He is adoring, quirky, brilliant, and hilarious. The latter may be at the top of my list of favorite characters.

Check them out! This novel introduces us to the feisty Kirby, the mysterious Adam, and the lovable Fairchild. I’m a pretty big fan of Nora Roberts because I think she does romance without being trashy and every girl could use more romance in her life (trashy has its place as well.) Side note: two of my favorite romance series are Roberts’ Bride Quartet and the Inn Boonsboro trilogy. I was disappointed by my last two books so I decided to return to an old favorite who I knew would give me a quick, romantic, easy read and I wasn’t disappointed. I will continue to read her stories because she truly is one of the very best in the business, but this one isn’t a very good example of her brilliance and domination of the romance genre.

She’s a BRILLIANT artist and she has MUCH BETTER works of art than this one! You can look through my book lists on goodreads to find several I absolutely loved. If you’ve never read one of Nora’s books, I wouldn’t recommend starting with this one, or even this compilation. But the whole reasoning and stuff for the Rembrandt plot seemed just weird and weak for me.

The plot with the Rembrandt was somewhat suspenseful. Kirby and Adam fall in love with each other within a few days of knowing each other and that whole aspect was a stretch considering the characters. There’s this whole bit with a cat and dog that had me rolling with laughter. I chuckled quite a bit because Kirby and her dad are eccentric and they’re sort of whackadoodle. BUT, it is one of her earlier books and she has definitely gotten A LOT better the more she’s written! I’m a serious Nora fan, I own almost all of her books. This one was alright, but it’s definitely not my favorite Nora book. The whole plot with the Rembrandt is unraveled. There are a couple attempts made on Kirby’s life. Anyway, a Rembrandt painting has been stolen and Adam is there, secretly, to find the Rembrandt. Kirby’s dad does forgeries of famous, classic paintings. Adam comes to stay in their house for a few weeks. The gist: Kirby’s father is a famous painter. I got this book as part of the Whispered Promises compilation.

Deception by William G. Roberts