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Impetuous

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In the late 1600s, the legendary Spanish Dowry vanished when Black Maggie Verrere eloped with a stranger rather than marrying Sir Eric Neville. Now it is 150 years later, and Cassandra Verrere is desperate to find the riches in order to save her family from poverty.

Unfortunately, only a Neville can help her. Clearly, he considers his hatred of her as much his birthright as the dowry is hers--but even an ancient family feud is no match for the passion that soon burns between them.

403 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

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387 people want to read

About the author

Candace Camp

121 books1,251 followers
Candace Camp is the New York Times bestselling author of over sixty books.

Her first novel, *Bonds of Love*, was published by Jove Publishing in 1978, under the pseudonym Lisa Gregory. Two pseudonyms (Kristin James and Sharon Stephens)and many books later, Candace writes under her own name Candace Camp and still loves creating stories.

Candace lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and is the mother of Young Adult author Anastasia Hopcus.

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5 stars
121 (23%)
4 stars
191 (37%)
3 stars
159 (30%)
2 stars
33 (6%)
1 star
12 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
Profile Image for Ana María.
662 reviews41 followers
February 23, 2021
Novela para pasar un rato agradable.
La compré de segunda mano a un hombre que vendía libros en la plaza y la leí en un día.
La historia me gustó, Cassandra Verrere y Philip Neville, cada uno de ellos pertenecientes a familias enemistadas en el pasado debido a un matrimonio frustrado, inician la búsqueda de una vieja dote perdida hace casi 200 años.
Pero ya no son enemigos, solo dos personas que se atraen muchísimo en una trama de misterio e investigación. El final no lo vi venir.
Con varias escenas hot.
Pero, pero, pero...
Si bien la historia me gustó, la narración es demasiado simple y todo es tratado muy por arriba. Como si la autora estuviera apurada por contarnos la historia.
Pero bueno, pasé una tarde agradable y sin complicaciones.
Se agradece que los protagonistas no tengan traumas del pasado.
Profile Image for WhiskeyintheJar.
1,522 reviews693 followers
October 1, 2013
Well, rarely do I feel the need to fan myself during the prologue. Interesting (?) titillating (?) start to the book.
 
Seldom do I read such remarkable dialogue between the two main characters! At the beginning you can tell Philip doesn't quite know what to make of Cassandra. Their conversations are witty, insightful, and so incredibly enjoyable!
 
Searching for a lost hidden treasure certainly adds a fun spark to the story but I just wish they would have found the letters that contained the map sooner; too many pages dedicated to dusty attic scenes. Ok to much slowness in general to finding the treasure. I get the author wants to focus more on Philip and Cassandra's relationship, but come on find the damn "Queen's book" in the library already!I'm also getting a little annoyed with how Cassandra always thinks the worst of Philip. She thinks he is the one who kidnapped her and is obsessed with the thought that he wants the treasure all to himself. The guy is supposedly uber rich and she slept with him yet she rather think of him as the villain instead of David Miller (supposedly a distant relative and the guy who brought the diaries containing the knowledge of the treasure to England). I don't know, I just think most people would automatically think of David as the bad guy. It seems like the author is using a pretty flimsy excuse to keep her two leads in animosity.
 
This book had me warring with myself. I loved the dialogue between Cassandra and Phillip and for the most part how Ms. Camp wrote her characters but was frequently annoyed with the progression of the story in regards to them searching for the treasure and Cassandra thinking Philip was the villain repeatedly. I think I'm just disappointed because there was so much potential for this book but the two things I found annoying about it nagged at me enough to stop me from fully enjoy the story. Still this is a pretty quick read and if you love witty dialogue I would recommend you give this book a go.
 
B-
Profile Image for Ana.
889 reviews40 followers
September 20, 2020
Steamy love story with a hefty serving of mystery on the side. Kind of like Romeo and Juliet but not as tragic nor serious. The aunt and cousin are downright irritating and obtuse. Cassandra needs to be more sensitive though. Many of the misunderstanding in the latter part is caused by her inability to believe and keep the faith with Sir Phillip.
1 review
October 20, 2025
This book features many instances of unnecessary repetition, with characters often saying the same thing right after the other thinks it, or two chapters in a row feature Cassandra wanting over a dress, and then again and again. The dialogue between Cassandra and Philip is well written, but Cassandra isn't the brightest. While she is often revered as bright by everyone in the book, she doesn't trust Philip until the end of the book, and her excuse for starting to trust him sounded like that of someone in an abusive relationship (my brain doesn't trust you, but my heart does, so I hope I'm right!). Paragraphs are spent fretting over her mistrust, and just once you think it's over, nope, she mistrusts him again. I almost put this down in the opening pages due to the inability to show, not tell, what was going on. It really took away from what was supposed to be a steamy opening, and left me more annoyed than anything when Cassandra just acted like she hadn't just been accidentally assaulted in her sleep.

There are parts of the book that were interesting, with any plot twists taken care of basically in the next few paragraphs, but as others have stated, 90% of the book was just searching for the maps, sprinkled with Cassandra suddenly lacking brain cells when it mattered most.

Mentions of "maleness", something I've never read in another book, really tore me away from their romance. I never got more of a description of what Philip looked like other than, a manly male, and that the author has a thing for nipples.

3 or 4 chapters could have been cut, and you still could have gotten to the same point and not missed anything.

While the book wasn't horrible, I did force myself to finish it after Cassandra decided that Philip was the bad guy for the fifth time (even though he has quite literally never done anything to her, ever,) because I had only a few chapters left, and I wanted them to find the dowry already.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Amana Shahid  Ullah.
299 reviews5 followers
September 25, 2020
I think I'm starting to get Candace Camp's style.

The Verreres and Nevilles have hated each other ever since Margaret Verrere (known as Black Maggy to the Nevilles) ditched her fiance Neville fiance and eloped to America, leaving behind her father large dowry aka the Spanish dowry, thinking it would heal the rift and make everything a-okay. This was all 200 hundred years ago.

Yep, so the two families hate each other and now Cassandra Verrere is determined to find the dowry and replenish their non existing financial situation, the only catch? She needs a Neville's help in order to find the hidden treasure.

I actually like Sir Phillip, he was confident, brave and didn't really care much about what anyone thinks.

Cassandra, on the other hand, although being so smart and clever, was rather dumb sometimes and that really annoyed. Her suspecting Phillip, who was no doubt rich, trying to steal the treasure for himself, and then blaming him for kidnapping her, then when he clears it that he would never do anything to harm her, she goes to feeling pitifully sorry for herself. It was all quite annoying. Lucky for her, her aunt and cousin Joanna were even more annoying so that saved her.

I actually liked the dialogue, the witty conversations, and the side characters were the best really. The villain(s) in the end were actually unexpected, although I was 100% sure it wasn't David Miller. And I did feel some of the scenes were dragged too long, like the tedious process of searching every book in the library or trying to find the Queen's book, it was too stretched out.

Overall it was a good book.
Profile Image for Becca.
703 reviews119 followers
February 2, 2017
This book had one hell of a sexy beginning, but then started to fall apart. There is a treasure hunt mystery, which I was excited about, but the characters were awful. The heroine always believed the hero was the problem. Even though she is supposed to be intelligent, she completely ignored evidence to retain her anger. It got tiresome. The hero was a bit angry all the time and I didn't understand why he stayed with the hero.

I did not finish this one.

There are other good Candace Camp books out there with more relatable characters.
Profile Image for Paolita Arce.
462 reviews3 followers
June 13, 2021
Fue un libro relativamente corto, y entretenido de leer. Me gustó mucho la forma directa en que se desarrollaron las acciones de los personajes, Cassandra no es como las otras protagonistas, es inteligente, algo desconfiada pero Graciosa. Me parecieron muy divertidas sus interacciones con Joanna, y las acciones de esta para llamar la atención de Phillip. El romance fue algo precipitado, y el misterio un tanto rápido al momento de resolver, pero en general, lo disfrute mucho.
447 reviews
December 30, 2024
A prominent mystery to follow, lots of open door scenes, big set of side characters with family interaction on both sides. It's my kind of books but for some reason I'm reluctant to read more from this author. I may need to read a couple more of her books to find out why. Maybe it's the way the hero was set up to be too perfect that it's less interesting.
244 reviews
April 6, 2023
i really enjoyed this book. i found it hard to put down.
the hero and heroine are really good together. brillant. i liked all the chactors even the anut and cousin though they are annoying. still really really good
Profile Image for Mesha.
193 reviews1 follower
January 19, 2018
Whenever I'm feeling under the weather and spending many hours abed, Camp is my go to for my guilty pleasure of a happy ending romance novel. This one in particular was a lot of fun.
616 reviews
July 16, 2023
Good book. Camp’s books are light but generally with interesting stories and characters.
22 reviews
May 13, 2024
A good story line with well-developed characters. I really enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Louisa Vincenza.
Author 8 books22 followers
January 4, 2022
Impetuous by Candace Camp has been on my bookshelf for years.
It’s one of those books I’ve reread several times.
It follows Cassandra and Philip on their hunt for a long-lost
treasure. I think I enjoy this book so much because Cassandra is as
strong, intelligent, independent, and brave as Philip.
She’s not waiting on a suitor to romance her or take care of her.
She’s going after what she wants and taking care of herself.
Having said that, I do like how well-matched she and Philip are.
If you’re looking for a historical romance with action/adventure,
likable characters, and sweet romance, you’ll enjoy this book.
It’s an oldy, but a goody!
I give Impetuous by Candace Camp

​⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Profile Image for Bruna.
48 reviews1 follower
May 19, 2013
I love Candace Camp, she is one of my favorites authors, one that never disapoints!
This book was no different, I liked it very much, the characters were charming and inteligent, the plot great and the dialogue between Cassandra and Phillip witty and interesting. It´s not 5 stars just because I was frequently annoyed with Cassandra thinking Philip was the villain repeatedly, that could have been resolved much sooner in the story...
But a great reading nevertheless.
Profile Image for Patricia.
49 reviews
July 19, 2011
Loved it1 I couldn't put it down. It has everything I love in a book. Romance, mystery, & great characters. Looking forward to reading Candace Camp again.
Profile Image for Amanda Svensson.
159 reviews
September 15, 2013
It was okay, got a bit slow and almost boring towards the end though. But Candice Camp always delivers!
180 reviews2 followers
December 29, 2014
Sir Philip Nevil and Cassandra's story and a family treasure that has been missing for two hundred years. a dowrey.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews

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