I was in the mood to read something completely escapist, ideally along the lines of Romancing the Stone, but unfortunately no one seems to write/publish those kind of books! So I had a rummage through my 'to be read' pile (all 5 crates of it) and found a selection of historical romances by Amanda Quick that I'd recently picked up from a charity shop. This particular one caught my eye because it mentioned pirates and buried treasure, but although it does (sort of) have a pirate, the action takes place entirely in Dorset and London.
Olympia Wingfield spends her time tracking down old books, journals and letters that deal with travel and exploration, and has become something of an expert in treasure maps - even though she rarely leaves the library of her home. However, her life has been recently turned upside down by the arrival of her three orphan nephews, who are completely out of control. The arrival of a new tutor seems like a gift from the gods, even if he does bear a remarkable resemblance to a pirate...
The hero, Jared Ryder, is a fascinating character. His very flamboyant family are descended from a notorious 17th century privateer (legal pirate) and have been searching for his missing treasure ever since. Think: National Treasure, except Jared is the only sensible one, forever bailing his family out of trouble, and he has no interest in long-lost treasure maps. Until he meets Olympia.
Deception is a completely unbelievable, thoroughly over-the-top romp - and I absolutely loved it. The characters are a delight: Jared the 'sensible' pirate, his eccentric 'Captain Jack Sparrow' father, the grumpily impertinent housekeeper, the hooligan nephews, the mad dog. It's totally brilliant - provided you like that kind of thing! The only negative for me was that sometimes the nautical-themed dialogue got a bit daft and the word 'siren' was severely overused. Recommended for fans of authors of the romantic-comedy style of historical romance, such as Julia Quinn and Eloisa James.
Related Review:
Scandal by Amanda Quick
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