Breathless (The House of Rohan, #3) in Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group

Mar 16, 2010 Danielle The Book Huntress rated it it was amazing

Shelves: part-of-a-series, revenge, favorite-or-autobuy-author, family, regency, owned-copy, scary-sexy-cool-dangerous-hero, hero-i-loved, favorites, 2011-reading

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold. But this revenge will catch the predator in his own trap.

When I pick up an Anne Stuart book, I know going in that this it is not going to be a 'sweet' love story. That doesn't mean it won't be a good love story. But certainly not the hearts and flowers one might assume for romance.

I had heard that The Scorpion was something else, too much for some readers. I pondered if that would be the case for me. Let's face it. I love bad boy heroes. Too much, probably. Es Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold. But this revenge will catch the predator in his own trap.

When I pick up an Anne Stuart book, I know going in that this it is not going to be a 'sweet' love story. That doesn't mean it won't be a good love story. But certainly not the hearts and flowers one might assume for romance.

I had heard that The Scorpion was something else, too much for some readers. I pondered if that would be the case for me. Let's face it. I love bad boy heroes. Too much, probably. Especially for my straight-laced self. Good thing that my book boyfriend tastes don't reflect my real life taste in the slightest. Because I'm not anywhere near as strong and fearless as a bad boy romance heroine like Miranda Rohan.

Usually when I read an Anne Stuart book, it's all about the hero. In this case, I found that Miranda more than holds her own, and she even steals the show. And that was no easy task, since The Scorpion has a jaw-dropping appeal for me, even in all his dastardliness. I say, good on you to Ms. Stuart for that. It's no secret that I love Anne Stuart's writing. And that isn't a casual thing for me to stay. Writers come and go, but she鈥檚 been my favorite for a long, long time, and for good reason. In this book, I have found that she has taken what I expect about her books, written something true and characteristic to her, and still managed to push the envelope, even surprising me. I respect that. I think authors should be true to themselves, their muse, and they should grow in their work. Ms. Stuart is up for that challenge. When you ask for a dangerous, ruthless, villainous hero, don't be shocked when you get one. Lucien de Malheur is a dangerous hero that you might even try to 鈥済ive back鈥� the day after Christmas.

I love revenge stories. Why? Because revenge is a passion that roots itself in a person's heart. It changes all their motives, turns a steadfast heart into a driven machine, working only to keep pumping rage and anguish through the system until the debt is repaid. Add revenge to a love story, and it's one potent cocktail for tension and drama. As I read, I wondered, can love change a black heart bent on destruction? In this case, I felt that the Scorpion blamed unfairly, and his method of avenging what he had lost had focused on an unfair target. But then, this guy is twisted, I mean from the ground up. And he knows it. He鈥檚 not going to reason things out the same way as a normal guy would. Not with a past that is as dark and tortured as his. That didn鈥檛 exactly get him out of jail with me, mind you. I didn't like what he had done to Miranda. I thought that it was over the line. Despite that, I liked that no excuses are made for his behavior. Despite what he suffered not all being his fault, he made some bad choices that furthered the blackening of his soul. Let鈥檚 face it, Lucien is not a "good" man. I doubt he'll ever truly be a moral man. Maybe with Miranda鈥檚 help. We鈥檒l see. Does that mean that he is incapable of love? He thought himself inable to love. Imagine to his surprise that he falls in love with the unknowing instrument of his revenge.

I searched my heart and wondered what rhyme or reason would allow Miranda to be treated such a way and then fall in love with the man who'd engineered her mistreatment and ruination. How can that be fair by any stretch of the strange, twisted spiritual journey we call life? It came to me that she never had, never would have deserved that. But Lucien deserved to fall in love with Miranda. That is the 'sting in the scorpion's tail.' His actions coming back to bite him literally. It seems almost like divine justice to me. One then asks, but what about Miranda?

Miranda had a hard task set forth for her. She had one heck of a shrew to tame, and she surely did. She took this black-hearted fiend and turned him into a man in love. She drew lines in the sand, and dared him to cross them. And there was a scene that I knew was going to make or break this book for me. Like Miranda, I knew that if Lucien went along with his horribly nefarious plans, it was over for me. I mean, I can take a lot from a hero, but I have a few things I will not take, and this was one of them. My eyes were literally glued to the page. I thought, he won鈥檛, will he? She won鈥檛, will she? That was one of the moments when I knew that Miranda would be my favorite Anne Stuart heroine. Little Danielle would have tucked her tail between her legs and ran off to Scotland, anywhere to get away from the Scorpion. Not Miranda. She faced him head on, called his bluff, and laid her cards on the table. And she won that hand, won the World Poker Tournament. Lucien can think what he wants, but Miranda is the one who鈥檚 running things. He might be the Scorpion, but Miranda鈥檚 the Black Widow, and she鈥檚 got him wrapped up tight in her web. And that is divine justice.

Ms. Stuart has written yet another brilliant romance for this reader. She had me riveted and fascinated, savoring this dark, witty, sexy historical story that does have some elements that bring to mind a historical sex comedy, but with humor that is not crass or inane, but deeply, bitingly sardonic. This is the Battle Between the Sexes played out on the page, and no prisoners are taken. And she gave me a heroine that was up for the challenge. I loved her for that. I liked the secondary romance a lot, but I would have been just as happy to just see Miranda and Lucien play out their deadly game in living color.

Closing Thoughts:
This book won鈥檛 appeal to all readers, even long-time Stuart fans. The Scorpion does some very heinous, beyond the pale deeds to get his revenge. But for those who long for justice, I can say that I felt he gets his just deserts. They merely come in a most unusual form than one might expect, in the arms of Miranda Rohan. He鈥檚 not going to come out of this relationship unchanged. And he lost something very vital in his ruthless bid for revenge, his heart. This reader loved this story, even for the parts that were rather uncomfortable. I did stay on the edge, guessing if true love would win, and I was greatly rewarded in the process.
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Mar 16, 2010 Shawna rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-romance-georgian, historical-romance, kindle, angsty-dark-heavy-lotsa-drama, captive-kidnapped-hostage-slave, hero-abused-scarred-tortured-angst, hero-i-wanna-smack, heroine-odd-spinster-wallflower, rt-book-reviews-top-pick, brothers-sisters-cousins-family

4 stars 鈥� Historical Romance

This was my least favorite of the lushly sensual House of Rohan series, mainly because the ruination revenge plot was exhausting and the hero, scarred, depraved Lucien de Malhuer, aka the Scorpion, wasn鈥檛 quite reformed or redeemed enough to make up for some truly heinous, unforgivable acts perpetrated against the heroine. I love Stuart鈥檚 dark, tortured, gamma heroes, but emotionally empty, borderline evil Scorpion Lucien was a bit too much at times. His feelings towa ...more

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May 21, 2021 Juliana Philippa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 0-own-as-an-ebook, 2021-reads, 0-own, 4-to-5-stars, 0-own-as-kindle-ebook, 0-own-multiple-copies-or-formats, 0-need-to-shelve-romance-details, 4-stars, favorite-romance-heroines-ever, 0-this-is-main-gr-edition

Happiness is an illusion.
Though there were moments, when he'd been with Miranda Rohan, that he thought he might have caught a glimpse of it.

4 stars
Another fantastic Anne Stuart book and wonderful addition to the Rohan series (Books 1-4 have all been 4+ star reads for me). Note: as long as you can deal with truly, truly villainous heroes. And I'm talking for real, this isn't one of those "Oh, he's a rake/rogue and oh so bad, but not really, just another run of the mill bad boy"鈥擜nne Stuart he

Happiness is an illusion.
Though there were moments, when he'd been with Miranda Rohan, that he thought he might have caught a glimpse of it.

4 stars
Another fantastic Anne Stuart book and wonderful addition to the Rohan series (Books 1-4 have all been 4+ star reads for me). Note: as long as you can deal with truly, truly villainous heroes. And I'm talking for real, this isn't one of those "Oh, he's a rake/rogue and oh so bad, but not really, just another run of the mill bad boy"鈥擜nne Stuart heroes are the epitome of anti-heroes. And yet, we fall in love with them anyway. Wow are we twisted, but we'll leave that to another day.

Stuart has written some pretty bad heroes, but Lucien ranks up there with the very, very worst. Her heroes often tear the heroines feelings to shreds because they are immature as fuck and can't admit to grownup feelings like love, but Lucien is on a whole other level.

The scandal that got Miranda kicked out of society is when she was essentially kidnapped by a guy who tried to force her into eloping with him and marrying him. Even though she's resistant, he tries to ensure her compliancy by raping her four nights in a row鈥攗pon the fourth night, she bonks him on the head and escapes. One of my biggest annoyances is that it is repeatedly stated that it wasn't rape, because she didn't say no and since it was going to happen anyway, she resigned herself to it and figured oh well, let's see if it's at least enjoyable. This drove me NUTS. He raped her. Period. I think the reason that Stuart didn't want to ever chalk it up that way though, is because: our beloved hero, Lucien, is the one who paid for the whole thing to happen!!!!! So yes, our hero paid for the heroine to be raped. Granted, he didn't know it would go down like that, but still, he's not getting off that easy.

The fucker even sabotages her carriage so that he can engineer their first meeting鈥攕he could have died!!!! And yes, the fucker I speak of is none other than our hero, Lucien! I know, I know, it's sick, what did I say?? We're all crazy, it's true. ::sigh:: Lucien does redeem himself and of course we know from the first that he's falling for her, but let me tell you, it's a good thing that romances are 3rd person alternating POV books, because otherwise there is no way a single Anne Stuart hero would ever make it past me.

He'd greatly underestimated her. She drew him in ways he didn't want to think about. She infuriated him, made him laugh, filled him with lust.

And she weakened him.

This was the greatest danger.

I adored Miranda! What a terrific heroine鈥攕he quickly made it onto my favorite heroines list. She's spunky, independent, vulnerable, loyal, brave, smart, and kind. She is put in shitty situation upon shitty situation, and always meets it head on and tries to make the best of it, rallying her spirits and not letting circumstances defeat her. I wanted to slap Lucien upside the head so, SO many times, because he was so lucky to get Miranda and he kept on being willfully blind to it. One of the most satisfying scenes was when (view spoiler).

This is a revenge-driven plot and I have to say, it was pretty weak on that front. Lucien is going to all this trouble because his sister, who was affianced to Miranda's oldest brother, Benedick (hero of Book #4), died by suicide after the engagement was called off. The sister was mentally unbalanced though, threatening Miranda and Benedick's parents and killing herself publicly in a horrific fashion. The revenge plot is often driven by this brother/sister vs. brother/sister match-up, which makes sense when the heroine's brother actually did something bad and treated the hero's sister in a shitty fashion (Colin from Elisa Braden's series comes to mind), but that doesn't really apply in this situation. And Lucien is SO out for blood, does SUCH horrible things for revenge鈥攚hen he also wasn't even that close to his (half-)sister, who was taken away from him and his stepmom at a relatively young age鈥攖hat it doesn't really add up.

This book also had the loveliest secondary romance!! I wish Jacob and Jane had had their own book, or at least their own novella. Theirs was a pairing I adore: shy wallflower meets charming outlaw, who falls for her HARD.

Hysterical scene:

She heard his bellow from a distance, and she smiled to herself. He must have discovered his rooms. She鈥檇 been waiting for this moment all day, been loath to leave the house for fear she鈥檇 miss it. Every spare inch of his bedroom, dressing room and adjoining sitting room had been painted the loveliest shade of powder pink. She hadn鈥檛 had enough time to find a matching shade of fabric for the curtains, but the white cotton lace had a nice, cheery touch, as did the coverlet and pillows. She鈥檇 even managed to paint several old chairs to go with the overall effect.

If he were a seventeen-year-old girl he would love it.

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Jul 03, 2011 Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* marked it as trilogys-sagas-series

Hey..50 cents each at a library sale...how could I resist?

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Nov 26, 2010 Lisa rated it liked it

Miranda Rohan, the heroine in book three of the House of Rohan trilogy, is abducted and ruined as part of a revenge plan concocted by Lucien de Malheur, a criminal known as The Scorpion who blames Miranda鈥檚 brother for the suicide death of de Malheur鈥檚 sister.

Set aside by an unforgiving society, Miranda adapts to her new status and lives quite contentedly outside the bounds of propriety, thwarting de Malheur鈥檚 vengeance to the extent that he decides to take matters into his own hands by kidnappi ...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Kelli rated it really liked it

Shelves: gothic-hero, hero-revenge

I LOVED this book.... The hero ( Lucien yum... yum. yummmmmmm ) was beyond dark - Gothic as you like - With his scarred face and back ( from a whip )and painful limp - hes a sinister figure who you guessed it ... dresses only in black....Queue evil laugh....Sounds extremely cheesy -But Oh my he is sooo.... did I mention yum lol?

Out to seek his revenge on the Rohan family because his sister was jilted by her fiance (The eldest Rohan Son )and went on to kill herself -He decides the best and most p ...more

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Oct 13, 2010 Lisa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Miranda Rohan, the heroine in book three of the House of Rohan trilogy, is abducted and ruined as part of a revenge plan concocted by Lucien de Malheur, a criminal known as The Scorpion who blames Miranda鈥檚 brother for the suicide death of de Malheur鈥檚 sister.

Set aside by an unforgiving society, Miranda adapts to her new status and lives quite contentedly outside the bounds of propriety, thwarting de Malheur鈥檚 vengeance to the extent that he decides to take matters into his own hands by kidnappi ...more

Like · see review