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A review by ayten
Dangerous in Diamonds by Madeline Hunter
2.0
This is a very sad rating for me as I’ve come to love all of the Madeline Hunter books I’ve read so far (except this one). This book is very disappointing in my opinion.
We spend the first half of the book reading about Castleford’s stupid games. Castleford is portrayed as the man who would not force or coerce a women to be with him and is mad throughout the book about other men using their position of power to abuse women while ignoring the power dynamic between himself and Daphne. It was creepy and uncomfortable to read. The way he used his power over owning Rarest Blooms and control all of Daphne’s life just so he can have sex with her was extremely creepy. There are other ways Madeline Hunter could have written about him trying to seduce Daphne without involving that power dynamic and making Daphne kind of force to play in the game if she wanted to keep her home. But also, the game goes on for too long.
We only start to read about any relationship and character development in the second half of the book which was not enough time to develop the relationship between Daphne and Castleford AND the other plotpoints explored regarding Daphne’s past. I would have enjoyed it much more if more time was dedicated to these other plotpoints and the events happening there brought them closer with time. The ending would feel much more natural and organic instead of the way it ended.
I also have big problem with how Daphne was portrayed differently than she was in the rest of the series. She gives up too easily to Castleford and keeps denying that she finds him attractive which sounds much more like a younger more innocent woman rather than the mature independent woman we know her to be. It would have been so much nicer if instead of her losing to Castleford’s games, she’d be willing to play with him because she was also attracted to him. It would have been much better if she had more independence and agency over her feelings and sexuality.
Overall, I genuinely found the character development and the plot to be weak in this book. The ideas were great and I was so excited to read about Daphne and Castleford’s romance as I thought they’d be an interesting couple but instead I just got nothing.
We spend the first half of the book reading about Castleford’s stupid games. Castleford is portrayed as the man who would not force or coerce a women to be with him and is mad throughout the book about other men using their position of power to abuse women while ignoring the power dynamic between himself and Daphne. It was creepy and uncomfortable to read. The way he used his power over owning Rarest Blooms and control all of Daphne’s life just so he can have sex with her was extremely creepy. There are other ways Madeline Hunter could have written about him trying to seduce Daphne without involving that power dynamic and making Daphne kind of force to play in the game if she wanted to keep her home. But also, the game goes on for too long.
We only start to read about any relationship and character development in the second half of the book which was not enough time to develop the relationship between Daphne and Castleford AND the other plotpoints explored regarding Daphne’s past. I would have enjoyed it much more if more time was dedicated to these other plotpoints and the events happening there brought them closer with time. The ending would feel much more natural and organic instead of the way it ended.
I also have big problem with how Daphne was portrayed differently than she was in the rest of the series. She gives up too easily to Castleford and keeps denying that she finds him attractive which sounds much more like a younger more innocent woman rather than the mature independent woman we know her to be. It would have been so much nicer if instead of her losing to Castleford’s games, she’d be willing to play with him because she was also attracted to him. It would have been much better if she had more independence and agency over her feelings and sexuality.
Overall, I genuinely found the character development and the plot to be weak in this book. The ideas were great and I was so excited to read about Daphne and Castleford’s romance as I thought they’d be an interesting couple but instead I just got nothing.