Reviews for A Dangerous Love (Border Chronicles Series #1)

The average rating for A Dangerous Love (Border Chronicles Series #1) based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-02-25 00:00:00 Michelle Padden First thing's first : this book is really bad, and I mean really bad. From the stupider than stupid language to the unfathomably annoying historical detail I was just about ready to pull out my hair in frustration once this bit of crap was over. The complete and utter joy I felt when I was finished, is indescribable ;) I had high hopes for this read, for starters because it's the legendary Bertrice Small and because the back blurb sounded like just the kind of story I'd like. Yet another life lesson learned here: one should never assume anything (!) Here's the story of Adair Randall, a pain in the butt to the core since she was a little girl. Then there's the hero Conal Bruce. Bit of a heads up for those of you brave enough to read this, you have to wait 'til nearly halfway through the book to meet him so sit back and consider popping on a wig before you lose all your hair early on 'cause there's lots of food for fodder here (!) Once you get past the first half the gist of the story is Laird Conal ends up buying Adair from a slave trader and they fall passionately in love -eventually, like around page 375 of 400! What were they doing for the rest of the time? Well they were retelling their story and how they got to where they were for the umpteenth time just in case the patient reader forgot. The rehashing in this story is unbelievable. No wonder it's over 400 trade size pages. Adair ends up with two husbands before Conal and it's so boring that you want to cry from the tedium of the story. We also get to hear ad nauseam how "the king sired her on her mother" because her husband couldn't -basically the king had an itch for her and her mother's dad decided to let him scratch it with the bonus that it might produce an heir for him. Adair wore this like shiny gold badge throughout the book -good on you sister is what you feel like saying after reading it so many times. The plot (if you can manage to count them all) is everywhere and the writing is worse. You meet Adair as a 6 year old but she talks like an adult and says some of the most inane things. Six year olds don't speak like that and trying to dupe the reader into believing otherwise is shoddy writing. Then there's the excessive attention to historical minutiae -OMG like I give a rat's a** about King Henry the whatever who's friends with Prince James who later becomes King James the whatever but then he's not because his cousin's sister's wife's friend's mother's daughter Jilly is base born so he destroyed the village -this (if you can make any sense of it) has no bearing on anything at all in the story either. There is an endless reporting of historical facts that I felt like I was reading a history text book -and a bad one at that. In no way did any of this drivel advance the story, if anything it bogged it down to the point where you've forgotten where the h/h left off. This is not a historical romance. This is a story that takes place as history is unfolding, so for those of you who want to know about how King Richard liked to drink his wine, how Henry Tudor's mother was too ambitious for her station or how James the I-don't-remember-what-number of Scotland felt bad about killing his dad you're in for a treat and a half. Pages and pages of this stuff. At first you're like, "ok this is interesting I guess now what about the h/h", but no! There's more! And you get to read all about the battles and who's leg got hacked off and where or who betrayed who -like I care!!! I'm reading a romance novel not "Key Moments in English History"! It's as if the author was trying to impress with all her 'knowledge' -whether it was accurate or not I don't know and again I didn't care. It reminded me of those heart-breakingly boring history teachers that kill an otherwise good subject because they drone on and on about stuff that's inconsequential. So, there's the history element that I didn't particularly 'enjoy'. Moving on to the language: good gawd the repetition! If I read one more time how Adair was "born on the wrong side of the blanket" or how after every single dead person somebody said "god assoil his good soul" I was going to start hitting my head against the wall. Enough! Get a thesaurus! Stop repeating yourself! What in the world is your editor being paid for?! I'm already not a fan of authors who do a lot back tracking/retelling in their book -you feel like saying, you know, I just read that so why are you telling me again (!). The word "filler" comes to mind here :-o Another thing about the writing is that when a scene changes there is no split between paragraphs, it just continues as if it's part of the same scene, so here you have, oh let's say King James the whatever talking about the battle of Who Cares, and in the next sentence you have the h/h saying how much they'd like to get it on --!! Editing!!! As for the steam, it's there but only really towards the end and though it's moderately descriptive with some of that reader favourite stereotypical bad romance book lingo (manroot, sword, lover's lance, rod of pleasure, honey pot, dripping sweet sheath --that was so gross), --why not just add his 'wily wiener', really, we're on a roll with the stupidity let's see how far we can go (!) There's this one scene that just defies the idiotic when Conal tells Adair to go down on him and he says something like "suckle my manroot Adair" -I think you could write a review on that line alone (!). Or there's the "Oh hurry, hurry, my honey love! I am so hot for you tonight" -the vomit's making its way up isn't it? (**shudder shudder**) You might think 'well it's out of context so of course it sounds bad' -believe me I am sparing you the 'context' so that those dry heaves back off (!) Oh yeah, can't forget this one: there's a way way out in left field menage scene -we're talking a whack me upside the head with a 2x4 where did that come from kind?! Again it's as if the author suddenly remembered she's supposed to be writing a historical romance so she throws this in and you've got a wannabe orgy scene that is not only inappropriate but it's the farthest thing from hot and sexy imaginable. It comes across as lewd. There's also a lot of attempted rapes and gropings in the book -it's like is that all they did? Adair gets pawed more than once by the pervy future King James. He grabs her boobs in public, tries to shove his hand up her crotch and his tongue in her mouth whenever he sees her, all that's missing is the lascivious drooling old man look. Just ew. She tells him 'stop' but then proceeds to take his arm and merrily they walk into the crowd of people exchanging smiles -every single time! No cootie shelfer book is complete without one of those "made up" problems that's just about as bad as 368 misunderstandings. Adair wants Conal to say that he loves her but time and time again Conal, in a stellar example of abject male stupidity, says all flabbergasted: "I don't know what love is", cue the Homer Simpson 'doh!' bubble :-/ It gets so old. You feel like yelling at him "get a clue already Conal, ya dumb a** moron!" This book is so bad on so many levels. The story jumps around like a kangaroo on crack, the writing is worse than a B-movie, and the time you waste trying to make heads or tails of it all will leave you with the proverbial 'splitting headache'. Oh wait, the cover is very good because it actually looks like how the heroine is described. Remember however when you were small and your mom said not to judge a book by its cover, yeah, well mom must've been burned big time by this baby I tell ya! Sooo, suffice it to say that this author will be not be appearing on my auto-buy list any time soon ;)

Review # 2 was written on 2008-04-21 00:00:00 Kostas Jhjhjhjhjh This is a good book although im getting a little sad for her she just lost her husband and i'm wondering what else could happen now.( a little later in the day) I have finished reading this book and i have to admitt Beatrice Small has donr it again I love this book. THe characters growed stronger through the whole book( even faced with all their trials) remarkable. This book is a keeper and it gives me a week lesson. Always move forward no maatter what is going on i my life. I needed to read this book at the right time.