{"id":5763,"date":"2016-03-27T18:53:35","date_gmt":"2016-03-27T22:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=5763"},"modified":"2025-10-01T18:52:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T22:52:30","slug":"a-dangerous-madness-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5763","title":{"rendered":"A Dangerous Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Dangerous Madness<\/a><\/em> (2014) Michelle Diener<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A-Dangerous-Madness\"<\/a>Set in London in 1812<\/p>\n

Phoebe Hillier has been jilted. Consider that it was a match that was forced upon her by her father on his deathbed, she isn’t as distraught about this as she could have been, but for many she will be ruined–obviously something must be wrong with her for her to have been jilted.<\/p>\n

She had all but accepted the anger and the frustration as constant companions, but Sheldrake cutting her free, the incidents of the last day, opened her eyes to how big they had grown, hulking beasts that rubbed up against her. Crowding her and making her life smaller. <\/p>\n

Tears stung her eyes as she fought for composure. For the stoic acceptance she’d forced on herself time and again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

James, the Duke of Wittaker has a reputation as a dissolute rake–a cover has has been keeping as he investigates for the Crown. When the Prime Minister is assassinated, he is asked to delve once again into the gaming hells he has been avoiding, so see if he can learn if anyone was behind the assassination.<\/p>\n

The lustre had gone off his old lifestyle. Not that there was much lustre to begin with, though he’d felt he was helping in some way. But there was only so long you could wallow in the mire before the mud started to stick.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since I just read the first two books in this series, I thought I’d go back and re-read the third book, to see how I felt about it.<\/p>\n

I still liked it.<\/p>\n

There aren’t any stupid misunderstandings, and although Wittaker is protective of Phoebe, that was more a product of the time than over-protectiveness.<\/p>\n

I also very much like how thoughtful and considerate Phoebe is–something quite uncommon for the time, but possibly due to her being the daughter of not just a peer, but of a woman whose family (gasp) made their money.<\/p>\n

If it was to ensure her house was empty, so they could search for the letter Sheldrake had sent her, they would find nothing\u2014 not even her servants. She had made sure Lewis had given everyone, including himself, the night off. No one would be hurt by accidentally running across a housebreaker if she could help it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I also like how Phoebe manages to understand the very people who are looking down upon her.<\/p>\n

She’d known it, but the reality was an ugly, spiteful monster that leered at her from the faces of the women standing around her, sipping coffee and eating petit fours. <\/p>\n

Relief that it was not them, or one of their daughters, and a compulsion to make it her fault? to hide the truth that they had no control over whether a man kept his word or not? shone from them in ugly greens and dirty reds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In addition to the murder of the Prime Minster (an historical event about which there is still speculation) I loved the little bits dropped here and there throughout this series. Consider that Phoebe could readily go into a tavern, however…<\/p>\n

Coffee houses in general didn’t allow women, and certainly not ones like the Baltick, where trade and business were conducted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Taverns (at least the ones that aren’t dives) are acceptable for women to visit, but coffee houses, where trade and business were conducted were forbidden.<\/p>\n

So strange.
\nRating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by the author<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Dangerous Madness (2014) Michelle Diener Set in London in 1812 Phoebe Hillier has been jilted. Consider that it was a match that was forced upon her by her father on his deathbed, she isn’t as distraught about this as she could have been, but for many she will be ruined–obviously something must be wrong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,30,668,33,8,41,26],"tags":[213,874,251,547,252,875],"class_list":["post-5763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-5-10","category-british","category-comfort-read","category-historical","category-mystery","category-reread","category-romance","tag-grief","tag-john-bellingham","tag-michelle-diener","tag-napoleonic-era","tag-regency-london","tag-spenser-percival"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1uX","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21734,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21734","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":0},"title":"A Dangerous Madness","author":"Michelle","date":"March 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A Dangerous Madness (2014) Michelle Diener (Regency London) Set in England in 1812 Phoebe\u2019s betrothed's forceful whisper was as loud as her soft-spoken question, but she bit her tongue. She wondered what her tongue would look like after they\u2019d spent a lifetime together. Maybe one day she\u2019d bite it in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Dangerous Madness","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/A-Dangerous-Madness-e1510885658255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14161,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14161","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":1},"title":"A Dangerous Madness","author":"Michelle","date":"March 31, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A Dangerous Madness (2014) Michelle Diener (Regency London) Set in London in May 1812, around the actual historical events of the assassination of the Prime Minister. I love this series so much! He bent his head and rested his forehead on hers. \u201cI just wanted you to know, for me,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Dangerous Madness","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/A-Dangerous-Madness-e1510885658255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23712,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/23712","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":2},"title":"A Dangerous Madness","author":"Michelle","date":"June 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A Dangerous Madness (2014) Michelle Diener (Regency London #3) Set in London in 1812 \u201cI can't marry you, Pheebs. I know that's going to make things difficult for you and I want to go through with it, of course I do, it would solve a number of problems, but I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Dangerous Madness","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/A-Dangerous-Madness-e1510885658255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5346,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5346","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":3},"title":"A Dangerous Madness","author":"Michelle","date":"August 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A Dangerous Madness (2014) Michelle Diener Set in London in 1812. Phoebe Hillier has been engaged to Sheldrake at the instance of her father and her family, because their families were close, and because Sheldrake desperately needs her money. So when he breaks her engagement her feelings are complicated. She\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/A-Dangerous-Madness.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19943,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19943","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":4},"title":"A Dangerous Madness","author":"Michelle","date":"April 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A Dangerous Madness (2014) Michelle Diener (Regency London) Set in England in 1819. Phoebe Hillier has always done everything she was supposed to, following all the rules. But when the man to whom she was betrothed (and her father's insistence) breaks their engagement, she seemingly has little to lose any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Dangerous Madness","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/A-Dangerous-Madness-e1510885658255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24422,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24422","url_meta":{"origin":5763,"position":5},"title":"A Dangerous Madness","author":"Michelle","date":"April 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A Dangerous Madness (2014) Michelle Diener (Regency London, #3) Set in London in 1812 \u201cYou don't . . . have the time for it?\u201d Her words seemed to be coming from far, far away. \u201cNo. I\u2019m . . . well, soon I\u2019ll be in a bit of bother, m\u2019dear. 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