It's short and to the point, and you can feel the emotions swirling through the pages. I enjoyed reading it, and the only reason I'm giving it 4 stars and not 5 is because I wanted a bit more closure to the story. It ended a little abruptly for me, but overall the story is fantastic. Sep 27, Linda Wells rated it it was amazing. But apparently she hadn't done enough to please her boss.
10 of the Best Young Adult Novels About Outcasts
Her job feels like a trap. Little open cages adorned with homey touches; small, calming knick-knacks and photos-portals to the outside world, reminders of the reasons they were wrapping themselves in these cubicles. The story has depth, is multi-layered, and goes to the heart of someone who is functioning in a crowded and clamorous world, but feels out of touch and wants to be understood. At one point, she is even unable to communicate.
Frances is an empathetic character, and you will be drawn into her world, as the author deftly takes you to a meaningful and surprising conclusion. Dec 06, A. This is my review of Outcast from my blog I purchases it so here is my honest review. On Amazon, I gave it four stars. I liked the story, just wish it had been longer. A pretty well written book about a woman Francis on the verge of a mental collapse due to perceived problems at home.
The Outcast Brigade
She believes her husband is cheating on her and her two teenage children give her nothing but grief. The tipping point of her mental state occurred when the boss called her into his office for a meeting. He was no This is my review of Outcast from my blog I purchases it so here is my honest review. He was none too happy with her work and progress.
She always felt she was a round peg trying to fit into a square hole. After that meeting her mind crossed the border into insanity. At first she could no longer understand what people were saying. Her mind could no longer process their words. Even her husband and children seem to speak in a foreign tongue.
As her mental state grows worse, she is put in the hospital, where she no longer could understand what the doctors had to say. She gets worse even after being released from the hospital, they couldn't find a medical condition that might be causing her breakdown. She regresses to the point where she feels she understands baby talk and desires to go back to the womb. I recommended this to anyone that likes short quick stories. I will not tell you how it ends. Read the story and find out yourself Claire rated it liked it Nov 08, Robert Dylan rated it really liked it Sep 09, Cecilia Dunbar Hernandez rated it it was amazing Sep 17, Anna-marie marked it as to-read Sep 02, David Estes added it Sep 06, Cupof Tea marked it as to-read Sep 08, Imran Ali Rathore marked it as to-read Sep 08, John Winston marked it as to-read Sep 15, Danna marked it as to-read Sep 16, Brendan marked it as to-read Sep 29, Hayley Elliott marked it as to-read Nov 08, Crysti Jane marked it as to-read Jan 04, Amber Hennessey marked it as to-read Feb 04, Maria Elizabeth added it Jun 07, Jules marked it as to-read Jan 27, Paula marked it as to-read Mar 21, Dorothy Mahoney marked it as to-read Apr 09, Geo Marcovici marked it as to-read Dec 06, Safi Alam added it Mar 12, Larassita marked it as to-read May 10, Matthew Hartnett marked it as to-read Sep 02, Charlie Hasler marked it as to-read Sep 03, Sasha FitzHerbert added it Sep 30, Rose marked it as to-read Oct 09, Deborah Joy marked it as to-read Nov 16, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
About Andrea McKenzie Raine. She was enrolled in the Creative Writing program and earned a B. She has also written book reviews and articles for local magazines, celebrating the work of her peers. She lives with her husband and two young sons and, by day, is employed as a correspondence writer for the provincial government. Snap this one up, folks. You'll be glad you did! Sep 05, Heather K dentist in my spare time rated it really liked it Shelves: Wow, THIS is how you write a debut book. Minerva Spencer just made her way to my auto-buy list. In a sea of romances featuring virginal women, I loved Dangerous 's sensual, sexy female MC.
Mia was smart, powerful, and in her thirties. I loved Mia's relationship with the wealthy and secretive Adam de Courtney. In fact, Adam stole the show for me. He was exactly the type of hero I end up loving, and I wanted to know more about him. It was his intrigue and the chemistry between the two MCs that kept me wanting to read just one more page. I wish the ending of the book was as strong as the start. I hated how Mia went from smart to TSTL I mean, please , and how outlandish the plot became near the end, but the book was so satisfying as a whole that I had to give it 4-stars.
Minerva Spencer is an author to watch. View all 7 comments. May 06, Maggie Whitworth rated it it was amazing. Dangerous is a great title and apt for the characters and the storyline. By introducing the quantity and quality of secondary characters that she has , the author has left herself in an envious position.
Or she could use the friends route , to create a series , all of them are wonderful and would work well in their own right. This book is well written with humour ,tension, and emotion. I received an advanced copy of this book and chose to submit a review Nov 27, Caz rated it really liked it Shelves: I am going to raise my hand and admit that when I first read the synopsis — our heroine was kidnapped by pirates, sold to a Sultan and lived in a harem for seventeen years — I had my doubts.
Lady Euphemia Marlington, daughter of the Duke of Carlisle, has recently returned to London following the aforementioned seventeen years spent in the harem of Baba Hassan, Sultan of Oran. What she wants is a man who will marry her and then leave her alone so that she can pursue her scheme of returning to Oran in order to reunite with her son, Jabril. But what he wants is one thing, what he needs is another… and he needs an heir.
Adam is not inclined to be manipulated — until he sets eyes on Mia. He has no intention of offering for her… until he does, surprised to hear from the lady herself that the sort of marriage she proposes is one sought after by most men — one with no emotional entanglements. There are things Adam and Mia keep from each other — fairly big things — but their relationship is, for the most part, an honest one; and when the Big Secret comes into play in the last part of the book, Ms. While the aforementioned sex scenes are well written and integral to the development of the relationship, there are perhaps a few too many of them; and Mia has a number of almost-TSTL moments in the last few chapters which feel somewhat out of character.
View all 11 comments. Sep 19, Holly rated it really liked it Recommended to Holly by: However, it's not exactly literature either, it's still 'just' a historical romance, albeit a refreshingly different one. The heroine is not some nubile young thing in her first Season as you see in most of these kinds of books, instead she's a thirty-two year old woman, back in England for the first time since she was a young girl, gone for so long under mysterious circumstances.
The hero also isn't your typical 3. The hero also isn't your typical well-liked Rake either, he's actually rather shunned by the entirety of the ton. I greatly enjoyed their romance, it's fun and witty and sexy. Overall I was very surprised to see that this was the author's debut novel, as it's really quite good, so I will definitely give her next book a try.
Thanks to Hollis for her review which made me want to read this book: May 07, Ira rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book was amazing, so heartwarming, warm, thrilling and amazing! Halfway through the ebook, I went online to put the paperback on my wishlist because I felt that I simply needed to have this one in print as well! The contrast between London's ton and Mia's warm and sensual manner is striking and you just feel her husband relax into something unknown to him, something warm and very much alive, you feel the love between the hero and the heroine grow and I loved to see the lightness and the laug This book was amazing, so heartwarming, warm, thrilling and amazing!
The contrast between London's ton and Mia's warm and sensual manner is striking and you just feel her husband relax into something unknown to him, something warm and very much alive, you feel the love between the hero and the heroine grow and I loved to see the lightness and the laughter Mia brings into her husband's life.
And I also loved to see how Adam de Courtney's acceptance of her past and her allows her to blosssom and to be happy. Mia hugs and caresses her way straight into her husband's heart and when she disappears, well, he won't let her get away A wonderful book - I just wanted to say "to read on a sunny afternoon" but actually, no matter where and no matter what the weather or the place, this book is always a good choice!
I can't wait to read the next book in this series! May 03, Elizabeth Everett rated it it was amazing. I read this book because I received an ARC and let me tell you. It's so up my alley. There are dashing rogues, alpha leads, non-virgin heroines, pirates, adventure, dark family secrets, hot sex, sweet words of love, heartfelt revelations -everything I want in romance all rolled up into one.
The best part is a truly strong heroine who isn't a twentieth century woman shoehorned into a regency setting. She's bold and unconventional for believable reasons - she has a backstory and she I read this book because I received an ARC and let me tell you. She's bold and unconventional for believable reasons - she has a backstory and she continues to grow throughout the book. I went back and forth on the hero but came around in the end. And, there are two super intriguing luscious secondary male characters who piqued my interest for the rest of the series.
Minerva Spencer is an excellent writer. She has a sly sense of humor with a great hand at action scenes - and the love scenes are delectably edgy. This book has that old school feel, but with a modern sensibility when it comes to the heroine. Jun 07, Hollis rated it really liked it Shelves: I'll admit that I requested this book solely because of the 'escaped the harem' plotline.
And, spoiler, it did. Lady Euphemia Marlington is thirty two a I'll admit that I requested this book solely because of the 'escaped the harem' plotline. Lady Euphemia Marlington is thirty two and finally having her debut. Recently returned to London under mysterious circumstances, her father is hoping to marry her off before tales of her misadventures for the last seventeen years become any wilder than they already are. It's bad enough that her age makes her unsuitable but the scandal that surrounds her reappearance means the only real options left to her for a husband include deviants or men twice her age.
Ultimately, however, Mia is less concerned over who she marries because she knows she'll be escaping England at the first opportunity.
See a Problem?
She left something behind when she left the harem, something dear to her, and she has no problem ditching an unwanted husband in order to retrieve it. That is until she meets Adam de Courtney, Lord Exley. Why this handsome, and age-appropriate, man is interested in her, she doesn't know. But he needs an heir, she needs a husband to grant her independence from her father, and so they get married. But the more she spends time with the complex Lord Exley, the longer she delays her plans to leave. Soon she is caught up in a romance when all she wanted was a marriage of convenience.
As for Adam, infamously known as The Murderess Marquess, he has resigned himself to never again marrying, never having an heir, for who would trust their daughter to a man who had lost his two prior wives under suspicious circumstances? But then he meets Mia and is both intrigued by her father's desperation to marry her off to him and intrigued by the woman herself -- not the least for the fact that the story about her absence doesn't seem to be truthful.
He doesn't want to care for her, doesn't want to long for her, and yet she consumes every thought in his head, his body burns for her, and soon they are sharing confidences, playing cards, falling in love, when all he wanted was to wed her, bed her, and then go about their separate ways. This book is fun, witty, sexy as hell, and has just enough mystery surrounding Adam's backstory to make him a legitimately broody, hard to read, and hard to open up, hero.
Mia, on the other hand, has endured life in a harem, snatched up at the tender age of fourteen, and yet lives her life to the fullest. She is full of joy, delight, and ridiculously sensual for a woman who has been trained to please others while never experiencing her own pleasure. The chemistry between these two is fantastic and watching them spark off, and against, each other is great fun. Where the story fell apart for me, though, was near the climax.
Circumstances arise where we have Adam and Mia traveling to Oran, where the harem is located, in a civil war-like setting and.. I just felt the story had too much happening and the characters became reactionary and stupid. Dangerously clever, dangerously smart, dangerously calculating. I suppose the argument could be made that she lost her head because of the high stress situation, and I think perhaps the author tried to backtrack that into the narrative by way of a certain comment that shows how overwhelmed Mia is after everything settles down, but it felt a little too late by that point.
There also might have been one too many sex scenes, especially near the big build-up; though I might be criticizing that because sex was deliberately used to avoid talking about a certain issue which happened to be right around the time I thought the book was the weakest. That being said, I enjoyed the lighthearted, fun, and -- on the surface -- perhaps ridiculous nature of this book; which, side note, appears to be less ridiculous and more grounded in fact than I initially thought it to be.
I feel the strength of the unexpected romance to be really strong, and believable, and appreciate that even though Adam helped to 'rescue' Mia and assist in a dangerous situation, Mia rescues him right back by offering insight into his past and insight into his present. As far as the wrap-up, I really enjoyed the epilogue, which seems to be hinting at a future romance for later in The Outcasts series that I would be very interested in reading.
Jibril and Eva for book three? If you're wondering which debut author to take a risk on, or looking to try something different for your next historical romance, I would definitely suggest giving this one a go. I, for one, am definitely going to read more from her. Jun 30, Blackjack rated it it was ok Shelves: I found this book to be a mixed bag. It has a promising start, and the first third of it was engaging and charming.
Mia and Adam are both considered outcasts, though London society only suspects they have dirty little secrets in their past. Nevertheless, rumors and innuendo are powerful forces. To hide her history of having spent the last fifteen years living in a harem after having been abducted by pirates, Mia agrees to promote her father's mostly unbelievable tale of having just returned from I found this book to be a mixed bag.
To hide her history of having spent the last fifteen years living in a harem after having been abducted by pirates, Mia agrees to promote her father's mostly unbelievable tale of having just returned from life in a European convent. Adam has developed the reputation as a wealthy and handsome urban Bluebeard - suspected of having murdered his two wives - leaving him eligible to remarry once again.
Given his situation as an undesirable bachelor still in need of a male heir, Mia's father bumps him up to the top of his list of prospects for the desperate Mia. I was pleasantly surprised by Mia and Adam's first encounter given the burden both characters carry around with them. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, they size each other up and like what they see.
The physical attraction to each other is apparent from the first moment they set eyes on each other, and it remains an appealing part of their relationship. It is refreshing too that both toss out rumors and are able to share some of their truthful histories pretty quickly into their marriage.
After the courtship and wedding, the book started to slide downhill for me, alas. Both Mia and Adam have secrets they are unwilling to share, and as a result, they cannot really talk to each other above more than a superficial level. The steamy sex scenes pile on and I frankly got a bit bored with them since they were not really accompanied with emotional development. Also, I had initially hoped that Mia's sharp critique of the repressed world of sexual politics in England would connect to the oppressive world of life in the Islamic world for women.
Never be short of Short Kid Stories!
Instead, life in Oran is portrayed in fairly one-dimensional villainous terms, whereas life for women in England is more complex and even promising of some opportunities of equality for women. Islamic pirates desire white slaves to grow their empire, and while this is historically accurate, the catastrophe to Africa and the Middle East as a result of European colonialism is not mentioned once. The book creates a world where white people are preyed upon by a heartless and corrupt Islamic world. Mia's experiences in a harem are horrible.
She was beaten and raped and kept prisoner until she managed to escape. But while British men viewed women as objects and broodmares as well, there are a number of decent white men in the book with somewhat modern sensibilities toward women, including the hero. There really was not a single sympathetic Islamic character in the book. Jibril, Mia's teenage son seemed a promising prospect for more than a stereotype of Islam, but all of his positive characteristics are attributed to Mia and all of his negative traits, such as his arrogance and his high-handed attitude toward his mother are attributed to the Sheik who raped Mia.
Even more ridiculous is that Jibril when we finally meet him is fair-skinned with red hair, and well-spoken with the countenance of an "English gentleman. Whatever good feelings I was having about the book almost entirely dissipated by the end. My feelings of annoyance at some of Mia's silly actions that put her repeatedly in danger and required the rescue from her husband had me annoyed more than I probably would have been under different circumstances.
Artists have the freedom to construct any story they want, of course. I just wish for more historical accuracy. And, truth be told, I wish more than ever today that writers would be sensitive to the stories they tell about people who are already demonized and stereotyped too often in reality. View all 20 comments. Dangerous by Minerva Spencer is a fantastic read! Mia is a curiosity to the English ton, she has been gone from England for 17 years and no one knows where she was during this time away.
The truth is, she was a captive in a sheik's harem and bore him a son. At 32, she is finally making her debut into society because her father is forcing her to marry. Mia of course, doesn't want to marry especially a stuffy Englishman but she will to appease her father and then she will leave her husband and foll Dangerous by Minerva Spencer is a fantastic read!
Mia of course, doesn't want to marry especially a stuffy Englishman but she will to appease her father and then she will leave her husband and follow her dreams for her life. Most importantly, returning for her son. Adam has buried two wives and no one is sure he didn't kill them.
He is kind of reclusive, kind of an outcast and like Mia a bit of a curiosity. He is drawn to Mia, he has three daughters but decides he may as well marry again to sire an heir and Mia fits the bills. These two are in for a wild ride to their happily ever after. The passion between Mia and Adam leaps off the page, Mia doesn't feel sorry for herself or bemoan her situation - I believe she may be the most pragmatic character I have ever read in a romance novel. She is realistic and willing to enjoy the passion between them until she is ready to leave.
Adam is shocked by his depth of feelings for Mia and how compatible they are. He planned on having a typical ton marriage of convenience but Mia swept him off his feet. I also enjoyed that there were very few misunderstandings between Adam and Mia and that misunderstandings weren't used heavily as a plot device. Mia is an interesting character since many of her formative years were spent in captivity in a harem. She is much different than any woman Adam has ever known. Very, very good story and I highly recommend this one to historical romance readers who enjoy passionate romance and developed characters.
Apr 28, Heather andrews rated it it was amazing. Sometimes Adam's lady drives him bonkers, "he stared at her. She crossed her arms and stared back. Adam cast his eyes ceilingward. He lurched to his feet. May 08, Renee rated it it was amazing. Both Adam and Mia have events from their past that have molded them. Mia is a curiosity to the ton, and Adam is ostracized from the society he was born into. He needs a strong woman to draw him from the dark shadow he now lives under, and Mia is the perfect woman to show him that love is still possible.
This story also takes the reader from London to the country, then to Northern Africa. I highly recommend this book. Oct 03, Mary Cook rated it it was amazing. I was fortunate enough to read an advance copy and was thoroughly entertained by this up and coming writer. Minerva spins a fast paced, well-written story with wickedly witty dialogue and clever plot twists. The verbal exchanges between Mia and Adam are delightful and their growing attraction embodies the best in romance novels. I look forward to many more stories from this prolific writer. Jul 04, Robin Bridge Four rated it liked it Shelves: At least there would be no danger of poison or knives this time.
She put an arm around the weeping woman and uttered soothing words while patting her back. Mia is used to playing games. Stuck in a harem with numerous other women, she has watched her back all her life, so it should be easier to guard it against one allegedly murderous Marquess instead of many women. If her father intends to marry her off to any that will have her, with a mysterious past she supposes Adam will do.
Too bad she plans to run off first chance she gets. The word caused an almost hysterical bubble of mirth to rise in her throat. What the duke really meant was the only men willing to take an older woman with a dubious past were senile, hideous, brainless, diseased, or some combination thereof. I really enjoyed most of this story. For one, Mia is a woman who thinks, she has a plan to get back to her son and no one and nothing will stop her.
That is until unexpectedly she starts falling for the man she thought would be pleasurable enough to bed but easy enough to leave. Adam, on the other hand, is a man on the fringes of society and one with many secrets. With rumors of two dead wives, it is hard to get invited to a single party, let alone have a potential bride practically shoved into his lap. Adam needs an heir though and the beautiful and mysterious Mia might just be exactly what he requires, since she wants nothing to do with him after she conceives.
Too bad the more time her spends with her, the worse that deal sounds. There are plenty of missteps and mishaps along the way for Mia and Adam to go through and make it to their ending. The romantic journey and different backstory of the heroine is what made this for me. Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I will just point you to my friend's Blackjack's review https: Honestly, Blackjack's review primed me going in and by the first few chapters I was too worried to continue. Given the Islamophobia today, I don't want to support anything that may reinforce negative stereotypes of Muslims, people from the Middle East, or anyone of color.
I'm a mood reader, and I reserve the right to feel like this isn't the time regardless historical accuracy to see characters from these regions treated as one-dimensional. All my friends have loved this book with few exceptions. I think it's probably really good, however, my tolerance is balanced on something the size of thumb tack, and just as instable. View all 3 comments. Mar 03, Elena Mikalsen rated it it was amazing.
This story blew me away. It's not your typical predictable love story--the couple has experience, intelligence, and wit. They are a perfect match for each other and have quite a backstory. I couldn't put this one down. Jun 10, Joanna Loves Reading rated it really liked it Shelves: I am rounding up because some of the positives are promising and make me want to continue with the series.