Review: Needed to be a Full Length Novel **SPOILER ALERT**
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 11, 2014
At just under 200 pages, I'm not sure if this book qualifies as a novel or a novella...I don't know how many pages a book has to have in order to qualify as one or the other.  Nevertheless, the story that unfolds in "A Noble Deception" reads like a novella--albeit a good one--when really, IMO at least, the storyline is one that cries out for a full length novel.  Ms. Bale did such a wonderful job drawing me into the story and making me care about the characters--not just the protagonists, but also secondary characters--that I wished more time had been devoted to the various aspects of the story.Lachlan Ramsey, Viscount Strathcairn, is a landless knight.  He's super handsome and successful with the ladies, and an inveterate flirt.  He has no interest in ever getting married, and basically intends on having as many women as he can.  I had my doubts about him when he was first introduced.  Once he and Moira married; however, I began to see a different side to Lachlan and grew to love him.  Lachlan is nephew by marriage to the elderly Earl of Kildrummond, who is terminally ill and on his deathbed.  With all the recent turmoil between the Douglas Clans and the King, the Earl is concerned for the future fate of his lands and people.  He also wants to ensure a secure future for his beloved illegitimate daughter, Moira MacInnes.  To assure his two goals, the Earl decides to name Lachlan as his heir, provided he agrees to marry Moira.  Although not happy with the idea of marriage, Lachlan is agreeable to the plan in order to be able to inherit.Moira MacInnes is an overly proud young woman.  She is also extremely stubborn.  Described as plain and skinny, Moira has a deep dislike for handsome men, who she thinks are full of themselves and their good looks (men who have always overlooked her.)  So, of course, her first impression of the extremely handsome Lachlan, is less than positive.  The bastard daughter of the Earl and his beloved mistress, Moira has spent her entire life trying to distance herself from her parents' longstanding elicit affair.  She has suffered a lot of derision and scorn from other nobles who see her as nothing more than a peasant bastard and her mother a whore.  Moira's quest to separate herself from her parents' behavior resulted in a strained relationship between Moira and her father.  She lives the life of a peasant and refuses aid of any kind from her father...a fact that hurts the Earl deeply.In any event, Moira first refuses to marry Lachlan, but soon agrees after he presents the scheme to her of a temporary marriage which will be annulled after the Earl dies and Lachlan inherits.  As far as I was concerned, the bargain that was struck was indicative that Moira has more pride than sense...after the marriage, she would happily return to her life of drudgery secure in the knowledge that she would be able to spend the rest of her life on Kildrummond land...in other words she wanted nothing more than what she had before and it was clear that her life up to that point had not been an easy one.Nonetheless, a bargain is struck and the two get married.  The story then quickly progresses to the HEA.  The reader gets a few glimpses of Moira and Lachlan together over the course of the months of their marriage, but the development of their relationship is not explored to any real depth (likely due to the short length of the book.)  I would have loved to have seen more interactions between Lachlan and Moira.  I think their storyline got shortchanged, not only because the book was so short, but also because the limited page count was shared by a romance between Sir Alex, Lachlan's best friend, and his lady love--the story switches focus every once in a while to Sir Alex and his love interest.There is also the developing relationship between Moira and her dying father that I would have liked to have read more about.  Although the reader gets to see a couple of scenes with Moira and her father, we are primarily told that their relationship improved rather than seeing it for ourselves.The one thing about this book that irritated me--a minor complaint and I'm not sure why it bothered me, but it did--is the fact that even after her marriage Moira is referred to as Moira MacInnes.  Even though her marriage was a "fake" one, she would still take her husband's name thus she would be Moira Ramsay.  I just thought that was weird, especially since as she did carry his title and was property addressed as Lady Strathcairn.Despite my complaints--and really I wouldn't say they are complaints, but rather observations--this was a truly enjoyable book.  The storyline is so engaging and compelling that it really needed to be a full length novel to do it justice.  Nevertheless, as it is written, this book makes for a very good read.  I very much liked it and would recommend it as worthwhile read.  FYI, this is not a clean romance.  There are a couple of love scenes, which are, IMO, beautifully written without being overly graphic, nor is any crude language used.  Oh BTW, the book cries out for an epilogue.  I would have loved to have seen how Moira settled into life as a noblewoman, considering she'd spent her entire life, even the time of her "fake" marriage, avoiding it.  Happy reading!