Dangerous

Poisonous Passions #2

by Mae Thorn

Heartbreak follows her.

Abigail Riverton flees scandal in New York and visits her dear friend, Delia Wolcott in Cornwall. The peace she hopes to find isn’t there. Someone is killing off the house guests at Briarwyck, and Abigail is the main suspect. She has the motive and opportunity, but who will believe her?

While she fights for her freedom, she must endure the no-good, deliciously handsome, Hugh Travers, and she has had enough heartbreak for a lifetime.

The last thing she needs is another scandal.

Genres: Historical

294 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 27, 2022

About the author

Mae Thorn enjoys being romanced and terrified- a combination not normally found in books so she writes them. Her favorite stories include kickass women and the men they fall for. She writes historical romance, fantasy, and gothic romance.

When she isn’t writing she battles for equal access for those with hearing loss, discovers hidden records as a volunteer archivist, geeks out about Legos, torments her feline minions, and watches bad movies.

Mae holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Utah and a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University.

She lives near Salt Lake City, Utah with her cats; Church, Shadow Moon, and Sabrina.

Reviews

[Jill booksandescape · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance ebook copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for review.

Dangerous by Mae Thorn is the second book of the Poisonous Passions series. Abigail Riverton has fled New York to visit her friend Delia Wolcott in Cornwall. She hopes to find peace away from scandal. But someone is killing off the house guests at Briarwyck. Abigail is the main suspect, but she swears she is innocent. During all this, she must endure the company of Hugh Travers. She finds him attractive, but she worries about risking another scandal by being involved with him.

This is a unique historical romance. It gives big gothic vibes.

[InD'tale Magazine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5.0

This second book in the series carries on the story of the Travers family (Hugh and the Lord), and friends Abigail and Delia.

Read full review in the 2022 September issue of InD'tale Magazine.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abigail Riverton is escaping New York, leaving the war and her reputation behind to be with her best friend Delia in Cornwall. Escorted across the ocean by Delia's brother-in-law, Hugh Travers, Abigail arrives at Briarwyck, a castle on the coast. A house party becomes the scene of conflictimg personalities and murder. Abigail seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Only Delia seems to be on her side when all the evidence points to Abigail as the murderer. Thinking to save her, Hugh confesses he is the murderer, but a witness accuses Abigail of killing her twin brother. Before Abigail is taken away by the constable, she is kidnapped by the real murderer who has become even more dangerous. I had a hard time figuring out Hugh. Sometimes he acts so immature around Abigail. It is hard to see him as a hero.
A good interpretation of a Gothic Romance.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abigail Riverton flees scandal in New York and visits her dear friend, Delia Wolcott in Cornwall. The peace she hopes to find isn’t there. Someone is killing off the house guests at Briarwyck, and Abigail is the main suspect. She has the motive and opportunity, but who will believe her? While she fights for her freedom, she must endure the no-good, deliciously handsome, Hugh Travers, and she has had enough heartbreak for a lifetime. The last thing she needs is another scandal.
This is the second book in the series & I somehow missed the first, which I need to rectify. A very well written enjoyable read, which I devoured in two sittings. The characters are wonderful & have lots of depth. The paced flows effortlessly & I was drawn in from the start & my interest was held until the end. It was my first book by the author & certainly won’t be the last
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

*I received a free ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review*

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The mystery portion definitely takes some twists and turns that I did not expect and the characters are all interesting. My biggest problem with it was probably the pacing - it starts out really interesting and hooks you right away, then it drags a little, then gets really interesting again, then drags. The really interesting parts make it worth it to keep going until the end. It would also have been more realistic had Abigail been laid up by her injuries for at least a little longer, I felt like her recovery from multiple head injuries and basically falling off a cliff was way to quick. Her ups and downs with Hugh were the typical lack of communication problems present in a lot of romance stories. I kind of understood why he kept some things from her, but he did go a little overboard on pretending to be cruel toward her. Another aspect that kind of bugged me was how Abigail kept feeling like she needed to apologize to Hugh even though she had every right to say what she did at those times. I applauded her for standing up to him but then she was made to feel like she had been unfair to him (trust me, he had it coming). The ending/resolution of the murder mystery ended up being more complicated than I expected, you aren't really 100% sure what the motive was. I have a pretty good guess as to who Lynette ends up married to (as referenced in the epilogue) and would really like for Greymore to get his own book, his is a backstory I would love to learn more of.

[Anonymous 5 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second installment of the Poisonous Passions series, and what an exciting addition it is! Abigail decides to leave America and war behind and decides to visit her friend in England to have a fresh start and lead a scandal free life. Hugh has been assigned the task of escorting Abigail across the ocean. He is not a sea person, so we don't find him in the very best of moods during their journey. Arriving in Briarwyck, Abigail soon realizes she was probably safer in America's warzone than here as there are murders taking place where she is a house guest and she seems to be the main suspect. She must struggle to prove her innocence, all the while fighting the attraction she feels for Hugh in an effort to avoid another scandal. This was an excellent story with an exciting plotline that caught my interest from the start and held it all the way through. Surprising twists and turns kept me glued and turning the pages anxious to see what happens next. I found this to be a very entertaining and enjoyable read. The characters were nicely developed and there was no question as to how strong their chemistry was. A very well-written story and great addition to a very entertaining series!
Thank you to Dragonblade Publishing, the author, and Netgalley for providing a complimentary copy. This is my voluntary and honest review.

[Lyndi (mibookobsession) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abigail Riverton fell for the lies of the wrong man. Now he's dead and buried and she's on her way to England to visit her dear friend Delia at Briarwyck and avoid the scandal in America. Delia's new brother-in-law Hugh Travers has been sent to escort her and her maid on the ship and then across country. He seems rather grumpy and unpleasant at first, but Abigail finds herself strangely attracted to him. Unwilling to create another scandal in her friend's home, she tries to keep her distance from him. During a dinner party with friends and distant relations, one of the guests dies and it appears he was poisoned. Now, everyone is forced to stay on at Briarwyck and the constable is called in to investigate. When another guest is killed after a disagreement with her, Abigail find herself as the number one suspect. She should have just stayed in America and dealt with the scandal!
This kind of reminded me of the game clue as they narrowed down each houseguest and their motives. It was sweet that Hugh was frantically trying to save her and trying to hide his true feelings for her when she was completely clueless about how he felt. Even after he was ready to sacrifice himself for her, she still doubted his motives! I was getting strong hints of a book with Lynette and Max next. I hope I'm right...I can't wait to read it!

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dangerous by Mae Thorn is the story of Abigail Riverton, who is retreating from the colonies to Cornwall to her friend, Delia, newly married to Lord Edward Carrington, only to find herself in the middle of a house party and murder. She has traveled under the supervision of Mr. Hugh Travers, brother of Carrington. As always the house party is rife with gossiping servants and errant young men, thinking they are irresistible. Delia is with child and not always at her best, and the weather is typical for Cornwall: rainy. To boot, it appears possible there are ghosts. Hugh and Abigail didn't get on as they crossed the Atlantic. For one thing, Hugh was very seasick. It just set the wrong tone. When the murders started happening in Cornwall, Carrington decided to leave the ladies out of it. Hugh followed suit.

I found it very difficult to engage with this book. It seemed to me to be very scattered, never sticking with one part of the story long enough. I felt no sympathy for any of the characters, although I was intrigued by the setting. I just didn't love it.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Dangerous by Dragonblade, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #dragonblade #maethorn #dangerous

[Petula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Abigail Riverton left the war torn America behind in the hope of peace and a new, scandal free life in England.  Our heroine is a romantic,  always wishing for an adventure similar to those she reads about in books.  

Mr Hugh Travers has been asked to escort the flighty American to her friends. Sea crossings are not good for our hero,  so he is not in the best of moods.  

England and Briarwyck will bring much more danger than a war zone.  We have a murderer on the loose and jealousy to deal with.  

This is the second book in the series and while it would help to understand the back story between our heroine and her friend from the first book,  it's not essential. This is a very exciting book on it's own,  with great characters.  It will keep you interested from the first to last page.  

Very exciting. 

[BookishMya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true gothic novel at its finest. When you read about the gothic novels all the ladies read, this is exactly what I picture. Unrequited love, confusion, mystery, dastardly villains and an onslaught of ludicrous catastrophes. Add in a dark, brooding estate as the setting and it equals the perfect equation. My only regret is that I did not read the first in this series before this. I look forward to third book, and I hope it is the story I anticipate. I normally have pieced together the mystery long before I did. In this instance, I scrambled to determine the guilty party and though eventually I had an inkling, I could not determine the motive. This story left me guessing, deliciously, on the edge of my seats. I could not put it down. A masterfully written mystery complete with intrigue and romance.

[Avril Hemingway · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a little disjointed in places especially the start where I struggled to figure out what was happening and what relevance it had to the story. I struggled a bit with Hugh. he seemed immature and blew hot and cold. However over all the story was interesting although I would have liked more insight into the murder's and what was going on with that side of the story to solve them. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. It was a little less than a 4 for me but can't do 3.5

[Barbara Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

America was at war and Miss Abigail Riverton was incredibly happy to leave and visit her friend, Delia Wolcott in England. Accompanying her was handsome Hugh Travers and as she discovered during the voyage; Hugh could not stand to travel by ship. Always sick. She on the other hand was very comfortable and read most of the way to England. Things were not as peaceful when she reached her destination. Murders kept happening and she always was considered a prime suspect. Interesting plot that keeps you fascinated in what will happen next.

[Cecilia Rodriguez · Rating 1 out of 5]

American heiress: Abigail Riverton sails from New York to England to spend time with her friend: Delia Walcott after being involved in a scandal.
Thorn’s plot lacks direction, there is a murder of a character which doesn’t generate an investigation.
Abigail spends most of her time as a: Damsel in destress.
A secondary character has a tragic back story that is revealed in a rush at the end; the details of which are extremely jarring for a romance.

[Virginia Babcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

living in a novel

The heroine loves reading the gothic novels of her time and then finds herself within one, in the wilds of Cornwall no less. If you like your historical romance mixed with murderous plots you’ll love this book. I had to read it to see what happened after book 1, but this one stands on its own with likable characters and insights on humanity.

[Lori D · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick story that moved along rapidly with the heroine, Abigail leaving New York to go visit with her friend in England, Delia. She is escorted by Delia's brother in law Hugh.

Murder and mayhem await her at the house party given by her friend. An enjoyable read!

[Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great fun to write. I hope you enjoyed the craziness.

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read at wife's request. Well written, rather entertaining from a male perspective (as was Rebellious). Begining to think I need to keep reading outside of my usual genres.