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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Touching romance about two lost and damaged souls, July 28, 2007
This review is from: Never Deceive a Duke (Mass Market Paperback)
Gareth Lloyd was never meant to be a duke. He was brutally removed from that life years ago and has raised himself up to become part owner in a successful shipping company (Neville shipping). As a child, Gareth survived horrors that no one should and put up emotional walls around himself that no one could penetrate. Until now. Now he is the new Duke of Warneham. But he doesn't need the money and he certainly doesn't want a title.
They say Antonia, the twice widowed Duchess of Warneham, is as mad as she is beautiful. Often she closes herself and her mind off to the outside world. Deep wounds lay beneath her fragile exterior. She is finished with being caged body and soul to any man.
But what happens when Gareth is forced to due his duty and visits his ducal estate? There he stumbles onto unanswered questions about the previous dukes death. He's captivated by the mysterious and regal duchess. But is he willing to expose himself and his heart to heal this woman who may possibly be a murderess?
A very good book in my opinion. Its not necessary to read the prequel 'Never Lie to a Lady', but I recommend it. Gareth is a interesting hero and not because of his abusive childhood (there are several disturbing flashbacks -so beware), but because of his heritage, he's half Jewish. Very surprising! I enjoyed Carlyle's (author) flashbacks of Gareth's grandparents which explored his roots and thought she handled the antisemitism well. Antonia on the other hand is a very sad and fragile heroine. I thought she is a bit melodramatic at times and wallows a bit to much in pity -a major downer. Of course Gareth comes in and they help heal each other emotionally. -and physically (with several hot love scenes).
But why I really recommend this book is for the character of Mr. Kemble. He completely stole the show for me. A jack-of-all-trades if you will. He is why you should really read the prequel. An excellent character who is really an enigma. Who is this man who knows everything about everybody, can fight as well as any of the hero's, knows about art, clothing (he was once a valet), decor etc. etc. Something bizarre about this character that I can put my finger on. Hopefully Carlyle will explore him further in the sequel Never Romance a Rake.
This isn't romantic fluff and may turn off some with the heavy melodrama. Not my fav H/H. The duke being part Jewish was an interesting twist, as was the murder investigation's outcome. If pushed, I'd lean toward taking this one out of the library. Good but not great.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Never Deceive a Duke, September 2, 2007
This review is from: Never Deceive a Duke (Mass Market Paperback)
When her second husband, the Duke of Warneham, dies under suspicious circumstances, the emotionally fragile Antonia, Duchess of Warneham, is surrounded by a cloud of suspicion. Although she is determined never to marry again, the twice-widowed Antonia finds her future precarious. Once again, her fate is to be determined by a man, the new Duke of Warneham.
The new Duke of Warneham, Gareth Lloyd, has no desire for the title. Gareth is happy in his role as a partner in the very successful business, Neville Shipping. As the only living heir to the dukedom, however, Gareth is forced to accept the role of nobleman and all the responsibilities his new title entails, including his duty to protect the tantalizing Antonia.
Wow! When I finished reading Liz Carlyle's Never Deceive a Duke, all I could say was, 'wow'! The heartbreak, suffering and cruelty the hero and heroine suffered before finding one another is very affecting. One cannot help but want them to know nothing but joy in their future.
Never Deceive a Duke addresses difficult subject matter such as anti-Semitism, rape, and depression with a main theme of a happily ever after romance. This isn't your average historical romance! Liz Carlyle has written a thoughtful, deeply moving and emotional historical romance in Never Deceive a Duke.
Annmarie
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
original hero, May 13, 2009
This review is from: Never Deceive a Duke (Mass Market Paperback)
If anything, Liz Carlyle can certainly write. Even when the story she tells isn't quite as well put together, her prose sweeps you up and places you right in the minds of her characters. Never Deceive a Duke picks up right after Never Lie to a Lady, after Gareth Lloyd's unrequited love, Xanthia Neville, heroine of NLL, has been married off to Lord Nash. Gareth isn't too pleased, and things just keep getting worse when he finds out he's inherited a dukedom upon the death of his cousin. There's bad blood between Gareth and the former duke, which comprises a twisted family history of murder(s), anti-Semitism, betrayal, and abuse. Gareth has tried to put all that behind him, embracing his life as a shipping magnate and unofficially adopted brother to Xanthia and her brother - they're all three of them joint owners of Neville Shipping. Gareth's tortured past comes rushing painfully back to him once he's forced to very reluctantly join the unwelcoming aristocracy and assume responsibility for his estate. This includes meeting and deciding what to do about the dowager duchess, the former duke's widow, Antonia. She happens to have a whole boatload of baggage of her own, which makes them quite a depressed/depressing pair.
Never Deceive a Duke is a pretty good read. Its pacing falters at times, but not too badly. There's a murder mystery, which develops into several murder mysteries, actually, and this aspect of the plot seemed well constructed. Though things did a little complicated near the end, when it seemed like everyone and their mother had been murdered at some point. The ubiquitous George Kemble makes an appearance here. He's called in to do all the dirty work and get to the bottom of the former duke's death. There have been nasty rumors that Antonia did him in for her own gain, and Gareth, having instantly taken a shine to her, wants her name cleared. I love George Kemble. He's hilarious, but still chillingly dangerous, and steals the show every time.
As for the romance, it was unbalanced at best. Gareth I really liked. He's a very tortured guy. The flashbacks prefacing each chapter provide powerful, moving vignettes of his childhood, the difficulties of being raised between two worlds, neither fully Jewish, nor accepted into the English aristocracy. I've never come across a Jewish hero before, and I think that through the flashbacks this aspect of his character was well drawn. He's a unique character. The extent and depth of his pain, what he's suffered, isn't readily apparent. The way in which his character is thus layered and gradually explored was skillfully handled, and my favorite part of the book. Gareth quietly suffers throughout, never wallowing in self pity. He's a very strong, very appealing hero.
Antonia, while equally tortured, is more pathetic than noble in her suffering. She's basically a depressed, shattered, shadow of her former self, having undergone a nervous breakdown and been committed to an insane asylum. This was before her marriage to the former duke, which took place barely a year after her first husband's death, which had precipitated her mental collapse. She's also exiled from society because of all the nasty murder rumors. I thought it was really interesting to have a heroine purported to be mad, after coming across so many supposedly mad heroes. Maybe madness is sexier in men or something... who knows. Either way, Antonia fits into the woman in white role perfectly - fragile, not quite all there, sad, weak, and broken. Unfortunately, the romance suffers for her overriding weakness, because Gareth has to take care of her the whole time, despite her protestations that she's getting stronger and starting to know her own mind. Their conversations sound like therapy sessions as Gareth dispenses pearls of wisdom and tries to piece Antonia back together. (I have to mention, even though it's nitpicking, that their conversations bugged the hell out of me though because Gareth kept saying Antonia's name over and over again. Every sentence it was, "Well, Antonia..." "Did you know, Antonia..." "I think, Antonia...) Anyway, his protectiveness towards her, the way he lays himself completely at her feet and becomes her white knight of sorts really is romantic and noble, but also sad - both for her and for him. She doesn't develop enough as a character - she stays pretty weak throughout, which means that, even though she grows to depend upon Gareth, he can't do the same with her, and so he has no one to heal him in turn. Never Deceive a Duke was very readable, (despite my complaint about the obsessive repetition of Antonia's name,) with a great hero, and an interesting mystery. The romance though, was a bit of a disappointment.
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