If You Deceive

If You Deceive
5 Stars

Years after being horribly disfigured and ruining the man responsible, Ethan MacCarrick has a chance encounter with the man’s daughter, Madeline Van Rowen, and vows to continue his vengeance by taking her as his mistress and discarding her. Fortunately for Ethan, his best laid plans go awry when he finds himself falling for the feisty Maddy.

The first two books in the series were not all that appealing but If You Deceive more than makes up for their shortcomings, and I agree wholeheartedly with everyone who raves about this book - it is absolutely fabulous!

Maddy is an amazing heroine. She faces each and every challenge that comes her way with courage and tenacity, and sees beyond the surface of Ethan’s scarred show more visage and tough exterior to the heroic and worthy man beneath.

Although scarred both physically and emotionally, Ethan knows what he wants and will stop at nothing to attain it. In this case, Maddy is what he wants and nothing will stand in his way.

Together Ethan and Maddy make an intense couple. There scenes together range from outrageously funny to heartwarmingly romantic to scorchingly sexy.

All in all, an incredible story and I will definitely be reading it again soon. show less

A barely-veiled rape fantasy. It's Outlander all over again. Just...no. Is there some sort of niche romance subgenre for women who like to fantasize about being abused by Scottish lairds?! I mean, honestly, I try not to yuck other people's yum, but this is ridiculous.

I think my heart stuttered a few times in this book. It was just that good! My emotions were all over the place, mostly hating but loving Ethan at the same time. He was such a vengeful asshole!


Ethan MacCarrick had a grievous wrong done to him ten years ago which left him with an ugly scar on the side of his face. He took his revenge but is still angry over it. The scar put a serious damper on his callous womanizing ways. Now, women run from him so he has stopped even trying.

When he sees Madeleine Van Rowen at a masked event, he takes an immediate interest which is unlike him. He decides to go toy with her for his own amusement but it turns into something more sinister when he learns she is the daughter of the people responsible for his show more scar. He decides to make her pay while he amuses himself.

Madeleine has had a hard life. She's in London for a last-ditch effort to get a rich husband to take her out of the French slum she lives in. She meets a huge masked Scot who takes her breath away but has her running right back to the slums the next day.

Maddy was a survivor and she had me laughing at some of her antics. If anyone deserved a better life, it was her.

This was the final booking the trilogy and I was sad to see it end. show less

The story of Ethan and Maddie makes me happy to say that Ms Cole has redeemed herself in my eyes since the previous story. I loved both the hero and heroine. Maddy was sharp as a razor with a quick wit and great sense of humor. I thought she handled her boorish highlander very well. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him completely thrown, and as Quin had predicted, not knowing up from down. The drama between the two was a great plot point. How do you tell the woman you've fallen in love with that you nearly slept with her mother and that you're the reason she lost everything? He may have had it coming to him but he didn't do anything to warrant the type of torture he had been put through. Though it may be cliché, Maddy was right to forgive show more him.

Five stars for all the chuckles and fist pumps I had while reading. show less

If You Deceive, the third book in the MacCarrick Brothers trilogy by Kresley Cole, tells the story of Ethan and Maddy, two people destined to meet and fall helplessly in love, even if they share a past event that should turn them into enemies instead of lovers.

Ethan is the typical historical romance rake, the tall, dark and handsome single man who sleeps around with every willing woman, until the day the husband of one of them wants revenge and injures him badly. After recovering he sets his mind into a revenge of his own, and because he’s a rich and powerful nobleman, he achieves it with little effort. Ten years later he spots a random girl in a crowd and immediately wants her for his own. Turns out this girl, Maddy, is the daughter show more of that same man who scarred him, and who Ethan made sure went bankrupt, sending his family to destitution, but he doesn’t know this until he’s utterly, maddly, and irrevocably obsessed with Maddy.

I know, I know, this probably sounds like every other historical romance around, but I loved it, mainly because the couple is so, SO much fun to read about. They have a turbulent chemistry that makes it hard for the reader to wait for their next scene together, and the dialogues would make me laugh my head off every time, with Ethan being so blunt about everything, and Maddy being such a spitfire. Also, the author uses Scottish accents in the hero’s speech (yes, he’s a Highlander :D ) which is hilarious, and to be honest, takes the seriousness out of every of his attempts to sound dangerous and commanding.

About the story, I like how it starts off as a cruel payback plan that turns into a tale of forgiveness, redemption, and mad love. It may not sound like it, but it’s actually funny to witness Ethan planning to use Maddy at his will and then leave her dishonoured, because he simply can’t do it. Correction: he pretty much forgets all about his numerous “evil schemes” every time he’s with her, for she’s constantly disarming and awing him either through speech, actions, or by simply being herself. That said, I’ll admit my only problem with this book -which is my main problem with almost every historical-, is that I wish there was more story development instead of so many long and detailed sex scenes. I mean, they are good, perhaps too descriptive for my taste at times, but definitely oh-my-goodness!-hot, and I’m only complaining because I was so into the couple’s relationship besides their bedroom action, that I often wished the sex had just a bit less of protagonism, and the rest of the plot a lot more.

The last part of the book surprised me immensely, and I’m not ashamed to admit I cried myself a river in one crucial moment -honestly, I could barely believe in what was happening before me. (O_O)

This was my first book by Kresley Cole, and without knowing her style, for some reason I imagined it was going to be a quite serious, dark, tragic tale of revenge, full of painful, heartbreaking moments, plus a maddening quota of vile misunderstandings, and I was so pleased to find out I was wrong. So, yes, I’ll certainly get myself the other two MacCarricks. :D

Also here: http://cuidadocomodalmata.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/if-you-deceive/ show less

As they say, "third times a charm" and that couldn't be more true than in this case. Although I enjoyed both of Kresley Cole's preceding highlander romances this was by far the best.

In this story the seemingly irredeemable Ethan MacCarrick, meets his match in the daughter of the family he once ruined for revenge. Madeleine van Rowen is one of the best romance heroines I've read in some time. She was spunky, innocent, smart and funny; and a whole lot more fun to read than many heroines I've encountered. Despite having really not liked Ethan's character in the previous novels of this trilogy, he was remarkably likeable in this story. I'm still troubled by the fact that all three brothers' were rather unrepentant killers in their show more professions but in this book it wasn't quite as stressed as it had been in the past books. The chemistry between the leads was very good and for reasons even I don't get, I felt very much more emotionally invested here than in the other stories. Maybe because they didn't spend as much time disliking each other as they did learning how to love one another.

Of course, there was the "big secret" between them, not so much the MacCarrick's family's curse which was really barely touched upon this time around, but more so how Ethan's past actions so severely affected Maddy's childhood. I do think that although this story would hold up very well if read alone, the first two books give us much more of a feeling for Ethan and allow us to fully appreciate how much he changes for the love of his life.

All in all I'd highly recommend this trilogy as a whole to any lover of highlander romances and those lovers of romances in general! show less

Awesome book, loved the main characters, and love, loved how Cole has developed these brothers and their family curse by the end. Sex scenes are steamy and realistic (for a romance). I do love heroine that knows where babies come from, Maddy may be one of my all time favorites!