Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception by Lois Winston

I'd like to start today by doing two things. 1 - I want to extend my deepest sympathies to all the Triskelion authors that were gobsmacked by the announcement. Especially Jen Talty who dee spotlighted just last week. I have complete faith that all of you will rebound and come out stronger than ever! Good Luck! 2 - I want to say sorry for being so quiet lately. Things are nuts here. Things are probably nuts everywhere, it is summer after all. I have not had time to type up any dish, but I have done some reading while sitting on park benches or poolside, so I'll try and get them posted in short order. And now, without further ado...

Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception by Lois Winston
(BCC)

A WHOLE LATTE LOVIN'

Logan Crawford is gorgeous, charming, and his kisses make Emma feel like she's the only woman in the world. Oh, plus he's a billionaire. Not that Emma needs the money. As Philadelphia's most beloved heiress, she has it all: the grand estate, flashy sports car, high-society connections. But the haunted widow also has dark secrets, and some one out there doesn't want Emma to forget her past quite so easily. Trouble is brewing darker than a double espresso for Emma and her new found love. Now if only she can keep from getting burned...

This is the second book by Winston and her first book, Talk Gertie To Me, was dished by dee. I'll be honest and tell you that I never did read Gertie, but the dish made it sound good, so when I saw the latest book on the shelves at WallyWorld, I picked it up (plus, it has that cup of coffee on the front, who could ignore a book that has coffee on the front?).

Emma Brockton Wadsworth, known in Philadelphia as The Princess on the Hill, has a family that dates back to the Founding Fathers. As a child she lost her parents in a tragic accident when they were hit by a drunk driver, and later married Phillip Wadsworth, had two sons, and suffered sixteen years of a very unhappy, and unhealthy marriage with a man who turned a great public face.

Logan Crawford, real-estate mogul that give The Donald a run for his money, has a reputation of a man who is tough in the boardroom, but even tougher on women's hearts, many women's hearts. When Logan ventures to Philadelphia to consider locating his business HQ there, he has a one night stand with his city guide, only to meet Emma the next day. Bumping into her (literally) at a bookstore/cafe, Logan buys Emma a replacement coffee and the sparks fly.

But Emma has many secrets, and the string of broken hearts Logan has left behind have a couple of women out for revenge. Logan's latest broken heart, Leslee, has a personal vendetta against Emma, as she had been Phillip's mistress and had planned (with Phillip) to have Emma out of the picture now and seeing Logan ga-ga over Emma has Leslee plotting revenge. Enlisting the help of a paparazzi and a DA with political aspirations as well, as his own reasons for revenge against Emma, Leslee starts the ball rolling to ruin Emma and Logan.

Deception is one of those books that I guess I enjoyed, just didn't really realize it until it was over and all the pieces were in place. For one thing, Emma seems to always have one more secret. And then once one secret is discovered, another one is there, the really bad one, that is until that one is discovered and yet another secret is holding Emma captive. It isn't until quite a bit into the book that the secrets finally start getting revealed and that began to try my patience just a bit. I'm all for a bit of suspense, but when the secret is integral to the main character, a character I feel I should know fairly quickly, well, it tends to grate. By the time we get to the third big secret I felt like throwing the book down.

Also, this is a book about very wealthy people. And while I've made it clear that I'm not in the know when it comes to the speak of the wealthy, there were a few instances of dialogue that just didn't ring true. Perhaps if they were in England or something, but not here, and not the way it comes out of nowhere. Some just didn't ring true to the characters.

I also tend to be skeptical of books that have people falling in love after one day. Period. I understand that to move this plot forward, and have it make sense, Winston had to have Logan and Emma fall in love rapidly, but Emma isn't the type of woman to fall like that, and it had the air of unbelievability.

There were quite a few POV changes, every antagonist had at least one scene done in their POV, and that made for too many, especially since they are all working towards the same goal. And while I understood the need to show what the "bad" guys were doing, I would have much rather preferred to see some POV's of the people that actually supported Emma and Logan. Though, the antags POV did help in understanding certain points.

A lot of the book had me scratching my head going, "huh?" but as a whole, the book was a most enjoyable read. It won't be a re-read, but I can definitely recommend it as a lazy beach day read. Winston's voice is fresh, her writing is solid, and the ending does satisfy, even if the means to the end seem off somehow. I'll be looking forward to reading Winston's next release, whenever that may be.

As always, if you've read this one, we'd love to know what you thought.

Take Care