Lady Danger [Mass Market Paperback]

This is exactly the type of story I adore. The woman is not a shrinking violet that screams and waits for a guy to rescue her. She doesn't pine away in a tower, watching the world drift by because she's too feeble to actually take control of her own life. Instead, she picks up her sword, grabs the dagger out of her boot, and takes a stand for what she believes in.

The heroine is Deidre, eldest daughter of a Scottish Lord. She and her two sisters have been managing the castle as their father slips into senility. Along comes Pagan Cameliard who has been given control of the castle and a sister's hand in marriage. The girls don't like this, but Deidre accepts it as her fate. She may have to marry him for political reasons, but she doesn't have to like him - or yield to him in bed.

What follows is the kind of story I love. She's a bit arrogant, having had control for so long, and has trouble realizing Pagan is actually a match for her. He's a bit arrogant too, thinking women are brainless twits. Both of them get a rude awakening that at first bothers them, then intrigues them. She realizes that Pagan is actually an amazingly good fighter and worthy of her respect. He realizes that Deidre does have a sharp mind and a well toned body, and that he is drawn to both. I love the combination of verbal jousting and physical swordplay. It's like watching scenes from Conan or Alias come to life.

I really do enthusiastically give this book five stars, as it is so much in the style that I appreciate, but I will call out a few minor items that nagged at me. Pagan is a man of honor and shows it in several ways - but on the other hand he quickly attempts something DIShonorable that really, really bugged me. It really had an impact on how I felt about his character. Also, it irks me that often in romance stories the guy has slept around with every girl he's met, is comfortable and well skilled in love as being "normal". The woman, on the other hand, is a frigid ice queen that has never even been kissed. It's the whole "new car smell" stereotype that the Victorians concocted and still affects teenagers in modern times! It really concerns me that we perpetuate these ideas that women have to be pure and chaste while guys are only "real guys" if they've slept with anything that moves. Why would sex be natural for a male, but unnatural for a female?

In any case, these are issues I have to face in most romance novels so I was able to get past them here. In general the book was brilliant, was a quick and fun read, and I'd love to see more stories come out in this style.

UPDATE:

Another reviewer suggested The Wolf and the Dove was far better than Lady Danger. WolfDove was written in 1974 so I tried to give it some leeway - but I was *really* upset by much of it. The woman is raped by one guy. Then she is CONTINUALLY raped by a second guy who is the "hero"!! Her solution is to nag this guy literally every day until he marries her. His reward - she now actively participates in sex instead of just laying there!

Her only "drawing feature" for these guys - mentioned repeatedly - is how beautiful she is. Other women are actively scorned for being "not curvy enough" or infertile. I'm not even mentioning the many technical writing issues - just the characters themselves were very upsetting to me as a modern reader. I really hope women don't think that a guy who continually rapes them in any era is someone they should nag into marriage. She should have run. Immediately.

Lady Danger is FAR far better than that book. Deidre stands up for herself, she protects her people, she is intelligent and respected for her skills. Pagan actively refuses to take her unwillingly because, as a knight, he swore an oath! Knights did actually take those oaths seriously most of the time. If one didn't, he wouldn't be the guy I'd want as a hero in a romance novel.

Deidre is exactly what I would want to be in a woman in that time period - and Pagan is exactly the man I would want to stand by my side.

Seems like I've been reading a lot of really poorly written period romances lately while I wait for the next offerings from Mary Balogh, Lisa Kleypas and Stephanie Laurens. I'd about given up trying anyone new after so many disappointments. But after reading the blurb about this book, I couldn't resist and boy, am I glad I didn't. Great original characters, great stories, great writing, great everything! I quickly bought the follow-up book, "Captive Heart" (Colin and Helena's story), and liked it just as well, if not better than Pagan and Deirdre's story. The only downside...having to wait until next spring for the final book in the trilogy, the last sister, Miriel's story.

These sisters are totally unique to so-called romance fiction, at least in my experience (which is fairly considerable), especially Helena. They are warriors all, and as written by the remarkably talented Ms. McKerrigan they are totally believable. God, it's so nice to have truly strong and capable female protagonists for a change. Add to that the fact that the author managed to create men who come to value their ladies strength, bravery and sense of honor as they would any other true warrior, and to my mind you have the perfect love stories. Ms. McKerrigan also manages to write very sensual love scenes without going over the top. They flow so naturally and carry a true visceral punch. She's done absolutely everything right, except making us wait so long for Miriel's story.

I'm not going to go into storylines. Read the books. I promise you will not regret purchasing both "Lady Danger" and "Captive Heart". If I could give them more than 5 stars, I would. And I'm not one to gush over books. Most of those I read (30+ per month) I don't bother to review because I can't find anything nice to say about any of them, especially when others seem to like them so much. I'm from the old school...if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

Thank God Ms. McKerrigan has allowed me to say so many nice things. Happy reading.

I really liked this book! It was well written, and keeps your attention. Once you start reading you cant put it down till you finish.

I highly recommend this book, as well as her other 2 novels in this series!

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 14 reviews  4.1 out of 5 stars