Dangerous IllusionsPublication Date: March 26, 2013
Open Road Media
eBook; 344p
ASIN: B00BPJOC40
The first book in Amanda Scott’s acclaimed Dangerous series journeys from the battlefields of Waterloo to the ballrooms and boudoirs of London, where a deadly deception unfolds . . .
Engaged by proxy to a man she’s never met, Lady Daintry Tarrant is dismayed when the war hero returns, introducing himself as her fiancĂ©, Lord Penthorpe. She cherishes her independence and has turned away many suitors, but this one she must marry. Penthorpe is completely captivated by Lady Daintry—but he’s not who he claims to be.
Penthorpe and Lord Gideon Deverill fought together at the battle of Waterloo, and when Penthorpe fell, Gideon assumed his identity in order to see the beautiful Lady Daintry. Gideon knows there’s bad blood between Lady Daintry’s family and his own, but he’s smitten with Daintry and determined to reunite the bitterly feuding clans. When a ghost from Gideon’s past appears, he could lose everything—including Daintry’s love.
Review: This wasn't quite what I expected for a Regency era type novel. Usually these are more fluffy, book candy and this really wasn't.
Lady Daintry is a forward thinking woman. She doesn't want to be tied down to a husband because she's seen the way men treat there wives, and in this era, it wasn't uncommon for a husband to beat his wife. She was his property and that was that.
I think that took over the story and really overshadowed the romance especially when things got nasty with Susan and her husband Geoffrey. That was one evil guy. I couldn't stand that no one would stand up for her, it made me hate just about every member of their family. And then with the things that happened to Daintry, I wanted to kill him.
Not to sound like a teenager, but geeze the guys were simply mean. It is understandable that Daintry didn't want to marry with men that didn't have an ounce of kindness to them and her mother was simply too wishy washy.
Gideon is a breath of fresh air among the men that Daintry knows. He's nice, yet it takes a while to really warm up to his character. It was hard to figure out why he masqueraded as his dead friend at the beginning.
The characters that were more fun in this novel were Aunt Ophelia and the two little girls, Charley and Melissa. Such fun, and such terrors in a round about way.
The plot of this novel centered around such vile behavior on the part of most of the male characters..not the hero..and well not another male character whose name would very well be a spoiler. So it keeps this from being a great romance.
I know the message that the author was trying to convey, I just couldn't believe that every man in the heroine's family could be so despicable.
Overall a good read but not the best from this genre.
Rating: 3 flowers
About the Author
A fourth-generation Californian of Scottish descent, Amanda Scott is the author of more than fifty romantic novels, many of which appeared on the USA Today bestseller list. Her Scottish heritage and love of history (she received undergraduate and graduate degrees in history at Mills College and California State University, San Jose, respectively) inspired her to write historical fiction. Credited by Library Journal with starting the Scottish romance subgenre, Scott has also won acclaim for her sparkling Regency romances. She is the recipient of the Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award (for Lord Abberley’s Nemesis, 1986) and the RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award. She lives in central California with her husband.
For more information on Amanda Scott’s novels, please visit the official website.
