RITA Reader Challenge Review

RITA Reader Challenge: Too Dangerous to Desire by Cara Elliott

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Title: Too Dangerous to Desire
Author: Cara Elliott
Publication Info: Forever 2012
ISBN: 9780446584586
Genre: Historical: European

Book Too Dangerous to Desire This RITA® Reader Challenge 2013 review was written by Maria. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Historical Romance category.

The summary:     

Can a Flame from the Past be Rekindled?

Long ago, Sophie Lawrance chose prudence over passion, rejecting a rebellious young rogue for the sake of her family-no matter the ache it left in her heart. But after a specter from her father's past resurfaces, threatening to destroy all she holds dear, the desperate beauty knows there is only one man whose shadowy skills can save her.

Or Is It Too Dangerous to Play with Fire?

Cameron Daggett is a man of many secrets . . . and many sins. He's never forgotten the pain of losing Sophie. But now, with a chance to win her back, Cameron sets aside his anger and agrees to help Sophie save her father's honor. Together they embark on a perilous masquerade, leading them to a remote country estate near the sea. There, they must battle a cunning adversary-and their own burning desires. Will they be consumed by the flames? Or can they prove that true love conquers all?

And here is Maria's review:

The third novel in Cara Elliott’s Lords of Midnight series, which follows three dangerous and handsome rogues who find true love despite (or perhaps because of?) their secret pasts.

I like to read series in order however, for this RITA Reader Challenge, I offered to read this third book. Actually, I accidentally read the second book before this one and found that they don’t need to be in order even though that is my preference. For some reason, I just don’t want to read about characters who have already found their happy ending–I feel like I missed something, which I did!

This was a beautiful love story about second chances, much like Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Childhood sweethearts Cameron and Sophie fell in love as teenagers but were thwarted by duty, responsibility, and familial pressure. Cam has passed the last ten years without Sophie as an angry and reckless man, much like Captain Frederick Wentworth, while Sophie was proper and dutiful, much like Anne Elliot. But Sophie won’t let her second chance slip away as Cam swallows his pride and resentment at her long-ago rejection to keep Sophie and her family from scandal, ruin, and danger.

What I loved about Cameron, the hero:

  • How he called Sophie “Sunbeam,” such a sweet (but not saccharine) endearment.
  • His tough, bruised exterior yet always kind and honorable heart.
  • His camaraderie with his wicked friends, Gryff and Connor, both of whom found their happy endings in the first two books in this series, Too Wicked to Wed and Too Tempting to Resist.
  • I don’t usually like when men wear an earring, but with Cam, it just seemed right somehow.

What I loved about Sophie, the heroine:

  • Her passion yet her practicality. She is both sensible and sensuous.
  • Her loyalty and devotion to her family, almost to a fault, especially since it is at odds with her own unhappiness and even her safety.
  • Her charming and loving family, her Aunt Hermione and Uncle Edward, and her beloved sister, Georgiana.

As with Too Tempting to Desire, Elliott’s writing sparkles with color and life, creating a world of enchantment and intrigue, with characters I loved.

I now look forward to catching up and reading the first novel in the series, Too Wicked to Wed as well as Elliott’s debut series, The Circle of Sin.


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