The Duke of Deception

Miss Aquilla Knox dons a scatterbrain persona to avoid being wed – her parents marriage gave her a horror of that state with verbal and physical abuse. But fate steps in when she is accidentally locked out on a balcony in the rain during a ball. Edward (Ned) Bishop, Earl of Sutton, happens to be in the room and aids Aquilla by fetching her sponsor and disaster is avoided. Aquilla and her friends have dubbed Ned “Duke of Deception” since he favors a lady only to drop her suddenly. What no one knows, except his aunt, is his secret – his brother, thought dead 15 years ago, is mentally ill. When he set a fire which destroyed part of their home, Ned’s father, in spite of the wishes of Ned and his mother, had the brother confined to a mental home – until Ned’s father’s death when he took his brother home to his country seat. Ned devised a plan to determine if a lady would accept his brother – so far all failed. Hence the nickname. But from his first encounter with Aquilla, he knows she is different, especially when she and her sponsor agree to visit a mental hospital. But Aquilla is still frightened of marriage, especially when her abusive father arranges a match to acquire a piece of land. That spurs Ned to propose, still withholding his secret. What happens is an enchanting story of how trust, faith and hope lead them all to the greatest gift, Love. This is a story the author sets out to show how these virtues are so essential to all of us, no matter the time we live in. The brutal suffering then in mental homes, the lack of compassion and understanding, would drive a person over the edge, if he were not already there. Ned is such an admirable character, putting the welfare of his brother above all. Even today we see so many discard loved ones because of age or illness. The heart of this story envelopes the virtues we all should strive for. Thank you, Ms. Burke!

‘Ten years ago Ivy Breckenridge’s life was ruined. She had to reinvent herself, and now, after painstakingly making her own way in the world, she’s nearly forgotten the dreams of home and family she’d once nurtured. Until one man peers into her soul and awakens every one of her hidden desires. But no matter how good he makes her feel, she can’t trust him—alone by choice is better than alone by necessity.

With a notorious reputation for training married women in the art of passion, Sebastian Westgate, Duke of Clare, is reviled by some and celebrated by others. He doesn’t allow anyone close enough to see past his charming exterior. When Ivy uncovers the man beneath, the seducer is suddenly the seduced. Enraptured by her mind and spirit, he wants more but revealing his darkest secrets is a price he won’t pay.’
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3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.

The Duke of Deception is the third book in Darcy Burke’s The Untouchables series and is a historical romance.

First and foremost I want to mention what bothered me to get it out of the way. I’m disappointed that Aquilla’s wants for her life seem to have so completely changed from the last book. In The Duke of Daring Aquilla is the only member of her friend group who seems to truly hope for and be actively seeking a marriage and even tries persuading Lucy into keeping an open mind about marriage on more than one occasion. But here in The Duke of Deception Aquilla is actively avoiding marrige like her two dear friends and even contemplates on how she could be the ‘duchess of deception’ “since she’d spent four and a half Seasons seeking a husband with no intent to actually marry.” Now I can understand wanting to pretend to be seeking a husband to stay with the Satterfields and away from her family life, but pushing a dear friend toward marriage if she truly finds it so awful? That seems quite out of character and I don’t respect her deceiving her closest and most trusted friends.

Due to that, I was pretty annoyed with Aquilla early on in this book and didn’t feel very sympathetic to her character when she continued to keep the truth of her intentions from those that cared about her. I understood her reasoning, but they would have supported her and so her stressing over it seemed needless to me and disrespectful to those important to her. But when she began leveling with those around her, I did began to respect her character more.

I understood Ned’s reasoning behind keeping important information from Aquilla, he was trying to pretect his family from censure and attack from the ton. The safest way to do that was to keep that information back until he knew he could place trust in the person he was going to spend his life with, everything was checked out there for me. But he kept the information for longer than he should have, just have the difficult conversation! I will say though that the way George was portrayed seemed a bit off to me. Especially the way things came about when he met Aquilla and the events following directly thereafter.

I’m looking forward to learning about Ivy’s backstory in the next book, The Duke of Desire. I recommend this series, especially if you really love a series.; there are twelve books in this series, The Untouchables, so there’s plenty to enjoy.

I love the overall storyline. Philanthropic man looking for trustworthy likeminded miss for a wife. However, I found there was not much romance in the story. There was chemistry and passion but very little romance. Miss Aquilla Knox did not want an abusive marriage like her parents. Her mother advised her to never ever trust a man. So Aquilla spent five seasons behaving in a way to discourage all suitors. I liked Aguilla’s character. She is creative and inventive. She is kindhearted, thoughtful and considerate. She is beautiful yet humble. Everyone believed she was looking for marriage, she was ashamed that she kept the truth from all who truly cared for her. Until she met Edward Bishop, the Ninth Earl of Sutton, she had never been interested in a man. But she was now. Edward was known as the Duke of Deception because he would spend time with young ladies who expected a proposal and never got one. Little did anyone know how he tested each candidate. They had to pass several tests to even be considered acceptable marriage material. Edward had a dark secret and need to be 100% sure he could trust the woman he married. After he met Aquilla, she was never far from his mind. He decided she would be his next candidate. He found when he was around Aquilla he felt things that he did not with the others. Edward was a good man. He was intelligent, decisive, confident and had a deep and profound philanthropic attitude. However, he was in competition for Aquilla’s hand. He had to act quickly or he would lose her. Her father agreed to marry her to a man who wanted her beauty at his side and her body in his bed. But he cared not for her mind nor her soul and had decided to break her of the things he did not like about her. Edward knew this man was not right for her. Would he be able to test Aquilla quick enough? If she did pass, would she accept his offer of marriage and would her father permit it? If everything went well, how would he tell her about his darkest secret? Would she be accepting or would she reject him outright? Should he tell her before or after they were married? So many questions not many answers. A quick sweet read. I feel that expanding on the romantic relationship between Aquilla and Edward would have enhanced the reading experience.

After five years on the Marriage Mart, Miss Aquilla Knox is ready for spinsterhood until Lady Satterfield steps in to help her secure a husband. Only Aquilla doesn’t actually want to marry—her failure is entirely on purpose, as she goes out of her way to appear a chatterbox & scatterbrained.
Then she gets caught in a downpour when trying to sneak to the retiring room via the garden. She’s let into the house by Edward Bishop, Earl of Sutton & they are attracted to each other. However she & her friends have nicknamed him as the Duke of Deception. Ned is looking for a wife but she MUST meet his rigourous requirements & he sets his sights on Aquilla, she refuses to be drawn in by her attraction to him. If there’s one thing she knows from her family it’s that a gentleman is never what he seems.

Edward Bishop, Earl of Sutton, has a reputation for courting young misses and dropping them without a second thought. This has earned him a reputation for deceit, a description he can’t refute because he does in fact, harbour secrets and will do anything—deceive anyone—to ensure they don’t come to light.
Another enjoyable book in the Untouchables series, this could well be a stand alone book but if like me you enjoy series then I’d recommend reading the first two books in the series, it was good to catch up with Lucy, Andrew, Nora & Titus.
The attraction between Ned & Aquilla is there from the beginning & builds throughout the book. It’s a story that tells something of the treatment or non-treatment that was available for mental health patients. Both of them had their secrets, which they eventually reveal but these secrets have formed their lives for so long that it’s hard for them to be open about them, which of course leads to misunderstandings. So it’s not a smooth path to their HEA
I look forward to Ivy’s story
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book

As an 85year old male. It gave me pleasure from my boring life. Thank you.

I read all of this series in about two weeks. Loved all of them! I will read more of Darcy Burke’s books.

I liked this book, Ned and Aquilla kept my interest throughout the book. I loved that there was a happy ending even if there was no miracle cure as some authors would have been tempted to write.