Customer Reviews

Desires and Deceptions

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

 

 

I thought this was a good read and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to sail away into another world for a few hours. Catherine Burr begins the story from the early days of Santa Clara Valley -- meaning pre-dot-com madness, and carries it through when the valley became known as Silicon Valley, which is the backdrop for this book.

The story follows Marisa, who is brought up without a lot of money but well meaning enough by her parents, that is until tragedy strikes, and her world is turned upside down, Marisa thinks money and things will replace her heartache. While she is not completely destitute growing up, she wants more and sets her goals to find it. Husband in hand, they move to the affluent San Francisco Bay Area town of Saratoga, California. While her husband seeks to succeed in business in Silicon Valley, Marisa seeks to find her place amidst the rich as she tries to hide secrets from her past. I find the author's descriptions of life in wealthy Saratoga - interesting indeed!

I also would recommend Silicon Secrets by Catherine Burr.

In Catherine Burr's latest novel, "Desires and Deceptions," her superbly crafted character, Marisa, takes us on a reflective ride during the heyday of the "Dot Com" era. This mystery romance kept me turning the pages, as drugs, sex, petty class hates, social strata idiocies, college fraternity parties, coming out balls, and the extravagant nouveau rich foibles screamed out from the author's emotional writing.

In this novel, Catherine Burr brings readers into another world; Silicon Valley with all of its luxury, all of its plush beauty, its money, and the beautiful people. This novel kept me turning page after page faster than a dot com IPO climbed to its prime.

Memorable, touching, poignant. As the main female lead, Marisa goes though life-altering events as the world around her changes just as quickly. Growing up with little money, she tries to make something of her life and butts heads along the way with people who are succesful and none to willing to accept her into this lifestyle she sees as being her ticket to something ... freedom perhaps?

I read Ms. Burr's novel, Silicon Secrets, which I loved by the way and was anxious to read her next book, and I was thrilled with the result. As in Silicon Secrets, in Desires and Deceptions, Ms. Burr creates memorable characters that evoke emotion. I found myself shrieking out loud to something a character was doing or saying, or anticipating something that was around the bend -- in retrospect, it was a wild ride!

The author writes from different point of views and the characters come to life as they struggle with trying to make it in a dog eat dog world. With the character Marisa, I found a certain sadness to her as one thing after another happen to her. Marisa's husband was too busy with his own career to notice his wife drifting. This book offers a perspective of the world of success-driven values that are placed on society. The story is based in Silicon Valley, but it could have taken place anywhere. The descriptions of success at any cost causes one to ponder their own values.

This is an exceptional peek into the world of maturation from a young Marisa wanna-be. Told with heart and passion, Catherine Burr's novel is a genuine treat to the romance reader. Desires and deceptions abound in this work of excellence. Her characters are real to life. We meet them every day, we listen to them, we get taken in by them, and ultimately -- we are molded by their ethics. What goes on in the magic "Valley" is so much idiotic fluff. Climbing social ladders, abusing leadership roles, and even the family structure of the, up and coming, industry mogals gets a candid exposiure in this -- very readable novel. Intreague! "Desires and Deceptions" is an "at-the-top" eye-opener...

I read Catherine Burr's first novel Silicon Secrets which I enjoyed very much. She is a good author and I feel that Desires and Deceptions is a good story and I enjoyed reading this novel, although I feel that Catherine has it in her to take the story to a higher level. I did see something in this novel that was interesting, and that was that I felt she was telling the story as a screenwriter. I actually think this would make a good television movie. I will continue to read her novels because she has a good mind for story-telling and I think her best is yet to come.

The author is more likely to write something like "Marisa was sad" instead of making us feel Marisa's sadness through showing the connections with other people. The characters were all stereotypes.