Title: Dangerous in Diamonds
Author: Madeline Hunter
Series: Rarest Blooms #4
I couldn’t finish it
I couldn’t finish it. I almost forced myself to reach the end just to see if we’d get to meet Sebastian and Audrianna’s baby, but I just couldn’t do it. It was so boring and so bizarre that after a few hours I couldn’t stand it anymore and switched to a Dorothy Garlock to listen to as I finished mowing the lawn. Because I didn’t finish it, I won’t say anything about the plot, but I have plenty to say about the main characters, which I’ve seen plenty of in the previous three books.
Also note: Peggy Lee, who had narrated the first three books of the Rarest Blooms series, did not return for this installment. A disappointment, but I don’t think it would have mattered who read it. It would have remained unbearable.
Castleford. Where to start?
I like my heroes to be responsible, or at least accidentally irresponsible or irresponsible for good reason—guess I’m boring, as Castleford would surely declare. I wished he’d been just a tad more—take your pick—virtuous, discretionary, serious. You might argue that those traits would have been contrary to the character, but honestly, I cannot imagine a “hero” in any sense of the term being as…loose…as Castleford. He was completely, absolutely, and totally an anti-hero in my mind. I was not in any way entertained by his whoring, drinking, and all around mockery of life. He was the Regency version of the spoiled rich-kid frat boy stereotype, which I have never and likely will never find attractive. He was disgustingly arrogant. I cannot buy the fact that he didn’t contract any stis or stds. With as much tail as he theoretically got, tail that had been with many other men besides him, and considering there was no sure way to have safe sex at that time, it simply is not possible that he got off none the worse. Just no.
What I did find entertaining about him was his hidden and perpetually underestimated intelligence and cunning, his business savvy (he was an excellent duke when he wanted to be), and his loyalty and care for his friends. He was good to them, even when they didn’t want anything to do with him (completely understandable). The things he said were amusing, even if I didn’t agree with his definition of boring. But I just can’t bring myself to like him. I find nothing relatable about him. And that whole I-only-work-on-Tuesdays thing—I don’t know much about a duke’s jobs and responsibilities, but I have a hard time buying that he could get everything he needed to do done in one day per week. As if the world revolved around his scheduled Work Tuesday. Puh-lease.
And Daphne. I can’t say I looked forward to her story. She was just kind of there, like she was a plot device insofar as providing a reason for the other heroines to be found where they were. I can’t even think of much to describe about her, because she made such a small impact on me. The only real trait I noticed about her, really the only one displayed, was that she’s a mother hen, taking in life-done-me-wrong women and giving them a home, a family, and sort of a purpose, as well as attempting to be both the voice of reason as her girls fell in love and the protector should the girls be in danger (she’s got a pistol, and she’s not afraid to use it). Otherwise, I didn’t see her as a woman, as an individual person, as a romantic heroine, as a character in her own right. BUT I did respect her for making an effort to put Castleford in his place at the beginning of the book.
In Provocative in Pearls I speculated that Catherine may have been introduced to be Daphne’s lacky/plot device in the last book, and for the portion I listened to, I wasn’t far off. Pity.
