Helpful Score: 5
Kresley Cole has once again taken this reader on another romantic adventure romp with the first book in a new trilogy featuring the three MacCarrick brothers. Three adventuresome and darkly dangerous Scottish brothers who live life on the edge since believing an age-old family curse that predicts that the family line would end with them.
*** I thought this was a deliciously entertaining read that kept the sexual tension high; the adventure exciting; and culminated with a fabulous love story. Annalia and Court were really great together providing entertainment both when battling and definitely when loving. Court thought Anna petulant and spoiled; she thought of him as an ungentlemanly barbarian; definitely the ingredients for a lively romance. When Court finally discovered that Anna, the petite dainty beauty had courage, strengths and a passionate nature it brought out both the best in him as well as bringing him to his knees. The lively mixture of secondary characters, from Court's brothers, his crew of comrades, and Pascal's daughter Olivia, were all well-defined adding additional layers of depth to this very sexy romance. The dialogs, not only between the main protagonists but also between the numerous secondary characters were wonderful adding one more layer to this superb read! The only thing I must say I don't like is having to wait another year for Hugh's story, which judging by the sneak peak at the back of the book looks to be another fabulous read and a worthy addition to this newest trilogy which is going to end up on my keeper shelf! - Marilyn, for www.historicalromancewriters.com
*** I thought this was a deliciously entertaining read that kept the sexual tension high; the adventure exciting; and culminated with a fabulous love story. Annalia and Court were really great together providing entertainment both when battling and definitely when loving. Court thought Anna petulant and spoiled; she thought of him as an ungentlemanly barbarian; definitely the ingredients for a lively romance. When Court finally discovered that Anna, the petite dainty beauty had courage, strengths and a passionate nature it brought out both the best in him as well as bringing him to his knees. The lively mixture of secondary characters, from Court's brothers, his crew of comrades, and Pascal's daughter Olivia, were all well-defined adding additional layers of depth to this very sexy romance. The dialogs, not only between the main protagonists but also between the numerous secondary characters were wonderful adding one more layer to this superb read! The only thing I must say I don't like is having to wait another year for Hugh's story, which judging by the sneak peak at the back of the book looks to be another fabulous read and a worthy addition to this newest trilogy which is going to end up on my keeper shelf! - Marilyn, for www.historicalromancewriters.com
Great trilogy about the MacCarrick Brothers, but this was the least favorite of the three for me. At least the first 120 pages or so. I won't say why to avoid spoilers, but then the remainder of the book picked up, became a little more humane and normal and was just as good as the other 2 books. =) Enjoy!
Helpful Score: 3
at first it starts out like a nice little country novels and then it gets in to the action and romance i really enjoyed it i am reading book 2 now and i am waitin on someone to post three you should read very good series
Helpful Score: 3
~ Reminded me why I love romance - and romance heroes especially - oh so very much! (4.5 stars) ~
Wow. This book was an amazing read and came at just the time when I really needed an HR winner. I bought this book awhile ago, but just couldn't commit to reading it. I was convinced from some of the summaries that the heroine was a TSTL spoiled brat who would annoy me to no end and having never read Kresley Cole but knowing that she writes pretty sizzling stories, I was afraid it would be choc a bloc full of excessive lust and gratuitous sex (pardon my blunt-writing ;-).
It turns out that it was very good that I waited and I am SO unbelievably glad I decided to pick it up today of all days. I have been down about the recent romance duds that I've read and was really starting to despair, thinking I was going to be stuck from now on with having to reread my favorites, because nothing was left undiscovered and the new ones coming out had all been mostly horrible. After reading If You Dare though, I was reminded of why I became a romance book devotee ten years ago and why I love - no, adore! - the genre; nothing beats a good romance read. (Except probably having your own personal hero, which I don't currently, so book heroes have to do for now!)
MAIN CHARACTERS, COURTLAND (Court) AND ANNALIA (Anna):
This particular hero is to die for, *especially* in the second half: somebody please tell me where I can find my own Courtland MacCarrick and I will give you everything I own! At first I was a little wary because he came off a little dictatorial, stubborn, and rough, but I quickly fell in love with him and in the second half of the book ::sigh:: ... well, just thinking about it makes me want to reread it. He becomes so romantic and possessive and sweet, though still retaining enough of his difficult, rough-around-the-edges, serious qualities - it's just delicious. Gotta love those tortured bad boys. He definitely made it on to my list of all-time favorite heroes, and I'm pretty picky about those - just because I give a book 4 or 5 stars does not mean the hero is necessarily going in that category.
My two biggest reservations were not for nothing, and though they obviously didn't ruin my enjoyment of the book, they do have to be mentioned. Court does almost immediately feel lust for Annalia - and it is lust, not just 'oh, wow, she's attractive. moving on.' However, because of his character and just how he is, it is almost expected and was not really off-putting. Most importantly, I felt that his attachment to Annalia quickly developed into something more. It's odd because this was not really a meeting of the minds - they don't have very many (if any) intellectual discussions, are completely different and come for vastly different experiences/histories, and are in many ways polar opposites, however here, for me, it just worked! Actually a little puzzling to me why I did feel it worked, but what can I say?
The second and main problem, which ended up knocking half a star off, was the part of the book where my fear about the heroine did come true: for about the second quarter of the book, she completely becomes the spoiled, annoying, bratty TSTL heroine that I thought she was going to be. Honestly, I wanted to slap her upside the head several, several times. Anna does redeem herself - though the turnaround is very abrupt - and come around for the second half, but I do wish that transformation period of hers could have been left out altogether. Honestly, had I not loved the rest of the book so much, it would have brought the rating down far more than half a star.
EVERYTHING ELSE
I loved Court's crew and brothers - am interested to see how their stories turn out - and thought the side romance for Anna's brother was a nice addition, and I'm normally not one for secondary romances. I actually feel that that could have been its own interesting book, because their pairing is pretty rare in romances in that the hero had a lot of the qualities heroines often do and vice versa. Here, the man is the one who is trusting and nice/sweet and loyal and all that good stuff and the woman is the one who has had the difficult upbringing and the betrayal and has had to be tough and rough and duplicitous to protect herself.
It is an action-type romance, more because of battles and fighting than any mystery subplot. It set the story, so I thought was done well, didn't take away at all from the romance, and added just what it had to to give the plot shape.
And last, but by no means least ;-), the chemistry is sizzling off the charts and has some romance scenes where you will definitely be fanning yourself.
THE MACCARRICK BROTHERS TRILOGY
Book 1 - If You Dare, Courtland's story
Book 2 - If You Desire, Hugh's story
Book 3 - If You Deceive, Ethan's Story
BOTTOM LINE
I'm glad I waited until now to read it. Really needed one of those amazing romance reads right now and it absolutely 100% delivered. Despite the seriousness of its backdrop and of some of the underlying themes, for me it did not read like a very heavy or serious romance. But I guess sometimes I don't need that - I just need enjoyment.
Wow. This book was an amazing read and came at just the time when I really needed an HR winner. I bought this book awhile ago, but just couldn't commit to reading it. I was convinced from some of the summaries that the heroine was a TSTL spoiled brat who would annoy me to no end and having never read Kresley Cole but knowing that she writes pretty sizzling stories, I was afraid it would be choc a bloc full of excessive lust and gratuitous sex (pardon my blunt-writing ;-).
It turns out that it was very good that I waited and I am SO unbelievably glad I decided to pick it up today of all days. I have been down about the recent romance duds that I've read and was really starting to despair, thinking I was going to be stuck from now on with having to reread my favorites, because nothing was left undiscovered and the new ones coming out had all been mostly horrible. After reading If You Dare though, I was reminded of why I became a romance book devotee ten years ago and why I love - no, adore! - the genre; nothing beats a good romance read. (Except probably having your own personal hero, which I don't currently, so book heroes have to do for now!)
MAIN CHARACTERS, COURTLAND (Court) AND ANNALIA (Anna):
This particular hero is to die for, *especially* in the second half: somebody please tell me where I can find my own Courtland MacCarrick and I will give you everything I own! At first I was a little wary because he came off a little dictatorial, stubborn, and rough, but I quickly fell in love with him and in the second half of the book ::sigh:: ... well, just thinking about it makes me want to reread it. He becomes so romantic and possessive and sweet, though still retaining enough of his difficult, rough-around-the-edges, serious qualities - it's just delicious. Gotta love those tortured bad boys. He definitely made it on to my list of all-time favorite heroes, and I'm pretty picky about those - just because I give a book 4 or 5 stars does not mean the hero is necessarily going in that category.
My two biggest reservations were not for nothing, and though they obviously didn't ruin my enjoyment of the book, they do have to be mentioned. Court does almost immediately feel lust for Annalia - and it is lust, not just 'oh, wow, she's attractive. moving on.' However, because of his character and just how he is, it is almost expected and was not really off-putting. Most importantly, I felt that his attachment to Annalia quickly developed into something more. It's odd because this was not really a meeting of the minds - they don't have very many (if any) intellectual discussions, are completely different and come for vastly different experiences/histories, and are in many ways polar opposites, however here, for me, it just worked! Actually a little puzzling to me why I did feel it worked, but what can I say?
The second and main problem, which ended up knocking half a star off, was the part of the book where my fear about the heroine did come true: for about the second quarter of the book, she completely becomes the spoiled, annoying, bratty TSTL heroine that I thought she was going to be. Honestly, I wanted to slap her upside the head several, several times. Anna does redeem herself - though the turnaround is very abrupt - and come around for the second half, but I do wish that transformation period of hers could have been left out altogether. Honestly, had I not loved the rest of the book so much, it would have brought the rating down far more than half a star.
EVERYTHING ELSE
I loved Court's crew and brothers - am interested to see how their stories turn out - and thought the side romance for Anna's brother was a nice addition, and I'm normally not one for secondary romances. I actually feel that that could have been its own interesting book, because their pairing is pretty rare in romances in that the hero had a lot of the qualities heroines often do and vice versa. Here, the man is the one who is trusting and nice/sweet and loyal and all that good stuff and the woman is the one who has had the difficult upbringing and the betrayal and has had to be tough and rough and duplicitous to protect herself.
It is an action-type romance, more because of battles and fighting than any mystery subplot. It set the story, so I thought was done well, didn't take away at all from the romance, and added just what it had to to give the plot shape.
And last, but by no means least ;-), the chemistry is sizzling off the charts and has some romance scenes where you will definitely be fanning yourself.
THE MACCARRICK BROTHERS TRILOGY
Book 1 - If You Dare, Courtland's story
Book 2 - If You Desire, Hugh's story
Book 3 - If You Deceive, Ethan's Story
BOTTOM LINE
I'm glad I waited until now to read it. Really needed one of those amazing romance reads right now and it absolutely 100% delivered. Despite the seriousness of its backdrop and of some of the underlying themes, for me it did not read like a very heavy or serious romance. But I guess sometimes I don't need that - I just need enjoyment.
Helpful Score: 2
Can a highlander steal his enemy's bride and make her love him?
