cover image The Daredevil Snared

The Daredevil Snared

Stephanie Laurens. Mira, $7.99 mass market (384p) ISBN 978-0-7783-1896-5

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. (July)