Cherub Devine

"Cherub" Devine, so-known for his "buoyancy of soul" and "pink chubbiness of face" has gone, in a few short years, from starving office boy to one of the richest, most skilled speculators on Wall Street. A city boy to the bone, all New York is shocked when a sudden yearning for home and hearth of his own inspires the "Cherub" to buy, spur of the moment, and lock-stock-and-barrel, the venerable "Hewlington Acres" estate up on Long Island for $60k, cash. What seemed folly, even to the "Cherub" himself, takes on a brighter complexion, when he finally gets around to visiting his new holdings, finds the former owners still in residence, and catches a glimpse of the beautiful daughter of the (his) house, Adèle, the Countess Vecchi. But could a sheltered, cultured, blue-blooded young woman ever love a man as self-made, as unschooled, as improper as the "Cherub"?

Cherub Devine is a refreshing read: an unapologetically stout hero is unusual in romance novels, and one who is also from a working-class background, and not striving to acquire any veneer of the educated elite, so rare as to be, in my reading, almost limited to, well, the "Cherub". The story isn't taxing but there are some fun descriptions of what it was like (at least from Ford's perspective) to make a big play on the Street, back when you did it in person, from the floor of the Exchange. There's some amusing slapstick with a prisoner in an icehouse, and you have to respect the female MC, Adèle, for choosing an active, democratic future over the insular, hidebound past. It's a cute love story with an unconventionally appealing lead. I'm Team Cherub all the way.