Series Saturday: The Danger of Desire by Sabrina Jeffries

Series:	Sinful Suitors #3
Pub. Date:	Nov. 22, 2016
Publisher:	Pocket Books
Length:	416 pages
Source:	NetGalley

The Sinful Suitors of the St. George Club are back in this third installment of the series with an unconventional heroine and a tortured rakehell hero. The Danger of Desire was a nice addition to the series that has been following the altruistic efforts of a group of gentlemen determined to drive the scoundrels and fortune hunters away from the eligible women of their families.

Delia Trevor is the daughter of a gambler having been dragged around the continent with her family until her father won an estate for them to settle on. When her brother Reynold seems to have fallen into her father's bad habits and gets cheated at a card game, Delia goes undercover as a young man to a seedy London gaming hell in an attempt to root out the card sharp. While I applauded Delia's bravery and tenacity, sometimes she was a little too headstrong and too quick to come to the defense of her brother without considering other information. I did like that she was intelligent and had a quick wit, and it was nice that all her rash actions were taken in an effort to protect her extended family and family name.

Warren Corry, Marquess of Knightford is well known for his rakish behavior, spending night after night in the stews of London, drinking and whoring until dawn. However no one knows Knightford's secret reason for avoiding sleep in the cold quiet of the night. I have liked Knightford throughout this series, you may remember him from earlier books as Clarissa's cousin and guardian (see The Study of Seduction). In this installment, Knightford is quickly intrigued by our unconventional heroine, and quite astounded when he discovers her in a seedy gambling establishment. Knightford sets out to save Delia from herself, thinking that he can force her compliance with threats and circumvention of her plans.

Watching Knighford and Delia butt heads was quite fun. Delia's quick wit and Knightford's seductive personality allowed for some fun and flirty banter between the two. Delia's headstrong behavior was starting to grate on me in the first half of the book... but then I got sick and had to take a break from reading for a few days and when I came back, she was no longer irking me. So she might not have been so annoying in the first half, it was probably just me being in a bad temper from not feeling so well. Because Delia and Knightford were working at cross purposes, their romance was slow to build and did so in a reluctant manner. Each was attracted/intrigued, even in the face of extreme annoyance. 

Overall this was an enjoyable read and I liked how our romance played out. I did feel that the ending w/ regard to the resolution of Knightford's secret and Delia's card sharp was rushed, as I was expecting a little more suspense and confrontation in that regard. I am looking forward to the next suitor of the series, who I believe will be Clarissa's brother, Niall (who you may remember being exiled after killing someone in a duel).

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book that I received form the publisher, Pocket Books.

Sinful Suitors