New Adult Romance Review "Dangerous to Know & Love" by Jane Harvey Berrick

Title: Dangerous to Know & Love
Author:  Jane Harvey Berrick

Publisher:  Smashwords 

Publication Date:  May 17, 2013
Genre:  New Adult Romance
Format:  Kindle 877 KB 

Buy this book on Amazon:  Kindle Edition

Author's Website:  http://janeharveyberrick.com/
Author's Goodreads Profile:  Jane Harvey Berrick

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

Silence is only skin deep.

Nineteen year old Daniel Colton is the guy all the girls want to date, and the man all the guys want to be. Moody, with an explosive temper, closed off and sullen, he’s also beautiful, tatted in delicious ways, with a pierced eyebrow and spiky black hair. It’s rumoured he has piercings in other places, too. Is he really mad, bad and dangerous to know?

Daniel lives with his older brother, Zef, and their home is party central. You want drugs, a good time, liquor, no questions asked? Colton’s is the place to go.

When Daniel and good girl Lisanne Maclaine have to work together on an assignment, Lisanne finds there’s a lot more to the college’s bad boy than his reputation. He’s intelligent and funny and good company. And then she discovers his secret, why he’s so closed off to everyone, and determined to keep people at arms’ length. But being his secret-keeper is harder than she ever dreamed.

Recommended for readers 18+ due to sexual references and sex scenes, some coarse language, drug references and drug use.

My Thoughts...

I have to say right off that this book reminded me a lot of a handful of other books that I have read.  There is one huge difference though, Daniel.  On the surface he is so much like other "bad boy" characters, particularly Travis Maddox.  He's hot, obviously, pierced, tattooed AND rides a motorcycle.  He has a volatile temper and his first instinct is to fly of the handle.  Here's where he is different...Daniel has a secret that he has kept incredibly well for a very long time.  Once you know that secret, all these things begin to fall into place and you feel for what he is going through.  Daniel's story line is something that is unique (at least for me) to this genre.  I can honestly say that I have never read anything like it.  It's so heart wrenching yet so interesting to read about.

Lisanne, on the other hand was a tad annoying to me.  I never fully connected with her.  I felt for her a little in the beginning before the secret is revealed, but after that her character was still annoying to me.  There was just something missing for me when it came to her character.  She was terrible naive and acted like a spoiled child who didn't get her way from much of the book.  She got mad and jumped to conclusions way to easily and that drove me nuts.  I do have to say, though, that this is something I am seeing more and more in books no matter the genre.  I know that it helps to build up the tension, but at some point it's just super annoying to see it in every book.  Here is where I did like Lisanne.  She was SO accepting of Daniel no matter what his secret was.  She was the one who made him realize that he wasn't so "not normal".  She loved him despite what he considered his big flaw.

I loved the music aspect of this book.  I would like to have seen more of that side of both of them even thought that bit of the story was a bit heartbreaking.  I loved that despite the "bad boy" appearance Daniel is an incredibly smart man who really does know what he wants.  He is living in a really bad situation but he rises above it to some extent to accomplish his goals.  He really is loyal to his dead beat brother, who so does not deserve it.  I loved Lisannes family, they were there for her no matter what.  Her dad did have a hard time in the beginning, but when it came down to it he stepped up and took on more than he had to to prove that he supported her and Daniel.

I really do think this was a good book.  I read some reviews on Goodreads and I know there were a handful of reviewers who DNF'd it.  I just have to say that by doing that they missed out on what turned out to be a good story.  I know that there were some parts that were difficult to get through because of the immaturity, etc..., but overall it was a beautiful story.

It is a New Adult and because of that there are adult themes and sexual situations.  These were written in a tasteful way and were not at all crude.  I enjoyed the story and would recommend it to readers who liked books like Beautiful Disaster, Easy, etc...

*Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the author in exchange for my honest review.*