Dangerous Passions

By: Leigh Anderson

Narrated by: Amber Bray

Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Isoline Beresford has beautiful yet haunting dreams. In them, a man she doesn't know is calling to her. She's inexplicably, inexorably drawn to him, until he's more real to her than her own fiancé.

When she calls off her engagement, her enraged father sends her to live with her 90-year-old grand-aunt, the Dowager Countess Bellamira Granville. If she won't do her duty at home, he reasons, perhaps she can at least convince Lady Granville to leave her fortune to Isoline.

But life at Thornrush Manor is not what Isoline expected. Her aunt is as spry and elegant as a woman half her age. Her nearest neighbor, a distant cousin, begins courting her. And a dark and handsome artist proves a pleasant companion.

All the while, her dreams grow more intense. More urgent. More passionate. More dangerous.

In order to save everyone at Thornrush Manor, Isoline will have to confront the darkest parts of herself - and discover the secret of the man who hides in her dreams.

©2018 Leigh Anderson (P)2019 Leigh Anderson

Light Read

The basic story line was good but there was a lack of depth and action.

gothic historical romance

This was such an interesting book. I love that it was a historical romance. I feel like having a dream "lover" is something I have read before but in modern times. So that made it different and interesting because I love historical romances so much. This book was dark and also funny at times and that made for such an enjoyable book!

Narration was good! I loved the voice she gave to Isoline.

#audiobookobsessionreviewer

Fantastic Story!

This book is amazing! The only thing I could possibly say in slight dissatisfaction, was that the ending wrapped up too quickly in comparison to the rest of the story. That is only speaking for my love for long, drawn out endings though. I very much loved the way this story unfolded and the fact that even though i had figured out a good portion of the way it would end by the time I got there, there were still plenty of surprises for me awaiting. The narrator did an awesome job of bringing the story to life. I loved this book through and through and will happily listen to more by this author and narrator!
#AudiobookObsessionReviewer

VERY INTERESTING STORY

Very interesting story of different times when women born into families were a commodity to be traded at the whim of the men folk leading with an iron fist.
Combine that outrageous behaviour with a creature thought to only live in fairytales and horror stories and then throw copious amounts of money and plots of greed . This long story kept my attention until the last word. The narrator spoke with the plum in her mouth, in terms expected of the times that was totally appropriate. Although l scored 5 stars there were several repeated words/phrases that the narrator needs to attend to.

Period Romance Paranormal

The first of the book is a little slow but it picks up. One of problems I had with this book was the fake British accent of the narrator. The second thing was the story of the two main characters it could have been more involved and spicy earlier on in the book. I will look into this authors other books because I love a good Romantic Paranormal book.

Wow

I received this book for free at my request but the opinion is of my own. Isolines is currently engaged to a man she doesn’t really love but would be a good match that would help her family. Suddenly she has such strong dreams that makes her question her choices in life, but when she changes her plans her father is furious and she gets sent to try to win a fortune. But not all is what it seems at her new home.

WOW...

This book was given to me at my request and I am providing a voluntary review:

Wow. I am sooo happy I didn't jump the gun and write my review before I got all the way to the end. I do that every once and awhile and was going to do that here. I had something else completely planned out to write. And NONE of what I was going to say hold true any more. The ending completely surprised me! And it was soo good! I def plan on reading more from Leigh Anderson. Also, the narration was done really well! SUCH A GOOD BOOK!

A romantic Gothic story to keep you guessing

I enjoyed this dramatic story written in the true Gothic style, complete with a huge manor house, mysterious secrets, lots of dark and stormy nights, paranormal elements, and a darkly handsome man. For the atmosphere, think “Jane Eyre” or “Dracula”. I think that fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, and Charlotte Bronte would really enjoy this audiobook. The novel has periods of calm punctuated by dramatic events. The story really kept me guessing up to the end about what was going on. There is very little steaminess but lots of romantic elements. TRIGGER WARNING: An attempted rape occurs, but it doesn’t get completed.

The heroine is likable, reasonably intelligent, and somewhat naïve. Isoline Beresford (about 23 years old) is the daughter of a middle class merchant in an 1850s town in the north of England. She is about to be officially engaged to nice young nobleman, and her father thinks her upcoming marriage is a fantastic opportunity for social advancement. However, Isoline has had an extremely vivid recurring dream since she was 16, and she thinks she is in love with the man in her dream. She calls off the engagement, and her irate father sends her off to be the companion of her 90-year-old great-great-aunt who is a very wealthy dowager countess. The windswept Thornrush Manor is a very intriguing place. Why does her aunt look like she is 40? Who is the cousin who takes a liking for Isoline? Who is the mysterious artist living on the grounds?

I read a lot of Victorian-set books, and most of the historical and social details seem realistic. The place descriptions were vivid and wonderful. I loved the atmosphere and unpredictability of the story. I just wish that the narrator did a better job.

The narrator Amber Bray at first impressed me with her very pleasant voice. She is fairly good at women’s and men’s character voices. However, as the book went on, I could tell that she was not very skilled with British accents. Sometimes she talked too slowly with too much enunciation. What really bothered me (and sometimes made me laugh out loud) was the bizarre way that she mispronounced certain words, mainly in the second half of the audiobook. Here are some examples. She makes “Lady Granville” sound like “Lady Grainville”. Ms. Bray strangely says “cousint” instead of “cousin”. She incorrectly pronounces the silent “t” in “soften”. I wish she could properly say “vicar” instead of “vecaar”. The funniest example was instead of “parishioners”, the churchgoers were “passioneers”! Still, with these faults in narration, I still remained hooked on the story and enjoyed it a lot.

Cool Premise and Entertaining!

As soon as I read the premise about a man in the heroine's dreams, I was there! Love that premise! Really enjoyed the atmosphere of the book. There's a bit of a mysterious vibe to it, and you just know something is off. This is set in a time when women are expected to marry or be destitute, which isn't my favorite time period so I tend not to read historical, but I really enjoyed this one. I listened to the story on Audible, and the narrator did a good job. She expressed the emotion well, and did a good job portraying Isoline's naivete. Isoline chooses to not marry, so she is forced to move in with her hermit of an aunt into a large manor. I love creepy houses! There is something up with her aunt that she can't quite put her finger on. I was okay with some of Isoline's naivete, but after awhile, it became too much. She is horrible at reading anybody and is way too trusting. This may be a little spoilerish, but it'll be pretty vague. I also couldn't stand that a love interest said he loved her because she looked like his ex and she though nothing of that. That just doesn't work for me, so I found that situation lacking a lot and it's the main reason I took a star off. I almost wanted to do 2 stars off for how gullible Isoline is, but I just did 1 because that's her character; too goody goody. Overall, Dangerous Passions is entertaining and totally interesting.

Dangerous Passions

This was a first for me by this author. The storyline keeps you entertained and that ending. Definitely didn’t see that coming. Would recommend this book and author.

Amber Bray did a great job narrating this one.