Sanna Brand: The Deception

The Deception by Sanna Brand
Published by Vicki Stiefel on June 15, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Historical / General, Fiction / Romance / Historical / Regency
Pages: 380
Format: ARC
Source: The Author
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A love forged through adversity....

Daughter of an illustrious artist, Lady Charlotte Pheland forges her late father's paintings for the survival of herself, her sister, and her widowed mother. Charlotte slips from a ball to sell a painting to naval Captain Patrick Landsdowne, Lord Hawthorne. Disaster strikes when a duke arrives with a crowd of attendees only to discover their clandestine meeting, compromising them. To salvage their reputations, they announce their fake engagement.

Patrick sails for the West Indies, confident Charlotte will renege. But all goes horribly wrong when Patrick suffers a devastating accident at sea, returning to his family and Charlotte a broken man. Now, if Charlotte severs her engagement, society will vilify her. But if they marry, she will bind herself to a man who could reveal her secret forgeries.

Patrick will never again captain a ship, and he rails against his loss of purpose. Yet while convalescing, his heart warms to Charlotte's kindness, talent, and perseverance. Meanwhile, she sees Patrick's quips and sarcasm mask a caring person with a steel backbone and a gentle heart.

A murder complicates matters. Worse, a stranger's obsession with Charlotte and her father's art puts their lives in peril. Yet they find a harmony that surprises them both...until Patrick discovers her forgery.

Will Patrick reveal all, thus devastating Charlotte's world and their budding relationship?

Or will their engagement stand? Even so, murder and obsession may destroy them both.

I received this book for free from The Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This Regency romance features a military man devastated by loss, a young woman fighting to save her family, and a connection forged in a moment of danger.  There are gothic elements, intrigue, and some plot twists and turns.

This is book two of a series, but worked well as a stand-alone.

There are moments that swing to the melodrama, as full as it is with action and intrigue, but the evolution of the relationship is natural and sweet.  There is a lot going on, so not an easy, breezy read but entertaining and easy to stick with.

The male MC has to grapple with a pretty series war injury that has serious elements of physical and emotional trauma.  I didn’t put a CW on the post, but it’s still worth disclosing.  There are some other mature elements and a little violence that had me give this a higher flame rating, although the sexual content is fairly minimal.

I really enjoyed this new (to me) voice and think it’s a moody and meaty read for historical romance readers who like a lot of action and intrigue.  I also think the other characters introduced from other parts of the series are interesting enough to follow up with a read.

*The author ran a 90 day ad on the site, however it did not influence my review.  We waited until the conclusion of the ad cycle to read and review.