A Dangerous Love is the first in what is promised to be a trilogy featuring three sisters known as the Swanlea Spinsters. It centers on the middle daughter, Rosalind.

Usually the mention of spinster sisters in a regency (historical or traditional Regency) is enough to make me a little leery. Regency romance spinsters aren’t unwed for the usual reasons, i.e. unattractive, unlikable, without personality. Rather they are attractive, intelligent, personable women who need to be single for the story to work and thus the reasons for their spinsterhood can be rather convoluted. Sabrina Jeffries’ latest book avoids this problem by offering only a minimal amount of explanation about their spinsterhood, thereby letting the reader make their own inferences. It’s the right way to go; it allows the reader to become involved with the characters without hitting them over the head with complex (and forced) convolutions.

As stated above, the spinster in question is Lady Rosalind Laverick, second daughter of the Earl of Swanlea. She and her sisters have been offered as potential mates to a distant cousin, Marsden Griffith Knighton (Griff) and she’s not happy. She’d be even less happy to know that her father’s offer is far less then honorable. In exchange for marrying one of the daughters, Griff will get his parents’ marriage license and be able to prove that he’s legitimate. All his life he’s been branded a bastard, and therefore was denied the right to be Earl of Swanlea, because his parents were unable to prove that they were married. After his father’s death, Griff should have inherited the title; instead he had to fight his way out of poverty. Of course, this being a romance, he did so handily and is now the head of a successful trading company.

Though Griff accepts the Earl’s offer to meet his daughters, he has no intention of marrying any of them. In fact, he pays his personal man of affairs to switch places with him. Griff poses as the man of affairs so that he’ll be freer to roam around the house. His plans to find the papers himself. Once he has them, he’ll prove to the world that he’s legitimate and throw out the current Earl. That’s part of the danger alluded to in the title. Rosalind finds herself falling for the faux “Daniel” and doesn’t know that he’s hiding not one, but two things from her – one of which could destroy the lives of her family.

By my reading, the other part of the danger in this book is emotional. Griff has very valid reasons for being angry and intent on vengeance, though he won’t even accept that vengeance is his goal. His danger comes from not knowing when to quit. At times he’s incredibly thickheaded. Daniel warns him about the consequences of what he’s doing when part of his deception is exposed, but Griff is in too much denial to listen. His portrayal was very realistic. He can’t hear what his friend is telling him because he doesn’t want to, and that’s the danger.

It may sound like Griff dominates Rosalind, but never fear: Rosalind holds her own. Her scenes with Griff almost always start off with them going verbally toe-to-toe, and she comes out on top as often as he does. I liked the smaller details that went into her character, like spouting Shakespeare and having no sense of style or taste. Although she and her sisters could have come across as stereotypical, they each develop a personality beyond the obvious.

As enjoyable the story is, there is some sketchiness in terms of the backstory and setting. For instance, Griff is determined to prove his legitimacy so that he will be more respected by the aristocracy and therefore have more success for his company. The reason doesn’t work because the aristocracy would look down on him for being in trade in the first place, regardless of his birth. In fact, I’d guess that the bastard son of an aristocrat would be more acceptable then a tradesman. There’s also the fact that both Griff’s and Rosalind’s mothers are actresses, a fact that would be highly detrimental to either of them being accepted. But it’s never been a problem for either of them.

Despite this accumulation of small problems, this is a very strong book. Sabrina Jeffries has hit her stride with A Dangerous Love. I look forward to reading the next in this trilogy. (Hint for the author: please let it be about Daniel and Helena).