Book 2: Never Deceive a Duke

TITLE: Never Deceive a Duke
AUTHOR: Liz Carlyle
STARTED: January 6, 2007
FINISHED: January 13, 2007
PAGES: 397
GENRE: Romance

FIRST SENTENCE: The strange saga of the Ventnor family began with the tale of a traitor, then rambled aimlessly for better than a century before coming to a near end.

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] With her fragile beauty and regal bearing, the Duchess of Warneham knows how to keep her admirers at a distance. Twice wed and twice widowed, Antonia has vowed never again to marry; never again to surrender her freedom. But when her husband's death is deemed suspicious, and his long-lost heir returns to seize control of the dukedom, she finds that fate has placed her future in yet another man's hands -- but not just any man.

Deep in London's docklands, Gareth Lloyd runs Neville Shipping with an iron fist. Unrecognizable as the starving orphan who was abandoned by his family and sent an ocean away from home, Gareth has put his troubled past behind him. That is, until the Duke of Warneham is murdered, and Gareth turns out to be the dynasty's last living heir. Wrenched from his solitude, Gareth neither wants nor needs the honors and obligations of nobility -- especially the Duke's all-too-tempting widow.... Or does he?

THOUGHTS: Despite the fact that I need to go on a romance reading binge to clear my shelves, I really don't want to. Maybe it's because the last few romances I've read have been trite and, basically, bad. This book was no exception. Liz Carlyle wowed me before but she bores me now. Once again, this book suffers from too many unneccesary plots and characters. The only extra character I liked in this book was Kemble, and that may have been because he was so different from anyone else that he brought life to the story.

Half the time, I found myself asking what the hell the characters were doing. A murder plot? A romance? An illness? Bastard children? Wondering why everyone hates the Jews?!?! There was just far too much going on. Not only did I not care to keep it all straight in my head, I don't think I could have to even if I tried.

Gareth/Gabriel is a very compelling character. He was first introduced in Never Lie to a Lady. As a man with a tragic past who just recently saw his childhood love/business partner married off, I was actually intrigued to see how he recovered. What do I get instead? A man whose so uppity for coming from so little that I felt absolutely no compassion for him or his troubles.

And his lady, Antonia, I didn't get her. Carlyle writes her emotions so unevenly that I could never tell if she was going to jump Gareth/Gabriel one minute or jump of the roof the next. The woman, in my mind, came across as bipolar instead of simply recovering from emotional abuse and trauma. When she and Gareth/Gabriel final end up together at the end I felt nothing stronger than a yawn.

On the plus side, as I was reading this book I realized that it was perfect for the BAM Challenge I've decided to participate in this year. This month's theme was "Time." Each chapter of this book begins with a vignette from the childhood of Gareth/Gabriel. In those vignettes, you see how he came to be where he now is in life. While it was interesting to read this part of the character's backstory, I felt like these inserts were just that. They really did not add to the bulk of the story. In fact, the essential bits of Gareth/Gabriel's background and character were repeated in the "present" scenes of the story. I think Carlyle wanted to give her book the feel of an epic. Instead, it just comes across as overwriting.

Also, "Time" plays an essential role in the growth of these characters. Time to heal from old wounds and emotional scars, time to get used to one another, and time to figure out the mystery. Too bad "Time" did not play a more essential role in the book, it probably would have made the story better.

RATING: 3/10 [Poor, Lost Interest]