Summary: From the moment she heard of the arrival of the English ship, Cassandra Deville sensed danger. But she never expected the sensuous invader who stepped out of the shadows of the palms and onto the moonlit beach. Bold, passionate, electrifyingly masculine, Jared Danemount made it clear he had every intention of destroying her father. But the Duke of Morland hardly knew what to make of the exquisite pagan creature who offered herself to him, defiantly declaring that she would use his desire to her own advantage. Still, he could no more resist her challenge than he could ignore the temptation to risk everything for the heart of a woman sworn to betray him.
Review: So right away not good, I'm liking who is suppose to be the secondary character of Bradford (Jared's uncle) way more than the main hero Jared. Bradford has some wonderful lines:
"No, but I wish I did. I wish I believed in something," Bradford said wistfully. "It would be pleasant, don't you think?"
Bradford watched her leave the stable. "Unusual woman. I feel quite intoxicated." He laughed. "But then I felt intoxicated before I met her, so it's difficult to judge."
"Thank you," he said politely. "Though I doubt if such extreme measures were necessary in my case. I'm not a warlike man."
"Too much effort?" Lani asked.
He beamed at her. "Exactly. How pleasant to be understood."
Good stuff! Suffice to say I spent most of the book wishing it was about Bradford and Lani (Cassie's father's mistress).
The author did a good job of showing the contrast between the worlds Jared and Cassie grew up in and how that shaped their personalities. (Jared-England; Cassie-Hawaii) Because of this both seem to have a lot to learn from each other. The beginning was a nice set-up for a story to have two characters growing up and coming together but unfortunately fell flat. Strangely I did feel a little poetic justice for women around the world when Cassie tells Jared she can sleep with him and it won't mean anything and he won't mean anything to her and Jared is hurt by this. Of course though Cassie does come to love Jared so the old argument of 'women confusing sex with love' continues on.
The murder mystery involving Jared and Cassie's father was pretty blah. The whole middle of the book was just Cassie and Jared having sex on his ship and then not having sex at his house. Honestly. Ok there might have been some conversations in there but really I just summoned up the body of the story.
Granted the story has a different feel to it but I would chalk that up to it being written and published in 1995 (No Duke spies here folks). The storyline was meandering and bordered on boring and seemed to lose its purpose. Jared seemed to have a case of lust immediately for Cassie and I don't know if his feelings ever truly matured from that point. I never fully understood the character of Cassie. I think Cassie was suppose to be fiercely strong willed but Ms. Johansen forgot to give her heroine smarts too.Cassie was reckless and stupidly defiant at times. Josette (Jared's ward) was everything Cassie wasn't. She was impetuous and bold but extremely smart about it. When Cassie and Lani want to escape Jared, Cassie just says she is leaving while Josette plans it all out for her and helps her accomplish it. Is it so much to ask that my lead heroine have as much smarts as a fifteen year old girl?
Cassie and Jared had some good lines between the two but were not that entertaining of a couple.Like I said the young Josette and Jared's uncle Bradford were far better characters.Never good when secondary characters steal the show.
