Duels & Deception Blog Tour

Duels and Deception
Cindy Anstey
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: April 11th 2017
Genres: Historical, Romance, Young Adult

Miss Lydia Whitfield, heiress to the family fortune, has her future entirely planned out. She will run the family estate until she marries the man of her late father’s choosing, and then she will spend the rest of her days as a devoted wife. Confident in those arrangements, Lydia has tasked her young law clerk, Mr. Robert Newton, to begin drawing up the marriage contracts. Everything is going according to plan.
Until Lydia—and Robert along with her—is kidnapped. Someone is after her fortune and won’t hesitate to destroy her reputation to get it. With Robert’s help, Lydia strives to keep her family’s good name intact and expose whoever is behind the devious plot. But as their investigation delves deeper and their affections for each other grow, Lydia starts to wonder whether her carefully planned future is in fact what she truly wants…

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Author Bio:
Whenever she is not sitting at the computer, throwing a ball in the backyard, gardening or reading, Cindy can be found–actually, not found–adventuring around the world with her hubby.
She has lived on three continents, had a monkey in her yard and a scorpion under her sink, dwelt among castles and canals, enjoyed the jazz of Beale St and attempted to speak French.
Cindy loves history, mystery and… a chocolate Labrador called Chester. Love, Lies and Spies is her debut novel.

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MY THOUGHTS: I found "Duel & Deception" to be a really cute read and am so glad I picked it up.  Lydia's father passed away a few years ago and although she is not quite 18 yet, she is basically in charge of the family estate.  While her drunken uncle has been named executor until she becomes of age, he is the brightest of chaps and left alone, would quickly run the estate into the ground. Lydia is set to marry Lord Ashterton, a neighbor who doesn't necessarily have the money, but does hold the status, and together run both neighboring estates.  However, while this plan was fine with Lydia in the past, once she meets her lawyer's new apprentice, Robert Newton, she starts to question if she is marrying for all the wrong reasons.  In addition, throw in a kidnapping, a lot of deception and foul play, and a few ornery and despicable characters and Anstey creates a fun historical romp.

One of my favorite things about "Duels & Deception" is the characters.  Lydia is definitely not the quiet, passive refined individual someone in her position should be and she almost always speaks her mind.  She is also as smart as a tack because she manages to accomplish things yet maintain propriety and make it look like she is the mild-manner lady-in-waiting society expects.  I loved the interaction between her and Mr. Newton as well.  I will say that I quite easily figured out the main mystery part of the novel, yet so many other things were playing out that it was just as exciting even though I was aware.

If you enjoy historical novels and don't mind a little bit of romance, then you'll probably find "Duels & Deception" to be of some interest.  Anstey's writing is smooth and easy and every time I set the book down, I found myself picking it back up to read just a little bit more.  I haven't yet read her first book, "Love, Lies & Spies" but definitely plan on doing so in the future.

I received a copy of "Duels & Deception" from Xpresso Books Tours and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

RATING: 4 Paws