Dark Rider: A Novel

by Iris Johansen

Iris Johansen is “a master among master storytellers” (Affaire de Coeur) and her bestselling novels have won every major romance award, including the coveted Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award. Now discover the spellbinding world of Iris Johansen in her most tantalizing regency novel yet.

From the moment she heard of the arrival of the English ship, Cassandra Deville sensed danger. But she never expected the sensuous invader who stepped out of the shadows of the palms and onto the moonlit beach. Bold, passionate, electrifyingly masculine, Jared Danemount made it clear he had every intention of destroying her father. But the Duke of Morland hardly knew what to make of the exquisite pagan creature who offered herself to him, defiantly declaring that she would use his desire to her own advantage. Still, he could no more resist her challenge than he could ignore the temptation to risk everything for the heat of a woman sworn to betray him.

“[Iris Johansen] is one of the romance genre's finest treasures.”—Romantic Times

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Regency, Historical Fiction, Thriller, Suspense

450 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Iris Johansen is a New York Times bestselling author. She began her writing after her children left home for college. She first achieved success in the early 1980s writing category romances. In 1991, Johansen began writing suspense historical romance novels, starting with the publication of The Wind Dancer. In 1996 Johansen switched genres, turning to crime fiction, with which she has had great success.

She lives in Georgia and is married. Her son, Roy Johansen, is an Edgar Award-winning screenwriter and novelist. Her daughter, Tamara, serves as her research assistant.

IRIS JOHANSEN is The New York Times bestselling author of Night and Day, Hide Away, Shadow Play, Your Next Breath, The Perfect Witness, Live to See Tomorrow, Silencing Eve, Hunting Eve, Taking Eve, Sleep No More, What Doesn't Kill You, Bonnie, Quinn, Eve, Chasing The Night, Eight Days to Live, Blood Game, Deadlock, Dark Summer, Pandora's Daughter, Quicksand, Killer Dreams, On The Run, and more. And with her son, Roy Johansen, she has coauthored Night Watch, The Naked Eye, Sight Unseen, Close Your Eyes, Shadow Zone, Storm Cycle, and Silent Thunder.

http://www.irisjohansen.com

Reviews

[WhiskeyintheJar · Rating 3 out of 5]

So right away not good, I'm liking who is suppose to be the secondary character of Bradford (Jared's uncle) way more than the main hero Jared. Bradford has some wonderful lines:
"No, but I wish I did. I wish I believed in something," Bradford said wistfully. "It would be pleasant, don't you think?"

Bradford watched her leave the stable. "Unusual woman. I feel quite intoxicated." He laughed. "But then I felt intoxicated before I met her, so it's difficult to judge."

"Thank you," he said politely. "Though I doubt if such extreme measures were necessary in my case. I'm not a warlike man."
"Too much effort?" Lani asked.
He beamed at her. "Exactly. How pleasant to be understood."

Good stuff! Suffice to say I spent most of the book wishing it was about Bradford and Lani (Cassie's father's mistress).
The author did a good job of showing the contrast between the worlds Jared and Cassie grew up in and how that shaped their personalities. (Jared-England; Cassie-Hawaii) Because of this both seem to have a lot to learn from each other. The beginning was a nice set-up for a story to have two characters growing up and coming together but unfortunately fell flat. Strangely I did feel a little poetic justice for women around the world when Cassie tells Jared she can sleep with him and it won't mean anything and he won't mean anything to her and Jared is hurt by this. Of course though Cassie does come to love Jared so the old argument of 'women confusing sex with love' continues on.
The murder mystery involving Jared and Cassie's father was pretty blah. The whole middle of the book was just Cassie and Jared having sex on his ship and then not having sex at his house. Honestly. Ok there might have been some conversations in there but really I just summoned up the body of the story.
Granted the story has a different feel to it but I would chalk that up to it being written and published in 1995 (No Duke spies here folks). The storyline was meandering and bordered on boring and seemed to lose its purpose. Jared seemed to have a case of lust immediately for Cassie and I don't know if his feelings ever truly matured from that point. I never fully understood the character of Cassie. I think Cassie was suppose to be fiercely strong willed but Ms. Johansen forgot to give her heroine smarts too. Cassie was reckless and stupidly defiant at times. Josette (Jared's ward) was everything Cassie wasn't. She was impetuous and bold but extremely smart about it. When Cassie and Lani want to escape Jared, Cassie just says she is leaving while Josette plans it all out for her and helps her accomplish it. Is it so much to ask that my lead heroine have as much smarts as a fifteen year old girl?
Cassie and Jared had some good lines between the two but were not that entertaining of a couple. Like I said the young Josette and Jared's uncle Bradford were far better characters. Never good when secondary characters steal the show.


C

[Andria Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This book I have mixed feelings for. I liked the premise, and the characters. There was plot yet it felt as though nothing was happening. Such a confusing book to review! I enjoyed the first 45% of the book. But about midway through it just kinda....petered out, and I lost interest. Dnf'd at 55% of the book. It was fine. But not what I hoped for. Trigger warnings: very light implied/suggested bdsm, suggested rape, drugging, and murder/torture (?) off screen.

[Amarilli 73 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Allora, affrontando una ristampa dopo decenni, cerco sempre di ripetermi che, magari, nel 1995 i gusti erano diversi: quindi è possibile che in seguito siano mutati i gusti generali o i miei. Tuttavia, in questo caso, temo che non mi sarebbe piaciuto neanche allora.

Il prologo è discreto: vediamo un uomo fuggire dalla Francia, in preda alle stragi sanguinose del Terrore rivoluzionario, con famiglia e governante. Li ritroviamo, oltre un decennio dopo, in un'isola delle Hawaii, sempre con la paura di essere trovati da misteriosi nemici che vogliono vendetta.

Già i capitoli iniziali, ahimè, ruotano attorno a dialoghi per cui ho potuto soltanto immaginare l'imbarazzo del traduttore: la protagonista, che è francese ma ha adottato le abitudini locali, standosene a seno nudo sulla spiaggia, incontra il protagonista, anch'egli europeo e appena arrivato, che la crede minorenne, visto che fisicamente ha fattezze infantili.
Di lì è tutto un susseguirsi di ammiccamenti e doppi sensi, con il disagio che può dare una ninfetta che non si decide se dare via la propria verginità allo straniero (pare che le coetanee locali facciano a gara per accoppiarsi ai marinai sbarcati) e poi inscena paragoni neanche troppo allusivi con lo stallone di cui è realmente proprietaria; nel frattempo, l'uomo non sa se stare al gioco, si tormenta perché la crede troppo giovane e non può impedirsi d'esserne attratto.

Prima che cominciate ad accarezzare l'idea che sia un forbidden, preciso subito che non lo è.
Cassie è più che ventenne, ma evidentemente il clima tropicale l'ha riscaldata troppo o, forse, l'apparizione di un Jared aitante, educato e provocante, dopo anni di marinai, sporchi e ubriachi, può sembrare davvero l'estrazione vincente della lotteria.

Il tutto prosegue con una trama nonsense, in cui le azioni sono dettate solo dalla necessità di inscenare qualcosa tra un attacco di bollore e... un altro attacco di bollore, con accadimenti a casaccio.

Si arriva in fondo unicamente per la curiosità di capire a che livelli possano arrivare trame tanto stupide e protagoniste che credono di apparire audaci aggirandosi su una nave senza mutandine (con ciurma maschile, a distanza di mesi da casa).
Ripeto: è sempre una questione di gusti, però io e la Johansen abbiamo una visione differente del romance storico.

[Carrie Olguin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here's one of those books where the writer failed to do research leaving a glaring problem with location and timing. The story begins in historical (1806) Hawaii and then the characters sail to England - a trip that takes like six weeks.

What?

Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean and England is in the Atlantic Ocean. No matter which way they sail, there's a huge continent in the way! If they sailed East (this is before the Panama Canal) they have to sail the tip of South America and if they sailed west, they'd have to sail around the tip of South Africa. In an 1806 sailing ship, I'm pretty certain the journey took closer to a year.

The way the description is written, it's as if the author thought Hawaii (and Tahiti, too) was in the Atlantic Ocean.

If it wasn't for this glaring error, I'd have given another star.

However, I did feel compelled to finish the story.

[Michelle Connolly · Rating 1 out of 5]

It started out okay, but at some point it started to drag and it bore the hell out of me. I couldn't even finish reading it. I got half way through.
Cassie's stubborness with the horse was very annoying and it seemed she and Jared did nothing but argue about the damn horse. At one point I was wishing Kapu (the horse) would flip out during the storm and kill everyone.
Iris Johansen may just not be for me.

[Laine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Johansen's preferred pattern in her historical romances appears to be confident sexy heroes intrigued by strong wilful women who butt heads with them but have magic nether parts that give these experienced men sex like they've never had it before. It is a balancing act to prevent the H from becoming so obsessed that he's putty in aggressive female hands, losing his alpha sexiness. This book does not maintain the balance, with both main and secondary female characters dominating their men.

The heroine Cassie is a 19 year old virgin from Napoleonic France originally who has internalized some islander customs on Tahiti where she grows up to the point of running about bare breasted even when British ships bring men unused to such exhibitionism. The H Jared is an English duke drawn to her and her marvelous horse. Bizarrely, he takes her for a child when he first sees her up close, yet within days he's seducing her, within weeks they're hot and steamy and he can't say enough about her womanly body. An editor should have had this jarring contradiction repaired.

The behavior of the h is certainly childish. She's obsessed with her horse, like young girls with My Little Pony except they don't risk their lives for their pets. The H has to play second fiddle to his equine rival not once but many times. The less said about the plot the better (duke seeks vengeance against Cassie's father whom he believes is responsible for his father's death along with a family whose surviving young child becomes his ward). Basically, it's "I'll have meaningless calculating sex with this man who gives me strange tingles to learn anything that might help my father - oh no, I'm in lust, now in love with my father's enemy". The Tahitian mistress of Cassie's father is presented as the all knowing, all giving, all wise perfect mentor though she's the strangest chaperone with her island notions of promiscuity.

Late in the book, back in England, the duke's ward appears and she's ANOTHER horse-mad wayward young girl, this time in her early teens. That's one too many pig-headed females in one book and Jared starts to fade in all this estrogen while his uncle pining for Cassie's mistress/mother figure is beta all the way. Definitely the women's team overpowers the men. Better to read Johansen's "Midnight Warrior" (which made me seek out her other books that so far haven't measured up). There's no cradle robbing, with the heroine in this medieval setting married to an abusive husband but with a talent for healing that brings her to the attention of the warrior hero. He is not sapped by her stubbornness but shows mature wisdom in his dealings with her so the relationship remains hot while deepening both characters. And no horse has a starring role.

[Tiffany S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the parts when Bradford was declaring himself to Lani. These were the secondary characters though... and Josette! I wish she had gotten her own novel.

Overall I liked this enough.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book. Cassie Deville was young when she was brought to Hawaii after her father fled France. Her father, Charles Deville brought his family there to hide from the consequences of his actions during the French Revolution and from the Duke of Morland who vowed to get his revenge on him. Growing up on the island taught Cassie to be free spirited and embrace the native ways. Years later she encounters an Englishman on the shores of the beach. She quickly discovers it’s Jared Danemount, the duke of morland himself. She distracts him and allows her father to escape to France, leaving her and her fathers mistress Lani to deal with the duke. Jared decides that taking Cassie on the voyage to France would be good in order to help him find her father, but he does not expect to become attracted to his enemy’s daughter. And likewise Cassie can not fathom her feelings for the man who wants her father dead.
Good book. Love when they travel by ship. It’s always so fun to read and I just imagine the cabins of the ship so clearly. I also enjoyed the brief parts in Hawaii, not a usual setting for historical romances so it was nice to mix it up a bit. I loved Cassie and her fighting spirit. Also loved how she was taught by Lani and the other native women to own your body and embrace yourself rather than adhering to the strict regency beliefs of the time. Her and Jared were great, they had fantastic banter. The storyline was solid and a good ending. Also loved Lani and Bradford’s sideplot. Overall fantastic read!

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for every character having development, every character has their own strengths and weaknesses and personal goals - unlike today’s writing in my opinion this is not true most of the time especially with current female characters (they are often less defined and pick me), so I am constantly for Iris’ books, she knows how to write strong women and men who act like men but can still develop into loving partners. The book is hard to put down, the characters and this plot touches on important topics such as fitting in, defying gender roles, defying tradition, acceptance, family and romantic relationships. However there is a lot of filler in general and some less interesting parts here and there, I miss Cassie or Jared (main characters) when they are not in the forefront of what’s happening on the page, but I was entertained throughly I don’t want to read anything by historical fiction because of Iris! Lobe the clever characters and chemistry - if you like spicy stories this book has a good amount! Worth the read.

[Echo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had me hooked from the beginning. I’ve never read a romance novel before, as the genre never seemed compelling, so I picked this one up from a second hand store as a joke. I feel bad now for writing off the genre before because I couldn’t put the book down, I read the first 200 pages in one sitting. It’s definitely a bit dated, given it was published in the 90s and set in the 1800s, but that didn’t make me like it any less. I enjoyed the ending thoroughly and was almost sad that I had finished the book so quickly. The only complaint I could give is that I didn’t find any of the smut scenes very interesting (or even realistic in some cases), but the plot more than made up for that. I enjoyed all of the characters, and I felt that their side plots were given an appropriate amount of time. Overall, a good read :)

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhh...spunky heroine, but sometimes to the point of deliberate obtuseness regarding her willingness to investigate her own motives, despite lots of narrated rumination? Hero hellbent on revenge in a fairly simplistic manner, then a 180 near the end? A little too much reliance on the idea of "animal instincts" to characterize their attraction to each other? Plus an annoying pattern in which they each basically orgasmed very quickly and at the same time. There were three good supporting characters here, and the dialogue often zipped along, but I didn't find it particularly compelling overall.

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite liked this book at the time, but looking back over my reading log less than a year later, I had completely forgotten what the story was about. I think that might be because I read it on my kindle so I didn't really see the name of the book as much as I would have if it were a hardback.

I do remember really liking this story. It felt a little long at times, but sometimes I just couldn't put it down.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Iris Johansen writing style the characters are well developed and the world she builds, I feel like I'm back in time. This would have been four stars but the heroine after awhile annoyed me with how overly stubborn she was. I'm all for strong independent woman but damn it's okay to feel and not be ashamed of those feelings too... though probably goes with the time period she is writing about it still was too much.

[Judith Wrinkle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some interesting things in this book. Very historical but a bit foul for my taste. I would be embarassed to pass it on. Anyone who loves horses, would probably enjoy. One of my favorite authors, but this book was difficult.

[Olivia]

Fun little beach read until the main guy SA’s her to… teach her that her outfits could get her SA’d?

Will never recover from “Don’t do this to me again. It’s not safe. This is the closest I’ve been to raping a woman.”

[Reagan Heckathorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it *chef's kiss* but it was no The Bride by Julie Garwood!! ya know what I mean

[Darlene A. Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Iris Johansen never disappoints. She always writes a great tale.

[S Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand why so many reviews are lukewarm, I too have mixed feelings - good bad boring annoying close to DNF funny, but never compelling.

[Crystal Karre · Rating 4 out of 5]

deeply sensual

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book. It did take me a while to get into it. I guess I didn't like the way that it started out on the island. I had a little trouble getting my bearings. But as usual I got caught up in it. I think the book was on the long side and it could have been a story told in fewer pages and with more focus. You could tell where the plot was going to go it was just a matter of how it was going to get there, and that's perfectly fine because that's how I like my endings (happy). I think my favorite character was Lonnie. I like the horse sideline and the idea that there was a lot of interest in horses and riding. I met a big one on horses, but I do like animals and when they play a role in the story even on the fringe.

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

She's been brought up on Hawaii, he's a man in search of revenge on her father. The two of them are attracted but they both want different things from the encounter. The story is mostly taken up with the two of them trying to work out their relationship and find out if they're meant for each other.

It's an early Iris Johansen and she really hasn't hit her stride or found her niche. It's not a bad read but it's also pretty predictable. I did like the main characters, but there were times that modern sensibilities broke my suspension of disbelief.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this digital title up as a place holder because I had finished something and hadn't chosen a new book yet. It was light and fun, just what I was looking for. The reason I chose it is because I have read this author before and liked her writing. Also, it was available at the moment and I needed something to read right then.

It is pretty silly and light but I enjoyed it.

[Ariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite romance novels. Iris Johansen is a master of romance, particularly historical romance. This story is so intriguing, thought-out, and so human: sympathetic to human circumstance and true to human emotion. A beautiful set of characters, engaging plot, and sensual scenes that make anyone's blood run hot.

[Barbra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this to be just a so-so romance from this author.

Back Cover Blurb:
Bold, passionate Jared Danemount is pitted against Casandra Deville, a woman determined to use his passion for her to betray him.

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just eh for me. I read it and thought it was just another romance novel. I've read some of her other books before and thought they were better. I liked the wind rider series better than this one. If you are a Ms. Johansen fan, then it's an okay read.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much!! The star-crossed lovers Jared and Cassie are a great couple! From their first meeting on that moonlit beach in Hawaii there was a chemistry that couldn't be mistaken! Great read!

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some good moments and the mix of settings (1800's Hawaii and England and France) was interesting. The characters never seemed to have the right chemistry, to me, and I was not convinced or engaged by their strangely developing romance.

[Stacey]

Horrible. The plot was silly, the heroine was boring. And Jared was so revolting and demeaning
when he spoke to Cassandra I was immediately turned off. The whole thing with the horse... Oh man, not the horse again..I quickly skimmed it and returned it to the library. Don't waste your money.

[Elsie Nilles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different from others I've read but it was a good read.

I at first thought it was boring but as I read on it did get more involved and actually kept my interest and I continued ,more romance then I care for but I do enjoy happy endings.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

After revolution starts in France, Cassie and her father are forced to flee. Years later, the past catches up to them as Duke Jared Danemount seeks them out to extract revenge. Cassie is forced to become close to this enemy to save her father... if at all possible.