When does a five year old magically become a nine year old? When they live in Romanceland.
http://www.karenhawkins.com/
Somewhere along the line I skipped one of the books in the series, Scandal in Scotland. However, I don't believe I missed any plot-line; The Most Dangerous Profession seems to be a stand-alone book. I am going to admit right up front that this book was ok (cringe). I don't like to use that slang in conversation when speaking of my beloved romance books, but in this case I felt I had to. The Most Dangerous Profession was not the best or worst book of Karen Hawkins' that I've ever read. It just seemed to be a little rushed and lacking some of her fire. There were moments where I thought the two characters in the book could have been fantastic, but mainly I didn't care for either one of them.
Moira was a secret keeper, a big secret keeper although I guess I understand the reason for her remaining silent. I would have liked to have a bit more of the background story in order for me to decide whether her reasoning was lame or not. Moira has moments of TSTL heroine stamped all over her forehead. She's is trying to rescue her daughter, or let's say she is letting her husband rescue her daughter, but she still manages to barge in and in the process endanger all their lives.
Robert, on the other hand, seems to be content not to confide what he's doing to his wife even when their daughter's life is at stake. And, let's explore that daughter shall we. Being held prisoner by a psychopath is one of the problems I had with this book. First of all, I'm not too keen on children-being-kidnapped stories. Secondly, before this couple could format a plan to rescue their daughter, Rowena, they had to get the Hurst amulet. What? You see, Robert's idiot brother is being held captive and the only thing that will get him released is that amulet. However, he's been held captive a long time; I would think that a five-year-old child would come first. The other thing that bothered me (and this isn't the first time) is that I wonder how many mothers can have the hots for some man while their child is being held at some unknown location? How could any woman ever concentrate on falling on top of Mr. Toad when her child is in danger?
And, then there is the amazing aging process that Rowena goes through. We do get to meet her in the beginning and her language at that time seemed to be that of a five year old. However, when she is rescued, I had to turn my pages back to see how much time had elapsed because she now had the syncopation of a much older child. It was rather jarring.
I did enjoy the valet.
I've always been a big Karen Hawkins fan - she's an auto-buy for me - but this book fell flat. I am probably in the minority here, because it was just ok for me. Everything had a rushed feel about it. I would have loved to see some flashbacks of Robert and Moira because their characters just never had any life.
I will be buying the next in the amulet series, which is Michael's story. You remember him - he's the one they've been trying to rescue in the last three books.
Time/Place: Regency England and a side trip to Scotland
Sensuality Rating: Luke-hot
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