Customer Reviews

Dangerous Passions (Signet Eclipse)

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

 

 

Colonel Lord Marcus Cordell has been commanded back to England by that mysterious organisation, the Black Phoenix, in order to help hunt for a determined killer who is killing off members of the ton. And in order to give him entry into the fashionable drawing rooms of London society, he has been paired in this endeavour with the cool London beauty, Lady Eve Halliday. The duo are to pretend to be engaged while they carry out their investigations so that the gossips will not notice what it is they're really up to. It should have been a fool proof plan, except that Cordell senses that the Lady Eve detests him immensely, and the she has her own agenda that bodes ill for him...

It is obvious that "Dangerous Passions" is part of a series, because, unfortunately, there is, sometimes, that foggy sensation one gets when one wonders into a play when it's halfway through. Fortunately, the author is a very good storyteller, and she really did a wonderful job of holding my interest in spite of everything. Using letters, she fills us in on the source of Lady Eve's anger and disdain for Cordell, even as she carefully fleshes out the characters of her chief portagonist. Both Lady Eve and Cordell are lonley people, driven by their inner demons and determined to act according to their convictions no matter the cost. In Lady Eve's case, her determination to see that Cordell pay for his actions comes into collision with her growing attraction and feelings of love for him; while Cordell's tendency to act according to his strict code of honour costs him over and over again. All this is cleverly framed by the perplexing murder investigation that Cordell and Lady Eve are conducting and that the author carefully and intriguingly draws out till the very end. So that, even though I had some niggles (like who exactly the Black
Phonenix was, what their agenda was, why these murders were so very important to them that they had to be solved and why they chose to pair Lady Eve with Cordell), "Dangerous Passions" still turned out to be a very engaging and absorbing read, and well worth the money and time spent.

I enjoyed this as it was somewhat an unusual story line. I note that one reviewer complained about the Lady's revenge, but taken in the context of her times and the general powerlessness of females born to it (except in one area), its not too surprising to me that she settled on this approach. As she makes clear, it was a stupid plan, but grief and helplessness motivated her, something one can relate to in the face of a great loss. Murdering her enemy is beyond her (she is a properly brought up young lady, if bitter one), though he suspects this is her intent. The enemy, Cordell, is not the man she imagined in her anger, which complicates the revenge, along with other misfortunes and the murders they are called upon to unravel. The main complaint I have is the resolution, part of the next book I believe, has never happened. If it had, there would be no quibble about the faceless antagonist who has tried several times to kill her. This is the only trouble with interwoven novels. If they aren't completed, one does feel that the story stops too soon. I hope the author finishes this. There are some interesting subplots that I would enjoy seeing resolved.

I rarely write reviews on novels because I usually feel that the existing ones more than cover how I feel about each aspect of a novel. I finished Dangerous Passions yesterday, though, and my impression as I turned the last pages was that it was kind of lame. I guess I shouldn't have expected so much of a novel with such an unoriginal title. Anyhow, my major complaints were:

- Heroine was not likable. She has this grudge against the hero, Cordell, that seems totally overblown, based on him leading the investigation for treason against a childhood friend/love of hers. But the letters written to her by this friend talk about Cordell in such glowing terms, and describe his character as being so honorable, that it seems any normal person would at least give him a chance to explain himself rather than form some irrational hatred against him. Kerstan doesn't make her likable in any other respect for me either--she's prickly and wounded, has no sense of humor, and the most she has going for her is that she's very pretty and smart.

- Heroine's plan for vengeance aspect of the plot--WEAK. She never forms any idea of how she's going to have vengeance--the most she comes up with is that she's going to screw him and then reject him after he falls in love. What kind of vengeance plan is that??! And then she gives it up, without even the usual romance novel's "Suddenly she realized she loved him" section 2/3 through.

- Plot to kill heroine aspect of the plot--TOTALLY LAME, WHAT IS IT EVEN DOING HERE?--It's like the author forgot to do something with this inconveniently hanging thread. It's one thing to leave the mystery unsolved by mentioning something in the end about it and indicating that a future novel will deal with it--but to drop it entirely, and have hero & heroine happily ever after even though a killer is still potentially after her? Why didn't the editor catch this?

- Sexual buildup & aftermath: These two have so much chemistry and spend a night of incredible sex. And then they never have sex again through the whole book. Not only is this irregular in the genre--usually stuff gets in the way but they have sex once or twice more on page 350 or so--but it's unrealistic that their sexual chemistry doesn't keep sizzling between them, just magically transforms into respect and camaraderie and then love. Not very realistic.

Maybe I missed some stuff that would have made the novel better, because honestly I only skimmed after the first half. I give it 3 stars because even though the plot sucks and I don't particularly like the characters, the writing is very good so at least it flowed enough to leave me open to notice the flaws.

I gave this a 5 because, really, it is very well done and gripping. I, personally, would have preferred a little more romance and a little less investigation, but I knew what I was getting in for, having read the previous book. The author creates believable characters, there is no black and white, just many shades of gray. I particularly like her heroes.

This is not so much a trilogy as a series of related books. The only common denominator in the first two has been the brief appearances by the Duke and Duchess of Sarne who, I devoutly hope, will be the subjects of the final book in the series.

In this second book of the Black Phoenix trilogy, author Lynn Kerstan again gives a wonderfully exciting suspense filled historical tale. Along, with her expressive style of writing using crisp and witty dialogs the reader will be pulled into the suspense of several sub-plots within the main story.

As two people were summoned by the mysterious Black Phoenix organization to track down a killer, Colonel Lord Marcus Cordell, who had returned to England after a 20-year absence found himself partnered up with Lady Eve Halliday, a fashionable society heiress who was to pose as his betrothed. Cordell sensed right from the beginning that beneath the façade of the lady's beautiful but cool exterior was a hidden animosity that made no sense to him considering his long absence from England and lack of social connections.

Lady Eve's animosity towards Cordell was real and while she was prepared to help track down the elusive murderer stalking the haut ton - her most immediate object was to trap and ruin Cordell. The rage would recede though as the retribution she so desperately wanted to rain down on Cordell would be harder to exact as her passion for the man overcame her fury. It soon became apparent that as they came closer to unmasking their prey, Lady Eve herself appeared to have been earmarked as a target as well. After spending time posing together as the besotted couple, Cordell would have to rationalize which was worse, death at the hands of a killer or falling in love with a woman who seemed to have vengeance, betrayal and possibly his death on her mind.

___ Written with exquisite prose, dialogs and wonderfully complex and unique characters, I thoroughly enjoyed this second entry to Kerstan's latest trilogy. Unfortunately, I am rating this just a smidgen lower than my initial plan and the reason is that I did not feel the author wrapped up sufficiently all the burning questions that were raised. First and foremost, who was behind the attacks on Lady Eve and why? The answer to the other murders was tied up very nicely and with a very good twist, BUT the `person' behind the attacks on Eve was never revealed as I ask myself, is the author going to wrap this up in the final book of the trilogy??? Also, as each chapter started, we saw a letter that was from Eve's childhood sweetheart that more or less was setting up the scenario as to why she hated Cordell so much. After all was said and done, the last batch of hidden letters was delivered, and Eve was ready to beg forgiveness from Cordell. Was there something in the letters that caused her change of heart, other than the realization that revenge left a bitter taste in her mouth? One thing I could not fault though was the very poignant and heart tugging declarations Eve and Cordell issued to one another in the end -- Now that's what romance is all about! Picky things aside, I can enthusiastically recommend this highly entertaining read! - Marilyn, for www.romancedesigns.com ---

In 1817 Colonel Lord Marcus Cordell returns to England after twenty years away at war only to receive a summons from the Black Phoenix fellowship. The mysterious organization wants him to hunt for an upper-class serial killer; making it easier for Marcus to hide his mission is that he and popular amongst the Ton Lady Eve Halliday will masquerade as an betrothed couple.

Marcus can see immediately that his "fiancée" hates his guts, but he has no idea why. His instincts prove correct as Eve wants to destroy him based on letters received between 1810 and 1813 from close friend Johnny Brandon on the Iberian front. As they spend time together Marcus falls in love with his partner, but though he believes she reciprocates he sense that her priority to destroy him remains on top of her list, but he still has no explanation why even as he risks his life to keep her safe from their target that has targeted his beloved for death.

DANGEROUS PASSIONS, the sequel to the fine DANGEROUS DECEPTIONS, is an interesting historical romantic suspense thriller starring two solid protagonists, and a heroine who, though falling in love, believes her heart is betraying her life. The story line is well written from the beginning when Sir Peregrine of the mysterious Black Phoenix organization admits to Marcus things often go awry and stays at a fever pitch until after the last murder is resolved. Though readers never learn why Lady Eve suddenly became open minded though disagreeing with her beloved over the Brandon scenario, fans will enjoy this tense tale and look forward to all the threads tied up in the finale.

Harriet Klausner