Deception by Lillian Duncan

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Lillian Duncan begins her Sisters by Choice series with a story that will have readers holding their breathe and wishing the story lasted longer.

I started this series out of order as I was offered the second book in the series to review before this one but other than discovering more about another character in the later pages of this story it didn’t matter all that much. I do believe I will be adding Ms. Duncan to my “To-read authors” list after reading this particular book. I loved the way she created fairly in depth characters and plot lines given the short length of the book. This was clearly meant to be a novella style book and while it was nice to have a shorter story to read for once, I wish she had given everything more page time. I would have loved to see a little more background from Carter and Patti as I found them to be very good characters. The story begins with Patti answering the phone at her home – a call that will literally change her life. Apparently the twin sister she is estranged from has a daughter named Sabrina who decided to follow Jaime’s instructions and call Patti if Jaime disappeared. Reeling from the news of a unknown niece and fearful the child has been left alone at home, Patti calls the police and is connected to a detective in Florida by the name of Carter Caldwell, who vows to find out what has happened. When Jaime fails to make an appearance within a week, Patti heads to Florida herself to find out what her sister has been doing since they last spoke. Patti has still not forgiven Jaime for ruining her wedding years before by causing Patti’s former fiancé to fall in love with her. But she cannot ignore a child who seems to be alone in the world with the exception of a housekeeper/nanny who is watching her. As she begins to learn more about the life her sister has been leading, Patti is shocked to see how wealthy her “flighty” twin has become. With a sprawling home that is furnished with the best of items and a wardrobe straight from the most expensive brand lists, Jaime appears to have found a job that has afforded her great success. But no one seems to know what Jaime does for a living, and Patti is not sure she really wants to find out. As more and more of Jaime’s secret life comes to light, Patti reaches out to Carter to discover what has happened to her sister. A race against time begins as they delve further into Jaime’s life and employment. And there will be more at stake than just Jaime’s life and hundreds more will be in danger if Patti and Carter do not find a way to stop a secret terrorist cell from carrying out deadly and devastating plans. They might also find the true love they’ve been searching for in the most unexpected place – each other. As I said before, I wish this story had been given more page time as it could have been expanded much more and really been amazing. As it was, I loved the carefully crafted plot and the characters that were very life-like in their actions. Patti was a heroine I could root for as she was not content to just let life happen to her, rather she took it “by the horns” and did all in her power to ensure her sister came home safe. Carter too, was a really nice guy who strove to do his job with all his knowledge and experience. Together they made a good couple that I was thrilled to see come together for more than just working on a case. I loved the quiet but powerful elements of faith that were woven into the story as well. Ms. Duncan did not pull her punches as she carefully but firmly corrected the idea that Jaime had been out to hurt Patti with her fiancé, rather, she had been trying to help show his true colors to Patti. I also liked how Carter had to return his trust to God that he had taken away after his wife had been killed. It was good to see that both characters had some growing to do throughout the story so that they were developed alongside the plot. It’s hard to connect with characters that remain the same so Ms. Duncan did an excellent job by showing their growth in the pages of the story. I so wanted to give this story 5 stars but couldn’t because I felt that it was a bit too rushed to be truly believable, especially the ending. If there had been a little more page time given to the last few chapters, I would have given it 5 stars with pleasure. I am greatly looking forward to reading more books from this author. I will certainly be keeping an eye out for newer works available for review so I can really get a feel for her writing style and character voices. I will certainly recommend this book and series to others as I have really enjoyed the stories I have read thus far.

I received this E-book free of charge from Pelican Book Group via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I will receive no fiscal compensation from either company for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

I really enjoyed “Deception” by Lillian Duncan. This book hooked me from the first page and continued throughout the whole book. It had me guessing what was really going on, and it definitely had twists and turns throughout.

This book centered around Patti and Jamie, twins, who haven’t seen each other for years. Along with a lot of suspense, this book had a little romance and faith thrown in. I like the way Lillian shared the gospel message without being preachy.

I highly recommend this book and any book by Lillian Duncan.

I received this book from the publisher and NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Deception, is the first book I have read by Lillian Duncan. It is full of non-stop action, danger and suspense with a little romance included. A missing sister and an unknown niece start the adventure. Can Patti discover what is going on? Great plot and characters. Will definitely look for more books by Ms. Duncan.

I received this book from NetGalley and all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. It's full of action, suspense and a little romance. This is the first book I've read from this author, but it won't be the last. Thank you NetGalley for the free copy. I love finding new authors.

Deception starts off with a great search of ----- can't tell you that - but it is unreal - you have unique circumstances in this story with characters that you do not see in a lot of stories. The story is about love, trust and Faith - Faith of many things but the most important thing is CHRIST. You cannot beat that in any story now can you?