The Duke of Deception

Written by Darcy Burke

Narrated by Marian Hussey

After five years on the Marriage Mart, Miss Aquilla Knox is ready for spinsterhood until a benefactress steps in to help her secure a husband. Only Aquilla doesn’t actually want to marry—her failure is entirely on purpose. When the earl she’s nicknamed the Duke of Deception sets his sights on her, she refuses to be drawn in by her attraction to him. If there’s one thing she knows 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, harbor secrets and will do anything—deceive anyone—to ensure they don’t come to light. As he comes to know the charming Miss Knox, his resolve is tested. However, trust comes at a price and Ned won’t pay with his heart.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Darcy Burke Publishing
• Release date: Jul 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9781094221793

Darcy Burke

Darcy Burke is the USA Today bestselling author of hot, action-packed historical and sexy, emotional, contemporary romance. Darcy wrote her first book at age eleven, a happily-ever-after about a swan addicted to magic and the female swan that loved him, with exceedingly poor illustrations. A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her guitar-strumming husband, their two hilarious kids who seem to have inherited the writing gene, and three Bengal cats. In her “spare” time, Darcy is a serial volunteer enrolled in a twelve-step program where one learns to say “no,” but she keeps having to start over. She’s also a fair-weather runner, and her happy places are Disneyland and Labor Day weekend at the Gorge.

Reviews for The Duke of Deception

[Jane Engelhardt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a very good series. The women have a bit of backbone — although Aquila a bit less than the others but understandable given her history. I liked this fine and am not sorry I listened to the book even though this one was not my favorite of the series so far. I felt that they didn’t resolve the issues with the heroine’s family — although maybe that was more realistic. Everything was not at all tied up in a neat bow. I don’t think the love part was as well developed as the the book just before but it was pretty good. It was also really weird behavior that the h would marry the h without telling her that there was “madness” in his family. I thought that was a particularly big deal in the 19th century as they considered it hereditary (which we now know it can be) and back then people often refused to marry into families who had people suffering from “madness”. The heroine never makes a murmur that she should have been offered the truth so she could have gone into the marriage with her eyes open on that score. It also would have been nice if the hero had done something to help her mother and sister, but, as I noted above, maybe it is more realistic that he didn’t do anything like that. Neither character was as strong as I would have thought they would be. All the above being said, it was a good light read and I like Darcy Burke and this series.

[UchennaEzeh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. It was quite realistic with the details of the mentally ill patient. It can be really trying. Hard to believe but my favorite part of the book was the epilogue. It made me smile

[sarinhamac48 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn’t like this one as much as the 2 previous ones...

Aquila's foolishness in believing a random stranger, thankfully was short-lived & it wasn't dragged out, but it irked anyways...

Also Sutton keeping such a massive secret from her, when it's inevitable that she or any woman he'd marry would eventually know, did also feel a bit foolish...

All in all, my least favourite of the series so far....

[claire · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely loved it. This was my favourite so far. Aquilla really made me laugh, she was hilarious pretending to be a real ninnie. Loved Ned too.
The narrator was very very good also.
Definitely recommend it.
Now on to the next one.

[Dela · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Oh Aquila.. it’s exhausting listening to her. She is not the smartest cookie is she. I am breaking up my marriage because a strange woman wearing a veil told me my husband is cheating. I don’t want marriage I don’t, I only lied for 3 years wasting everyone’s time. Why did I listen to this? I like the characters from previous books and I like Ned.