Deceived

by Bertrice Small

Bertrice Small has received acclaim for her sweeping historical romances filled with unforgettable characters and magnificent locales. Set against the rich tropical beauty of a Caribbean island and the splendor of 17th century England, Deceived gives us another spellbinding tale of intrigue, suspense and a love that was destined to last forever.

In the 17th century an English duke arrives on a Caribbean plantation to claim an heiress promised in marriage. But the lady hates gloomy England and arranges for her sister to take her place. The duke is fooled--for a while.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Ebooks, Regency

Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

About the author

Bertrice Williams was born on December 9, 1937 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA, the daughter of Doris S. and David R. Williams, both broadcasters. She studied at Attended Western College for Women and Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School. On October 5, 1963, she married George Sumner Small, a photographer and designer with a History Major at Princeton. They had a son Thomas David. She lived on eastern Long Island for over 30 years. Her greatest passions were her family; Finnegan and Sylvester, the family cats; Nicki, the elderly cockatiel who whistles the NY Mets charge call; her garden; her work, and just life in general.

Published since 1947, Bertrice Small was the author of over 50 romance novels. A New York Times bestselling author, she had also appeared on other best-seller lists including Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and the L.A. Times. She was the recipient of numerous awards including Career Achievement for Historical Romance; Best Historical Romance; Outstanding Historical Romance Series; Career Achievement for Historical Fantasy; a Golden Leaf from the New Jersey Romance Writers chapter of Romance Writers of America; an Author of the Year (2006) and Big Apple Award from the New York City Romance Writers chapter of RWA, and several Reviewers Choice awards from Romantic Times. She had a "Silver Pen" from Affair De Coeur, and an Honorable Mention from The West Coast Review of Books. In 2004 she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by ROMANTIC TIMES magazine for her contributions to the Historical Romance genre. And in 2008 she was named by ROMANTIC TIMES along with her friends Jennifer Blake, Roberta Gellis and Janelle Taylor, a Pioneer of Romance.

Bertrice Small was a member of The Authors Guild, Romance Writers of America, PAN, and PASIC. She was also a member of RWA's Long Island chapter, L.I.R.W., and is its easternmost member on the North Fork of Eastern Long Island.

Reviews

[Simona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a novella by Ms. Small's standard. Much of the book happens in the hero's county house. The book didn't have the insanity, intensity and depravity of her other works but it was still a decent plot and with flawed characters, the drama was palatable. h is a stubborn chit who refuses to marry H because she wants to chose her own husband and not marry just because of a betrothal pact. This would've been fine and dandy if she wasn't living on a Caribbean island with no eligible bachelors to meet. Her step-sister takes her place as H's bride and leaves for England to live like a duchess. When h months later arrives in England to find a husband, she discovers that her sister's marriage is in chamberpots. The plot then revolves around each person involved with the deception being unhappy in their current situation and how it all resolves.

H was pretty noble as he dealt with his wife's childish behavior with patience. Some may not like that he raped her but this is what I like about Small's writing. Men have higher social status than women in historical romances yet we only see only honorable acts by our heroes. Consistently hindered by his wife's refusal to copulate with him, H talks himself into justifying forcing himself on her until she gets with his heir. He feels remorse about the rapes and him thinking of h to get hard. I liked that she didn't write him as a saint.
Our h also imagines H's face when she masturbates. She also goes to 3rd base with OM.
Her sister was rude to her servants, loved to party and spend lavishly on dresses.


I like the secondary characters. I love giving secondary characters happy endings in a small epilogue as my writing practice.

[Gerbera_Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is set in 1700 England and is pretty racy. I loved because it was not the usual Victorian era although how could you not love Bertrice Small, right? The details, the historical reference were amazingly accurate, the humor was infecting! A must have in your library!

[Genevieve St-Yves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bertrice Small's novels are vintage nonsense. I view them as more historical soap operas than romances. The characters are mostly one dimensional and fall and in and out of love at the drop of a hat. But I get the appeal of them and even have a shameful favorite novel (This Heart of Mine) that infuriates me even as it had me turning those pages. Whatever else can say about her oeuvre, it is not dull. A good Small adventure is full of buck wild insanity. Her overly perfect heroines should experience adventures on at least two continents. She should almost never end up with the first guy she marries and should expect to get widowed at least twice and have a handful of boyfriends in between. The sex should be insane, filthy and plentiful. At least one thing that has you going WTF should happen every handful of chapters. Yes, a good Bertrice Small novel should get a rise out of you be it disgust, lust, happiness, or just marveling at the insanity. It should never be boring.

By my personal metric, Deceived is a failure. The novel is surprisingly sedate. The titular deception concerns an English duke, Valerian Hawkesworth, discovering that he was betrothed when he was a wee lad to one Charlotte Kimberly. Now in his thirties and the young miss approaching marriageable age, his grandmother springs this previous unknown news on him and sends him off to retrieve his bride to be from St. Timothy's in the Caribbean. The Kimberly family actually has two daughters named Charlotte - the stepdaughter Calandra (Cally) and old Mr. Kimberly's true daughter Aurora. Aurora is impossibly beautiful and her hobbies include such bodice rippery things such as swimming naked in the sea, masturbating, and mewling at everyone who will listen that she will marry only for love. Aurora balks at marrying Valerian, a stranger, but luckily, Cally is a social climber and very much wants to be a duchess. Aurora and Cally conspire to pass Cally off as the bride to be with Aurora going as far as renouncing her rights to the family sugar plantation.

However, once Aurora meets the duke she realizes she might have made a mistake. Valerian marries Cally none the wiser but he wishes that Aurora was his bride after he spies her strutting around on the beach nude after swimming in the ocean. Valerian takes Cally back to the England and Aurora tries to put the duke out of her mind. However, she and her stepbrother journey to England the following year seeking marriages of their own in polite society and Aurora discovers that Cally and Valerian's marriage is absolutely miserable.

(Spoilers here)

The thing that bothered me about Deceived, besides of its lack of buck wild insanity, is how Cally is demonized throughout the book. She is vilified almost from the moment Aurora arrives in England because Bertrice Small novels somehow manage to celebrate sexual liberation and yet cling to the Madonna/whore dichotomy. Early in the novel, Cally is raked over the coals because she is frigid. Most of her and Valerian's marriage troubles stem from her not putting out. Apparently, she married the duke so should could live the high life in England while expecting to get out of sleeping with Valerian. This is why everybody hates her and openly talks smack about her from Valerian to his grandmother all the way down to the servants. The only time someone says anything nice about her is a scene where she is getting the ducal estate ready for a party. She has the servants set up the chamber pots in a coat closet instead of in the corners of the ballroom to deal with the smell. Yes, that's right. The only thing Cally does that people approve of has to do with poop pots.

When Valerian finally gets her pregnant, she complains about bloating up and feeling ill and everyone just treats her pregnancy related health issues as proof that she's a horrible person. Until she goes into labor and dies. While she is suffering and waiting for the doctor, Aurora takes one last moment to chastise her for sucking at life. Mother and children (a set of deformed twins) are dead and not a moment too soon for Valerian. He finally discovers that he was "deceived" and that he really should have ended up with Aurora, his heart's true desire, as she was the real Kimberly heiress. Cally isn't cold in the ground before he tears off Aurora's clothes, deflowers and marries her while Aurora protests all the way.

Then something funky happens on the wedding night. Aurora decides that she's fine with this and loves Valerian ever so much. Thus begins their married life and even here, Cally is the devil spoiling their bliss. Valerian is delighted that Aurora is a lusty little vixen that's eager to do the do with him. They have the most boring sex life out of all the Bertrice Small novels I've read over the years. However, Valerian is afraid that Aurora will either A) die in childbirth or B) cheat on him. He was convinced that Cally would do this despite being frigid because she is the devil and embodies all human flaws.

In the last section of the book, there is an instant where an old friend of Cally's tries to sabotage Aurora's marriage but there is little tension here and this plotline only serves to extend the book out longer. It is a flaccid ending to a flaccid tale.

Most Buck Wild Nonsense Moment: Aurora tries to teach Cally how to jill off

[crazy1bad]

Hated the h and her sister. I didn't feel sorry for that stupid Calandra bitch when the H raped her, I think she even deserved it. She wanted to marry a duke without giving him anything in return, life isn't that easy, bitch.

The h was just... disgusting, lying, deceiving sl*t. She made the H an unhappy man, a widower and father of dead deformed twins (nobody wants that stigma). Calandra's unhappiness and broken marriage was the h's fault.

[Karen Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

The heroine switched places with her stepsister because she did not want to marry the hero. After that, unexpected things happened. This story is different than any other. The heroine even experienced pleasure from another man. Great! I LOVED IT! You go Ms. Betrice Small.

[Stephanie Lacroix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good! The only thing that really bothered me…. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS….. was how quickly she bounced back after her sister died and just seemed to get over it…feel like some more time was needed between that and her relationship with Valerian.

[Conniefay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it it was a good read as are all of Bertrice Smalls work. I love the detail she puts in with her history. It was a great story loved it.

[Courtney Tassin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this book! Admittedly it got a little weird near the end, but it was still an excellent read that held me captive until the last page.

[Chrisangel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had more potential than it lived up to. At first, it appeared to be a refreshing change, since I had read a couple of Bertrice Small's novels before, and found them to be too hardcore porn for my taste. In these more PC times, she seems to have cleaned up her writing quite a bit; and since I like reading books taking place in the 18th and 19th centuries, I gave this one a shot.

It started out intriguing, with a mistaken identity story, one sister who wants her freedom and the right to be herself, the other sister who wants a title and the chance to shine in society, and a duke who can get them both what they want, by marrying the wrong one, thinking she's the right one, according to an arranged marriage agreement from years ago.

So, sister wrong marries the duke, sister right has her freedom, and both soon regret it, as sister wrong (a.k.a. Calandra) can't stand the duke and sister right (a.k.a. Aurora) falls for him. He feels the same for her, but must do his duty and produce an heir, though he can't have sex with his wife (who'd rather have all her teeth pulled out at once, she finds him so unappealing) without thinking about Aurora. She, in turn, gets engaged to Valerian's (the duke) cousin/frenemy, St. John, in an effort to deny her feelings for Valerian.

Sounds like quite the Georgian era soap opera, but then it goes downhill fast. Apparently, Ms. Small hasn't entirely evolved, since she includes a distasteful scene, where Aurora, newly engaged, is invited to tea at St. John's, so his mother can get to know her, and the couple sneak off upstairs, so he can play with her clitoris while she strokes his penis. Even today this would be crude behavior, but back then!! To make it even cruder, that night Aurora goes over the scene in her mind, but pictures the duke rather than her intended. Pretty crummy!

I also found it a bit offensive when, early on in the book, Aurora teaches Calandra how to masturbate! Why was that scene necessary? Ms. Small seems to spend a lot of time on clitoris description, kind of makes me wonder if she had a bit of an obsession.

But back to the story...

While it's true that Calandra is self centered and shallow, and cares only for society and the latest gossip and fashions, not to mention finding pregnancy very revolting, it still doesn't seem right to kill her off, by having her go through an agonizing labor, die while attempting to give birth, and have malformed, dead twins taken from her corpse. All this, so Valerian (who by now has found out about the deception) can marry Aurora. The duchess is dead, long live the duchess! I would have preferred her to miscarry, then the duke could have had the marriage annulled, due to fraud, (as was already mentioned), they could have parted company, she could have gone back to the social whirl, and Valerian and Aurora could still have their HEA.

Not that it was much of one. They hardly spent any time together to really build their relationship, just a lot of talk about how they suited one another, then a week after Calandra dies, they get married! In real life, at that time, they would have destroyed themselves socially beyond repair. And though St. John was hardly a model character, he didn't deserve to get dumped so unceremoniously (despite making a quick recovery, and picking out a new conquest the same day), not after all the pleasure he gave Aurora between her legs.

Next thing you know, the duke and new duchess are going at it like dogs in mating season, and in between they're each admonishing the other to stay faithful. (They just got married and yet they feel they each have to warn the other not to cheat? Doesn't say much for this relationship.)

So many other authors could have taken this story and done a whole lot better with it, more's the pity.

[Anna Bowling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bertrice Small is the author who got me into historical romance, as both a reader and a writer, so revisiting her body of work is always a pleasure. I read Deceived when it first came out, but had not reread it since then, so this time around felt both like a new book and a reread at the same time. One of Small's standalones, I chose this because it has a Georgian era setting, in both the islands and London society.

Aurora Kimberly is a classic Small heroine, beautiful, smart, cunning, and determined to live life on her own terms. Not feeling the whole marriage thing when Valerian, the duke to whom she has been betrothed to since childhood comes to her island home to claim his bride? No problem. Let's look at that marriage contract and find a loophole. There is indeed one, as the name of the duke's intended, Charlotte Kimberly, is shared by both Aurora, and her step/adopted sister, Calandra, who use their middle names to differentiate them from each other. No middle names on this document, though, and Calandra is all for attaining duchess status, so quickie wedding, send the newlyweds off to London, Aurora gets to go on her merry, independent way, all's good, right?

Not quite. There are definite sparks between Aurora and her new brother-in-law, Calandra isn't up to the actual responsibilities of duchessing, and Valerian is no dummy. The deception comes to light, but not before Valerian's heir is apparent, Aurora is on track to marry someone else, and both Aurora and Valerian know they are in deep, deep trouble.

Though, in comparison to other titles, this is one of the quieter Smalls, all the hallmarks of what made her one of the true greats are there. Her historical atmosphere is immersive, though not without a soapboxy moment or two, the characters clever, and the plot sprinkled with enough surprises to keep pages turning late into the night.

[Katherine Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the book interesting, but not at all what I expected. I thought it was a sweet love story. It turned out to be much more.
At first I got the impression that the main character is a strong and independent woman who does not need a man. Later on, her whole image is lost and she is presented as a harlot. Her sister, on the other hand, is underestimated. She went through a childhood trauma that was so easily overlooked. Her life became more and more difficult. I think she deserved more. Her husband, to be honest, I define as a rapist who is not at all interested in the opinion of women and what they want. The main character would have fit much better with his cousin, whose image was spoiled towards the end in order for the main character to stand out. I am also not satisfied with the detailed description of the child who gave birth to the heroine's younger sister. It was too vile and disgusting.
The book definitely could have been made much more enjoyable to read. I need at least another week to figure it out.

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aurora Kimberly has grown up on the Caribbean Island of St. Timothy on a sugar cane plantation with her father, stepmother, step brother and sister. Unknown to her, her father had arranged a marriage for her prior to her birth. Her intended, Valerian Hawkesworth, Duke of Farminster also knew nothing of the match. After his grandfather dies, his grandmother finds the papers and he is sent to fetch "Charlotte". Aurora's father has also just died and she does not want to marry him. The siblings concoct a scheme to replace Charlotte Aurora with Charlotte Calandra, the step sister who wants nothing more than to be a duchess. It's done but the marriage is a disaster by the time Aurora and brother George show up in London 9 months later. Aurora and Valerian are attracted, but refuse to do anything about it. When Calandra dies trying to birth Siamese twins, the deception come out and they quickly marry. It's not totally smooth sailing, but does work out. Very explicity in parts.

[Virginia Markhart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually a very good book to a point. I loved that when the man realized he had been duped, he made it right and the woman was already in love with him anyway, so win win. I also loved that when a rumor began a scandal, the man immediately talked to the woman about it. She answered him honestly and he believed her. That was so refreshing! There were a lot of descriptions that I could have read less of, and the base of the storyline was repeated adnuseum. But all in all, an enjoyable book.

[Angel Dotson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book by Bertrice Small!!

I LOVE ALL Bertrice Small books!! As always,the details in descriptions of everything is Amazing!! You can SEE the clothes,the gowns,the homes,carriages, Everything!!! I really like that about all her books!! This is a fairly short book compared to all her others!! & it's got Some heat,but not as much as most of her other books do!! It's a good read though! It kept me interested from the beginning!!

[Christina Deck · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ripped Off

I actually could not wait for this book to become available digitally. What a great disappointment to find out that I was only getting 2/3rd s of the original book. If I had known, I would have never purchased this book in digital form as I have the original in paperback.

[Trish · Rating 1 out of 5]

I sometimes go through romance reading binges--and have been known to enjoy Small's bodice rippers. Either my tastes have changed, or this is a particularly heinous book--the hero's penchant for forcing women, both Calandra and Aurora, was really off-putting. Last third of the book was incredibly boring.

[Danni · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[AyLen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Letto in italiano col titolo di Aurora

[Karen Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bertrice Small's books are always a great escape!

[Niki Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

SMALL is always a good read. Her build up of relationships and are the best.

[BlueBootedBiblioGirl]

1998 first edition trade size

[Megan Stout · Rating 3 out of 5]

Held my own interest. The cursing and sex scenes were unnecessary. I do like the author otherwise. I think I will try another of her books.

[Marie Hayde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

I love most of her books. She is truly amazing. I can read this book over and over . she is truly the best

[Kili · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of Small’s best

[TB · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blah

[Kit★ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was sort of looking forward to trying this one out, due to the fact that it doesn't take place in a harem, so I thought, maybe it'll be good like Blaze Wyndham. Well, this book wasn't bad, I can say that. It started out good, with the characters of Aurora, George, and Calandra and the setting of their island of St. Timothy being interesting. The Duke didn't seem like nothing unique though, just a typical tall, sexy, dark, and dangerous seeming aristocrat. Even as the story progressed, his personality never really developed into anything more intriguing. But I liked the siblings, they seemed like they had a good bond and their own personalities. Then, after Cally went away with Valerian, and we met back up with them in England, I was disappointed in the change in her character from a sweet tempered girl into a two-dimensional cold b*tch. Then, when she confesses she abhors the act between husbands and wives, no one seems to care, they just tell her shut up and deal with it. Then on top of that, when she tells Valerian why she can't stand to be touched because when she was a little girl a man would come and go to their island and take her on walks and put his hands up her skirt and molest her (like multiple times), his response is to tie her down, gag her, and rape her. All in the name of producing an heir. Then he tells her that he will do this to her every day until she is impregnated. And still, her "loving" sister doesn't seem to care. Because, after all, the Duke needs an heir! Then, poor Cally dies, and the child with her. A day or two later, Valerian and Aurora are going at it like bunnies, because, after all, Aurora wasn't molested, and she's known how to masturbate since she was young (a fact that is demonstrated a few times throughout the story), so she's all about pleasure, and she's been fantasizing about Valerian for awhile, so it's all good. There's a bit of a scandal due to the hasty marriage between Aurora and Valerian mere days after Cally's death, but they go to London and go to a few balls and explain that Cally wasn't the true heiress, and it was all a mix-up, and everyone seems to be ok with it. Then there's the introduction of Trahern, who was friends with Cally, and his weird, out-of-nowhere plot for revenge on Aurora. Everything is taken care of, and they all live HEA and etc. It was a good ending though, with everyone's families together at the end. I liked Aurora, don't get me wrong, but I just felt so bad for Cally, she was used and abused and I thought she deserved better somehow. All in all a good read though, and I'll still be looking for more by Bertrice Small.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough story. Some of the ideas in this book were unique, but of course it still followed the same structure that MOST historical romance novels follow. At some points near the beginning I felt like I was reading a distant version of Phillippa Greggory's The Other Boelyn Girl. Just the family structure and situation. I really enjoyed the ending and the retaliaton on a fake friend. Just a good, light read!

[Brooke Elden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was certainly different than Mrs. Small's other novels. The world of 18th century England is brighter than the earlier ones. There are more balls and other details of what it is to be a socialite during this time period. Would recommend to those who enjoy other novels by this author, and not a bad romance for those who have not read any others.

[Stephanie | Books_and_Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually love reading a historical romance from time to time and Beatrice Small has written some fabulous books. But this book kind of bummed me out. It was great reading through the first half of the book. Then it seemed to draw out some odd ending that seemed a little on the boring side. I guess I thought it would have ended more spectacular than it did.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read some of her other books and thoroughly enjoyed them; however, this was an "okay" read. The main character (male) was unlikeable at times and the plot was rushed and extremely slow at others.