Deceived

by Mary Balogh

Seven years ago, Christopher Atwell, newly and happily married to Lady Elizabeth Ward, was framed for several misdemeanors. When no one, even his wife, would believe his protestations of innocence, he fled to Canada, while Elizabeth's powerful father arranged for a divorce. But now Christopher has inherited an earldom upon the death of his own father and has returned to England to take up his responsibilities—and prove his innocence. The first thing he learns upon his arrival in London, however, is that Elizabeth is to marry another man the next day in a grand ton wedding. Christopher has no reason to care about the woman who had so little faith in him seven years ago. He can ignore the impending event and proceed on his way home to his estate. Or…he can do something to stop the wedding. But what? And why?

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Regency, Second Chance, Historical Fiction, Fiction

525 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 5, 2019

About the author

Mary Jenkins was born in 1944 in Swansea, Wales, UK. After graduating from university, moved to Saskatchewan, Canada, to teach high school English, on a two-year teaching contract in 1967. She married her Canadian husband, Robert Balogh, and had three children, Jacqueline, Christopher and Sian. When she's not writing, she enjoys reading, music and knitting. She also enjoys watching tennis and curling.

Mary Balogh started writing in the evenings as a hobby. Her first book, a Regency love story, was published in 1985 as A Masked Deception under her married name. In 1988, she retired from teaching after 20 years to pursue her dream to write full-time. She has written more than seventy novels and almost thirty novellas since then, including the New York Times bestselling 'Slightly' sextet and 'Simply' quartet. She has won numerous awards, including Bestselling Historical of the Year from the Borders Group, and her novel Simply Magic was a finalist in the Quill Awards. She has won seven Waldenbooks Awards and two B. Dalton Awards for her bestselling novels, as well as a Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award.

Reviews

[Vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why do I have the feeling that Mary Balogh’s editors held a gun to her head and said, “Bodice ripper…Regency…NOW…M*ther F**ker…”


She even has a letter to her readers in the reprint asking if they can tell a difference in her style. Umm, yep. Big time.

Raffaela’s review inspired my reading and WOW. Poor Mary Balogh.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I agree with almost everything in her review except for the BDSM. It was more straight out sadism on the part of the smiling evil villain. This book has it all as Rafaella mentions. Here’s the short list just in case: rape(s), secret baby, sadism, incestuous feelings, amnesia, long separation, second chances and stupidity.

Second time this week that the hero deserved a better heroine although neither he nor the secondary hero were all that much either. Faced with the evil villain who has raped one fiancee and manipulated the other for at least seven years as well as other multiple offenses (rape, possible murder and the list just goes on) they let him go. Yes, once he’s been confronted they feel bad for him as a tear gently falls down his marble cheek and They Let Him Go. Don’t even get me started on how long it takes them to confront him with his villainy because as they get their case together he’s still plotting away. I'm surprised he didn't squeeze one more rape in. Back to the heroine, she's an idiot from the beginning to the bitter end, refusing even to accept evidence that her husband is innocent because of who the bad guy is.

Luckily the one sane voice of reason and charm in the male character stakes steps in to do the dirty work. He’s the itty bitty French-Canadian charming man servant that offs the bad guy in a sadly anti-climactic manner. He's also very good at providing solace to one of the many victims of the bad guy.


Side note: there are two rapes mentioned in the book and Mary Balogh used her writing skills to great effect to show how brutal and demeaning both rapes were.

This was entertaining, but it has a lot going on and there is a very high ick factor. Not your usual Mary Balogh. I much prefer her kindler, gentler The Survivor’s Club series.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/7918...

[Raffaella · Rating 3 out of 5]

The dark side of Mary Balogh. Really, I didn't know she was so goth. There's so much in this book I don't know where to begin. Too much. What you find in this book:
- Deceptions. Multiple.
- Rapes. Multiple
-BDSM (really!!!! Believe me)
-Amnesia
-Kidnapping
-Murder
-Obsession
-Psychopath at its best
-Secret baby
-Secret Pregnancy
-Final low blow and revelations
What I didn't like
-The book was too long, it was too long even if it was two books
-The hero: he was set up and the heroine, new bride, found him with a half naked woman who tolde her she had a child with him and she was his mistress for years.
She left him and he, instead of winnig her back, went to Canada for 7 years. Olè! What a great love.
He only came back because he inherited the Earldom
He exploited her amnesia and lived with her as husband and wife.
He kept saying he's only loved her but he was with many women while apart. Again, I can't do without this kind of love.
-Didn't understand who was the villain while we readers understood at page 2.
-The heroine:
Kept her daughter a secret from his father
Divorced the hero because he was unfaithful (in the 1814 I don't think it was possible to get a divorce because the husband had a mistress, they all would be divorced)
Didn't understand who was the villain.
-The sex: so sad. A chore.
What I did like:
-The villain. He was a superstar. And the reason I gave 3 stars instead of 2 stars. He was perfect and I was a little crazy for him! Imagine a teenager of only 18 deceiving all around him with such a precision and cruelty for years. He was the perfect psychopath, without empaty, no feelings for anyone, cheating and unable to love. He was obsessed with the heroine but of course he couldn't love her. And all the time he was a smiling and sweet creature. The perfect manipulator. Cruel as no other. And so smart. We have an intelligent man at last. How I loved him! I was so sorry he was killed.
And then, the pearl of wisdom:
"We have both learned that people don't live happily ever after once the wedding cerimony is over."
How to destroy a romantic book with a sentence.

[tacitus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one had me very surprised right from the onset and REALLY engaged. Having read over 40 Balogh novels so far, I'm pretty familiar with her styling. She keeps things sedate, realistic. She doesn't resort to flamboyant drama that would never really happen, etc.... and I love that about her, but sometimes it does get a bit boring.

NOT THIS TIME!!! =) Abduction, amnesia, Wow! I was hooked, and the way Balogh can bait you with mystery is astonishing. The constant, subtle hints to "what happened" and "that horrible event" are as fascinating as they are infuriating. You're gripping the book and saying, "WHAT happened? Come on! Tell me!" But the wait is worth it.

As for the villain; Balogh has shown her ability before to right truly sociopathic villains, and this time she is pretty close to it again. My only complaint would be that, yet again, Balogh shows that she just can't hate a character she has made. She is always too light on her villains....always. And on the rare occasion when they do actually get what's coming to them, she always manages to do it in a way so that her protagonists are left with clean hands. What can I say? Balogh is clearly a better person that I am! LOL

As for the love scenes and such, this book is steamy and passionate without fail =). I will warn, however, that there is a villainous rape scene, though it is brief and not overly descriptive.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I begin, if I thought that Winston of Secrets of the Heart was horrible, Martin is the Devil Incarnate. He was creepy and sick and ruined so many lives, and I am happy he did get his deserved end. He is loathsome and my skin crawled whenever his thoughts were focused upon. Coming to the story.

7 Years ago, Christopher & Elizabeth were married, but due to circumstances, the hero running away scared and the poison and manipulation by an unlikely source, their marriage ended in divorce and a child which was kept secret from the husband. Both grew up and became stronger and more self assured and more capable of dealing with what life threw at them.

Christopher is back from Canada in England and on his first night realises that the next day his ex wife Elizabeth would be marrying someone else. And in a impulsive act, he stops that and takes her away with him. He hardly knows why he did it, except he felt he had to. And in a confrontation, Elizabeth tries to run away but instead hits her head and has amnesia. And Chris lets her believe that they have been married and they spend the next weeks in an idyll. But then Martin arrives.

Elizabeth recovers her memories and flees away to London to be with her daughter. Christopher finds out he has a daughter and is outraged he was never told and follws her there. What follows is a tale of a father getting to know his daughter and wife, of a wife and husband trying hard not to fall for the other, and of Martin playing a Devil. There is also a lovely story between John and Nancy and I almost cried reading that.

The characters were embroiled in a game , and it was great to see how every mystery was uncovered. I loved how Christopher and Elizabeth found each other once again and for trying to live upto being in a marriage. Love is great, but everything needs to be worked on. And that is what comes across in the novel.

Takeaway : Always follow your gut instinct about a situation and never run away from life , love and all it has. And fight. Fight for what you always deserve,

[Jena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread 2022 3 stars.
4 stars when I read it over 15 yrs ago, but this time around, I thought the book dragged and I didn’t even finish it.

Best part of the book was the villain, also the om. He was the most interesting character.

Loved that when the MCs got married, they were both virgins, even the H at 24. Then I ended up hating him for screwing around for 7 yrs after they separated/ got divorced. This is a regency, do I even need to tell you she was celibate?

They broke up over a misunderstanding. No cheating involved.

[Twiggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of Mary Balogh's older books and in some ways I found it pretty hard going.

The basic premise is that the hero Lord Christopher Atwell and heroine Lady Elizabeth Ward had been married when she was young and easily influenced. Elizabeth discovered her husband in a compromising position with another woman and leaves him. Other disreputable things come out about Christopher leading to a divorce and him leaving for Canada.

The whole divorce issue plus the resultant child of the marriage was problematic for both legal and societal norms at the time. The mother would not have been able to keep the child never mind not inform the husband of his daughter's birth and nor would she have been accepted back into society.

The books starts with Elizabether being kidnapped on her wedding day to Lord Poole by Christopher as he wants to force her to accept the truth of his innocence on her upon his return to England. On the way to Devonshire she tries to escape but hits her head and suffers from ubiquitous boddice ripper type memory loss.

Christopher tells her that she is his wife and proceeds to sleep with her without remorse for the next 3 weeks whilst she is struggling with her loss of memory save for a sense that she loves her husband. This happened at the start of the book and frankly it was hard to tolerate Christopher thereafter as this was just totally despicable.

Her step brother Martin arrives and it is clear from the outset that he is the snake in their proverbial garden and always has been. It was so obvious and yet for at least half the book the hero is totally in the dark and the heroine never really gets out of the dark.

Anyway we have more shanigans in London , Christopher meets his daughter; uncovers Martin's perfidy and remarries his wife, who he had succeeded in impregnating during the whole memory loss thing.

There was a secondary romance between Lady Nancy Atwell and Lord John Ward which I liked better and which brought it up to 3 stars.

Just ok.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots to like, and lots to dislike about this early longer Regency historical by Balogh, the second book she published with Onyx. Seven years ago, Christopher Atwell, only son of the Earl of Trevelyan, fled England for Canada after being left by his new wife, vowing never to return. In his absence, his wife's father, a duke, has arranged for their divorce*. The very evening of his arrival in London, Christopher hears that his ex-wife is going to remarry, and comes up with a plan to abduct her before the wedding and steal her away with him to his estate in Devonshire. His plans go awry, though, when Elizabeth jumps out of the carriage only a few miles from Devonshire and hits her head—and wakes up with amnesia. And then Christopher tells her that he is her husband...

A three-week idyll is rudely interrupted by Elizabeth's protector step-brother, Martin, whom we know is a baddie from the start, as Balogh devotes several short scenes to his pov scheming. After recovering her memory at Martin's prodding, Elizabeth flees back to London with Martin. Christopher is not going to follow—until he hears that Elizabeth has a six-year-old daughter, a child that is likely his.

The second half of the book takes place in London, with Elizabeth trying to keep herself, and her daughter, away from Christopher; Christopher trying to find out who blackened his name seven years ago; and Martin weaving more and more manipulative schemes to keep Christopher and Elizabeth apart.

Although the initial break up of their marriage was due to outside manipulation, Balogh is careful to show that both Christopher and Elizabeth's immaturity and personalties contributed to their difficulties, too. And that both have learned and grown in the years that followed, and are more ready to navigate the difficult seas of any marriage, even one undertaken not for money or connections, but for love.

Secondary plot-lines about two women (Christopher's sister, and said sister's maid) who were sexually assaulted, and the men who care for them, add to the romantic interest. But being "saved" by a romance/a man after being rape is looked down upon these days by feminist readers, as are portrayals of villains that equate sexual kinkiness and evil.

High melodrama and tropey-ness here, not the usual fare from Balogh. It would be interesting to know if she changed her writing to fit a new publisher, or she sought a second publisher because she wanted to write something more steamy/dramatic than the Signet Regency Romance line would allow.

But still, the book delivers on the emotional torment/longing/final fulfillment front, just what readers love about Balogh's books.


* not historically probable, as the only 4 women granted a Parliamentary divorce in England before 1857 had to prove not only adultery, but also bigamy or incest. The first woman to be granted such a divorce, Jane Addison in 1801, proved her husband was having an affair with her sister.

[Danker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deceived by Balogh wasn’t a favourite of mine first time around when I read it in paperback and I was sorely tempted not to buy it again - but I’ve been faithfully plodding along, buying every one of her re-releases to Kindle, hoping and hoping that she will get to a couple that I just don’t want to buy second hand. Looks like I’m yet again going to continue to be disappointed - at least for the rest of 2019.
Meanwhile, back to Deceived. The overall premise is hackneyed, but Balogh shows flashes of talent as she explores how a young and impressionable couple can delude themselves and one another, allow pride to get in the way of honesty and, finally, be too cowardly to challenge authority and fight for one another. She also successfully delivers a secondary romance that has been torn apart by violence and shame, but resurrected many years later. And a tertiary romance, between the Canadian “friend/valet” and a young servant, which also made sense. (In both those cases, a sympathetic male is all that was needed to “cure” each woman and I agree with another reviewer that this was implausible, but I felt it possible to overlook this because, after all, I was reading a romance.)
It is the major romance that doesn’t cut it for me. The timing of the abduction requires a massive leap of faith and I didn’t feel like forgiving this further implausibility, especially as the abduction is so tawdry.
Further weaknesses in this story:
# the villain seemed to me to be the main character in the story and there is no way I could stomach the hero and his sister’s champion leaving him to walk away unpunished - especially as his violence to the maid showed he would go on to hurt even more women. I didn’t expect them to kill him, but their “solution” showed a disregard of his violent history that was sickening;
# the heroine was too forgiving and too ready to apportion self-blame in regard to the hero, who had (initially) run away, disappeared (and not even used an agent or friend to contact her), subsequently kidnapping her and constantly lying to keep her imprisoned in a false reality;
# the hero was a coward when young (somewhat forgivable) who had “matured” into little more than a reckless and selfish liar.

So two stars only.

[MissKitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it!


A full length novel, not one of Mary Balogh’s short signet regency books, so it has the advantage of being more detailed and developed.

This is a second chance story, and the appeal of that trope is that its the unraveling of a mystery; what really happened, what went so wrong in the couple’s relationship to tear them apart.

This one does it well, in that, the villain is known early on, the reader knows he is deceiving and betraying the Hero and heroine in the worst possible way, so we are at the seat of our pants watching his manipulations. Wondering if the Hero figures it out, hoping that he does.

It was rivetting. I could not put the book down.

SPOILERS :

The villain in this novel has the same MO as the one in Slightly Dangerous (Bedwyn series) although his machinations are much more detailed here.

Should I dock a star? Though the villain is exposed in the end, his punishment was too quick. I wanted at least PROLONGED SUFFERING for all the hurt and suffering he caused, not only to the Hero and heroine but to the other secondary characters. He was truly vile and deserved much worse!

[Amarilli 73 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 - Lo stratagemma dell'amnesia non mi ha mai convinto molto e dopo la serie fanta-erotica degli smemorati di Lora Leigh (Elite Ops) ancora meno.
Ora scopro che vi era ricorsa pure la Balogh agli inizi e scopro pure che un certo suo approccio patinato le è venuto solo in un secondo momento.
In effetti, prima era più cinica e molto meno trattenuta.
Il personaggio scelto per fare l'antieroe è un personaggio atipico per un romanzo rosa. Di solito i cattivi ci sono, ma sono grassi, rubizzi oppure sono malvagi sexy che poi saltano la barricata e pervengono alla redenzione.
Qui no. Il cattivo è intrisecamente viscido, ossessionato, corrotto.
Il resto della famiglia accoglie la scoperta con vivo sconcerto, ma solo perchè ci sono andate di mezzo donne conosciute. Altrimenti sarebbero disposti pure a passare la cosa sotto silenzio, visto che comunque è un nobile. "Povero caro" insomma.
Per fortuna i membri delle classi inferiori sono di parere diverso.
Il resto del libro è un feuilletton variopinto: rapimenti, matrimoni impediti, millantati o tenuti segreti, fratelli che ritornano, figli ritrovati, scenate ed esposizioni al pubblico ludibrio in presenza della corte.
Christoper e Nancy gradevoli, la smemorata Elizabeth troppo ingenua e volubile.

[Deborah Cleaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent,but there’s a couple of moments toward the end where I was shocked by a couple of un-Balogh-like inconsistencies. You have a villain who shoots at a coach believing there’s a child inside and no one takes him to task for shooting towards his niece. He hits the coachman, a friend of the hero who traveled overseas with him and yet no one checks on his well being, and if that’s not inexcusably bad, they ride off into the night, still not having checked, with a peremptory instruction for him to turn the coach around and return it to London. An instruction, not a are you able to since you’ve been shot. In addition, the heroine has no problem forgiving her brother for an entire panoply of evil he has perpetrated against her but cannot bring herself to forgive her husband for being innocent of wrongdoing during the marriage. Grumble.

[Ilze · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really enjoyable book. At first I was reluctant to read it because the plot (and reviews) were similar to Mary Balogh's "Secrets of the Heart", which I disliked both for the weakness of the H/H and the awfulness of the villain. However, the H/H were much stronger and more believable in this book, and even though the villain was just as awful and manipulative as in Secrets of the Heart, the strength of the other positive characters, not just the H/H, was enough to offset this and make for absorbing reading throughout.

Too bad about the cheesy cover on this one and other books by Balogh in this period (1980s, early 1990's). They really detract from the books.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting portrayal of marriage and its ups and downs (although this couple has more to contend with than most), the book demonstrates that marriage isn't "happily ever after" unless each of the participants is willing to work at it. A masterful depiction of the villain as smiling friend makes the reader frustrated over and over that Elizabeth and Christopher don't see him for what he is sooner than they do, although Ms. Balogh blessedly gives the reader that insight fairly early on. The two mini-romances between lesser but important characters are a plus.

[gottalottie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wild ride! This has pretty much every trigger warning you can think of in it, except cheating (the H is accused of that but we know from the beginning it’s a lie), and therefore is not for everyone. I love old school Mary Balogh, she can be very dark, fans of her more recent work might not approve.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Really enjoyed this one! A little gruesome.

[Inas. · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing one, main love story and secondary love dilemma... It has thrill, passion, anger and misjudgement... liked it so

[Tully Books_Translations · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book, full of mistery and deception, but more than that, love.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a lot grittier than MB's usual stories and initially wasn't sure I was going to like it. However I got hooked very quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Katherine Schmitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely the most melodrama to ever be found in a Balogh novel, an interesting change of pace. But definitely a difficult read at times because of how dark it is.

[Denise Reinert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read.

A fabulous love story of deceit, patience, marriage and a very special love that did not give in to any of it.

[eevee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elizabeth is getting married! It’s too bad that she doesn’t really love her new husband and instead secretly recalls her ex. But then, without warning, a masked villain kidnaps Elizabeth and spirits her away. He’s her ex-husband, Christopher, the memory of whom haunts her even six years after their split. So when Elizabeth bonks her head and forgets everything, it’s almost like a chance to start anew. Christopher introduces himself as her husband and continues their life how it might have been had the past not kept them apart. They are not destined to live so happily, however; Elizabeth’s step-brother catches wind of Christopher’s involvement with the abduction and cannot let Christopher carry on deceiving Elizabeth. It might be painful to remember, yes, but after all, her step-brother has always been there to comfort her. Always.

I love an amnesiac plot line, it’s true, especially when the character is made to believe they’re in love. This one doesn’t disappoint. The three stars instead of four are only really because I still somehow didn’t love Elizabeth’s character.

The novel tells us that she’s matured from a mousy, codependent girl to an headstrong, independent woman. Perhaps she’s reclaimed some of her courage, but I don’t like how close-minded she remained. One of the hinted reasons for her amnesia was that it would be too difficult to remember all the treachery and lies of Elizabeth and Christopher’s path. Okay, cool. But then more and more facts and suspicions start to stack up, but Elizabeth constantly prefers to stick her head in the sand. I thought we would develop past that as the novel progressed, but even at one of the ending scenes, she simultaneously knows the truth yet denies it. I understand that some things are hard to accept, but to ignore or twist reality to save yourself some pain is not the hallmark of a strong heroine for me. For that reason, I don’t feel she went through as sufficient a character development as was promised throughout the novel with all the mentions of how she’s grown now and not the same girl of before. Maybe not, but she has far more growing to do.

Something I did enjoy was the villain’s villainy. A lot of novels paint them as crazy and impulsive and stupid, so it was a breath of fresh air to have one be more methodical. It’s a little more realistic to me instead of having an idiot somehow be able to perfectly orchestrate someone’s downfall. But I didn’t like the villain at all and had no sympathy unlike certain other people. Still think two other individuals, ahem, should’ve killed him, but it’s whatever. It’s fine. Really. Fine.

I’d still recommend the book, though probably won’t keep on my shelf.

[Marilyn Kavanaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too improbable

Mary Balogh is one of my favorite authors and I pre-ordered this book. However, I was uncomfortable with this effort from the beginning because I doubted that the author could overcome the mutual and fierce enmity of the two main characters. My unease grew when the H made a daring kidnap of the h on her wedding day which conveniently occurred the day after his return to England. This romantic but rash act occurs—mind you—after the author’s concerted effort to convince the reader that the H’s seven years in the wilds of Canada have matured him. My disappointment was compounded by the H’s lie to the now amnesiac h that they are married at which time she immediately falls in love with him and wants to have sex. We later discover that they had actually been married seven years ago and are now divorced but this did not redeem the hero to my sensibilities from his taking advantage of the h’s disability. The alterations of the timing of well known historical events only adds to the off-putting elements of the book. There is much to enjoy in this book, although the improbably quick recovery from rape by one of the secondary characters only adds to the tally of unlikely events. There are significant others but I belabor my objections—although I would add that there are proofreading errors which are rare in a Mary Balogh novel. In the end I am left with a great sadness that the author did not succeed in overcoming her direly unattractive and improbable challenge.

[Lyanne Quay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Per Balogh un amore senza legge e senza grande soddisfazione.
Un uomo che ama disperatamente.

Dalla vostra Lyanne Quay di "Un Conte per Tiranno”!
Dunque vi parlerò oggi di “Amore senza legge” di Mary Balogh, titolo originale ”Decived” del ‘93 legato a visioni scontate del romance storico, visioni che Balogh aveva già cominciato ad abbandonare. Si pensi che nel ‘92 Balogh aveva già scritto ”Un celebre libertino” e che nel medesimo ’93, è uscito dalla sua penna il magnifico “Un gioiello raro”. Per risultato, questo “Amore senza legge” appartiene a ben due delle mie hated categories: è un polpettone ”lui, lei e o’malamente” ed è un “romance al contrario”. Tuttavia va detto che il talento intmistico della Balogh salva il libro.
Lui ama disperatamente la propra moglie perduta e non lo sa, lei ama disperatamente l’unico uomo della sua vita e crede di odiarlo. Entrambi troppo giovani ai tempi, troppo indecisi e timorosi per maneggiare un dono raro quanto prezioso, il globo infuocato dell’amore.
4 stelle. Esso piacerà alle vocate del cappa e spada 🙂 Penso a Weirde Santippe e a Simona La Corte.

[Irina Popa · Rating 4 out of 5]

📌 Înșelătoria este un roman despre doi îndrăgostiți ce au fost despărțiți din cauza uneltirilor unui membru din familie.

📌 Elizabeth și cu Christopher au divorțat în urmă cu șapte ani, fiindcă el a comis adulter și pe lângă toate astea a comis multe fărădelegii care a făcut ca acest divorț să aibă loc. După 7 ani Christopher se întoarce în Anglia ca să-și dovedească nevinovăția, însă planurile îi sunt date peste cap când decide să o răpească pe fosta lui soție de la nunta ei cu un alt bărbat.

📌 Mi-a plăcut foarte mult această carte, mai ales poveste de dragoste dintre cei doi. Nu mi-a plăcut în schimb că Christopher a mințit-o pe Elizabeth și s-a jucat cu mintea ei, însă știi cum se zice, scopul scuză mijloacele. Intriga a fost interesantă și nu mă așteptam ca un membru al familiei să vrea să-i vadă despărțiți și nu aveam habar că a putut reuși să aducă multe acuzații pe capul lui Christopher. Într-un final adevărul a ieșit la iveală, chiar dacă prea târziu, iar personajele principale și-au dat seama că căsnicia nu este doar lapte și miere.

[Patrizia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tra le moderne scrittrici di 'regency' Mary Balogh è certamente una delle migliori; e questo, benché appartenga alla sua 'prima fase', è uno dei suoi romanzi migliori, con una trama compatta e un 'cattivo' che (udite, udite!) resta coerentemente cattivo fino alla fine, quando la sua facciata di amico e fratello ideale si disgrega e la sua follia diventa pubblica. L'autrice poteva tener segreto questo lato del 'plot', ma preferisce farci seguire passo passo le sue male azioni; nonostante questo spoiler interno, il libro si legge tutto d'un fiato.
Cani e bambini sono (come ben sa ogni sua fan) l'asso nella manica di Mary Balogh; la bimbetta ritratta in questa storia è, inevitabilmente, deliziosa... E, sì, a parte la mente malata del 'vilain' di turno, stavolta ci vengono risparmiate le complesse analisi psicologiche e l'eccesso di scene hard che – a mio parere – costituiscono il punto debole di molti dei suoi romanzi più recenti.

[Leslie Hindman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I love Mary Balogh and I LOVED this book. I know it is an early book and I can see a change from her more recent ones. A big reason I loved this one was because there were several compelling substories which meant the H and h didn’t have to belabor why they shouldn’t be together quite so much. I enjoyed the subplots knowing they were working together for the H and h. An annoying thing was Elizabeth’s pride in becoming more independent but still allowing her father, Martin, and Lord Poole to dominate her all while resisting Christopher who actually loved her. This was a reread for me as I wasn’t sure if I had read it. Even after I realized I had very quickly I still stayed up all night to finish it. The victory celebrations over defeating Napaleon were fascinating and Christopher and Elizabeth were well written characters. Martin was a study in a true delusional state. I love Mary’s series but the stand alones are great reads.

[Gilgamesha · Rating 2 out of 5]

The real hero of this story was Mr. B. The French Canadian servant who was the only man who showed compassion, kindness, constancy, and honesty, and honor...and in the end courage and selflessness by doing the ultimate deed. How could multiple rapes, murders, and all the other heinous crimes be forgiven so easily? How could the two supposed heroes walk away without even ensuring justice was served at the very minimum by apprehending the villain so he couldn't continue this cycle of pure evil behavior. I just don't understand why Balogh thinks it is ok to write something like this? From what angle would this appeal to any reader? I am outraged again...atleast justice was served somehow in the end...even if it was not as satisfying as I hoped. Martin was true ugliness and I feel dirty just reading about this character.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure I read Deceived way back in the 1990s. I didn't necessarily recall the plot, but there were certain snippets that seemed familiar. The premise was interesting if a bit ridiculous in places; the efforts and creativity demonstrated by the villain were quite over the top, but kind of sad too. He was awful, but kind of pitiable too. The descriptions of Devonshire were quite nice, and I liked the secondary couples as well. I'm more of a fan of Mary Balogh's current works (romance has changed a lot in the past 20 years) but there were definitely some good moments in this one.

[Purple Galaxy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are a lot of trigger warnings for this book but if you don’t mind that it is a crazy read. Typical Mary Balogh approach to sex, of course. Lots of plot and in typical style she could have cut out half the rehashing of events and repetitive thoughts of the characters. But that’s Balogh for you.

[Patti Irwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the few books by this author that disappointed. It's an early work of hers. Perhaps she had not discovered her own intent in writing or her own strengths and was writing to spec. Still as frenetic as life has been this semester, a good way to end spring break.