Customer Reviews

Heart of Deception

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Heart of Deception has forever found a place on my bookself, to call this a keeper is a vast understatement. It is rare indeed to find such imagination expressed in both the tale and the players. This is an intricate and fascinating story enlivened by not only remarkable but unusual characters. Vivian and Rafe are a blazing duo, vivid, alive and unconventional nor are we cheated in regard to the background characters. Never have I been introduced to so many varied personalities and felt so intimately acquainted. Chase produced an amazing work and I anxiously await her new creations.

I am an avid romance reader and typically stay with authors such as Stephanie Laurens,Linda Howard, Robin Schone, Susan Johnson and others, but am I glad I gave this book a try. I loved the Elizabethean time period and the author did a terrific job with bringing it to life. This story is fast paced, dark and very sensual. This is not your typical romance in that the heroine is not a simpering virgin. She and the hero are equally matched in all ways, each can fight their own battles and each have no fear or shame regarding their sexuality. I highly recommend this book if you aren't faint of heart, and don't offend easily.

But, I was frankly very disappointed in it. Several friends & fellow romance readers told me it simply was a MUST READ!, and certainly the reviews on this page bear this book out as being a favorite among romance readers. I really hate to be the one dissenting voice, but I did not find this book to be that compelling.

I was firstly disappointed in the fact that there's an instant physical attraction between Rafe & Vivian. For such a strong & independent woman, she's practically drooling over him from the instant she meets him. He's getting that special feeling in his pants from the instant he meets her, too. Sheesh! I thought he was keen to solve his friend's murder & his family's disgrace? From the minute he meets Vivian, Rafe TELLS himself he "shouldn't feel this" for her, but telling himself that doesn't stop him from HAVING those feelings...and vice-versa for Vivian. How lame. Couldn't she have shown more independence? Couldn't he? Instead of being struck with lust by her, couldn't he have felt stronger disgust for her line of work, or her lack of feminine hoity-toity graces, or something?? Shouldn't an experienced criminal like Vivian been even more suspicious of the newcomer, less welcoming?

And I have to admit I didn't find anything too compelling about the mystery of the identities of Topaz, Silver, et al., or who was behind the plot to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne in place of Elizabeth I. This kind of ties into my feeling that there was no tension to this story; I was able to put it down & pick up it later (much later) with no problem. It certainly wasn't a "must read!" plot for me.

Yeah, the sexy scenes were sexy, but again, a feeling of "haven't I read this before?" kept cropping up...Frankly, if Emma Holly had written this book, it would have been much better. At least she would have given the (...) Nick and Rosy's story a much needed boost. (Emma Holly is the only female writer I know of, who's capable of writing about two men in love, and making it sexy.)

As it is, it was hard to believe Nick Swift was capable of anything decisive, much less being in charge of a band of thieves in a deadly territory of Elizabethan London. And I could just tell that Rosy, his lover, was going to turn on him at some point in the story -- and golly gee! I was right.
There was just something so -- I don't want to say it, it's really too strong a word, but I guess I have to -- homophobic, about making the (...) character die, and having his lover be the killer. It just seemed so weak of the author, to fall into this easy-way-out-end of their story, in favor of jumping forward with the saga of Vivian & Rafe.

I'm not happy about how much I didn't enjoy this book -- when a book comes highly recommended, I really expect it to be something special. Sorry, my friends, this book wasn't.

To free his family from charges of treason, Rafe Fletcher infiltrates the Southwark underworld of Elizabethan England. There he meets the Queen of the Clink, beautiful and dangerous Vivian Swift, a woman full of contradictions, a woman he cannot help but love. Loaded with intrigue, HEART OF DECEPTION is intelligent, dark, and sexy. The plot is labyrinthine, but so well developed, and the characters so finely detailed, that the reader cannot help but be drawn into the endlessly fascinating web of deceit surrounding Rafe and Vivian's relationship. And what a relationship! Anger and passion are rarely so well blended. Don't miss this outstanding novel.

I read this book in one day and then went back to savor the steamier parts. Viv is a heroine that takes her destiny in hand rather than simply letting it happen to her, and still, her passion gives her a vulnerabilty which is easy to identify with. Rafe--what can I say, I fell in love. I'm looking forward to Ms. Chase's next book. Can hardly wait.

The most truly amazing thing about this book was the heroine, Vivian. Vivian and her brother Nick control the underworld of a certain area in London. I had a couple of doubts when I read this in the back blurb. I thought she'd either be a hair-tossing, feisty little girl, who thought it would be fun to dabble in illegal activities, or that her role would be to mother all the little pickpockets.

I was wrong. Vivian is no ninny and she's no earth mother type, either. She's an intelligent, capable, ruthless woman, who's well versed on the machinations needed to control her territory and is capable of being brutal when needed. She takes no pleasure from killing, but she doesn't hesitate to do so when necessary. She's not promiscuous, but she likes sex and has affairs with men when she feels like it. She can be kind, but she can also get enraged enough that she breaks things. In short, she's a strong, complicated woman, who does what needs to be done and if she enjoys it in the process, so what?

I also enjoyed the portrayal of the Elizabethan England underworld, Vivian's domain. This is no sanitized version of it. Vivian and Nick do protect their people, but they also do things like make shopkeepers pay for protection (very mafia-like, that). Their world is violent, and this shows in Chase's very colourful portrayal of it.

I loved to see her with Rafe, who's a darling, even if his whole purpose when he decides to infiltrate Vivian's domain is to betray her. Of course, soon after he meets her he becomes so fascinated by Vivian that he talks himself into believing it would be a good idea to become her lover, and he soon starts having doubts about whether a woman such as Vivian would do such a thing as plot treason.

I must say, the man really drives himself crazy about what to do. He's truly between a rock and a hard place. The mental torture he puts himself through goes a long way in helping me forgive him for betraying Viv.

The relationship between these two people was fascinating. Vivian's impulse is to treat Rafe as a toy, almost, I guess as a reaction against the feelings he engenders in her. I really liked Rafe's reactions to this: he doesn't allow for her to dominate him, but neither does he try to dominate her himself. He loves her the way she is, strong and ruthless. His upbringing with a grandfather who drilled virtue into him makes him not be comfortable with the fact that she makes her living off crime, but he doesn't judge what she's had to do to survive.

The plot was really good, too, though I wasn't too happy about a certain intrusion on this very nitty-gritty reality of a supernatural element, near the end, and which is crucial to our protagonists' finding out exactly what's going on. Too much deus ex machina to me, that.

Heart of Deception is one of those few rare finds, a Romance that satisfied my hunger for passionate adventure, tender, steamy erotic moments, & a beautifully told tale. The suspense never lets up, yet what a delight for the senses! The characters are the smartest and most memorable I've seen for a long time. Viv especially is fantastic. Reading Heart of Deception is like eating intense bittersweet chocolate. I recommend this book absolutely!

This book has a compelling plot that kept me on the edge of my seat from the first page. The relationship the author builds between Viv and Rafe is psychologically complex and oh, so hot and steamy! Her secondary characters are richly colored and they infuse the plot with intrigue. As you near the end you wonder, "How can this possibly work out?" Ms. Chase does make it work, and with believable finesse. I highly recommend this as a "must read."

I highly recommend this book to readers of romance. I have never before read a romance where the hero blushes as much as Rafe does. Queen Viv really did remind me of everything the today type of women. She knows what she wants and she gets it. Her past experience is not a hinderance to her relationship with Rafe. He is very accepting of who she is and I think does not try to change her.

The very explicit love scenes were just enough to keep me interested in the book, but what really kept me reading was the emotion between the two characters. They both were so strong that they had such a hard time expressing how they really felt toward each other.

What a fabulous, daring heroine - matched up with a dynamic and sexy hero! Set in bawdy Elizabethan England, this is a dark, sensual romance merged with a plot full of surprises and intricate twists. I loved this book - it satisfied in every way.