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The Deception
First published 1998 · 528 pages
A classic, banter-filled historical romance built on the delicious tension of a high-stakes charade.
What it feels like
Reading this feels like stepping into the golden age of 90s historical romance, where the stakes are high, the dukes are formidable, and the heroines are delightfully in over their heads. The narrative moves at a brisk, dialogue-driven pace, pulling you into a web of aristocratic expectations and desperate subterfuge. There is a playful, slightly wry tone that balances the underlying anxiety of the heroine's deception, creating a mood that is both cozy and charged with romantic suspense. The prose is breezy and focused on the crackling chemistry between two people who are constantly misjudging each other. It is a perfect escape for readers who crave the delicious, slow-burn tension of forced proximity, mistaken identity, and the inevitable, passionate unraveling of a well-kept secret.
- Mood
- passionate
- suspenseful
- aristocratic
- cozy
- Tone
- playful
- dramatic
- wry
- romantic
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- hidden identities · awakening desire · class boundaries · the burden of innocence · forced proximity
- The writing
- Breezy and dialogue-heavy, leaning into the witty banter and melodramatic flair characteristic of classic 90s historical romance.
- The arc
- Moves from anxious, high-stakes subterfuge to a sweeping, passionate surrender as secrets are inevitably laid bare.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love classic, trope-heavy historical romances where a desperate heroine tries to outwit a formidable, experienced duke.
Content notes
- deception
- power imbalance
- sexual content
About the book
THE DECEPTION first appeared in April 1983 as a Signet Regency with the title AN INTIMATE DECEPTION. The story has been rewritten as a full-bodied historical romance.
The Duke of Portsmouth offers an impecunious half-French relative a job as his young son's nanny. What he quickly discovers is that he wants her, badly. What he discovers far more slowly is that she isn't at all what she seems.
Evangeline de Beauchamps is in way over her head. She has far more to cope with than a nineteen-year-old virgin should ever have. To top it all off, she must play an experienced widow with a man who knows women as well as he knows his horses, or so he thinks.
Description from Open Library.
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