Coffee and a Review with A Wicked Deception by Margaret Tanner

Welcome to yet another week closer to Christmas.  I can hear all the groans out there and I sympathize.  So, to take your mind of the impending holidays I am starting your week off with a wonderful historical romance.  A Wicked Deception by Margaret Tanner is a refreshing topic with wonderful characters and an even better backdrop.  For more on my review check it out after the book blurb.  Have a great week everybody!

Book Blurb:

In 1854, the Australia goldfields swirl with the heated danger and betrayal of the Eureka Stockade rebellion. At the center of this maelstrom is Melanie O’Dea, a woman with a price on her head and the authorities on her heels. Melanie accepts aid from a neighbor, The Honorable Michael Guilford, but this places her in even more peril. After he seduces her and callously discards her, Melanie is left to fend for herself. Can she endure such treachery and survive the sweeping winds of uncertainty?

Review:

Melanie O’Dea is madly in love with Robbie Pritchard.  The only thing standing between the two marrying is her brother James.  James demands that Robbie make a good living before handing over his sister.  Robbie is working in the goldfields.  At this time it is very tumultuous and dangerous.   Robbie is part a group rebelling against officials who are making the miners lives very difficult.  It unfortunately this that brings Melanie into a dangerous situation and turns her into an outlaw.  When she is on the run she is aided by her neighbor, Michael Guilford, who she used to think she was deeply in love with.  During their journey Melanie finds out some devastating news about Robbie and her brother and forces herself to try to move forward with her old love.  It isn’t until after Melanie moves heaven and earth to follow her old love that she finds she has been deceived in a most painful way.  Against all odds Melanie must survive.  How to do that she doesn’t know, but the one thing she knows is that she must.

This was a great historical read.  I loved the story and the little known subject of the Eureka Stockade rebellion.  It really got my historian juices flowing.  I love this part of history especially with the rebellions of miners and others.  This is a more obscurely known rebellion to Americans, but it is no less interesting.  The love story interwoven in the back story of this rebellion was flawlessly done.  The emotion that is brought to not only the historical part but the deception and betrayal that Melanie has to endure is fantastic.  I must say that through the trials it’s the ending that makes everything ok.  I did shed some tears but in the end I was smiling.  If you want a wonderful journey to the past with an emotional component you will love A Wicked Deception.