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Reading Between the Lines
The end of a curse is the beginning of a magical love. Celtic language expert Haley OBrien is thrilled when she gets the chance to translate a scroll written in Ogham, an ancient Celtic text used in magic and divination. While translating the text, she unwittingly frees Conall macCormacs Fae soul from a millennia-old curse that kept him imprisoned in a human body, lifetime after lifetime. The end of the curse is just the beginning of the magic for Haley and the ridiculously sexy Conall. He takes her into the world of his people, the Daoine Sidhe, where she begins to learn of her own Fae heritage, carve out a new path for herself, and embrace her new-found power. But their happiness is marred by Ninane, the jealous Fae who cursed Conall a thousand years ago. She will stop at nothing to have him for her own, including the murder of Haleys family. Determined to bring Ninane to justice, Haley must ask Conall to undergo the ultimate test of loveto stand aside and let her fight her own battles.
227 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
6 people are currently reading
485 people want to read
About the author
Lauren Dane
111 books4,997 followersLauren Dane has been writing stories since she was able to use a pencil, and before that she used to tell them to people. Of course, she still talks nonstop, and through wonderful fate and good fortune, she’s now able to share what she writes with others. It’s a wonderful life!
The basics: Lauren is a mom, a partner, a best friend and a daughter. Living in the rainy but beautiful Pacific Northwest, she spends her late evenings writing like a fiend when she finally wrestles all of her kids to bed.
The basics: Lauren is a mom, a partner, a best friend and a daughter. Living in the rainy but beautiful Pacific Northwest, she spends her late evenings writing like a fiend when she finally wrestles all of her kids to bed.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
September 12, 2008
I liked "Reading Between the Lines", a contemporary, paranormal, erotica/romantica fantasy story by Lauren Dane. Although a Red-Hot release from Samhain, I would say it's more romantica than erotica because if you took the sex out of the book, it would still work (be much less hot, but still work). That's just my way of differentiating, so there!
His soul was bound away from his now-mortal body for centuries, until she unknowingly released him. Now they are connected with by love and a matebond, but the mad fae who bound him is still out there...and she still wants him.
Sometimes hokey, always hot, and with enough action to fill the spaces between. An interesting story and a quick read.
His soul was bound away from his now-mortal body for centuries, until she unknowingly released him. Now they are connected with by love and a matebond, but the mad fae who bound him is still out there...and she still wants him.
Sometimes hokey, always hot, and with enough action to fill the spaces between. An interesting story and a quick read.
March 6, 2010
Well, this ended up being different that what I expected. I got this because my kindle smut group had it on the reading list for the month. It actually was pretty good. It had good action and was a lot more of a paranormal romance than I expected. Lots of fae and immortality and stuff.
I think overall, I would have given it 3.5 stars but you can't do 0.5 on here so I went with 3. I liked it, but I didn't love it.
What I liked:
the story was steamy, not the hottest sex scenes ever but definitely had some heat.
there was a nice paranormal story there, I wasn't expecting that.
What I didn't like:
I thought the ending left a lot to be desired though,a lot was left unresolved, but maybe there will be a continuation of the series???
I thought that some of the fights the H/h had about his family were ridciculous. they just kept going over same thing again and again. it wasted space, I thought, by the fifth time.
I think overall, I would have given it 3.5 stars but you can't do 0.5 on here so I went with 3. I liked it, but I didn't love it.
What I liked:
the story was steamy, not the hottest sex scenes ever but definitely had some heat.
there was a nice paranormal story there, I wasn't expecting that.
What I didn't like:
I thought the ending left a lot to be desired though,a lot was left unresolved, but maybe there will be a continuation of the series???
I thought that some of the fights the H/h had about his family were ridciculous. they just kept going over same thing again and again. it wasted space, I thought, by the fifth time.
July 4, 2011
I really enjoyed Dane's modern-day stuff, but this doesn't really count as such, since most of the time is spent in Faerie. I don't think it counts as a spoiler to say this, since it happens within the first three chapters of the book, but there is NO will-they-or-won't-they suspense or slow development of romantic feelings whatsoever. They're outrageously attracted for no good reason, they give in to it almost immediately, and upon their first sexual encounter, discover that they're mated in some deep Faerie bond, and they're the only ones for each other. The rest of the book is about her adjusting to the big move "back home" to his place, and fighting off a crazy, murderous ex of his. Oh, and lots of sex. But even that gets to be sort of cursory by the end of the book. I literally can't imagine how this relationship has anywhere to develop over the next decade, let alone millenia.
August 9, 2010
3.5 stars. This started out really good and ended okay. Haley meets Conall through her work and he ends up being a lot more than just a co-worker. She finds out who she really is, loses people she loves and the book ends in a battle. However, although I like good sex scenes, they were a little tedious after awhile and Haley was such a super sensitive complainer that it drove me a little crazy.
June 10, 2020
I love Lauren Dane’s books, and this one was no exception. A very fun read.
January 30, 2014
You know how the old cliché warns you not to judge a book by its cover? Well, I have never found a better example than this book. The cover art and the title seem bland and have nothing at all to do with the story inside. This turns out to be a great thing, because the story is wonderful!
Twenty-five year old Haley O'Brian is an American working for an Irish historic/anthropology foundation. Her current project is studying one of the many stone circles which can be found all over Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. It is here that she comes across a scroll that she needs to translate. Conall macCormac is a hunky Faerie who has been lurking in the wings for nine hundred years waiting for the right person to translate and read the scroll, releasing him from a curse placed on him be Ninane, a power hungry ex-fling. Slightly implausibly, but necessary none-the-less, Haley learns that she is actually a half-Faerie and of age to receive her induction into the Fae world. (Dane actually does a much better job with explaining this. Don't judge on my half-assed summary.) Predictably, Haley and Conall fall in a passionate love with each other and he makes her his wife. Together, they must defeat the evil Ninane who after learning of Conall's release from her curse, decides to seek vengeance.
While the hot-magic-Faerie-sex is well done, the story itself is engaging and beautifully written. Without giving too much away, I will just say that I at times the story was playful and light-hearted and at others heartbreakingly sorrowful. Dane is a great writer and is able to create a world so different, yet strikingly similar to our own. (The pubs in the Faerie hill serve Guinness. They could make their own brew, but they figure why do so when the perfection of Guinness exists.) The sex scenes were hot & steamy in all of the right ways. I would have liked to see a little more build up in the chemistry before they fell into bed together (They were ripping each other's clothes off by page 25.), but as the novel moved on, the love between this couple was believable.
Perhaps was not quite as believable was Haley's acceptance of her Fae heritage and her new life in the hill. She seemed to roll with the punches a little too easily. She did fight to hold on to certain remnants of the outside world, but I would have liked more insight into her thoughts.
Overall I give Reading Between the Lines...
Interpretation of Faerie lore - 3 1/2 bookmarks
Hot-Magic-Faerie-Sex - 12 bookmarks! (I mean, what's not to like?)
Character Development - 2 bookmarks
Literary Merit - 3 1/2 bookmarks
Plot - 4 bookmarks
Cover Art - 0 bookmarks (Although the author probably did not have much to do with that.)
Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Jacinda Barrett (Haley), Orlando Bloom (Conall), Lara Flynn Boyle (Ninane)
Would I recommend it? Sure, but only to right person. It is definitely NC-17 (as it should be for an Erotic Romance), and I'd never recommend it to my mother (again a bonus for the genre).
Twenty-five year old Haley O'Brian is an American working for an Irish historic/anthropology foundation. Her current project is studying one of the many stone circles which can be found all over Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. It is here that she comes across a scroll that she needs to translate. Conall macCormac is a hunky Faerie who has been lurking in the wings for nine hundred years waiting for the right person to translate and read the scroll, releasing him from a curse placed on him be Ninane, a power hungry ex-fling. Slightly implausibly, but necessary none-the-less, Haley learns that she is actually a half-Faerie and of age to receive her induction into the Fae world. (Dane actually does a much better job with explaining this. Don't judge on my half-assed summary.) Predictably, Haley and Conall fall in a passionate love with each other and he makes her his wife. Together, they must defeat the evil Ninane who after learning of Conall's release from her curse, decides to seek vengeance.
While the hot-magic-Faerie-sex is well done, the story itself is engaging and beautifully written. Without giving too much away, I will just say that I at times the story was playful and light-hearted and at others heartbreakingly sorrowful. Dane is a great writer and is able to create a world so different, yet strikingly similar to our own. (The pubs in the Faerie hill serve Guinness. They could make their own brew, but they figure why do so when the perfection of Guinness exists.) The sex scenes were hot & steamy in all of the right ways. I would have liked to see a little more build up in the chemistry before they fell into bed together (They were ripping each other's clothes off by page 25.), but as the novel moved on, the love between this couple was believable.
Perhaps was not quite as believable was Haley's acceptance of her Fae heritage and her new life in the hill. She seemed to roll with the punches a little too easily. She did fight to hold on to certain remnants of the outside world, but I would have liked more insight into her thoughts.
Overall I give Reading Between the Lines...
Interpretation of Faerie lore - 3 1/2 bookmarks
Hot-Magic-Faerie-Sex - 12 bookmarks! (I mean, what's not to like?)
Character Development - 2 bookmarks
Literary Merit - 3 1/2 bookmarks
Plot - 4 bookmarks
Cover Art - 0 bookmarks (Although the author probably did not have much to do with that.)
Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) - Jacinda Barrett (Haley), Orlando Bloom (Conall), Lara Flynn Boyle (Ninane)
Would I recommend it? Sure, but only to right person. It is definitely NC-17 (as it should be for an Erotic Romance), and I'd never recommend it to my mother (again a bonus for the genre).
December 16, 2010
This was a decent Lauren Dane. Not my favorite by her but it was good. It is a paranormal story (the cover threw me on that one) about half-Fae Haley, who knows nothing about her heritage, and Conall, a Fae she helps release from a 900 year curse. After she frees him he realizes that she is his mate. She takes him to meet her grandmother who Haley thinks is a witch. But she is actually Fae herself and tells Haley of her bloodlines. She goes to his home to meet his family and after that someone tries to kill her.
The characters in this story were interesting. Mainly Haley, because this story is mostly about her. You watch Haley grow as a person and see her frustration with her situation. I liked her because she actually reacted occasionally like i would have in her situation, she blew up at everyone and stalked off. I read too many books where the heroine just accepts everything thrown at her and that is ok sometimes but most of the time I am thinking ain't no way I would react like that. So I kind of liked that.
Cute read.
The characters in this story were interesting. Mainly Haley, because this story is mostly about her. You watch Haley grow as a person and see her frustration with her situation. I liked her because she actually reacted occasionally like i would have in her situation, she blew up at everyone and stalked off. I read too many books where the heroine just accepts everything thrown at her and that is ok sometimes but most of the time I am thinking ain't no way I would react like that. So I kind of liked that.
Cute read.
August 12, 2015
The whole thing was a little farfetched at times, but well it is a paranormal story so I can deal with insta love/lust thing. But then things stopped making sense, like Then the ending came and it got even woooorse.
We read a 600 pages book and the ending is resumed in 5. C'mon.
Not worth it.
May 8, 2011
As much as I adore Lauren Dane's books, I've got some issues with this one.
The cover. It's nondescript. It says "contemporary," not "contains Celtic lore, immortals, magic and action."
The "back cover copy." It's not exciting. I cannot tell you how many times I read it and thought "meh, not now." And Lauren Dane is an auto-buy for me!
The hot sexxoring. I like hot sexxoring as much as the next reader, but I gotta say, this story would have been better with a lot less of it. It interfered with the story, made what would have been a 4 star read lose a star. It's not a good thing when my reaction to an impending sex scene is "sigh. Must they really?"
(And yes, I'm sleep-deprived and feeling cranky. That's why I'm so candid.)
That said. I like the story. Celtic lore, action, a heinous villain(ess). What's *not* to like?
The cover. It's nondescript. It says "contemporary," not "contains Celtic lore, immortals, magic and action."
The "back cover copy." It's not exciting. I cannot tell you how many times I read it and thought "meh, not now." And Lauren Dane is an auto-buy for me!
The hot sexxoring. I like hot sexxoring as much as the next reader, but I gotta say, this story would have been better with a lot less of it. It interfered with the story, made what would have been a 4 star read lose a star. It's not a good thing when my reaction to an impending sex scene is "sigh. Must they really?"
(And yes, I'm sleep-deprived and feeling cranky. That's why I'm so candid.)
That said. I like the story. Celtic lore, action, a heinous villain(ess). What's *not* to like?
Read
January 19, 2014I'm not going to rate this one because I didn't read enought of it. That being said I usually really like Lauren Dan's stuff. There was just a few things I couldn't get past.
1. I didn't dig her writing style. The conver sations between characters sound kinda rehearsed. It dint really flow.
2. Therewas no build up between the main characters. It all happened so fast. I don't always mind the instalove thing but this time she the author didn't backit up. Our hero just thought "your my mate" and was done with it. The whole process was kinda choppy.
3. The sex seans left some thing to be desired. There was to finesse no steam. It seemed clinical almost.
The synopsis sounded good and I was excited to read it bethen is just crashed and burned :(
1. I didn't dig her writing style. The conver sations between characters sound kinda rehearsed. It dint really flow.
2. Therewas no build up between the main characters. It all happened so fast. I don't always mind the instalove thing but this time she the author didn't backit up. Our hero just thought "your my mate" and was done with it. The whole process was kinda choppy.
3. The sex seans left some thing to be desired. There was to finesse no steam. It seemed clinical almost.
The synopsis sounded good and I was excited to read it bethen is just crashed and burned :(
February 9, 2012
When your boss is totally a hunk, well, you're a goner.
It's a book about Fae, on their native land, Ireland. Conall has been trapped as a human for hundreds of year and when he finds Haley, he lures her into reading the spell to free him from his curse.
Okay, it was fine to read this. I read the book while I waited for my friend, and I should put this book for a few days. I just remembered that I haven't finished it yet, so I opened the book again and started reading.
The story fits me just fine. I'm not a fan of faery, no matter how sexy they arethey use glamour, for God sake. So I gave it a fair rate
It's a book about Fae, on their native land, Ireland. Conall has been trapped as a human for hundreds of year and when he finds Haley, he lures her into reading the spell to free him from his curse.
Okay, it was fine to read this. I read the book while I waited for my friend, and I should put this book for a few days. I just remembered that I haven't finished it yet, so I opened the book again and started reading.
The story fits me just fine. I'm not a fan of faery, no matter how sexy they are
March 12, 2010
This was an ok book. Nothing special. It was just interesting enough to keep me reading. In my opinion there were too many things thrown at Haley at one time with too little explanation.
This is the first book with Fae that I've ever read. But from my understanding there should have been more magic used. I was looking forward to that and it didn't happen.
But while it wasn't an awful read it's not one that I will re-read. There was just enough action to make we want to continue, but not enough action that it was one of those "can't put down books"
This is the first book with Fae that I've ever read. But from my understanding there should have been more magic used. I was looking forward to that and it didn't happen.
But while it wasn't an awful read it's not one that I will re-read. There was just enough action to make we want to continue, but not enough action that it was one of those "can't put down books"
April 17, 2012
This was a really good book. There is lots of stuff about the Fae and magic throughout the story. Plus there is a lot of hot males that just make you want to drool. This is a well craft story that never seems to drag along. Ms. Dane can write some really hot, steamy love scenes so be sure to have a fan and a glass of ice tea handy. I am hoping that she will write more books for this family or group. There are several secondary characters that pop out crying for their own story.
July 27, 2016
I'm torn between a 2 and a 3 star. On one hand I didn't guess who the problem in the family was, on the other hand, it just wasn't that gripping of a story or a romance or well, much of anything. A lot of insta-love, lots and lots of sex (not that's a bad thing, but they do use it to avoid their problems) and not a ton of plot. Just a bad fae who wants power that doesn't belong to her and wants a man who doesn't want her back.
February 22, 2010
Fantasy/erotica. Dane knows how to write a steamy sex scene, and the immediate bond between the hero and heroine satisfied my "immediate gratification" tendencies. At times the sentence structure felt clumsy and the sex scenes tend toward vocabulary that I wouldn't use, but the story is good, the good and bad guys clearly delineated, and the conclusion satisfying.
October 14, 2014
Haley and Conall, such a lovely pair. It was a quick and tidy affair. Until his ex, the one whose curse Haley broke, came back into the picture. Even freakier is the fact, Conall wasn't Niniane's anything. I have enjoyed reading Miss Dane's books for a while. So when I came upon this book at #acpl, I could hardly wait. And she did not disappoint. Very Well Done!
March 14, 2010
It seemed like the author slacked off and only wrote the bare outline of parts she wasn't interested in. I wouldn't have finished it except it was for a book club and that would have been a mistake. The second half is more fully fleshed out and I enjoyed it.
November 4, 2013
I always enjoy Lauren Dane and this was no exception. It did read like an early book with less complex sentence structure and maybe a little less development of the characters.
I would enjoy reading more about the world created here. Hint, Hint.
I would enjoy reading more about the world created here. Hint, Hint.
September 29, 2013
Quick but good.
Kind of a fast moving Fairy-tale. This one quickly got to the point, and had it's Happy Ever After.
The little twist was I was sure I knew who would end up being the 'rat', but it wasn't who we were expecting it to be.
Kind of a fast moving Fairy-tale. This one quickly got to the point, and had it's Happy Ever After.
The little twist was I was sure I knew who would end up being the 'rat', but it wasn't who we were expecting it to be.
August 14, 2014
I don't know what I was expecting out of this book, but it wasn't what the contents inside. I never expected for it to dig so deeply into a Fae world, which was very intriguing.
The ending bothered me some in regards to the mother in law, and an epilog would of been nice.
The ending bothered me some in regards to the mother in law, and an epilog would of been nice.
July 22, 2015
The story gets a two, mainly due to the big battle scene. And the sex is worth another star. Kind of interesting but the pacing was too drawn out, and the way she just shrugs off tragedy with sex is kind of disturbing.
October 1, 2011
Not a bad story, just predictable. I believe I'm offically burned out on paranormal and "instant life mates".
October 4, 2015
Boring, no real development of characters.
April 18, 2012
September 2008
October 1, 2012
well, this starts out fun and "dramatic" but then things get waaaaay to predictable. Great writing style, but didn't hold my attention for long.
dnf
March 16, 2014DNF. Just couldn't make myself finish this one. It was promising and I really wanted to like it. Ugh.
December 16, 2013
Moved a little to quickly for my taste.
April 5, 2020
Clearly some of her earlier work, but showed some of the polish her later stuff develops.
Not a gripping read, but it was fun.
Not a gripping read, but it was fun.
Read
August 16, 2008Reading Between the Lines by Lauren Dane (2008)
did-not-finish
June 19, 2018DNF'd at 26%. I think I might have like the story if there was some build up. The insta-love/insta-mate/insta-marriage was a little too fast, even for a fantasy. The heroine is suddenly a magical creature with one 5-minute spell (poof!). And then they're in faerie.
I love Celtic folklore, and was disappointed that I couldn't get past the writing. Also, graphic sex using modern words always seems strange in an alternate, isolated universe. Oh well, I love Lauren Dane, on to another book.
I love Celtic folklore, and was disappointed that I couldn't get past the writing. Also, graphic sex using modern words always seems strange in an alternate, isolated universe. Oh well, I love Lauren Dane, on to another book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews