Miss Caroline's Deception [Paperback]

Anne Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1995

Unable to learn anything about a beautiful and mysterious young woman's past, the Earl of Rycote becomes to determined to discover Caroline's secret before he falls prey to his uncontrollable desires.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Signet (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451183851
• ISBN-13: 978-0451183859
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,591,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading back cover blurb, moral issues, July 23, 2005

By 

Camy Tang "Romance novels with a kick of wasabi" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miss Caroline's Deception (Paperback)

From the back cover:
LIGHTSKIRT OR LADY?

She was a creature of tantalizing mystery. Was she a lady born and bred or a lightskirt in disguise? Was she a wife or a mistress on the run from scandal? The young woman who called herself Miss Caroline would reveal nothing of her past, not even her last name.

All that the handsome Earl of Rycote knew was that she was in his house, her fate was in his hands, and her beauty was doing disturbing things to his heart. As for Miss Caroline herself, she dared not reveal the truth about herself, or yield to the earl's advances--even as the peril pursuing her came closer, and the danger of Rycote's mounting desire was beginning to match her own...

Camy here:
The story opened magnificently with a great hook and intriguing situation, but I was very disappointed at how misleading the back cover blurb was. The true storyline is that the Earl and his sister encounter a pregnant woman and her maid on the mail coach, and out of kindness allow her to stay with them at their mother's house. During the night, she loses the baby and confides in her new friends that she is escaping an abusive husband who had plotted to kill her because she can't produce a male heir.

The attraction between hero and heroine develops well and slowly, but I was completely turned off by it because the heroine was still married. The hero didn't make much effort to stop the attraction, and his moral flexibility lost my reader sympathy for him. He also didn't seem to do much besides respond to the problems and dangers besetting the heroine. He had problems of his own, but didn't really have a game plan to solve them. It made it kind of a boring read, and he seemed very 2-dimensional. So did many of the secondary characters.

Caroline's character is sympathetic and a bit stubborn, but not to the point of making illogical or dangerous choices. The story moves quickly from the countryside to London, so the reader is entertained by different locales and social situations.

An unusual storyline, but morally not my cup of tea.