A Masked Deception

<i>Why, Mary, why?</i> <br /><br />This is Mrs. Balogh's first published romance from 1985. I read the original paperback: I am not sure if she made changes to the Kindle format. She possibly did since one GR friend gave it five stars and another one gave it three. I believe I am very generous with one star.<br /><br />Please, <i>please</i> only look at my <i>spoiler</i> -and indeed, <b>I rant</b>!-if you have NO intention of reading the story. <br /><br />In the first chapter it was revealed that Richard Adair, Earl of Brampton, had finally given in to his mother's constant requests to marry. <i>Together</i>, they settled on the quiet Miss Margaret Wells unaware that Brampton had met her years before at <i>a masked ball</i>. Incognito. She had used a French accent when she spoke to him. They kissed "very thoroughly" outside on the veranda, he left to get her a lemonade and upon his return, she was gone. <br /><br />Six years later......<br /><br /><input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="a4f294aa-1c88-4a4e-83d6-0ba783c53374" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="a4f294aa-1c88-4a4e-83d6-0ba783c53374">Brampton and Miss Wells marry. They had little contact beforehand. She wore her long hair pulled back tightly, was quiet when they were together and her clothes made her appear gender-neutral. IOWs, we were led to believe because she did nothing to entice him, his behavior that night was excusable. He performed the deed with no foreplay (knowing she is a virgin!) and continued nightly thereafter until he felt confident that he was truly a husband. 'Each night was an exact repetition of the first... he never kissed her, never talked to her, never caressed any part of her, never lingered longer than one minute after his business had been completed.' &lt;&lt;&lt;- That is a quote. <br /><br />Mary "hated him!". &lt;&lt;&lt;- Quote #2. <br /><br />He had a mistress at the time of his marriage. He returned to her three weeks later, pleasured the woman like crazy and when he was sated, he felt guilty so he called an end to their relationship. "I am a married man. I owe my wife better than this." &lt;&lt;&lt;- Quote #3. <br /><br />Days went by and Mary's younger sister came for a visit. After hearing her edited tale from six years before, her sibling convinced her to attend a masked ball and meet her husband once again....wearing her old disguise. Supposedly, this time around Mary would reveal her true identity and Brampton would accept what happened and fall in love. As you can guess, it didn't work out this way. <br /><br />Now he was not only married to Mary but Brampton met his little 'minx' and kept her on the side. 'She was no coquette.... she was not a virgin. But she certainly lacked experience. Obviously, no man had ever taken her to a climax before. Brampton was glad of that. She was probably married to <b>some old fool</b>, he decided with bitter contempt. <b>No real man</b> could've taken this woman's body without awakening it to all the joys of unleashed love and passion.' &lt;&lt;&lt;- Quote # 4. <br /><br />I started skimming hoping against hope that I would like the MCs. By now my opinion of Mary was she was a doormat. Brampton was still pond scum. <br /><br />The last chapter only added to my displeasure. He finally knew that the minx and Mary were one and the same. He <b>bit her</b> when he kissed her, <b>flung her</b> away from him so she staggered against a stool. He believed she did everything to make a fool of him and she asked him to let her explain. He <b>called her a slut</b>. He told her <b>he was going to beat her</b>. She told him <b>she was pregnant with their child and he didn't believe her</b>. Then, and only then!, does she finally get really mad. He had tears in his eyes when she went ballistic. Really? Tears? Boo hoo, Brampton, boo hoo, I just don't care. <br /><br />"Meg, my sweet," he whispered against her hair, "have I wronged you so much? I had no idea you felt so strongly, my love." &lt;&lt;&lt;-Quote #5 and this one was taken from page 220. Then they had relations. The story ended on page 224 with them pledging their love.</label><br /><br />What an emotion-fest. Blech. Ptooey. Gah!!!! I. Need. Chocolate.

Not enough groveling.

FINAL DECISION:  I really enjoyed the concept of this book and Balogh's characters are always complex and imperfect.  My only complaint is that I just could not suspend disbelief that a husband would not recognize his "mystery" woman as his wife.  Putting that aside, I thought this was a very intriguing book.<br /><br />THE STORY:  Margaret Wells has loved Richard Adair, Earl of Brampton for years, but he has paid no attention to the quiet, mousey woman.  But the time has come for Richard to marry and he figures that Margaret will do well as his wife and not interfere too much with his life.  As the two settle into a quiet, if dull, marriage, Margaret cannot help but wish for the passion involved in her greatest secret.  Six years ago, Margaret met up with Richard at a masquerade ball.  While she was unrecognizable, she flirted and Richard was attracted.  The two shared a passionate kiss that hasn't appeared in their marriage.  Desperate to change something, Margaret again dons her costume and ends up having an affair with her own husband.<br /><br />OPINION:  This is a complicated book. Richard is dismissive of Margaret in the beginning of the book and frankly acts like a jerk for a good portion.  But Balogh doesn't disappoint.  Richard reluctantly begins to fall in love with his gentle wife.  It is difficult to like Richard because he openly commits adultery, but Balogh's characters are imperfect.  I enjoyed the progression Richard makes -- although I think he should have had to confess his transgressions to his wife.<br /><br />The reason Richard works for me is because Margaret is also an imperfect mistake prone individual.  She won't speak up for herself and rather than speaking with her husband concocts a crazy disguise to rediscover the passion she knows is missing from her marriage.<br /><br />I found this book enjoyable but I didn't like that Richard commits adultery and never has to admit to it.<br /><br />WORTH MENTIONING: Content warning that this book contains adultery.  This book is also a reissue of a 1980s book.<br /><br />CONNECTED BOOKS: A MASKED DECEPTION is a standalone.<br /><br />STAR RATING:  I give this book 3.5 stars.<a href="http://top10romancebooks.com/reviews/review-masked-deception/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">This review was originally posted on Top10RomanceBooks.com</a>

Fine but nothing special. <br><br>Read this if you like the <i>"Wait a second. The sexually attractive stranger I am enchanted by is actually my dowdy af wife?"</i> plot.<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1615229995ra/30982051.gif" width="400" height="400" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> <br><br>Brampton marries a quiet, unassuming bride. It's a marriage of convenience and he hopes to make the best of it. Mary has been in love with Brampton for some time, and the only time he ever noticed her was when they were at a masquerade. <br><br>Typical of MB, the hero and heroine make an honest go of their relationship. They have perfunctory missionary sex because Mary is a "lady" (this is the one historical detail I am ok to do away with!) and learn how to live with each other. Although Brampton slowly clues in to Mary's awesome qualities, Mary despairs of having his love. Mary's sister or friend, I can't remember, encourages her to dress up in the same costume that she did during the masquerade when they are at Vauxhall Gardens. At the end of the night, she can reveal to Brampton that she is one and the same woman. <br><br>What happens is that Mary never finds a chance to reveal the truth so she and Brampton end up embarking on what Brampton thinks is an extramarital affair but is really role-playing but he doesn't know it. <br><br>I had some issues with Brampton's passion for Mary in masquerade because he imbued so much fantasy into her, although Brampton does do some soul searching in the end. He does recognize that he doesn't really know the fantasy woman while with Mary, he knows that she is a good partner for him, that he has affection for her, and he wants to work on their relationship to be more romantic.<br><br>One note - yes, Brampton does the misogynistic thing that heroes do when they find the heroine did not tell them the truth, which is to blame Mary and even suspect her of running around on him. However, I liked this part when Brampton went a little mad. I actually found the antics of Couple B disruptive, as Balogh spent time explaining their antics to everyone, and this delayed the eventual argument between Brampton and Mary, so that the emotional pay-off did lessen when we got to it.

The first book that Mary Balogh wrote and the worst I have read by her so far. The only reason I finished it is because it was short and I was able glance through the secondary plot which was actually taking a lot of page time. <br />Uff but the two main characters especially our hero are clueless. <br /><br />On top that, the sex is horrible, he basically rapes her every night. Here I would like to pause and proclaim an important fact. Rape is not about consent. It is about enjoyment. This guy does nothing for our heroine at all. He lifts her night shift and enters every night. And she consents to it every night. <br /><br />On top of that he is cheating on her not only with his old mistress but also with a masked girl who in reality is our heroine but he acts so much more loving and passionate towards her. <br /><br />On top of that, the resolution and the reveal of the masked deception is left for the last 2 or 3 pages. <br /><br />Brr I would not recommend this book to anyone. <br /><br />The reason why I am not giving it 1 star is because I didn’t completely hate it. 1 star is reserved for those books that make my hair stand up with cold rage or complete disgust. This wasn’t so bad. You could sympathize with our MCs and the secondary story wasn’t terrible.

For what it is (a 1990 penny Harlequin and one of Mary Balogh's first books), this was ok. But compared to modern historicals it's a total mess, and Richard is indeed a dick.

Mary Balogh's debut novel certainly isn't up to her later standard, but it's so much better than I thought it would be. The Balogh style is still visible in several elements. I waffled between two and three stars on this one. It did keep me entertained, and there were some unique elements, but the romances didn't work for me really, so I rounded down.<br /><br />In the heroine, Margaret, I see some of Balogh's uniqueness. Margaret's plain, more because she has no wish to play up her looks or perform for attention. She's quiet, retiring, and keeps herself to herself, rarely giving hint to her emotions. Just because she keeps them inside doesn't mean she doesn't have them, though. It's a little tough for me to believe that this Margaret would actually cut so loose when dressed up as Marie Antoinette but show none of the spark that she does have when dressed as herself. Though I appreciate her calm demeanor, I'd have liked to see her open up just a bit more.<br /><br />The plot is not made up of my favorite tropes. Margaret and Richard have a marriage of convenience; she's in love with him but doesn't show it, and he thinks she's fine but has no feelings for her. In fact, he comes to her bedchamber, thrusts, spills his seed, and leaves. It's probably the only time I've ever read that in a romance novel? It's horrific but realistic. He has a mistress he sleeps with once after their marriage, but he feels guilty so he ends things. Then he has an affair with a woman dressed as Marie Antoinette who just happens to be his wife, but he doesn't know that. It's one of those things where it's okay because it is her, but it's also super fucked up. In the end, he's such a dick about it, but Margaret does at least tell him off. Still, it's not satisfying particularly.<br /><br />There are a couple of secondary romances, one of which almost worked for me and one which did not. Margaret's younger sister has an age gap romance, which would have been fine except everyone was always emphasizing it and talking about how he would keep her better controlled and no. Also, why the hell did he talk in such a weird accent no one else had? The other one is passionate to a violent level, and it left a bad taste in my mouth, particularly because she's Spanish, and the whole fiery Spanish woman thing is such an awful romance stereotype. The book even has a couple of jokes (I'm pretty sure they weren't serious?) about beating your wife, and I don't find that remotely funny when that's a real problem then, now, and in the romance genre.<br /><br />I will say though that I did like that there were male/female friendships in this book. Charlotte and Charles are besties, and Devin and Margaret have a friendship as well. There's no romantic connection in either case, though people do get jealous of them and make assumptions. It's not too common to see men and women as friends in romance, so that was nice, especially given the age on this.<br /><br />For a romance novel which came out in 1985, I expected so much worse. I've read worse from other romance novelist backlists. So I guess I'm glad I read it but I would definitely be hesitant to recommend it to other readers. Unless you're obsessive about backlists like I am, this one is probably skippable.

The central conceit of this story is kind of fun -- the mask, the hidden identity etc. But I really think the author misses some interesting opportunities. Like our hero doesn't really seem to examine his conflicted heart that much. He gets over his "angel" super quickly, but it could be more interestingly explored.<br /><br />But much more upsetting is what a dill-weed he is. Let's review a few things. His approach to sex with his wife is rapey and inconsiderate and gross. Sure it is supposed to be a period piece, but there are plenty of anachronisms (like the explicit descriptions of sex) so she could make it less awful. It could be dispassionate without being so rapey. Next: He goes off and sleeps with his mistress. Then has an affair with "angel." It says he's tortured and guilty but that sapect isn't really explored. Meanwhile our heroine is supremely boring and self-sacrificing, and our hero loves her mostly because she orders good meals. Considering they're HIS servants it seems like he could have been doing that for years. The only remotely interesting moment is when she confronts him about his hypocrisy, which abruptly ends when he shoves his tongue down her throat.

Balogh's first novel, from (Feb 1985). Margaret, a quiet, demure young lady, has been in love for the past six years with Richard, Earl of Brampton, after they shared a passionate kiss during a masquerade ball where Margaret felt freer to show the more lively side of her character. Now that his mother insists that it is time Bram "set up his nursery," he agrees to offer for a candidate of her choice—which turns out to be Margaret. Even knowing that Richard doesn't love her, Meg agrees to marry—and is sorely disappointed when he treats her like an object when they first have sex, and is politely distant thereafter.<br /><br />When younger sister Charlotte presses Meg about why she's so obviously unhappy, Meg confesses her past history with Richard. Irrepressible Charlotte persuades Meg to masquerade once again in her Marie Antoinette costume to see if she can once again attract Richard. And attract him she does—which leads to joy and torment for both: Richard, because he's beginning to love his quiet wife even while he's still physically drawn to his "French angel"; Margaret because she can only experience Richard's love and passion if she pretends to be someone else.<br /><br />The sex is pretty explicit for an 1980s Signet Regency Romance, which Balogh can get away with since her characters are married.<br /><br />A secondary romance between younger sister Charlotte and two potential suitors (Richard's best friend, 30 year old Devin, and his younger brother, Charles), adds variety and a bit of lightheartedness to the more poignant main romance.<br /><br />A few "we'll have to beat you to keep you in line" comments from male characters about female characters date the book. But as they seem to be more throwaway lines for comic effect, rather than deeply held beliefs by the narrator/characters, it is fairly easy to ignore them (at least it was for this reader).

I think this one's hero is a jerk. I've always preferred jerks to soft-hearted weakling except in this case. I more attracted to innocent young Ralph in <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/1148391.Gentle_Conquest__Signet_Regency_Romance_" title="Gentle Conquest (Signet Regency Romance) by Mary Balogh" rel="noopener">Gentle Conquest</a> than I am with Richard. Hmnn.. Maybe I should change the stars? A Masked Deception just seem more active than Gentle Conquest. I enjoyed them both but decided on 3 stars here because it seem to have more happenings than the quiet but no means boring everyday life portrayal in GC. Back to Richard, I did not hate him really and am quite convinced of his romance with Meg but I find myself applauding Meg at the end for how quickly she forgave Richard. It isn't surprising really given Meg's character but I don't think I can forgive him as easily. Good for Richard that it is Meg he married and not me then, huh? *grins* Still I was happy for them afterwards. Again I just wish there was an epilogue.<br /><br /><br />*Decided on 2stars after all because I found out I have to try very hard to remember the story for this even though I've just finished reading it.