Deceptions of the Heart

by Patricia Pellicane

WICKED WEB
When Cassie Talbot rescued the semi-conscious man from the side of the road, she never expected to be so drawn to the cad. And when she discovered his true identity, she knew that he could never know the secret of who she really was. That truth would come at the cost of all that she held dear... But something kept drawing her back into his caress, yearning for yet another kiss. His touch was like a powerful drug, and once Cassie had one taste of his lips she became obsessed with the thought of more...

TANGLED LIES
For the first time in his life, Cameron Chandler was afraid. He had sailed the world and known many women, but there was something different about the daring vixen who saved his life. Maybe it was the way she fit so perfectly in his embrace, or the way her dark blue eyes mirrored his own passion... Cameron knew that she was keeping the truth of her identity close to her chest, but he swore to expose it and deal with the consequences. He knew one fact for certain: Cassie Talbot was his now to love, cherish and to protect against any Deceptions of the Heart

Genres: Historical Romance

512 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1988

About the author

Patricia Pellicane lives on Long Island in New York with her husband and family. She enjoys reading, travelling in her motor home and especially enjoys her grandchildren. "Too bad we can't have grandchildren first. They're a kick." Most of all she loves to write.“Life’s tough we all need a bit of fantasy now and then. For myself, I love a happy ending.”
Email: ppellicane@gmail.com

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read: 7/5/25
4.5 stars
Setting: 1835 England, Maryland??

What a pleasant surprise! This is my 1st book by this author, and it won't be my last! I really enjoyed the MC and their witty banter.

plot: Cassie rescues a semi-conscious man on the side of the road and brings him home. She soon learns the man's identity. He is her late half-sister's uncle, and he is here to take her to America. Cassie is afraid that he will take her twin niece and nephew, so with urging by her companion, she stupidly pretends to be his niece.

Cameron has never desired a woman more in his life, but she's his niece. He spends the voyage between lust and disgust. He needs to send her tempting ass back to England, but he can't do it. Of course, all hell breaks loose once he finds out the truth. Cameron wants to punish her, but she still gets the better of him. He can't let her go, so he informs her of his plans to marry her. You can imagine how that went over.

These two were always quick to fight, but they could never stay angry long without breaking into laughter. It makes for some entertaining scenes. It's not long before they confess their love. Now, if Cameron can let go over his trust issues long enough, these two might have a shot.

Unfortunately, there are more problems on the horizon for the couple. One is Diane, Cassie's sort of companion. Cassie brought Diane into her home because she had nowhere to go. She believes Diane is her friend, she is not. No spoilers, this is known to the reader early on. Diane uses people. She's kind of sadistic whore and she can't understand why Cameron is repulsed by her. Add an evil overseer, and that spells serious trouble for the love birds.

Another problem this couple faces is the issue of slavery. Can Cassie love a man who owns slaves? Turns out Cameron might have similar feelings and doesn't want Cassie to know about his activities.


likes:
1. the strongest element to this book is the romance. Their fights were hilarious. The witty banter brought a smile to my face every time. This couple worked.
2. Cassie
● Cassie was honest to a fault. So lying to Cameron in the beginning was hard, especially because she's really bad at it. The H seemed to forget this fact when he accused her of betraying him. Luckily, he wises up.
●I thought the author did a great job of having Cassie be assertive without being a shrew.
3. Cameron was destroyed by his late wife. He even sent his daughter away after the witch told him that the girl wasn't his biologically. So he has major trust issues. He also is a bit of a womanizer until Cassie blocks all other women from his mind. He's quick with his humor and enjoys provoking Cassie. I loved how easy he reads her moods and uses it to his advantage. He was just a great leading man!
4. I liked this author's writing style. I read well into the night.
5.. I thought the author handled the slavery aspect better than most hr. I didn't feel like the MC had modern viewpoints. Their objections felt more nature to the time.
6. Cameron is not afraid to kill the bad guys and protect Cassie. I hate in books when the H lets the bad guy go and surprise, the villain comes back. 😒 .

dislikes:
1. This story has many flaws, the fake incest at the beginning of the plot being the biggest!🤢 I'm used to ignoring problems in Bodice-rippers, but this was just gross. Why? The author couldn't come up with any other plot devise besides an uncle lusting after his fake niece. Just Eww! Luckily, this part doesn't last very long, or i would have thrown my book/IPad a cross the room.
2. I wanted more with the children. The twins kind of disappear, and his daughter takes a back seat near the end. I enjoyed her interactions with his daughter, so it was kind of weird for her to disappear.
3. A recurring role of characters just disappearing or are forgotten about. When Cassie frees a slave and is attacked by an overseer, the slave kills the man. Cameron covers it up, and it's never discussed again. Like by no one. There are no inquiries into his disappearance or mention of it again.

Conclusion: Despite the many problems this book had, I still loved it! I didn't want to put it down. The couple were so entertaining!


Sidenote/Historical rant: One part the author failed at was her use of the evil plantation owner. The man refused to save his slaves. He didn't treat their illnesses and would just buy new slaves every seven years. Really? This is unrealistic since it costs $200.00 for just a female slave (in the book). He has to be the Vanderbilt of plantation owners. He mentioned that's what they do farther south. It's KIND of true. In Haiti, the slaves did have a life expectancy of 7 years because of the dangers from the sugarcane. They would light it on fire to kill a fungus that grows on the sugarcane, and the slaves would breathe that in and die of lung infection eventually. So, I'm guessing that's where the author got that information.

[Blue Falcon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is of “Deceptions of the Heart” by Patricia Pellicane.

The book starts at an undetermined time, undetermined location in England (slavery has not been abolished in the U.S. and people still say “nay”). Cassie Devon, the heroine of the book, rescues Cameron Chandler, the hero of the book, from a train derailment. While nursing him back to health, Cameron tries to have sex with Cassie, which she doesn’t fight that hard against; in fact, she’s attracted to him. She then discovers his reasons for coming to England (Cassie is the guardian of 9 month-old twins, a boy and a girl. Cameron is their biological uncle and wants custody of them. Cassie is their aunt;.) Cassie lies to Cameron by claiming she’s his niece. When he discovers Cassie’s lies, Cameron has rough sex with her.

Cassie, Cameron, the twins and Cassie’s “friend” Diana Holt, then travel to America to Cameron’s plantation in Maryland. Cassie will discover later that Diana is anything but a friend to her. Cassie also discovers that Cameron has an 8 ½ year-old daughter, Meghan, whom he hated because he thought she wasn’t his child; she is.

Cassie and Cameron marry, and their marriage consists of two things: arguing and sex.One person who isn’t happy about their marriage is Diana, who-erroneously-believes Cameron is madly in love with her. Diana hooks up-literally and figuratively-with a man named Rowlins-no first name, an overseer on another plantation. (Backstory: When Cassie tried to help the slaves on the plantation Rowlins oversees, he beat her. Cameron then brutally beat Rowlins. Now, he wants revenge on both Cassie and Cameron). They later kidnap Cassie; she is rescued by Cameron.

Later, while taking a cruise to be alone, the ship Cassie and Cameron are sailing on is attacked by pirates. Cassie is accosted and nearly raped; once again, Cameron saves her. The book ends there.

Upside: Well, I finished it, something I try to do with every book I purchase. (If it were a free book, I would have probably abandoned it).

Downside: Plenty. There is ZERO character development or depth here. Ms. Pellicane never made me interested in either Cassie or Cameron, who are both incredibly shallow characters. Storylines are introduced, without setup or explanation. For the most part, Cassie and Cameron did two things when they were together: argue and have sex, and while I’m certainly not against the latter, even that doesn’t work when there is no emotion or soul involved.

Sex: There are multiple sex scenes involving Cassie and Cameron, as well as Diana and Rowlins. While Ms. Pellicane tries to be creative and erotic in her love scenes, once again, the lack of emotional depth makes the scenes far less exciting than they could have been.

Violence: Assault, battery, attempted rape, and killings. The only graphic violence occurs when Cameron rescues Cassie; Diana is shot in the face, and Rowlins is shot...lower than that.

Bottom Line: I really wanted to like “Deceptions of the Heart”, but there is really nothing here to like.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could have done without the Diana plot, she was a bit much, and an unnecessary villain.

[Tapa in lovezone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably the first book by this author that I found myself skimming—and eventually DNFing. I wouldn’t say there’s anything triggering about it; it just felt slow and dull at times.
There are too many unnecessary characters cluttering the story. For instance, the so-called “evil woman,” who is the heroine’s friend, lives with them, spends the hero’s money, and constantly creates problems between the hero and heroine. The hero openly dislikes her, so there’s no real tension there—just repetitive drama.
Then there are the kids: the heroine’s twin niece and nephew (who are the hero’s niece’s children), along with the hero’s daughter from a previous marriage. I’m not a fan of extra kids’ drama in romance—I prefer stories that focus on the hero and heroine, or at most their own children. Here, the romance feels sidelined because of all the surrounding chaos.
What makes it more frustrating is that the kids aren’t even central to the plot—we only get brief glimpses of them. So the story doesn’t fully commit to being either a family drama or a romance. It ends up feeling scattered and out of sync.
I lost interest along the way and decided to DNF.

[wenis · Rating 1 out of 5]

incest and racism :(

[Auj]

Note to self: available on Internet Archive