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Mask of Deception
Destination: Venice, Italy
Attractions: the Grand Canal, Piazza San Marco and Lucenzo Salviati
He's a wolf in designer clothing—attentive and sexy on the outside, ruthless and cunning beneath. Lucenzo's also the man who believes that Meredith Williams's grandmother blackmailed his clients, the wealthy Corosini family. Meredith is determined to prove that Lucenzo's accusation is false—to get to the bottom of her gran's so-called deception—but first she's clearly torn between pushing Lucenzo into the Grand Canal and kissing him senseless....
Attractions: the Grand Canal, Piazza San Marco and Lucenzo Salviati
He's a wolf in designer clothing—attentive and sexy on the outside, ruthless and cunning beneath. Lucenzo's also the man who believes that Meredith Williams's grandmother blackmailed his clients, the wealthy Corosini family. Meredith is determined to prove that Lucenzo's accusation is false—to get to the bottom of her gran's so-called deception—but first she's clearly torn between pushing Lucenzo into the Grand Canal and kissing him senseless....
186 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
44 people want to read
About the author
Sara Wood
253 books33 followersSara Wood was born in England. She has wonderful memories of her childhood. Her parents were desperately poor but their devotion to family life gave her a feeling of great security. Sara's father was one of four fostered children and never knew his parents, hence his joy with his own family. Birthday parties were sensational her father would perform brilliantly as a Chinese magician or a clown or invent hilarious games and treasure hunts. From him she learnt that working hard brought many rewards, especially self-respect. During her degree course she met her husband, a kind, thoughtful, attentive man who is her friend and soulmate. At 21, she married and had her first son at 22. Now she has another three children. She loved teaching in Sussex which she did for twelve years.
Her switch into writing came about in a peculiar way. Richie, her elder son, had always been nuts about natural history and had a huge collection of animal skulls. At the age of fifteen he decided he'd write an information book about collecting. Heinemann and Pan, prestigious publishers, eagerly fell on the book and when it was published it won the famous Times Information Book award. Interviews, TV and magazine articles followed. Encouraged by his success, she thought she could write too and had several information books for children published. Then she saw Charlotte Lamb being wined and dined by Mills & Boon on a television programme and decided she could do Charlotte's job! But she'd rarely read fiction before, so she bought twenty books and analysed them carefully, then wrote one of her own. Amazingly it was accepted and she began writing full time.
Sara and her husband moved to a small country estate in Cornwall which was a paradise. Her sons visited often; Richie being married to Heidi and with two daughters; Simon rushing in after some danger- filled action in Alaska or Hawaii etc, protecting the environment with Greenpeace. Sara qualified as a homeopath, caring for the health of her family and friends. But Paradise is always fleeting. Sara's husband became seriously ill and it was clear that they had to move somewhere less demanding on time and effort. After a nightmare year of worrying about him, nursing and watching him like a hawk, she was relieved when they'd sold up and moved back to Sussex. Their current house is large and thatched and sits in the pretty rolling downs with wonderful walks and views all around. They live nearer to the boys (men!) and see them often. Richie and Heidi are expecting another baby, Simon has a baby son and a new, dangerous, passion flinging himself off mountains (paragliding). The three hills nearby frequently entice him down. She adores seeing her family (mother, mother-in-law too) around the table at Christmas. Sara feels fortunate that although she's had tough times and has sometimes been desperately unhappy, she is now surrounded by love and feels she can weather any storm to come.
Her switch into writing came about in a peculiar way. Richie, her elder son, had always been nuts about natural history and had a huge collection of animal skulls. At the age of fifteen he decided he'd write an information book about collecting. Heinemann and Pan, prestigious publishers, eagerly fell on the book and when it was published it won the famous Times Information Book award. Interviews, TV and magazine articles followed. Encouraged by his success, she thought she could write too and had several information books for children published. Then she saw Charlotte Lamb being wined and dined by Mills & Boon on a television programme and decided she could do Charlotte's job! But she'd rarely read fiction before, so she bought twenty books and analysed them carefully, then wrote one of her own. Amazingly it was accepted and she began writing full time.
Sara and her husband moved to a small country estate in Cornwall which was a paradise. Her sons visited often; Richie being married to Heidi and with two daughters; Simon rushing in after some danger- filled action in Alaska or Hawaii etc, protecting the environment with Greenpeace. Sara qualified as a homeopath, caring for the health of her family and friends. But Paradise is always fleeting. Sara's husband became seriously ill and it was clear that they had to move somewhere less demanding on time and effort. After a nightmare year of worrying about him, nursing and watching him like a hawk, she was relieved when they'd sold up and moved back to Sussex. Their current house is large and thatched and sits in the pretty rolling downs with wonderful walks and views all around. They live nearer to the boys (men!) and see them often. Richie and Heidi are expecting another baby, Simon has a baby son and a new, dangerous, passion flinging himself off mountains (paragliding). The three hills nearby frequently entice him down. She adores seeing her family (mother, mother-in-law too) around the table at Christmas. Sara feels fortunate that although she's had tough times and has sometimes been desperately unhappy, she is now surrounded by love and feels she can weather any storm to come.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 5, 2018
Re Mask of Deception - Just whack me with my own skillet. Sara Wood outdoes herself in the idiotic h stakes with this one and I have NO WORDS for how utterly huge a fail this book is.
Not that SW is my cuppa and we all know that by now, but this book is the precursor to ALL future SW books where the nematode H is so utterly unbelievable that even TWO full bottles of the Captain ain't making me feel the lurve or believe in the HEA.
I am only reading this cause I had too - plus I am sacrificing brain cells to help future HPlandia voyagers save themselves the trouble.
(Tho I know there are those out there who just cannot resist a trainwreck challenge. I say to you, May the HP Gods Go With You - along with a full keg of your favorite adult beverage, a case or two of Tim Tams and stop by the bakery on your way to read this one, you are going to need it.)
Aside from the usual convoluted and disjointed and time jumping SW plot hole, we get this story.
The h is a a Welsh orphan whose time has been recently spent nursing her now sadly passed Welsh grandmother. The grandmother had the last of a series of strokes about 3 months before the book opens. Apparently the last fatal decline was caused by a letter sent from the banker of a Venetian family accusing the h's grandmother of blackmail.
The h, whose name is Meredith, is summoned to Italy to answer for her grandmother's crimes - supposedly. However the man who is waiting to pick her up from the airport is assuming that she is a man. So after an unfortunate underwear explosion all over the airport floor, with the H thinking the h is some kind of eccentric bag lady, (her luggage was destroyed on the plane and she had to put her things in carrier bags,) the h and H figure out that they were supposed to be meeting each other.
It is clear that the H is very hostile towards the h and her family. It seems the h's grandmother had the key to a safe deposit box that held valuable heirlooms of the wealthy Venetian family and that she was making them pay a certain amount every month to support her and the h.
Now the h and her grandmother were not rich, it seems that it was a very modest amount the Venetian family was paying and the H wants the h in Italy to intimidate her and stop what he calls blackmail.
( Apparently the h's father ran out on his dynastic arranged marriage and married the h's mother and moved to Wales instead - he also locked up the important family heirlooms in his own private safety deposit box too. So the Venetian portion of the family can't get them and the h grandmother was supposedly using them as hostages to receive a monthly stipend. )
Only the H gets a better idear now that he knows the h is female. He will seduce her instead. Since this is the second book in the Postcards from Europe series we get lots and lots of Venice at Carnivale time travelogue too - as the H uses the festivities to make the h jump through a series of hoops.
We start to get the hint that the H is lying about things right away. Mainly cause he is adopted, but he doesn't explain who adopted him exactly and he seems very intent on putting the h the through a series of tests in between roofie kisses.
There is the usual SW hysterics, verbal bashing and back and forth and personality changes. (There is really good Venetian Carnivale travelogue and the back of the book travel guide is well done also.)
The H is supposed to be getting engaged in a familial dynastic match to another prominent Venetian family, but since the h seems to be passing all his social doyenne tests - like she can hostess big parties, she can run a Venetian Piazza and she can talk to just about anybody, the H seduces her and then tells her he will marry her instead of the match his mother arranged.
The H's family is truly delighted with the match and at the big Fat Tuesday Grande Venetian Ball we find out why. The h's family adopted the H and he has been running the family banking firm, his brothers are employed by the various family interests and his mother is dependent on the family firm for her income too.
The h is the sole inheritor of EVERYTHING the H's family is using and living in and working at- she is their cousin, (but not related to the H since he was adopted.) The h's father was the only legitimate heir and it is all the h's - she owns the bank, the piazzas, the farms and all the businesses and the H and his entire dependent family are trying to dupe her out of it all. Technically she is the H's boss and she can boot them all out into the street.
But since the H is marrying her and taking over everything and the h can maintain an adequate social status for them, it is all okay and they are happy to welcome her now that the H assures them he has her under control.
So the h has a hissy fit and runs off into the Venetian Carnivale Night. The H catches her and the h tells him he and his family can have the lot, she is going home to Wales. The H tells her he will move to Wales too and wait her out cause he loves her.
The h takes that declaration as proof of his love and we leave the two of them lurving it up and planning the wedding for the WTF was SW thinking HEA.
I am not going to get started, cause the ranting would be never ending and I just don't have the energy.
However I will say that is book is typical of the SW HP destiny - she has an intriguing story line and some decent plot and then she just messes it to to hell and back by having it so obvious that the TSTL h is getting royally betrayed by an H who is a sub sewer slime snot pustule of fertilizer extraction and SW calls that an HEA.
There is ALWAYS something off with the H by the end of a SW book - most HP author's have a dicey H to start off with and then transform him into solid, trustworthy HP H material by the end. SW goes the exact opposite, she starts with dubious and works her way down to outright con-artist, cheating liar by the end of it.
I would say give this a go and see for yourself, but I cannot be that cruel and inflict this mess on anyone. This was not a good day in HPlandia and I do NOT recommend this for an HP outing.
Not that SW is my cuppa and we all know that by now, but this book is the precursor to ALL future SW books where the nematode H is so utterly unbelievable that even TWO full bottles of the Captain ain't making me feel the lurve or believe in the HEA.
I am only reading this cause I had too - plus I am sacrificing brain cells to help future HPlandia voyagers save themselves the trouble.
(Tho I know there are those out there who just cannot resist a trainwreck challenge. I say to you, May the HP Gods Go With You - along with a full keg of your favorite adult beverage, a case or two of Tim Tams and stop by the bakery on your way to read this one, you are going to need it.)
Aside from the usual convoluted and disjointed and time jumping SW plot hole, we get this story.
The h is a a Welsh orphan whose time has been recently spent nursing her now sadly passed Welsh grandmother. The grandmother had the last of a series of strokes about 3 months before the book opens. Apparently the last fatal decline was caused by a letter sent from the banker of a Venetian family accusing the h's grandmother of blackmail.
The h, whose name is Meredith, is summoned to Italy to answer for her grandmother's crimes - supposedly. However the man who is waiting to pick her up from the airport is assuming that she is a man. So after an unfortunate underwear explosion all over the airport floor, with the H thinking the h is some kind of eccentric bag lady, (her luggage was destroyed on the plane and she had to put her things in carrier bags,) the h and H figure out that they were supposed to be meeting each other.
It is clear that the H is very hostile towards the h and her family. It seems the h's grandmother had the key to a safe deposit box that held valuable heirlooms of the wealthy Venetian family and that she was making them pay a certain amount every month to support her and the h.
Now the h and her grandmother were not rich, it seems that it was a very modest amount the Venetian family was paying and the H wants the h in Italy to intimidate her and stop what he calls blackmail.
( Apparently the h's father ran out on his dynastic arranged marriage and married the h's mother and moved to Wales instead - he also locked up the important family heirlooms in his own private safety deposit box too. So the Venetian portion of the family can't get them and the h grandmother was supposedly using them as hostages to receive a monthly stipend. )
Only the H gets a better idear now that he knows the h is female. He will seduce her instead. Since this is the second book in the Postcards from Europe series we get lots and lots of Venice at Carnivale time travelogue too - as the H uses the festivities to make the h jump through a series of hoops.
We start to get the hint that the H is lying about things right away. Mainly cause he is adopted, but he doesn't explain who adopted him exactly and he seems very intent on putting the h the through a series of tests in between roofie kisses.
There is the usual SW hysterics, verbal bashing and back and forth and personality changes. (There is really good Venetian Carnivale travelogue and the back of the book travel guide is well done also.)
The H is supposed to be getting engaged in a familial dynastic match to another prominent Venetian family, but since the h seems to be passing all his social doyenne tests - like she can hostess big parties, she can run a Venetian Piazza and she can talk to just about anybody, the H seduces her and then tells her he will marry her instead of the match his mother arranged.
The H's family is truly delighted with the match and at the big Fat Tuesday Grande Venetian Ball we find out why. The h's family adopted the H and he has been running the family banking firm, his brothers are employed by the various family interests and his mother is dependent on the family firm for her income too.
The h is the sole inheritor of EVERYTHING the H's family is using and living in and working at- she is their cousin, (but not related to the H since he was adopted.) The h's father was the only legitimate heir and it is all the h's - she owns the bank, the piazzas, the farms and all the businesses and the H and his entire dependent family are trying to dupe her out of it all. Technically she is the H's boss and she can boot them all out into the street.
But since the H is marrying her and taking over everything and the h can maintain an adequate social status for them, it is all okay and they are happy to welcome her now that the H assures them he has her under control.
So the h has a hissy fit and runs off into the Venetian Carnivale Night. The H catches her and the h tells him he and his family can have the lot, she is going home to Wales. The H tells her he will move to Wales too and wait her out cause he loves her.
The h takes that declaration as proof of his love and we leave the two of them lurving it up and planning the wedding for the WTF was SW thinking HEA.
I am not going to get started, cause the ranting would be never ending and I just don't have the energy.
However I will say that is book is typical of the SW HP destiny - she has an intriguing story line and some decent plot and then she just messes it to to hell and back by having it so obvious that the TSTL h is getting royally betrayed by an H who is a sub sewer slime snot pustule of fertilizer extraction and SW calls that an HEA.
There is ALWAYS something off with the H by the end of a SW book - most HP author's have a dicey H to start off with and then transform him into solid, trustworthy HP H material by the end. SW goes the exact opposite, she starts with dubious and works her way down to outright con-artist, cheating liar by the end of it.
I would say give this a go and see for yourself, but I cannot be that cruel and inflict this mess on anyone. This was not a good day in HPlandia and I do NOT recommend this for an HP outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 30, 2020
Meredith Williams shows up in Venice to clear her dear departed grandmother’s name with the Corsini family, who claims she was blackmailing them for years. Meredith is sure it’s all a misunderstanding and arrives for a meeting with Mr. Corsini. She’s met by Lucenzo, who expected Meredith to be a villainous man, but now simply believes Meredith is a villainous woman, complicit in her grandmother’s crimes. He ends up showing her about Venice and the two spend a lot of time arguing about stuff and exchanging heated, lustful glances. Meredith learns quite a few things about her family, namely about her father and his mysterious origins and that she has a family there in Italy , but Lucenzo refuses to reunite her with them. He’s keeping some pretty big secrets. He more or less continues hsi seduction of Meredith and learning more about her - once he realizes she’s actually quite skilled at running a household and being all social, he decides that he should marry her and then reveals that he’s the adopted son of her own family. Only then does Meredith realize that he and her family would then have control of all of the money she’s inherited from her “blackmailing” grandmother. Heartbroken, she takes off, but Lucenzo goes after her determined to convince her he loves her.
So...yeah...not my favorite. Meredith and Lucenzo spend the entirely of the first half of this book snarking at one another and accusing each other of being dastardly and evil. It kinda builds the physical chemistry between them, but definitely doesn’t convince me either of them is falling in love. There really are moments where I thought, oh, maybe Lucenzo is staring to see Meredith for who she really is and maybe he’s really falling in love. But honestly, by the end of the story, I more or less got the impression that she’d just been outplayed by a master who was after her money all along, with the support of the Corosini family of course. That make sense with why he kept complaining about duty… So no...not buying the HEA. He did way too much lying and he got way too much out of marrying her for me to think she was the only thing he wanted. And she thought so too...so how could she believe that of him less than 13 pages before the end and honestly really love him? And I didn’t really like either of these two. Lucenzo felt slimy, while Meredith spent the book being like the naive and gullible Cinderella (though she had a few spineful moments) who radiated innocence and goodness and who found joy in all her moments...even when Lucenzo was being an ass. Give this one a pass, unless you’re like me and trying to finish a series...then just skim.
So...yeah...not my favorite. Meredith and Lucenzo spend the entirely of the first half of this book snarking at one another and accusing each other of being dastardly and evil. It kinda builds the physical chemistry between them, but definitely doesn’t convince me either of them is falling in love. There really are moments where I thought, oh, maybe Lucenzo is staring to see Meredith for who she really is and maybe he’s really falling in love. But honestly, by the end of the story, I more or less got the impression that she’d just been outplayed by a master who was after her money all along, with the support of the Corosini family of course. That make sense with why he kept complaining about duty… So no...not buying the HEA. He did way too much lying and he got way too much out of marrying her for me to think she was the only thing he wanted. And she thought so too...so how could she believe that of him less than 13 pages before the end and honestly really love him? And I didn’t really like either of these two. Lucenzo felt slimy, while Meredith spent the book being like the naive and gullible Cinderella (though she had a few spineful moments) who radiated innocence and goodness and who found joy in all her moments...even when Lucenzo was being an ass. Give this one a pass, unless you’re like me and trying to finish a series...then just skim.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 6, 2024
So we needed more things going on before the switch. One minute the hero is yelling at the heroine the next he is trying to seduce her, and now they are in love?! Why? How? I think the concept works but not execution. Skip, much to abrupt at the end.
January 4, 2021
Destination: Venice, Italy
Attractions: the Grand Canal, Piazza San Marco and Lucenzo Salviati
He's a wolf in designer clothing—attentive and sexy on the outside, ruthless and cunning beneath. Lucenzo's also the man who believes that Meredith Williams's grandmother blackmailed his clients, the wealthy Corosini family. Meredith is determined to prove that Lucenzo's accusation is false—to get to the bottom of her gran's so-called deception—but first she's clearly torn between pushing Lucenzo into the Grand Canal and kissing him senseless...
Attractions: the Grand Canal, Piazza San Marco and Lucenzo Salviati
He's a wolf in designer clothing—attentive and sexy on the outside, ruthless and cunning beneath. Lucenzo's also the man who believes that Meredith Williams's grandmother blackmailed his clients, the wealthy Corosini family. Meredith is determined to prove that Lucenzo's accusation is false—to get to the bottom of her gran's so-called deception—but first she's clearly torn between pushing Lucenzo into the Grand Canal and kissing him senseless...
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July 2, 2018DESTINATION: VENICE, ITALY
ATTRACTIONS: THE GRAND CANAL, PIAZZA SAN MARCO AND LOCENZO SALVIATI
He's a wolf in designer clothing --- attentive and sexy on the outside, ruthless and cunning beneath. Lucenzo's also the man who believes that Meredith Williams's grandmother blackmailed his clients, the wealthy Corosini family. Meredith is determined to prove that Lucenzo's accusation is false --- to get to the bottom of her gran's so-called deception --- but first she's clearly torn between pushing Lucenzo into the rand Canal and kissing him senseless ...
ATTRACTIONS: THE GRAND CANAL, PIAZZA SAN MARCO AND LOCENZO SALVIATI
He's a wolf in designer clothing --- attentive and sexy on the outside, ruthless and cunning beneath. Lucenzo's also the man who believes that Meredith Williams's grandmother blackmailed his clients, the wealthy Corosini family. Meredith is determined to prove that Lucenzo's accusation is false --- to get to the bottom of her gran's so-called deception --- but first she's clearly torn between pushing Lucenzo into the rand Canal and kissing him senseless ...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews