Dance With Deception by Tracy Goodwin

I think Dance with Deception is my first straight historical romance, if so it’s an enjoyable introduction to the Victorian era. (And a fun change from my more commonly read Victorian tales, most notably those of the Lovecraft mythos.)

Gwendolyn MacAlistair’s father is supposedly dying and she is being forced into an arranged marriage with his close friend and near constant companion, Kier. But since their re-introduction as adults Gwen can’t rid herself of thoughts of Sebastian, a duke now, but like an older brother to her in childhood. But both Gwen and Sebastian find themselves unprepared for the manipulations of her father and Kier, and for the deep family secrets that are about to be revealed.

Dance with Deception has all the classic ingredients of successful romance. Sebastian is haunted by a loveless past. Gwen is a feisty woman in a time that doesn’t appreciate her, being manipulated into a proper, dutiful marriage with a man who seems to have no redeeming qualities. The attraction between the two is sizzling and the drama is spot on and satisfying.

Being new to historical romance I can’t say how it rates in period accuracy, but the details of the setting neither disrupt nor overwhelm the love story. Even though it’s over four hundred pages I read this one pretty quickly and found it hard to put down. The best thing I can say about it is that it’s quite the sensory novel, woven with tastes, smells and sounds that other authors sometimes forget. All in all Dance with Deception is a solid, if not enjoyable debut.