If You Dare (The MacCarrick Brothers, Book 1) | Kresley Cole

If You Dare (The MacCarrick Brothers, Book 1) | Kresley Cole | If you Dare

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If You Dare (The M...

	If You Dare (The MacCarrick Brothers, Book 1) Kresley Cole Pocket, 2005 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 36 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

With If You Dare, Cole introduces a thrilling new romance trilogy featuring fierce Scottish brothers with dangerous lives, dark desires, and a deadly curse.

Can he exact revenge?

High in the Pyrenees, a band of mercenaries led by Courtland MacCarrick wages war for General Reynaldo Pascal. When Court turns on the evil general, Pascal orders him killed but Court narrowly escapes and exacts revenge by kidnapping Pascal's exquisite Castilian fiancée.

Can she deny her passions?

Lady Annalía Tristán Llorente despises her towering, barbaric captor almost as much as she does Pascal. Her inexplicable attraction to the Highlander only fuels her fury. But nothing will stop her from returning to Pascal -- for if she doesn't wed him, she signs her brother's death warrant, as well as her own.

Can there be love between them?

From the moment Court discovers that Anna's prim façade masks a fiery, brave lass, his heart's ensnared, and he dares to defy the curse that has shadowed his life -- to walk with death or walk alone. But Pascal vows that he'll hunt the two, never stopping until he's destroyed them both.

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Loved it!

I thought Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series was good, but I very much enjoyed reading this historical of hers. Court was perfect. He was rough and ready, reminding me of Cade from her paranormal series. Anna and Court's relationship is slow to build in typical Cole fashion, but I felt connected to these two characters throughout the whole book.

I'm not a huge historical romance reader. I dislike the formal English setting, with the balls and precise manners. But I love historicals with fierce Scottish men and this book delivers!

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If you Dare

This is the first of a trilogy about the MacCarrick brothers who have feared an ancient family curse all their lives and resisted lasting relationships with women until that ONE comes along who wont be denied. Filled with suspence and sexual zing between the characters from the beginning.

If You Dare

If You Dare is a good story, I liked it, but I didn't love it. It was interesting and it held my attention but its not something I would re-read, like I would A Hunger Like No Other, another romance by Kresley Cole. Courtland MacCarrick is described as a handsome scot rougue and Annalia Tristan Llorente is described as a beautiful castilian. Annalia finds him by the river beat pretty badly and unconscious. She takes him in to care for him, even though she knows she shouldn't since she can tell he is a scot. When he regains consciousness he is captivated by Annalia but he feels he should hold back due to the MacCarrick curse that haunts him and keeps him from ever marrying. All in all I found this story to be kind of average. There is passion and romance, but I felt there should be something more.

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MacCarrick Stories

I just finished reading book 1 in the MacCarrick brothers trilogy. I actually read them in reverse order (3-2-1) which is probably not a great idea, but didn't set me back too much. Once I figured out who was who in book 3, it made me want to read books 1 and 2. It was just coincidence that I read book 2 then book 1. I really enjoyed this book and all the characters in it, although it seemed to me that Anna took an awfully long time to realize that Courtland was a good guy and not a bad guy. That being said, I recommend the trilogy (in order). My only dissapointment at this point, is that there seems to be no story for Aleix and Olivia.

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Liked it for the most part

Proud, haughty and at first bigoted and unlikable, Annalia finds injured mercenary for hire Courtland MacCarrick and against her better judgment takes him to her mountain home in Andorra to recuperate. Annalia's country is under siege from a wicked man, Pascal, who hired Court and his fellow Scots as mercenaries but has now turned against them. Court almost died at their hands.

Anna hates Scots and she lets Court know this almost every time she speaks with him, she is, in fact, hateful and the things she says would probably make anyone with Scottish heritage cringe a little. Court is angered by her but also desires her. He must wait for his men at Anna's home so he puts up with her prejudices and recognizes that he has the upper hand physically, as all the men have left the village to fight against Pascal, including Anna's older brother Aleix.

When her brother is captured, Pascal demands that Anna become his bride or her brother will die. Pascal discovers that Anna and her brother are the last of the Castile royal line. Anna decides to do marry Pascal but she is saved from marrying the disgusting man by Court who kidnaps her. She is terribly ungrateful about this because she believes her brother will die. She almost gets herself and others killed trying to race back to Pascal all the while screaming how much she hates Court.

Little does she know that her brother has escaped thanks to Pascal's beautiful daughter Olivia. She has offered her assistance only if Aleix agrees to marry her.

Pascal's assassins are hot on the heels of Court and Anna. While on the run Anna sees a new side to Court and this is where I really began to like her, mainly because she saw past her own prejudices and snobbery. Court softened toward her and became protective of more than just her person but also of her feelings. These two have intense passion and these scenes are very well written along with the intense feelings neither shares with the other.

I liked this novel and would have given it four stars but for a couple of problems. Firstly, I did not like how the reader is introduced to Aleix and Olivia and then poof they are suddenly married and we didn't get to go on their emotional journey. Are they in love, how is Aleix handling all the old feelings about his first love? Are they getting their own book? Also, I really did not like how the leads treated each other in the beginning of the book. Both were really unkind to each other. But kudos for the setting, Andorra is certainly not a usual locale, and I liked the whole soldier of fortune circa 1850, also unusual.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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