5 Wine Glass #Review of Dangerous by Minerva Spencer

Title: Dangerous 

Series: The Outcasts #1

Author: Minerva Spencer

Format: paperback, 368 pages

Published: June 26th, 2018 by Zebra

Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N

Source: my personal library

Reviewer: Lexi

Rating: 5 out of 5 Wine Glasses

What sort of lady doesn't make her debut until the age of thirty-two? A timeless beauty with a mysterious past--and a future she intends to take into her own hands . . . 
Lady Euphemia Marlington hasn't been free in seventeen years--since she was captured by Corsairs and sold into a harem. Now the sultan is dead and Mia is back in London facing relentless newspapermen, an insatiably curious public, and her first Season. Worst of all is her ashamed father's ultimatum: marry a man of his choosing or live out her life in seclusion. No doubt her potential groom is a demented octogenarian. Fortunately, Mia is no longer a girl, but a clever woman with a secret--and a plan of her own . . .
Adam de Courtney's first two wives died under mysterious circumstances. Now there isn't a peer in England willing to let his daughter marry the dangerously handsome man the ton calls The Murderous Marquess. Nobody except Mia's father, the desperate Duke of Carlisle. Clearly Mia must resemble an aging matron, or worse. However, in need of an heir, Adam will use the arrangement to his advantage . . .
But when the two outcasts finally meet, assumptions will be replaced by surprises, deceit by desire--and a meeting of minds between two schemers may lead to a meeting of hearts--if the secrets of their pasts don't tear them apart . . .

Lexi’s Thoughts:

Books like Dangerous are why I continue to return to historical romance! It’s witty with strong characters who put their hearts and their lives on the line in an adventure that will keep the pages turning. 

Euphemia, Mia, was abducted as an early teen and has lived in the sultan’s harem ever since. But no one is king forever and Mia finds herself back home with a father who avoids scandal like the plague and whispers and stares following her everywhere. 

Lucky for Mia, she meets Adam. He has a questionable history but all she sees is someone who is cool and aloof, someone who doesn’t want an attachment but needs an heir, and someone she can easily leave. Their first dinner together is priceless and sets the tone for their relationship. They tease, they pry, they surprise one another. It’s delicious and that is in no reference to the food they ate. 

Mia has a secret, what good HR doesn’t? She has a son. He’s fighting one of his half-brothers for the sultan’s throne. Mia wants him safe, in London, and she plans on going to get him. But then she cracks through Adam’s frost layer covering his heart…and she falls in love.

Adam survived two marriages and the damage those women did to him has created a protective layer around his heart. He is fearful for his daughters and will do anything to protect them but he is too blinded by hurt to see that he isn’t letting them live. Then Mia sweeps into his life with her odd tendencies to sit on pillows on the floor, constantly touch him and walk around in unabashed nudity. She inserts herself into his home and room the same way she slides into his heart, with her naughty smile and infectious laugh. She sees the real him and for the first time in his life he feels wanted.

But desire is dangerous and so is the adventure Mia takes them on in her quest to rescue her son. The action is shiver-inducing. Pirates, breaking and entering, fighting, and a serious gamble. 

I didn’t want this book to end and am incredibly excited for Barbarous to come out on October 30th. Spencer is now an auto-buy author and should be on your radar if you are a historical romance fan.