A Dangerous Love

Swanlea Spinsters Series, Book 1

By: Sabrina Jeffries

Narrated by: Rachael Beresford

He was playing a dangerous masquerade....

Griff Knighton's found the perfect way to avoid being trapped into marriage with one of the Earl of Swanlea's daughters: He'll swap identities with his man of affairs during their next visit to Swan Park, and be free to pursue his own desires! After all, he's not about to marry some homely spinster just to claim his rightful title. But Griff didn't reckon on the brazen, voluptuous Rosalind, who could tempt even a saint into sinning, and Griff is no saint.

She was determined to unmask him....

©2006 Sabrina Jeffries (P)2020 Tantor

Good Premise but…

This is a very good creative storyline. But A naive set of 3 sisters created chaos when a wronged man secretly tries to recover his parents stolen marriage documents to prove his legitimacy so he can recover his peerage, the girl’s father stole his Earldom . In the process he falls in love with oldest sister and proposes. When she realizes his secret she becomes righteous & runs away to become an actress, because for him to regain his title her family will suffer a scandal. It‘s made to seem he is in the wrong & she is righteous. He has to apologize & not claim his rightful place until her father is dead, when the father is the one who stole his rightful place & forced him to live in poverty being called a bastard by other children & adults While her family lived in luxury as The Earl & his family. Sorry did not like the heroine’s righteousness & self-centeredness when he is expected to be the one to suck it up. For that it fell short for me. Narrator was excellent!

Well read by narrator

story didn't keep my attention but the narrator did great job with the story

Appealing heroine

fast moving, flowing writing style, flawless narration, Shakespeare quotes were fun, Rosalind was an original, and brave, just lovely.

Not bad until chapter 20

This book wasn’t bad. I liked all of the characters, the angst btwn H & h, Rosalind’s brazenness-she was no shrinking violet, and the method Grif used to attempt to prove his legitimacy by switching IDs with Daniel. There were some chuckles early on too.
That being said, it became a bit tiresome beginning chapter 20 ruining what to me was a good book. Thruout it, Rosalind claimed not to care what others thought about them👍, their spinsterhood, that they had no marriage plans -except maybe the youngest. When Grif wanted to prove he wasn’t a bastard (a truly big deal in those days), claim his title as the rightful earl which would’ve revealed that the current earl -the girls father- was a fraud, Rosalind went on and on about what others would think, it would ruin and humiliate them…suddenly all about herself? She felt Grif was being selfish since it would benefit him personally, mentally, and business-wise. (He was an employer, which Rosalind blew off). Then the entailed property, no one in the book would’ve ended up with it if Grif didn’t claim the title. Near the end, Grif offered to give everything he owned, what he fought for his whole life, to Rosalind. Really? So, I skipped parts and increased speed to 1.7, I did not want an HEA.
Narrator was ok except for Grif. He sounded somewhat monotone and angry-ish thruout.

Narrator Stilted

I read/listen to these stories for entertainment and secondarily, to help fill the quiet sometimes (in other words I like having background noise). The narrator for this story is horrible her voice is so flat and stilted no energy in the voice whatsoever!! Maybe the story is entertaining, I don't know. I couldn't waste my time listening past chapter 3...

Loved this New Series!

I love heroines with attitude and the heroes they bring to their knees! Sabrina Jeffries never fails to delight me with her amazing characters!

Sweet Revenge plot turned love story!

I enjoyed this story a lot. It had a pastoral background and plot that didn’t exactly keep me on the edge of my seat but flowed so nicely that I found myself enjoying the book nonetheless and just sitting back and smiling. It was well written, the main and side characters full bodied, original and likable. Griff could have been a bit more fleshed out but that was made up by Rosalind who was a very unique heroine (with aspirations to the stage, was popular and vivacious, and also very full bodied which affected her self worth to some extent but it wasn’t an overwhelming aspect to the plot - she clearly had plenty of self worth but didn’t think men were attracted to her, she also realized that attracting men wasn’t all there was to life... very refreshing). I did think that her inner thoughts were very poignant and relatable and found myself tearing up a couple times. And I LOVED how Griff always stood up for her... even when he started off as an ass at first.
The revenge plot was not fully fleshed out either really but I think that’s because it wasn’t that well conceived by Griff... more like a side effect than a true purpose. It became more of an issue than originally intended. Griff’s eventual “grovel” was very nice and I love that Rosiland also came to her senses. I’m excited for the rest of the series!

Love story

Enjoyed the story. Narrator seemed to kind for characters. Her voice is great, something didn't click with story. Going to next book in series. See if I can pin it down.

Poor narrator

It took me 4 tries to get into this book, mostly because the narrator is so stilted. The writing for the first quarter doesn’t make up for it. Only because I like the author did I stick with it. I’m glad I did.

Too predictable

The heroine Rosalind was too predictable in her choices and the hero to stubborn. I hope this series improves, I'm especially interested in Helenas story.