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The Soprano's Daring Duke by Susanne Dunlap #Review

  Susanne Dunlap's Regency novel, The Soprano's Daring Duke is her second double dilemma story. You can read my review of the first here:  The Dressmaker's Secret Earl A princess with a scandalous secret. A duke desperate for a wealthy bride. A debutante torn between duty and passion. Newly widowed Princess Adelheid Kinsky thought she was free—until she learns of her abusive late husband’s final betrayal. The son she believed dead, the illegitimate child of a forbidden love, still lives. To secure his future, she must marry within a month—without revealing the truth. Her best prospect? The Duke of Hartland, a notorious rake drowning in debt. Meanwhile, Hartland sets his sights on Olivia Fontenoy, an heiress whose fortune could solve all his problems. But innocent Olivia dreams of music, not marriage, and seizes the chance to perform in disguise at the King’s Theatre—unwittingly ensnaring everyone she knows in scandal. As deception and desire collide, Olivia finds...

Lie With Me by Sabinne Durrant

     I love the way that Lie With Me by Sabinne Durrant  figures a central character who is such an anti-hero. Paul Morris, the narrator, is a would be author who has written one book in his early twenties and failed since to produce anything else worthy of publication. By chance he meets Alice, a widow, and sets about inveigling himself into her life, eventually getting himself invited to spend a holiday in Greece with her family and friends. In the heat of the sun, the lies he weaves close in on him. Sabinne Durrant conveys the claustrophobia he feels as he backs himself into a corner. We follow him through the story as he lies and manipulates. We begin to see how each lie is leading him further into trouble but he seems unable to stop himself. What is surprising is that although I could see how egotistical and self- serving Paul he is, I had sympathy for such a flawed individual.

    All the characters in Lie With Me have secrets. They seem to shadow box each other, each spinning their own facade. It is one of the pleasures of the book to try to second guess and to speculate as to what each person believes is going on. Paul is the ultimate unreliable witness. Alice's trip to Pyros is part of the annual visit she has made there following the disappearance of a young girl who was her friend. It seems that Paul was there at the time but says that he cannot remember anything about the time or indeed who he met or what he did. As we see him lie and invent his own backstory, everything he says is doubted. It is clear from early on in the book that he is a totally self-serving person. Of course of all the people he meets, he may not be the only one.  

    When the twist comes at the end, it did surprise me as I had been taking myself up a different path. It gave it a satisfying end and certainly repaid the reading of the book. 

In short: a clever and intriguing read with dark humour thrown in.

Thanks to the publisher, Mulholland Books for a copy of the book via Bookbridgr.   

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