his revenge who is he to deny them.

Why are the families enemies? Why does her cold Godmother and son hate Lucifer? Why did Vanessa's cousin follow her to London? Why does he still want to marry her when he thinks she's Lyndhurst mistress?? ***SPOILER ALERT :.Vanessa unknowingly will inherited money when she marries*** a secret that was fairly obvious in the beginning.

Character:

Vanessa has to be my top 5 best h! She had such a dry wit that appeals to Lyndurst and a kind heart that wins everybody else over. I enjoyed watching her and the H trading quips back and forth. I also love how Vanessa never lets anybody say anything about Lyndhurst. He kidnapped a woman to marry? Nope, she's not listening! Young love 🥰 She's really perfect for him.

Lyndurst (Lucifer) is very mysterious. He's unrepentant, has no conscience, and lives his life the way he wants. He does have his own back story that explains his indifferent personality. There's something about him that makes it easy to forgot his faults. I think it's bc the h is able to get past his barriers and sees a different side of him. The interaction between the two was very entertaining .

Great secondary characters: I loved one of Lyndurst's brothers. He and Vanessa were great bff. The other brother was the black sheep of the family and that's saying a lot. Then you have the shallow but funny sister, Lyndhurst's bff , 3 villians, and numerous suitors. Amazingly, all these side characters really enrich the story!

Conclusion: This was such captivating story and the ending was wonderful! 😢😃 I would highly recommend!

Sidenote: I'll probably come back to this review when I'm less excited and my thoughts are less scrambled.

[Julz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.

Guardian-ward story involving a nimble virgin being saved from some nasty life circumstances by a really bad man who has a reputation for abducting women (Though, as is the norm, he sheds his snake skin the minute he meets the h).

This would've probably rated higher, but I read it immediately after These Old Shades, the story this fanfic is based on, so I made a direct comparison instead of judging this story on its own merits. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely differences (some I liked better, such as this hero dressing all in black, rather than in technicolor with pinks and purples, as well as red shoes with diamond studded heels...what a mental picture, eh?), but the similarities are too numerous to count (and I'm too lazy to list. Maybe later ;D).

However, it was pointed out to me that this story was initially never intended for publication but, after review and approval from Georgette Heyers' family, this version found it's way to the publisher. So...go read These Old Shades, and then come back and enjoy picking out the parallels like I did. Though, you might ejoy this one better reading it first. Makes me wonder.

[Abigail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fleeing from her predatory cousin after the death of her father puts him in control of her childhood home, Vanessa Tremaine encounters the notorious Duke of Lyndhurst when their coaches collide on the road to London. Her misfortunes continue when she arrives in the great metropolis, only to find that the godmother with whom she had hoped to find refuge is not willing to take her in, given her brief association with Lyndhurst. Known as 'Lucifer' for his many unworthy deeds, including the kidnapping of a number of young women, the duke unexpectedly steps in to help, making Vanessa his ward, and putting her in the care of his married sister. As our heroine experiences her first London season, she inevitably falls in love with her rescuer, only to believe that he has his eyes on another. Lyndhurst, in the meantime, believes himself unworthy of this innocent that had fallen into his hands...

Published in 1989, under the pseudonym of "Juliet Blyth," Lucifer's Champion is the third novel I have read from author Stella Riley, following upon her The Parfit Knight and The Mésalliance . Much like the latter book, I found it to be heavily influenced by Georgette Heyer's work. Specifically, The Black Moth , These Old Shades , and to a lesser extent, Devil's Cub . Francis "Lucifer" Courtenay, Duke of Lyndhurst, is clearly a reworking of Tracy "Devil" Belmanoir, Duke of Andover from The Black Moth , and Justin "Satanus" Alastair, Duke of Avon from These Old Shades . The physical description of Lyndhurst and Andover is markedly similar, and their sartorial choices are also alike. The history of kidnapping women is something all three characters share - Avon himself was influenced by Heyer's earlier creation, Andover - and all three have devilish nicknames, as a result. The narrative here, in which the duke takes in a beautiful innocent, as part of a larger effort to be revenged upon his enemies, and falls in love with her, mirrors that in These Old Shades , while the scene in which Vanessa dines with Lyndhurst at the wayside inn suggested a similar episode in Devil's Cub . Some of the dialogue between Vanessa and Lyndhurst here even duplicates that between Mary and the Duke of Andover, in Heyer's book!

I have no real problem with the idea of authors reworking Heyer's stories, although These Old Shades is not a book I admire, and I understand that Lucifer's Champion is one of Riley's earlier titles. Apparently it was not initially intended for the public, and was written as a kind of pre-internet fan-fiction - an homage to Heyer, whose family and estate gave permission for its publication, after reading through it. Given that this is so, the copious similarities cannot really be objected to, although they do make the book feel formulaic for those readers already familiar with Heyer's work. The story itself, much like that upon which it is based, does not appeal to me, and I find myself at a loss to understand Vanessa's willingness to overlook her duke's past behavior, given that she herself was fleeing from a sexual predator when she met him. I gave this one more star than I did These Old Shades , mostly because I think Riley did a better job of trying to address a possible change of heart in her devilish duke, although I still wasn't entirely convinced.

Riley does better work when she tells her own story, as in The Parfit Knight , and I do enjoy her writing style. Perhaps I will give her English Civil War story, A Splendid Defiance , a try.

[Grace*dnfing books since 2022* · Rating 3 out of 5]

For once, these Goodreads ratings are accurate on this author. This book, after reading her Parfit Knight, was definitely not the best. However, this is an author of above average skills, so this book is still better than a lot of Regency romances out there.

This is a guardian-ward story that started as an chance meeting borne of a carriage accident on a dark night. Vanessa is given a lift by Lyndhurst to the nearest inn, and he himself apprises her of his satanic reputation. They go their separate ways -- her to London to request refuge from her godmother, and he to eternal damnation. Fortunately, or unfortunately, her godmother is not available, and she, propelled by the kindly watchman, is dispatched to the only other person she knows in Londontown, the dastardly Duke of Lyndhurst. For whatever reason, probably because he himself knew what would happen of this orphan, he decides to show her mercy and allows her board for the night. Unfortunately, as a result of this, the godmother denounces her morals and denounces Lyndhurt (because of an older grudge), Vanessa denounces the godmother's lack of compassion right back, and the two flounce off in opposite directions.

Lyndhurst, upon hearing what had occurred, is not surprised and decides to adopt her as his ward to present to society even though he is dirt poor and lives off the gaming tables. Yadda yadda yadda, Vanessa falls even more deeply in love with him, and he, unbeknownst to himself, slowly feels the same way, but suddenly is overcome by honor of the noblest, self-sacrificial caliber. After much mishap, two secondary couple love story resolutions, a shooting, an abduction, a duel, and an almost wedding of Vanessa to someone else, the two finally end up together.

This would have been a great book if not for the hero -- who wasn't much of a hero. To be honest, despite his reputation as a cad, he wasn't much of an anti-hero either. Mostly, he seemed to raise his eyebrows in disdain a lot. I've seen more action from a Mona Lisa reproduction.

The other drawback to this otherwise enjoyable Regency romp was the author's habit of spicing up the narrative. Some authors do this by utilizing synonyms. This author used a different name for the same character each time the character showed up, even if it was within the same paragraph. For example, she would introduce a character as Mr. Jones. Then in the next sentence, she referred to him as Joseph. Since he was never fully introduced as Mr. Joseph Jones, that made me rather confused. The first time this occurred, it wasn't that big a deal, given the limited number of characters at the beginning of the book. By the end, and because of the multiplicity of the cast, I gave up trying to keep track of all the characters and had no idea who someone named "March" was. Or Larry. Seriously, authors. Pick a moniker and stick with it. Nobody else knows who you're talking about.

[Aayesha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really really loved this book. Being my first ever fan fiction novel, I definitely did not regret reading it! It brought back two of my most favourite characters, even though Vanessa was quite different from Leonie. Francis was entirely the same, except for the black clothes (which I liked very much. The colorful clothing and powdered hair he sported in These Old Shades wasn't attractive at all.)

Being fan fiction, it is inevitable that I will compare it to the original. I have no complaints about the plot line, only the fact that I did not like it when Vanessa accepted Roderick even though she knew they were both in love with someone else. She didn't even break it off when she realised what she was doing was wrong.

I also quite liked the other side characters' romances. I loved that Gideon, Francis's friend, had his own happy ending as well. I loved Nicholas too, dammit. 

Now I'll move onto the author's writing. The book was written remarkably well! The dry wit beneath the distinguished vocabulary was so amusing! It was so brilliant that I had to look up a couple of words in the dictionary in a few places. For the writing, descriptions and dialogue, I'd give the writer a 5 out of 5. That's how good she was.

[Melanie♥]

Georgette Heyer fanfic.....curious enough to check it out. As a long time GH fan, this has been on my radar for a while.

[Shanze · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a lovely story, mostly because it’s a 90% reproduction of ‘These Old Shades’ by Georgette Heyer. It’s a bit too similar.

However, I really enjoyed it. It’s a very good reproduction; Riley’s dialogue and banter are delightful.

Five Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was quite reminiscent of These Old Shades, especially for the first half. And while, as a fan of These Old Shades, I'm all for similar books, this was a little too similar.

One devilishly nicknamed duke? Check. A hero who adopts the heroine as his ward in order to get at an enemy? Check. A heroine who defends the hero against all slurs, despite them being well-earned? Check again. And a hero who, a few years ago, kidnapped the woman he loved who was in love with someone else, who now, with her husband, lives on the neighboring estate? Wait, what?

And the descriptions:

The first two paragraphs of The Black Moth:

Clad in his customary black and silver, with raven hair unpowdered and elaborately dressed, diamonds on his fingers and in his cravat, Hugh Tracy Clare Belmanoir, Duke of Andover, sat at the escritoire in the library of his town house, writing.

He wore no rouge on his face, the almost unnatural pallor of which seemed designedly enhanced by a patch set beneath his right eye. Brows and lashes were black, the former slanting slightly up at the corners, but his narrow, heavy-lidded eyes were green and strangely piercing. The thin lips curled a little, sneering, as one dead-white hand travelled to and fro across the paper.

And the description in this book:

Clad exclusively in black and silver, diamonds on his fingers and in his cravat, he stood aloof and motionless, yet dominating the space between them with a strength that was almost tangible. His raven hair, though elaborately dressed, was worn unpowdered as though to deliberately enhance the natural pallor of his skin. The cheekbones were high, the mouth well shaped but hard; and narrow, black brows were set above eyes which, though heavy-lidded and veiled by thick lashes, were strangely piercing, their topaz hue seeming too vivid for a man. A haughty, mask-like face but not unhandsome and, moreover, his Grace had an air.

Hmm... Somehow, changing his eyes from green to topaz isn't quite doing it for me.

The characters' personalities were also very similar. Even the hero's family members' personalities were nearly the same.

The second half of the book was different from These Old Shades, but the basic premise was the heroine decided she had to marry someone she didn't love because she could never have the one she did love, while the hero was convinced he wasn't good enough, and it was just so frustrating!

Also, the subject of the hero apparently abducting multiple women is raised, but never really explained to my satisfaction. Okay, he was in love with one, but what about the others? Is abducting them okay just because they weren't, apparently, ladies?

I did like the fact that the hero was actually financially challenged from his gambling. Far too many heroes seem to have magical gambling talents, and I liked to see one who, while good, is not magical. However, it did make me cringe to see how little he seemed to care about actually staying solvent, buying expensive things left and right.

One historical quibble- the book mentioned the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle, which would make the setting 1748. However, the very next page it mentions marriage laws that didn't come into effect until 1753. Up until then, you could get a clandestine marriage in London with the same ease as Scotland, no marriage license required or anything, making elopement to Scotland completely unnecessary until after the 1753 act was passed. In fact, getting a clandestine marriage in London would have been much easier, with Fleet marriages, in particular, being quite famous.

I would have given this four stars, as I really did quite enjoy many parts of it, despite the blatant similarities to These Old Shades, but then I looked up that quote, and the nearly word for word copying is a bit too much for me. That is what my college professors would call plagiarism, and guess what? If I did that, the whole rest of my essay could be original, and I would still get an F.

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather pleasant homage to Georgette Heyer’s These Old Shades (which is one of my favourite books). It is well written, with some good characterisation and some creative adaption, and I enjoyed reading it. It doesn’t have the depth of the original - being shorter and like fanfic - but then, TOS is a masterpiece in underlying chemistry and the power of love changing the main characters for the better. This dialogue is also more rudimentary, but I think it is the best fanfic I have read and would recommend it to other Georgette Heyer diehards like myself.
3 1/2 stars.

[ree · Rating 5 out of 5]

stella riley knows exactly what i want from my books and it shows

[Wealhtheow · Rating 2 out of 5]

After her father dies and his home is left to a mercenary cousin, Vanessa flees to stay with her godmother in London. But along the way, a carriage-crash drops her into the lap of a notorious Duke of Lyndhurst. So notorious is he, in fact, that he is widely known as "Lucifer." Surprising himself, he offers to make her his ward--and she, having no where else to turn, accepts. But plots of love and money interfere with their burgeoning relationship. Can Vanessa teach "Lucifer" the value of steady, monogamous love?

Heh, it's very silly and id-riffic--Vanessa has delightful red ringlets and is immediately loved by everyone (except the eeevil antagonists), Lyndhurst is constantly drawling and raising one eyebrow. But Blyth spends time on their relationship, so that the progression of their banter into mutual trust and affection seems plausible. I found "Lucifer" laughably melodramatic (although everyone else takes him very seriously), but I liked Vanessa, who spends time visiting the Duke's tenants and helping friends with their love lives. She's the rare heroine who is actually *shown* to be friendly and generous.

My one big problem with this book (SPOILERS AHEAD) is that from the very start, Vanessa knows that "Lucifer" has made a practice of abducting women. In fact, a big plot point is that two years before, he'd forcibly abducted a woman he loved, and her fiancee barely "saved her" in time. And Vanesssa is totally fine with this! But then Vanessa herself is kidnapped and threatened with rape. The terror Lyndhurst feels while he's chasing after the kidnapper makes him realize how wrong he'd been two years ago. And so he makes a heartfelt apology to...the fiancee. Not the woman he abducted, oh no. Just the dude. And everyone is very proud of him for doing this! Scary stuff, and it made it very hard for me to root for Lyndhurst's romantic endevours.

[CLM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vanessa Tremaine is penniless and friendless - so clearly there is no option available to her but to become the ward of a man nicknamed Lucifer...

[Virginia Tican · Rating 5 out of 5]

In an alternate universe or maybe as a tribute to Georgette Heyer's "These Old Shades," is this author's version of a deep transcendental love and friendship between a jaded and past~praying~for~redemption omniscient powerful and feared Duke and a glowing red~headed young (at least half his age) yet sensible pragmatist and endearing girl. The difference between Avon and Lyndhurst is that the former is a rich Devil and the latter is an impoverished Lucifer. Vanessa Tremaine is forced to leave Cornwall and her childhood home after her father's death to escape the unwanted attentions of her cousin, Joseph Wade. She is bound uninvited to her godmother's (Lady Maria Henley's) house in London for sanctuary. A carriage accident caused her to meet the Duke of Lyndhurst and he took her to an inn to recover. They were seen by a gossip and a scandal ensues. Rejected by her godmother owing to the scandal plus the Duke's well~earned notoriety as well as an almost a decade long enmity between the Henleys and the Courteneys, Vanessa then became the Duke's ward. Into this world of deep resentments, long~nursed~grudges and polite hypocrisy, Vanessa tried to conquer with her natural friendliness, her intelligence and wit, deep understanding of people and their flaws and her aversion to gossip. For which she is quite successful except that Cousin Joseph has not given up and is relentless in his pursuit of her like Cleopatra searching for her choker of favorite gems (emeralds). In this captivating story we also have an elopement that ended in a marriage, an engagement of prudence and necessity, an abduction, a duel, an interrupted wedding and a very satisfactory nuptial. Quite a riveting and fun read!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read on Stella Riley's website that she's basically ashamed of this book and has no plans to have it put back into the world because it was her first and she thinks it's too full of errors.

Well if you can get ahold of Lucifer's Champion read it! It's fan-fic of These Old Shades and everyone else has gone on about how similar it is. It's been a few years since I last read Heyer's book so I came into this with a clear mind, and generally loved it.

As per Riley it is well written and flows smoothly. We have our dark knight in shining armor and our innocent miss who becomes his ward. He helps push her into society where she becomes a hit. All the while they build a friendship, which eventually she realizes has turned into love but thinks she has no hope of her love being returned so she becomes engaged to another man. Our hero keeps a protective eye over her and knows he loves her but feels that his past is too dark and that she deserves more.

Yes, you have to suspend belief for a random man to become the guardian of a random girl, and just go with there being a side character who moves the plot along and has no other purpose or relationship with our main couple other than to force circumstances so that they end up together, and just deal with the "I love you, but I can't have you" melodramatics. Aside from that it really is a great read.

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readers familiar with Heyer's 'These Old Shade" and "The Back Moth' will find themselves in very familiar territory. The author borrowed a lot and made it her own with witty dialogue, a charming heroine, two secondary romances and (my favorite) one very outspoken maid. There is one nasty bad guy(cousin to the heroine), one cowardly worm of a bad guy, in addition to one sleazy bad guy (brother to the hero)
As I count the two Heyer titles mentioned among my Heyer top 10, I quite enjoyed this.

Not quite as good as her Rockliffe trilogy (as Stella Riley), yet a fine way to pass a few hours.

[Vali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. There were too many people and names I think, and sometimes information was presented like the book was a sequel (perhaps it was, I really don't know), but I enjoyed the fact that the hero was really bad and not superficially imperfect, like in most novels of this kind. There was of course somewhere goodness inside him but it was buried waaay deep inside and only shone through when he interacted with the heroine.

[lynnet · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite novel by this writer ,it reminded a lot of a Georgette Heyer novel I loved very much but it was nonetheless an enjoyable read!