Earl of Deception

by Duchess Bethany, August 14, 2022

TITLE: Earl of Deception
SERIES: Sisterhood of Secrets #4
AUTHOR: Jennifer Monroe
RATING: 
STEAM: 

THE SYNOPSIS
To get his revenge, he needs a bride...
Nicholas, Lord Dowding, is a dangerous and reckless man. For more than five years, revenge has been the earl's only goal as he traveled England seeking to ruin the lives of those who once wronged his family.

Earning himself the moniker "Earl of Deception" for his deadly, scheming ways, Nicholas is close to putting the past to rest once and for all. The only problem? He'll need a woman by his side to do it.

To play the role of a lifetime, she'll bargain her heart…

Her education could never have prepared the romantic dreamer Miss Jenny Clifton, for a man like Nicholas. When the earl arrives at the school to call in a favor she never expected to have to repay, Jenny is quickly caught up in a dangerous game where she must first pose as his fiancée.

Nicholas is dashing but ruthless, and his heart is heavily scarred by his past. But Jenny can't help but be drawn to this man who blazes with passion wherever he goes.

The greatest deception of all…

She's just a lovestruck silly schoolgirl who owes him a favor. Their burgeoning friendship is a bonus, but what he requires of her is strictly business. It's a simple enough plan—in theory.

…Is between a man and his unruly heart.

But Nicholas finds Jenny is one entanglement he cannot easily escape. While the girl is vexingly naive and innocent, she also burns with a beauty and sensuality that makes his heart beat faster. Soon Nicholas finds himself brought to his knees by a woman who holds a power even greater than that of deception: love.

THE REVIEW

Jenny wants struggles with still being seen as a naive young school girl and is desperate to prove she can be a mature young lady and marriage material. The Earl is on a mission to ruin the men who sold his sister and ultimately lead to her death. He made a promise to his father in his death bed that he would find his half sister and take care of her. He has one last man he is determined to ruin and he needs a fake fiancé to do it. 


Jenny and the Earl have obvious feelings for each other, but the Earl thought he was in love before and had his heart broken so he guards himself and keeps pushing Jenny away.

I keep hoping that this series will get better because I will enjoy the connection and weaving together of the characters happy ever afters...but I just don't. Maybe it is that they are clean romances, but I also just don't feel the passion or love between Nicholas and Jenny. And some of the plot is just silly to me. Nicholas is avenging the death of his sister, a sister he didn't know and had never met. I can get behind a good revenge plot, but this felt flaky and then he wouldn't contemplate a relationship with Jenny due to said revenge. It may also be that they both just seemed so immature even though they were supposed to be portrayed as just having become a woman and graduating from the finishing school. 

I did finish the book as I hate to DNF a book, let alone an ARC. But I just didn't enjoy it very much. 


TROPES
Historical Romance, Georgian Romance, Country Life, Gamma Hero, Titled Hero, Dresses as Male, Virgin Heroine, Clean Romance, Fake Relationship, Revenge Trope, Three Star, One Flame

HistoricalRomance, Georgianera, CountryLife, GammaHero, TitledHero, DressesasMale, VirginHeroine, CleanRomance, FakeRelationship, RevengeTrope, ThreeStar, OneFlame


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