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الحبيبة المجازفة

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Her heart was in jeopardy Stuntwoman Lynette Harris dangerously underestimated the risks involved when she agreed to stand in for actress Marilyn Thorne, on location and in real life.
She survived a life-threatening fall down a mountainside during filming in Mexico, but she couldn't endure the insults of the infuriatingly arrogant Don Alvaro de Costillo, when what she wanted was his love.
The woman Don Alvaro presumed to be a grasping, scheming film star was, in fact, so naive and inexperienced she was devastated by the emotions he aroused in her.

Unknown Binding

First published October 1, 1984

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About the author

Mary Lyons

127 books20 followers
Mary-Jo Wormell, whose nom de plume is Mary Lyons, was a popular British writer of over 40 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1983 to 2001. She was also a Conservative Party parlimentary candidate.

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5 stars
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24 (34%)
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for boogenhagen.
1,993 reviews890 followers
November 12, 2015
re Dangerous Stunt - I haven't read this one in a very long time and did not remember just how physical the H was in this one. Fortunately he is matched with an h who is more than a bit physical herself - she is a professional stuntwoman and is also a very skilled trick horse rider.

This book has a LOT of action, in fact the h is easily the most Macgyverish person in HPlandia. The H probably has to throw her around a lot just to keep up.

The story starts when the h is in Mexico working as a stunt double for the lead actress in a spaghetti western, the director thinks he is channeling either John Ford - director of the great westerns such as The Searchers or Stagecoach or George Stevens director of Shane - unfortunately his desire to make another Bend of the River puts the h into a very dangerous position.

Because conditions are so miserable on the set the h is dragooned into actually acting as the lead actress - who is faking food poisoning and comfortably shacked up in the local watering hole. She also has to do the usual stunts and winds up seriously injured when she is chased off a cliff, as the director lowered the safety net and she was unable to land properly when she fell way too fast.

She has a severe concussion plus broken bones, she wakes up in a Mexican hospital all by herself where the Doctor insists she is the movie star she was doubling for. There is no one from the movie set around and very little English spoken and no one believes her when she says she is not the star. She has no id on her - she was brought in in costume- and the hospital staff thinks she has amnesia.

To top it all off the real movie star sneaks in and says she has to keep pretending, the publicity from her near death experience is too good for the director to pass up- although everyone believes it the actress in the hospital. She is supposed to get paid $50,000.00 for the effort.

The h is deserted again and what the movie star did not tell her is that the movie star is planning an elopement with the brother of one of the local Spanish Grandee's, who has a vast estate ranch and is very wealthy and distinctly not happy his brother is wanting to marry a somewhat notorious actress.

This is the H, and he shows up and pretty much kidnaps the h to his home as she isn't very mobile and no one believes her when she says she isn't the movie star. He is wildly attracted to the h and becomes really violent and hostile because he thinks she is his brother's girl. He hates himself for wanting her, so of course SHE has to be punished.

She is a really nice lady but she doesn't tolerate too much of his bullying - there more that a few fight scenes and when she gets him verbally, he resorts to throwing her down on the nearest horizontal surface and kissing her a lot - and not in a really nice way either.
The h falls in love with this continual bouncing down treatment, (perhaps her brains are continually scrambled and she thinks it is true lurve from the dizziness,) but sees no way to convince him of who she really is, as he won't let her phone anyone and won't let her leave.

The the H's brother shows up and asks the H who the h is. The H is shocked because the h was telling the truth the whole time and he was really nasty to her and threw in extra throw down bounces.

He gets over it pretty quickly, cause now he can throw the h into bed and not feel bad about it. He dumps (but did NOT throw) his sorta live-in mistress, gets the h in bed and then the h and a little boy get kidnapped by drug dealers because the H's sister's husband stole their cocaine.

The h rescues the little boy through some really well thought out plans, aided by improvised Molotov cocktails and also manages to signal for help by starting a gigantic fire. The H throws her into bed again but then has to go identify the body of the guy who stole the coke.

This is the cue for the dumped mistress to give the h a letter written by the H, dismissing her for services rendered. The h goes home to her uncle's ranch where he is very ill and sadly passes away. The ranch will have to be sold, so the day of the funeral the H shows up as a potential buyer and then he and the h have a big fight with more throwing the h on flat surfaces and then they figure out the OW's letter scheme.

The H resolves to make the ex mistress very, very sorry and then proceeds to throw the h down for persuation into marriage and true lurve and HEA with bonus extra moments for throwing the h on any available surface.

It was a good thing the h was so bounceable and liked the throwing down bit, or this couple could have had some serious issues. All those falls as a stuntwoman and trick horse rider were the perfect training ground for her future married life- which just goes to show that even in HPlandia, no experience goes wasted.

A definitely different HP in terms of romance and a bouncing courtship, the h was a nice girl with great escape skillz and the H was obsessed, so I guess it worked out well for everyone in the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Aayesha.
337 reviews119 followers
January 6, 2020
Absolutely loved this book and how it was so different from your generic HP, and the best part - no knight in shining armour comes to save the damsel in distress - she's capable of saving her own self and getting out of there! It was honestly great

Loved the chemistry too (altho didn't love the forced kissing and borderline sexual abuse)

Great plot, great characters

And for once, I loved a strong heroine who gave out every bit as much as she got (because tbvh, the H was really awful) - she didn't stay silent, her comebacks were wonderful (and the H totally deserved them), and she was no doormat
But still loved her all the same
343 reviews85 followers
July 22, 2022
Don't get me wrong: Dangerous Stunt is a good title (the h is a busted-up stuntwoman, nicely unusual), but seriously I would have called this one "Punishing Kisses." Because there are so00000 many of them, along with a bunch of other deliciously ridiculous 1980s HP tropes Our hero is a Mexican marquis (that's right) whose penchant for tossing the heroine around (see Boogenhausen's excellent, hilarious review for more on that) made me glad that she was a pro at taking falls. Sure, he's super handsy and an arrogant jerk most of the time, but hey--this was written in the 80s after all. And I do so appreciate an unapologetic vintage alphahole (oh sure, there's maybe a tiny smidge of a grovel at the end, but not so's you'd much notice it).

What made this book, for me, though, was the sheer amount of fun that Mary Lyons clearly had writing it.
Profile Image for Jacqueline J.
3,566 reviews370 followers
January 26, 2014
Fun old school HP. There was a lot happening here. Lots of action rather than a few long scenes. There was some old school slapping and rapeyness. But it was pretty fun to have the heroine be a stunt woman although she was pretty good for a 21 year old. The actress she is doubling for talks like a gangster's moll from a 1930s film. That was pretty amusing. The hero was pretty arrogant. He was very much aware of the respect due him and continually got bent out of shape if the heroine spoke to him the wrong way.

Not great but a fun way to spend a couple of hours.
Profile Image for Jenny.
3,162 reviews560 followers
Read
May 27, 2016
Read and abandoned cause I couldn't get into it.
Profile Image for Last Chance Saloon.
808 reviews13 followers
September 19, 2025
Really impressive stuntwoman heroine (21) who can literally do anything - she is fab!! The hero (35) is nowhere near as impressive, but he did get increasingly besotted. My problem with him is that he is very aggressive with the heroine - at the end he slaps and almost rapes her, then says he loves her?! Also, the OW, who he said he dumped the night after bringing the heroine to his home, was still on the scene and he took her out. But the worst thing is that she is his first cousin?!! That’s really grim, and they are never going to be rid of her. Spoils it for me.
Heroine was 5 star quality, and the storyline was entertaining in places, but the hero having sex with his cousin relegates this to a max of 3 stars.
Profile Image for MaryD.
1,737 reviews2 followers
May 4, 2020
Wow! So much in this book! It actually took me quite a while to actually get into it, but once I did, it was pretty much a straight read. Boogenhagen has an excellent review here . One thing that bothered me a little
1 review1 follower
March 11, 2014
amazing
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for DamsonDreamer.
636 reviews11 followers
February 14, 2024
3.5
On any other day I would probably have laughed myself senseless at the improbability of most of the plot points, but I was in the mood for a punishing kisser who can barely control his animal passions and Alvaro definitely fit the bill. Bareback riding circus star and film stunt woman (and somehow also virginal ingenue *I know*) Lyn ends up in hospital after "stunt doubling" on film location as Alvaro's younger brother's wayward actress fiancée. Cue mistaken identity plot with extra spicy "I am so hot for my brother's girl" vibe. So far so very good. There are plenty of passionate tussles climaxing (pun intended) with her glorious awakening just about three fifths in. Was immediately left wondering what next when (one of my least favourite plots) kidnapping occurs. Lyn's resourcefulness in dealing with the kidnappers and Alvaro's little nephew Carlos is impressive which makes the passive acceptance of a dear john letter from evil OW Dolores all the more ridiculous. The final grovel/clear up of stupid misunderstanding comes with a side order of rape. My there was a lot going on, but you know, sometimes you have to treat yourself to willing suspension of belief for an imaginary rich Latin with skillz.
Profile Image for CANDEN333.
415 reviews1 follower
September 5, 2024
So this was written when 80’s soap opera drama reigned supreme! And it shows! Still, it’s an interesting if unrealistic story even today!
Profile Image for RomLibrary.
5,789 reviews
February 9, 2021
Her heart was in jeopardy

Stuntwoman Lynette Harris angerously undersetimated the risks involved when she agreed to stand in for actress Marilyn Thorne, on location and in real life.

She survived a life-threatening fall down a mountainside during filming in Mexico, but she couldn't endure the insults of the infuriatingly arrogant Don Alvaro de Costillo, when what she wanted was his love.

The woman Don Alvaro presumed to be a grasping, scheming film star was, in fact, ao naive and inexperienced shw was devastasted by the emotions he aroused in her
Profile Image for Daisy Daisy.
706 reviews41 followers
February 4, 2017
I have to confess to this one being a guilty pleasure - it was nice to have a h that could get herself out of the s**t who was resourceful and brave. She also liked to more or less give as good as she got with the H and needled him knowing it would wind him up. The H is not that much of an asshat compared to others in the old skool romance genre and indeed only loses a hot man point for giving the h a slap at the end which seems to shock him more than her! Bring on the kick ass women!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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