Customer Reviews

The Deception

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love, and reread, all of Joan Wolf's first person romances, but The Deception is my very favorite. A tall, blond hero of Waterloo is forced into marriage with a horse trainer's daughter, the heroine is wrenched out of a poor but (relatively) happy existence to be married to a peer of the realm, the hero's younger brother is charming, the villian is thoroughly villianous. This story has everything. Our heroine has spunk, our hero desires her against her will, our hero's brother lurches from escapade to escapade as he tries to emulate his brother. And weaving through the story is a weak mystery - just enough to keep the plot moving - and a wealth of fascinating detail on dressage and the wonderful horses that perform it. Highly recommended.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable romantic suspense tale by Joan Wolf set in the Regency period. The tone of the story is light and the action a bit improbable, but it is a fun story with an engaging hero and heroine. The story is told in the first person past-tense, reminiscent of an old Victoria Holt novel.

The heroine is Kate Fitzgerald, granddaughter of a viscount but daughter of an Irish horse trader, who has been raised poor but happy by her nomadic father. Kate is a typical regency heroine--young (18 years old), spunky (this is "romance novel code" for idioticly reckless), beautiful and charmingly unaffected. She is also horse-mad and a fabulous rider (seemingly a prerequisite for a Joan Wolf regency heroine.) After her father's death, Kate is sent to live with her villainous uncle Martin, the current viscount, and unwittingly is used by him to trick his arch-enemy, Adrian, the Earl of Greystone into compromising her and thus an unwanted marriage.

Adrian is a fine hero--handsome, rich, noble and a hero of Waterloo (he is also good with horses!), and Kate soon finds herself falling in love with her husband. The familiar "Doomed to a Loveless Marriage" and "Big Misunderstanding" plot devices are trotted out--of course, both Kate and Adrian mistakenly think that the other is in love with someone else and are afraid to confess their growing love for each other.

This book has plenty of action--kidnappings, murder, sword fights, an incognito visit to a gaming hell, and two *very* evil villains. Kate is charming but a bit gullible--she is constantly needing to be rescued by Adrian or his brother, Harry.

In summary, this a fun historical romantic suspense story--well-written and very entertaining. If you like this book, definitely read "The Arrangement" and "The Pretenders"--also by Joan Wolf.

Joan Wolf has been a favorite of mine ever since I read the regencies she wrote years ago. This latest book seems like a return to her most successful style of writing -- a high-spirited heroine, an aristocratic hero and the Regency period. Kate is a really engaging heroine and writing the story in the first person made it accessible.

Ms Wolf's writing was excellent as usually, but I found the novel a little lacking the romance category. I also found the heroine Cathleen to be silly and very immature. Cathleen is forced into a marriage with Adrian the Earl of Greystone by Cathleen's sinister uncle Lord Charlwood. Soon after the wedding, Adrian is called to Paris to help the Duke of Wellington, and Harry (the Earl's younger brother) appears on the scene. Kate and Harry hit it off right away and soon they become bosom buddies. They have a grand time searching for a missing groom, gathering clues, and hunting down and confronting a murder. Adrian appears sporadically through the story, but he is never included in the action. I think the story would have been more "romantic" if Adrian had been the one to solve the mystery rather than his brother Harry.

The plot of this novel is a Regency standard, an innocent encounter compromises the heroine and forces the hero to marry her. What Joan Wolf does with this plot is not typical. She adds mystery and humor with a dash of horse trivia thrown in. The characters are all interesting. It's definitely entertaining.

Usually I am not a fan of first person novels, they seem to be best used in an autobiography but Joan Wolf does a fairly good job of keeping the reader informed about more than just the heroine's view point.

Kate Fitzgerald is the daughter of a shunned noblewoman and a gambling horse mad Irish man. When her father dies she is left with no family and is taken in by her mother's brother. She is uncomfortable in his home and uncomfortable with him. Kate does a good job at describing everything around her and her impressions inform the reader of her surroundings and her feelings.

Kate has a London season and through her uncle's manipulations ends up in a forced wedding with British hero Adrian, Earl of Greystone. She is not party to her uncle's machinations but she thinks her husband believes it of her and is further convinced he despises her when he leaves her at a country estate and hies off to Paris to work for the Foreign Office. He returns a few months later and wants to make a go of his marriage. Kate does too but is a little hesitant about sharing her feelings. Her inner thoughts are quite telling of her devotion and fear of losing her heart to Adrian.

Kate's father was murdered and she and her brother-in-law, Harry, spend a large chunk of time chasing down clues to solve this horrible crime which became distracting as Adrian was rarely involved in the scenes except to save Kate from her plans going awry. Kate is incredibly impetuous and stubborn and Ms. Wolf details this through Kate's inner life; she does not want to be hampered by the facts when making some of her decisions.

Kate is also frightened of her uncle, a man who loathes Adrian. His mission is to make Adrian pay for ruining his own chances with Adrian's sister and as Kate soon learns, the man is totally lacking any morals.

This was a good novel but would have been even better if Kate and Adrian had spent more time together. I felt the bond between Harry and Kate to be much stronger, than between Kate and her husband, however this novel is finely written and gets four stars.

At first it felt weird for me to read a romance told in the first person, but once I got into the story, I couldn't put it down. The characters, the plot, the setting were wonderful. I enjoyed reading about horses and I fell in love with the narrating voice of the heroine. It was not as hot as I would have liked, but the romance was so good that it didn't matter.

I already bought another book by this author and can't wait to read it.

Told in first person, this book has interesting characters and an evil plot. I enjoyed it alot and was quick to add this author to my list of favorites

The Joan Wolf of the Reindeer Hunters is *not* the same novelist as this one, as incorrectly stated above. Writing style is completely different -- this Wolf is a much better writer and addresses a different type of story.