The Maiden's Court: Book Review: The Daredevil Snared by Stephanie Laurens & Tour-Wide Giveaway

The Daredevil Snared by Stephanie Laurens

Book 3 in The Adventurers Quartet

ARC, e-Book, 464 pages

MIRA

June 28, 2016

★★★★ ½☆

Heat Rating:

Genre: Historical Romance, Adventure, Regency

Source: Received from the publisher via Netgalley for review/tour with TLC Book Tours

He has something to prove
Captain Caleb Frobisher, hedonistic youngest son of a seafaring dynasty, wants to be taken seriously. Seizing the next leg of the covert mission his brothers are pursuing, he acts decisively and effectively in securing the mission's objectives. But responsibility has taken root, and he remains in the jungle to ensure the mission's ultimate goal.

She will risk everything
Katherine Fortescue fled a life of poverty and came to Freetown as a governess, only to be kidnapped and forced to oversee the child workforce at a mine. Guarded by well-armed, well-trained mercenaries, the captives have lost all hope of escape. Then Katherine meets a handsome man—a captain—and he brings the sweet promise of rescue.

Together they will face the future
The sadistic mercenary who runs the mine has other plans, but Caleb's true strength lies in extracting advantage from adversity, and through the clashes that follow, he becomes the leader he was always destined to be. The sort of man Katherine can trust—with her body, with her life. With her love.

Race with THE ADVENTURERS as these passionate daredevils lead the way to the stunning and dramatic conclusion.

It surprises me to say this, but book 3 has been my favorite in the series so far! For those who maybe read the first book and turned away from the series because it was a little slow (and I acknowledge that it was too), each book in the series gets progressively better. Part of this I lay at the feet of the hero of each story, by far Caleb is the most fascinating. The other thing is that I feel like the bulk of the action of this series is in this book and will also be in the forthcoming book when everything comes together. Additionally, the romance thread I found most believable in this book. So, let’s unpack these thoughts a bit further!

Book 2, A Buccaneer at Heart, ends with Caleb setting out on his trip to Africa and when Book 3 picks up, he is already in the depths of the jungle. In A Daredevil Snared we don’t have to deal with some of the monotony that Freetown had become for the reader, we spend the entirety of Caleb’s adventure in the jungle – which I was totally fine with. The jungle was a new and exciting setting that introduced us to those who were behind the kidnappings in question. There is action from the first few pages and I felt that it carried right up until the end.

The best part of the book however was Caleb Frobisher. He is the youngest of the four Frobisher brothers and being that he has always been the reckless one and the one that was never given serious responsibilities. He set off on this mission (without permission mind you) to prove to his family that while he can have a good time, he can reel it in when required. He must stick to the mission and not let his impulses run wild. He would love to just run in, kill all those who are involved in the kidnapping, and save anyone he can; but his mission is just to locate the camp and send that info back to London. We see him struggle between what his nature tells him to do and his desire to prove his worth to his family and that makes him a more compelling character than either Declan or Robert were before him.

The cast grows widely in this book as we meet a bunch of those who were kidnapped and are being kept in the camp – as well as their captors. A few of these characters we have heard of in passing in the first two books, but they actually come into their own here. It was very different to see things from the perspective of the camp and find out what they have been enduring and thinking this whole time they have been there. Katherine Fortescue, our heroine, is one of those trapped in the camp. She is strong and trying to not lose hope in the face of their dire situation; she is a force to be reckoned with.

The romance here between Katherine and Caleb develops in what I felt was a more believable nature than how Robert and Aileen’s (which began in Freetown) or Declan or Edwina (which began in London). Theirs is a romance of opportunity and joint experience and suffering. When you experience hardship and tragedy together relationships necessarily grow quicker and in a different way than in the real world. Here those fetters of society are not there to keep them within rigid boundaries, but even still, they don’t go crazy. It felt very true and real. I was actually rooting for them all along.

Unlike the first two books, this book does not wrap up nicely with the hero and heroine returning to London madly in love and ready to pass the reins on to the next brother. They are very much still in Africa and waiting for someone to come sweeping in – which will be the final brother, whom we have heard much about but very rarely seen, Royd. I’m hoping the other brothers might be involved too since they could use a force to close out this series.

I couldn’t put this book down – which was a first in this series for me – and I hate that I will have to wait to December to read the conclusion!

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | RJ Julia

Also by Stephanie Laurens:
Stephanie Laurens has written many novels, those in the Adventurers Quartet include:

A Lady’s Command (Book 1)
[My Review]

A Buccaneer at Heart (Book 2)
[My Review]

Lord of the Privateers (Book 4)
Coming December 2016

Find Stephanie Laurens: Website | Newsletter

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