Deceptionby Amanda Quickreviewed by Cheryl SneedDecember 2009, 432 pages, Publisher: Bantam, ISBN: 0553592823 Back Cover Blurb: Once Olympia Wingfield had been free to devote all her time to her true passion: the study of ancient legends and long-lost treasure. But now, with three hellion nephews to raise, the absentminded beauty had very little time for research. Which makes it seem all the more serendipitous when a handsome stranger strides into Olympia's library unannounced and proceeds to set her world to rights.
Tall and dark, with long, windswept black hair, Jared Chillhurst is the embodiment of Olympia's most exotic dreams… a daring pirate, masquerading in teacher's garb, whose plundering kisses and traveler's tales quickly win her heart. Yet all too soon innocent Olympia will discover that the enigmatic and wickedly sensual Mr. Chillhurst is no lowly tutor but a future earl with a wealth of secrets - the kind that will lead them both on a perilous quest for a hidden fortune and a love worth more than gold.
Two of Amanda Quick's classic romances are being reissued this month. It was my pleasure to revisit two books that already reside on my Keeper Shelf and have reinforced just why they are there. First up: Deception.
Jared Chillhurst is the boring one in a family of flamboyant characters. The Chillhurst family is proud to be descended from pirates and privateers, adventurers and romantics. Jared is a deep disappointment to them, being of a practical, rather than piratical, bent and fond of business. Though it is through his talents alone that the family is not only solvent but wealthy, he is considered a dull dog by all, even with his pirate looks, complete with the eye patch. There may be hope for him yet, as he is off on a mission to recover an old diary which may contain clues to a missing family treasure. Jared isn't interested in the treasure, however. He just wants it to keep the others from falling into trouble with their own searching.
The diary is in the possession of Olympia Wingfield, a woman who has always longed for adventure, but, because of duty to family, has never left England. Currently she has taken in three young boys, distant relations whom no one else wants. While she adores them, they are quite a handful and she has had trouble keeping a tutor for more than a week until Jared appears on her doorstep, looking like a pirate but wielding a pocket watch and notebook. He soon has the boys well in hand and the entire household on a strict schedule, freeing up Olympia's time to decipher the intriguing code contained in an old diary.
Olympia and Jared are wonderful characters. Olympia considers herself a woman of the world, but she is not at all prepared for the feelings Jared provokes in her, though she is more than ready to explore them. And Jared, while controlled and pedestrian on the outside, soon discovers his inner pirate when danger touches Olympia and her family. Add to these smart, funny and sexy leads Jared's hilarious father and uncle - proud reprobates both - Olympia's mischievous yet vulnerable nephews, and a fine mystery and you have a winner of a book.
If you missed this book when it debuted more than 15 years ago, don't miss it this time around. While I can take or leave Quick's newer work, vintage Quick is something special.
Reviewed by Cheryl Sneed, November 25, 2009
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