I usually dislike pirate romances--but this one is an exception.
For one thing, the entire plot takes place on dry land.
Although several generations have passed since Captain Ryder buried his
treasure somewhere in the West Indies, the Flamecrest clan consider
themselves to be dashing adventurers, worthy of carrying on the buccaneer
tradition. All except for Jared. Jared is the businessman of the family
and his relatives find him quite staid--useful only in petty matters like
keeping them solvent.
When the Lightbourne diary, which contains clues to the location of the
treasure, falls into the hands of Olympia Wingfield, Jared unromantically
decides to purchase it instead of seducing the information out of her as
his family urges.
But matters go awry when Jared meets Olympia--a self-proclaimed "woman of
the world" who has lived most of her life in Upper Tudway. Attraction
flares between them, and Jared promptly throws all thought of buried
treasure out the window and does the first impractical thing of his life:
he pretends he is the new tutor for Olympia's three nephews and installs
himself in her chaotic household.
In most romances such a deception on the part of the hero would lead to a
big scene in which the heroine finds out The Terrible Truth and thereafter
refuses to trust him for at least fifty pages. Happily, Amanda Quick
avoids this cliché.
Both the mystery and the romance twist and turn nicely. Over the course
of the book jared discovers he is not nearly as passionless as his family
has always said he was.
I enjoy all of the Amanda Quick novels, but Deception is a favourite.
Nicole Humphrey
