Vow of Deception is the second book by Angela Johnson and the “stand alone” sequel to Vow of Seduction. Vow of Deception is a medieval historical romance I really enjoyed reading. Sir Rand Montague has an allegiance with his cousin, King Edward I. And this allegiance forces Rand to bring Rose, a woman he secretly loves, to the King in order to force widowed Rose to marry a man of the King’s choosing. However, Rand and Rose have a past together and shared a night of unforgettable passion between each other many years ago. But Rose wishes nothing more than to never marry again and in fact give herself over to a life of celibacy due to a disastrous and brutal marriage to her ex-husband. When Rand sees the louse that Rose is intended to marry, Rand steps up to the plate and marries Rose himself – only it will just be a marriage of convenience to keep Rose safe. As Rand fears his lifetime of bad luck will only mean bad things will happen to Rose, and of course there’s that little problem of Rose never wanting to be with another man again. But what can happen when Rose finds herself fighting her attraction to Rand as Rand slowly reveals pieces of his tragic past to her? A smoldering sexual tension, that’s what.
A lot of historical romances seem to be hit or miss for me. But Vow of Deception hit many positive marks for me to make it a very enjoyable and often emotional read. I enjoyed the fact both characters were flawed and trying to overcome previous tragedies. It wasn’t just the hero or just the heroine. The way the author mixes together tragic pasts while each character still showed how strong they are as an individual when faced with certain circumstances was refreshing for this genre of book. This also helped me become emotionally attached to each of them. Rose also has a young child and I was smitten with him by the second time he appeared in the book. I think the child also helped show another side of Rose, the heroine, that makes here more appealing to the reader. And the way Rand interacted with the child is just….well….it caused me a few tears.
In addition to the smoldering heat and sexual tension between these two there is a suspenseful element to the plot to keep the story moving forward. There’s also one particular scene that had me gasping out loud with, “What?!?! She put that in a historical romance?!?!” Then my heartbeat returned to normal when I realized what was going on a few sentences later.
My only real issue with this book is how little time we get between Rand and Rose once they work past their issues and give in to their desires. Obviously this a historical romance, so I don’t think I am giving anything away that the two of them work it out in the end. I just really loved these two characters and I needed some more pages filled with the two of them as lovers and true husband and wife.
Vow of Deception is a solid read for those that like non-fluffy historical romance.
Favorite Quote:
“Jesu, you feel amazing, incredible. Why did we wait so long to do this?”
Rose smiled with a teasing grin. “Because you are amazingly stubborn and I am incredibly hardheaded?”
Vow of Deception by Angela Johnson
November 1st 2010 by Zebra
Historical Romance
Source: Author
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Purchase Links: Amazon || Book Depository
About Samantha
Nice review, Samantha!
What’s up with the tattoo on the cover-guy’s arm? It looks like a tribal style butterfly to me. Is it supposed to be a butterfly? And does the hero even have a tattoo in the story?
Mmmmm, I like that cover, I don’t usually go for the headless shirtless guys but his arm is wicked, lol
@blodeuedd: What? No headless shirtless guys? I thought you had to love headless, shirtless guys to read romance? LOL
Nice review. I like the shirtless cover guy. Big swords=big, urrr, arms. lol
@Catherine: You make a good point about him having a tattoo in the story and I actually can’t remember. And I didn’t even realize it does look like a butterfly in the picture! Gosh I am feeling really clueless – but I liked the book and he was yummy.
“What?!?! She put that in a historical romance?!?!” –> I NEEDS TO KNOW! What was it?!!!!!
@tori aka ggs_closet: LOL!!
@KC/Smokinhotbooks: A reviewer shall never reveal a good secret.
@KC/Smokinhotbooks: I know! @Samantha: is such a tease! LOL
I just couldn’t get into this one….maybe should try again later!
Samantha, thank you so much for the wonderful review. I am so glad you liked Rand and Rose’s story. Typically I write very sexy romances. But because of Rose’s past abuse, the sexual tension built much more slowly, or “smoldered” as you said, which made this story so challenging to write.
Additionally, my favorite scenes to write were with Rand’s interactions with Rose’s son, and it touched me how deeply their relationship resonated with you.
I really appreciate the thought and time you put into writing the review. Thank you.
Mandi, I really hope you will try Vow of Deception again some time Second time’s the charm?
@Angela Johnson: Thanks for stopping by Fiction Vixen!
After reading Vow of Deception I plan to go back and read Vow of Seduction.
Fantastic review! Thanks to Delilah Marvelle’s series my spark for historical romances has been reignited! I’m glad to be able to add another book/author to my list to look into!
And no, you didn’t give anything away by telling us they got together in the end!