Review: Bound by Deception by Ava March
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 6, 2009
Bound by Deception was an unlucky book in my reading list, it slipped day by day till the day I almost forgot I had it, and now that I read it, thanks to the release of a sequel, I'd like to knock myself on the head for allowing so. I knew that I would have liked it, I loved another book by Ava March, an Erotic Regency as this one, so why I waited so much? Mystery of my strange mind...Anyway, Ava March, in this second book, but really her first book, confirms my previous idea of her: she is a very good erotic writer, but above all she is a very good Regency romance writer. Not Traditional Regency, it's obvious, but as many writers of the genre are saying, the Traditional Regency romance genre is languishing, and so welcome to a bit of fuzzy borders, with Mystery, Erotica and even Vampires! And yippie yippie yeah, the M/M Regency Romance! And don't worry, in Bound by Deception you will not find a damsel in distress disguised by in gentleman clothes, the men in it are both men, only that one happens to like to be a bottom, and the other one is a total top... but preferably on top of a man!Oliver and Vincent had one thing in common, both second sons of the aristocracy, they met at boarding school. They became best friends, even if Oliver really never understood what Vincent found in him: even if second son, Vincent was from a wealthy family and he had chances that Oliver never had: a superior education, a small inheritance that he made thriving and above all a fine appearance and a bearing that Oliver total lacked. Despite this Vincent still considers Oliver one of his best friends, even if with the parameters of the time: a man he is comfortable with, with whom he likes to chat at the club, and a friendly ear that comprehends his striven to try to always please his father, a man that has never even acknowledged his presence in the room, since he has just the heir he needs. Actually I wondered how good the author was, creating a whole family environment for Vincent, without actually presenting any of the members of it, if not as names and outline shadows without cue, and at the same time rendering the desolation of Oliver's life, of whom we never once, neither in his youth memories, meet someone of his family. All Oliver's world turns around Vincent, since the day they met as children, and in the end, Oliver has to do something.Other than being neglected second sons, Oliver and Vincent have something else in common, they prefer the company of men. But where Oliver admitted with himself who he is and what he likes, maybe since he likes to be on the bottom, and it's difficult from that perspective deny it, Vincent is still cheating himself with the lie that, since he is on the top, he is not really a sodomite; it's quite a weak excuse, but then, he has to use it only with himself, since never once Vincent shared his segret with Oliver. And Oliver happens to know it only since they frequent the same brothel and the same whore inside it. The deeply knowledge Oliver has of Vincent and his love for him, made the man able to recognize him in the words of the whore and now Oliver has a plan: for one night he will be in the place of the whore and he will finally have the night he wants with Vincent, without loosing their friendship... and here maybe is the only problem I had with the book, since I don't believe that a three days beard, long hair and the absence of the glass he usually wears, is enough to Oliver to not being recognize by Vincent. To excuse the author there is also to say that we are used to modern electric lights, and instead in that time there were candles and firelight, and plus Vincent is not absolutely expecting to find Oliver in the man he payed for sex.This is only a novella, but it's a finely built novella, and I'm really happy to know that there is a sequel, even if, for once, I didn't find it lacking: all the pages and scenes were properly weighted and in the end, you had the feeling to read a longer book. A sequel will only add more and welcome details to a nice story.