Customer Reviews

Dangerous Joy

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the previous Company of Rogues book, Forbidden, there are a couple of brief mentions of Miles Cavanagh and his 'wild ward', Felicity - including one reference to Felicity being tied to a chair to prevent her escaping. Quite naturally, that intrigued me and made me very curious indeed. So here, at last, is Miles and Felicity's story, and I got to find out why she and Miles were clearly striking sparks off each other.

Miles has just returned home to his Irish estate - where he is heir to the Earl of Kilgoran, one of the oldest and most respected Irish titles - when he discovers that his step-father's uncle has just died and left Miles, *not* his step-father, guardian to Felicity for the six weeks until she turns 21.

So Miles has to go to meet the young woman he is responsible for... but runs into difficulty when he is kidnapped and tied up. When he's released, it's by a local woman who offers him her body in exchange for his silence about what happened. He almost accepts... then discovers that *this* is Felicity. And now he knows what a hurdle he has to overcome - and he soon discovers that it's an even bigger one, once she informs him of her intention to marry a local *very* unpleasant character, whose son she seems very attached to.

Somewhat unusually for a romance novel, Miles and Felicity acknowledge their feelings for each other - first lust, and soon afterwards love - very early in the book; the plot, from there on, is concerned with ensuring that they are free to marry. As to why - as we know from Forbidden - Miles actually takes her prisoner; well, this all has to do with the villain of the piece, and you'll have to read the book itself to find out exactly what Felicity's relationship is to Rupert Dunsmore, a man she clearly despises yet insists she wants to marry.

In among all the drama, this is a hilarious book, full of witty dialogue humorous situations, and cats. Lots of cats! And also plenty of the other Rogues; no Nicholas, unfortunately, but Lucien and Beth, and Hal and Blanche, play quite significant roles. So if you're a Lucien fan, as I am, you'll love seeing him again.

The only slight niggle, for me, was Beverley's insistence on - again - picturing Ireland as a country in which magical things happen; as an Irish person, that vision of my country irritates me somewhat. However, I ignored that and thoroughly enjoyed the next in the Company of Rogues series. On to The Dragon's Bride!

I have submitted a lot of reader's comments but I can't find the words to say how much I loved this book. The witty retorts, great characters, on ad infinitum. It is the first book that had me laughing out loud. The double-entendré on pages 235, 281 through 284 kept me in stitches. This book is beyond the beyond and much more that the rating allows. I have read all of her Company of Rogues, loved them all but now on to the Three Georges. Run, don't walk, to buy this book, I can't recommend it strongly enough.

The Company of Rogues books are a splendid series, and this book is no exception. Miles & Felicity are excellent characters and their interactions just sizzle. Wit, danger, sensuality, and much more combine to make this an excellent read. Miles is a warm-hearted, easy-going hero faced with a hellion of a ward whose plans to make things better always seem to make things more difficult. Sparks fly between them in a dozen different ways, each of them delightful.

Other members of the Rogues make appearances (a common thread through all of them, as Miles & Felicity have appeared in other books), tying the novels together nicely. The cats are a key feature; one cat scene had me near tears, shouting "No!" to the author. A nice, subtle bit of Irish paranormal adds to the setting and tone of the book.

The only caveat is that Felicity has essentially grown up with training in society; as a result, being Miles' wife, the future Countess of Kilgoran, will be a difficult feat. The reader is left to assume that Miles and his family and friends will provide her education.

That aside, however, A Dangerous Joy is a joy to read.

Dangerous Joy is different than a lot of other Beverley novels because it's not particuarly wicked. I tend to associate Beverley with dark atmospheres and dangerous heroes; this book is set in bright and green Ireland, and Miles is as sweet as can be. It's still Beverley, however, which means it's well written and all in all a pretty good read.

The plot of Dangerous Joy depends on the heroine Felicity's desire to sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of her son. She has decided, before the start of the novel, to marry a hideous, sadistic cretin who happens to be the father of her child. She is willing to accept a life of suffering and pain in order to have access to the boy, who would otherwise be taken away.

As far as that goes, fine. She's a mother; she's in a sticky situation; and the child is her first priority.

What I can't understand is Felicity's attitude. She won't be honest and share her worries with Miles; she won't consider other options. Miles is patient, caring and competent...Felicity has no reason at all not to trust him. As it becomes more and more obvious that Miles will do whatever he can to help her - including involving his many powerful friends - Felicity's negative attitude and total inability to reassess the situation became more and more grating. Really, I had lost all respect for her by the time she finally, grudgingly admits that maybe there's another way.

I know that romance novels depend on deferred satisfaction. The novels succeed or fail depending on how well they're able to maintain a high pitch of tension over four hundred pages of text. I know something has to keep Felicity and Miles apart, but I wish it weren't Felicity's immaturity.

This book is another instalment in Jo Beverley's Rogues series and it's a reasonable read although with some faults.

Miles Cavanagh, heir to his Uncle's earldom, is an Irish horsebreeder who is one of the Company of Rogues, a group of men who forged their friendship at school. Miles is very annoyed to discover that he's been made guardian to a relative of his stepfather's who attains her majority at 21 in six weeks. Miles wants to go to Melton for the hunting but realises he must go and meet his ward, Felicity Monahan, as he's heard a rumour that she's trouble.

On the way to Felicity's home, Foy, he and another man are set upon by masked men and Miles is tied up. A woman is sent to untie him eventually and she uses her very considerable charms to deflect any anger he might have with her. She says her name is Joy, behaves very seductively, and lets him go. However Miles soon discovers that she is actually his ward and that she plans to marry Dunsmore, a recent widower with a young son but who is clearly a fortune hunter. Miles plans to keep Felicity from Dunsmore's grasp but doesn't realise the danger that this will put him in of being seduced by her charms.

There's more to Felicity's plan to marry Dunsmore than initially meets the eye and it takes all Miles's ingenuity to keep her from throwing her life away with the awful man. There are lots of arguments between hero and heroine, he kidnaps her, she tries to elope, they bicker and argue and eventually end up in bed (which is pretty appalling behaviour for her guardian!) Miles enlists the help of the Rogues to aid him in his endeavours to keep Felicity safe, to marry her, to rescue Dunsmore's son and to deal with Dunsmore.

The dialogue in this book is good with the bickering between Miles and Felicity fun to read. However a lot of the plot rests on assumptions Felicity makes about her options to do with Kieran, Dunsmore's son, and I felt that sometimes this was rather drawn out and another woman in her circumstances would have just told Miles the full story. Equally his behaviour is rather inappropriate towards his ward who behaves in such an amazingly unladylike way it's hard to believe she isn't shunned by her neighbours. There's a mini supernatural element with the cats and lots of reference to Irish historical characters which might interest some but didn't entirely work for me. Overall the book felt rather like an also-ran with some good parts but the overall experience not enjoyable enough to land this book on my keeper shelf.

This is actually a good book to read, especially the interactions between Miles and Felicity---very amusing when trying to outwit the other. Mixing two strong minded people together, you will gets lots of action. It makes me want to read her other Rogues books. But alas, they are all out of print. Oh well, even if I feel like I missed something about the side characters, this book is still great. Filled with passion, humor, Irish magic, and of course danger. Hey, do you need a villian somewhere. Hopefully, I can find the books somewhere.

When I read of Felicity's character in another book, I couldn't wait to read her story. However, it just totally fell short for me. There was too much arguing, bickering, and lying by the heroine in the first 2/3s of this book. I found myself struggling to like her and couldn't really see how she and Miles could be in love with so much distrust and fighting between them. I respected her love for her child but that was it. Although there was a lot of sexual innuendo, I didn't feel the love or the chemistry. I knew the H/H wanted to have sex with each other, but that was about as far as the sensuality went in my eyes. I struggled to see how she could be friends with the other ladies in the story too - she was so often smarting off to them...hmmm, just didn't work out for my tastes.

Excellent Boox, as are all books by Jo Beverley!
A pleasure to read, can't put her books down.

rarely have I come across a book by Jo Beverly I haven't liked. Actually, never. She makes history come alive in the pages of her books.

Miles is given the guardianship of Felicity for a few weeks. She is determined to marry a man she detests to protect her secret. Miles has his hands full with Felicity, getting her out of scrapes. He kidnaps her & stows away to England to keep her out of harms way. She is determined to elope with Rupert & must come up with a plan to ensure it.

I just loved this book & the series so far. I can't wait to read the rest.