Dance with Deception

By: Tracy Goodwin

Narrated by: Susan Duerden

Length: 10 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

Haunted by his father's sins, Sebastian Montgomery, ninth Duke of Davenport vows never to fall in love or marry - until he encounters Gwendolyn MacAlistair and she consumes his thoughts. Sebastian wants her, and as he learned from his father, what a duke wants, a duke takes. Gwen's father has arranged for her to marry a man she despises, the very man who shattered her fragile family. As she struggles with a desperate choice - honor her dying father's final request or alienate him by choosing her true love - Sebastian is forced to make his own desperate decision: trick Gwen into marriage or lose her forever. Sebastian and Gwen must confront the consequences of their actions and secrets so scandalous that they threaten to destroy all they hold dear. In this dangerous dance with deception, who will die for love?

©2014 Tracy Goodwin (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Tracy Goodwin is a promising new voice in historical romance." (Barbara Dawson Smith, New York Times best-selling author)

Fabulous!

A true romance story. Sebastian is refreshing! The story is very entertaining and I didn't want to stop listening. I highly recommend this.
Susan Duerden is amazing!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Decent story, had some flaws but not bad.

I enjoyed this story. I particularly liked the heroine quite a bit, but more so in the beginning of the story. She seemed to get a bit wishy washy and melancholy after the wedding! Which was a bit annoying. I was surprised with her attitude on how Sebastian convinced her father to allow them to marry. I thought it was brilliant. LOL she did not, instead of thanking him and being grateful she acted like he was the biggest liar on earth. I was glad when she finally started getting back to her normal spunky self.
Sebastian was a good hero when he wasn't beating himself up over the lie he told. He was handsome, smart and rich.

They had some great chemistry together and a couple of very well written sex scenes.

The story line and plot was good. The secrets were good secrets not stupid misunderstandings so there is that. There was a lot of great dialogue through out the entire book.

As for the narration, I enjoy Susan Duerden she does a fantastic job on the men's voices, everyone gets their own distinct voice and she reads with emotion. She is a favorite of mine. (I do wish she would ease up on the sing song drawn out words, but she is still great).

I got the kindle version free with my KU subscription and the whispersync audible for 1.99, great deal for sure.

8 of 12 people found this review helpful

It was MY dance with deception.

Don't let the title fool you. The deception referred to in the title is no real deception. Only one put there to deceive its readers in implying the revealing of an actual substantial deception. The story was doing well until the heroin got so mad at the hero for not telling her the truth about her father's agreement to their nuptials after his vehement disapproval. The reason for her sever reaction was so incredibly STUPID that I had to force myself to listen to the rest of the book hoping the madness of the Logic will catch up soon if only I continued. The stupidity of this "deception" the entire half of the book entirely relied upon was so ridiculously overemphasizes that the story was nothing short of painful to listen to. I can not recommend this book at all.

4 of 7 people found this review helpful

98% Awful.. DNF.

So, Sebastian and Gwen tell each other, in the chapel, that they love each other and then she tells him he wouldn’t be happy with just her, that he would go back to having other women, and he’s hurt and shocked that she didn’t think he’d be faithful. He’s dumbfounded and she runs off. She goes on to think of the “vicious” things she said to him and he’s thinking of going to find other women like she said he would. This is all the same night. Really?

OK, so I’m done with this stupid book. I can’t read that many pages of Gwen’s craziness. I can handle a little bit of crazy angst but this is too much. I guess she’d have rather married Keir than to have a lie told, so she could marry the man she loved.

The ONLY thing this book had going for it was the wonderful sexual attraction/tension between Sebastian and Gwen.

It should have been cut to about 300 pages and it would have been worth reading. I read some of the other 1 and 2 star reviews, AFTER I bought the book and audio, and I agree with a lot of them.

As to the narrator: I could listen to Susan Duerden in all my books. She reads with such emotion. But even she couldn't make this book good.

Even with it being free with KU and the audible only $1.99 it wasn't worth it.

5 of 9 people found this review helpful

The book whisperer.....

I love this story and could find a point or two that I would wish different but it is what it is and it's good.

Susan Duerden as NARRATOR is good but for one problem.... she whispers her way thru it. It's like she doesn't want to disturb someone nearby as she reads you the book. It's very unfortunate since you never doubt who is speaking or what they mean.... but it's all of the stuff between the characters speaking that's so odd. I find it practically puts me to sleep and the story is not that kind of creation!!!

Heat Factor: This is a steamy read but not for the sake of it, just what the story requires.... well done!

Creditworthy? Yes. BUT listen to the snippet sample, and make that judgement for yourself.

say the word room not woom.

I I loved the story I did not like listening to someone who cannot pronounce they're r's.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Frustrating Narrating Undeserving of Excellent Performance

After listening to many audiobooks as I take breaks from my now completed second college degree, I consider Susan Duerden to be by far, among the finest audio- performers today. Author Eloisa James, regardless of which narrative she weaves, always is the perfect match for Ms. Duerden's talent. Unfortunately, other authors such as Tracy Goodwin, in "Dance with Deception " truly is not worthy of Ms. Duerden's talent. The narrative was so frustrating as the female heroine constantly fluctuated in her ability to make a decision. Once we the audience are provided with the subplot to better understand her confusion, we expect the narrative to also affect her to a better understanding of her confusion. However, chapter after chapter the heroine continues to flip back-and-forth. I could not like her anymore and actually wanted the hero to walk away from her. I will never read a narrative by this author again. I only choose the book because of Susan Duerden.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Just ok

Drags a lot. It could have a better read if the drag areas where eliminated. Story not a complete waste of credit but I doubt I will listen again.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Very frustrating

First, while I understand the need to draw out a storyline long enough to make it worth people's money, the flip-flopping of Gwendolyn's emotional state is extremely frustrating. She goes from hot to cold in just a sentence or two. Secondly, the narrator's way of reading the script was very sing-song. Emphasizing every sixth word of the sentences regardless of what was happening. It was very dull in that regard.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

martyrdom inc

What disappointed you about Dance with Deception?

There was just such a silly misunderstanding, that it seemed like it was deliberate just to drive the story..which it probably was. The reason that Sebastian lied to marry Gwen should been thought of as saving her.
Also there was a lot of references to religion/God. I actually thought it was incorrectly categorized. At one point Gwen starts to recite " the lord's prayer". I just think it was overdone. There are scenes of both the H/H kneeling to pray. Not my kind of thing, but it may work for others.

What was most disappointing about Tracy Goodwin’s story?

The story was so contrived that it made a reader feel like it could have been a short story , if not for the misunderstandings. There was a lot that could happen to 2 people, especially when faced with the villans in this story, but TG did not take advantage. Also the pacing, everything seemed to happen too fast for the first book in a series. The H/H run into each other (literally) in the first chapter and the relationship progresses quickly without the reader having much of an understanding of them as people. No character development, which is lazy on the part of a writer.

What about Susan Duerden’s performance did you like?

I use to feel that she was excellent, but listening to more narrators makes me feel that her performance is good, but not great. Although she was my reason for buying the book and the best thing about it.
I feel that the narration should be separate from the story rating. SD is a narrator that gets high scores and therefore increases the overall rating. My overall score would be lower if it were not for her.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It did have some good qualities, but too much filler. It could have been shorder with less misunderstandings.

Any additional comments?

I don't like stories where there is such angst/self-loathing and self-sacrifice. It is distracting. Having to have the characters go through several internal monologues where they list there unworthiness/recriminations and failures is too miserable an activity.....that's for my real life!
I am currently reading book 2 and it is even more of a downer. The only thing keeping me going is that the villan will appear to cause trouble. This is not good in a romance.

1 of 4 people found this review helpful

narrator was awful

narrator was awful. hated the way she did mens voices. Al oat put me off the book.