The Daredevil Snared

Starred review from May 16, 2016
Love, lust, and action in the lush jungles of West Africa make up Laurens’s fast-paced third installment of the 19th-century Adventurers Quartet. Using the map from his brother’s mission in Freetown (in what is today Sierra Leone), Capt. Caleb Frobisher has discovered that the kidnapped people from A Buccaneer at Heart are now enslaved in a mining camp overseen by the dastardly Dubois. Frobisher must await a rescue mission, but time is running out. Among those kidnapped, governess Katherine Fortescue is a formidable heroine; her intelligence and strength make her a fitting love interest for the heroic Frobisher, and their chemistry adds to the heat and sizzle of the jungle setting. Laurens’s rich characterization and well-thought-out plot make for a captivating adventure romance and provide elements of danger and surprise throughout the story. The vivid narrative, combined with quick cuts from scene to scene, make for an engrossing read with an ending poised to continue the adventure with yet another Frobisher brother.

May 15, 2016
A romantic rumble in the jungle. Capt. Caleb Frobisher is a man on a mission--a mission his older brothers started in the first two books of Laurens' Adventurers Quartet. He's been sent to follow a rumor that British citizens are being enslaved in a covert diamond mine in West Africa, which leads him to the mine where Katherine Fortescue is being held. Katherine, one of the de facto leaders of the captured group, is delighted to learn that a rescue attempt is underway. But when Dubois, the sociopath mine leader, discovers Caleb and his crew in hiding, they are also forced to work, and now all wait anxiously to see if rescue will arrive from England. After an instant attraction between Caleb and Katherine, their romance develops slowly, but once they finally kiss, their love becomes as unbreakable as the diamonds they mine. The plot drags under long descriptions of the complicated schemes of the prisoners but gains steam toward the end. Though the unusual setting is beautifully described in places, the realities of colonialism barely make an appearance, and readers who look for period details in their historical romance may want more. The book ends abruptly, and readers will need to wait for the final book in the series to see if the couple reaches their happy ending, as well as to uncover the mysterious backers of the illegal venture. An adventure-filled entry in a solid historical romance series that is best enjoyed in order.

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June 1, 2016
Captain Caleb Frobisher lives for adventure. So heading up an advance scouting party to search for a group of men, women, and children who have been kidnapped by African slavers should provide him with all the dangerous thrills he desires. As one of the prisoners, Kate Fortescue has been hoping and dreaming of the day when someone would rescue them. So when Caleb makes contact, Kate is elated since she believes he is exactly the kind of man they need to lead them to safety. The vividly etched West African jungle setting gives a refreshing twist to Laurens' latest Regency-set historical romance as she continues the danger-packed story line in the third title in her Adventurer's Quartet, picking up where things left off in A Buccaneer at Heart (2016), only to leave readers on tenterhooks by the book's conclusion. Readers will wait with baited breath for The Lord of the Privateers, due out late in the year, to see if the prisoners finally achieve their freedom.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)