Book Review: A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian

A Delicate Deception (Regency Imposters #3) by Cat Sebastian

Pages: 384
Publish date: 10 December 2019
Publisher: Avon Impulse
ISBN: 9780062820679
Purchase: Book Depository – Amazon UK – Amazon US – Amazon AU

When Amelia Allenby escaped a stifling London ballroom for the quiet solitude of the Derbyshire countryside, the very last thing she wanted was an extremely large, if—she grudgingly admits—passably attractive man disturbing her daily walks. Lecturing the surveyor about property rights doesn’t work and, somehow, he has soon charmed his way into lemon cakes, long walks, and dangerously heady kisses.

The very last place Sydney wished to be was in the shadow of the ruins of Pelham Hall, the inherited property that stole everything from him. But as he awaits his old friend, the Duke of Hereford, he finds himself increasingly captivated by the maddeningly lovely and exceptionally odd Amelia. He quickly finds that keeping his ownership of Pelham Hall a secret is as impossible as keeping himself from falling in love with her.

But when the Duke of Hereford arrives, Sydney’s ruse is revealed and what started out as a delicate deception has become a love too powerful to ignore. Will they let a lifetime of hurt come between them or can these two lost souls find love and peace in each other?

A Delicate Deception:

I received an earc of A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian from Avon Impulse via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way influenced my thoughts and feelings about the book.

A Delicate Deception was a lot of fun. I’ve been reading a lot of historical romance this year and it’s been fantastic. When I requested it, I didn’t know it was the third book in a series, but that didn’t really matter at all. While I did read the first two books after and certain things made more sense. You don’t need to read the previous book to read this one.

A Delicate Deception follows Amelia Allenby as she escapes everything that London brings to the countryside of Derbyshire. What she didn’t expect was to run into an extremely large man on her morning walks. All she wants to do is be left alone. But even she can admit that Sydney is attractive. He has charmed his way into her life, but Sydney is hiding something that could rune everything between them.

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Amelia was a great female protagonist. A lot of historical fiction seems to have a similar female protagonist, but I don’t hate it. I think that it just fits the time so well, that it works and readers are able to see that. Amelia likes to be by herself. Shunned from society in a way, Amelia likes to be out in the country. Amelia was really easy to get along with in A Delicate Deception. She is smart and just flows off the page. And that made it so much easier to connect with her.

Sydney was also a joy to read. While I didn’t love him as much as Amelia, I had a great time getting to know him. While I wasn’t so crash hot about some of the decisions that he made throughout the novel, I understood why. Sydney had a lot of his plate through the book and he just wanted that little bit of freedom and I think that Amelia gave him that. Sydney was the very typical male in historical fiction. And like I said before, I don’t mind that too much. It fits the time.

The romance aspect of A Delicate Deception was great. I loved the secret kissing and the meetings in the early morning. I have come to love historical romances over the last year, and this is the perfect example of why. There is angst and tension but not too much that got me frustrated waiting for things to happen. Amelia and Sydney are great together and from their first scene, the reader is able to see the connection. The banter between these two was perfect and I loved seeing them slowly fall in love. Image by George James from Pixabay

A Delicate Deception has all the classic historical romance marks. But it also has it’s own twists and that’s what made it really stand out to be. This whole series is about deception and in here, Sydney doesn’t admit who he really is. For the most part, the audience knows nearly everything, and we are just waiting for the pin to drop. And when it did, everything that Amelia and Sydney had is up in the air. The side characters really added another dimension to the novel and tied everything up nicely. They made our protagonists look and feel more human.

I really enjoyed the writing of Cat Sebastian. It flowed nicely and was easy to read. Sometimes I find when reading historical fiction novels, I stumble on words and phrases, but Sebastian was able to have a smooth run. I did go back and read the first two books in the series and I overall really enjoyed them as well. They are fun and I loved the use of deception in those novels as well. Each one was unique and really stood out.

On this note, voice was really well presented in the whole series. I was able to tell who I was with most of the time and each voice didn’t blend with another. In regards to A Delicate Deception, Amelia was a pleasure to be with. She has her own tone that really stood out to me and I really enjoyed that.

Joe Yates

Overall, I really enjoyed A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian. It was a fun, heartwarming and such a great historical fiction novel. Amelia and Sydney were pretty adorable together and while I wish there was a little bit more of their relationship at the start, I still really enjoyed them. A Delicate Deception is witty, smart and the perfect read for when you just to melt into a book.

And that is it for this review! Have you read A Delicate Deception by Cat Sebastian? What did you think? Have you read any of the other books in this series? Let’s Chat!