PORTRAIT OF DECEPTION - Janette McCarthy Louard
Genesis/Indigo
December 2004
SYNOPSIS: Sam Trahan is determined to fulfill his grandmother's last wish and recover a stolen family heirloom. That means enlisting the thief's former fiance. Little does Sam know that he'll end up realizing his grandmother's greater, unspoken wish.
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE: (4+) Jennifer Brathwaite
REVIEW: In this exciting, smart novel the reader finds 3 main threads: opposites attract, facing your fears and doing your duty
as you may garner unexpected rewards. In the book the main and some of the secondary characters are forced a face and accept some or all of
these points in their journey to peace and happiness.
Multimillionaire Sam Trahan decides to take matters into his own hands in order to fulfil his grandmother’s dying wish, that he regain their
family’s stolen birthright and most prized possession and thus bring unity to their fractured clan. For Sam, there is the added desire to
regain his self-respect, since he is the one who had charge of the item when it was lost. In his efforts to fulfil those goals Sam enlists the
unwilling help of the thief’s ex-fiancée, nursery school teacher, Zora Redwood. Despite not wanting to get any further entangled in the
nightmare that became of her relationship with her ex – Milton – Zora grudgingly agrees to go back to Jamaica to help Sam regain his family
heirloom and in so doing, face a past she’s been long trying to avoid.
The pace of the book is extremely well-crafted considering that the passage of time isn’t very long. It shows Sam’s urgency in completing what
he has to do, the progression of his and Zora’s feelings for one another and the finale unfolds at a realistic pace that gets the reader into
the action.
All of the characters in PORTRAIT OF DECEPTION, are interesting, have great personality and dimension and contribute to the story, both
on their own and in terms of how they relate to other characters. Sam’s siblings – Justin and Celia – and the beautiful Shelly Wong, are
perfect examples.
The lush, tropical location of Jamaica is a fabulous setting and works perfectly in the story. Ms. Louard enchantingly captures the people and
the landscape making the environment a major element of the text. Zora’s Brooklyn neighborhood is another great location that Ms. Louard uses
well.
The book’s dialogue is also great. The dialect is authentic, conversations are realistic and go a long way in showing changes in the feelings
and/or personalities of the characters, such as the warmth that is infused into Zora and Sam’s conversations as time passes.
Altogether PORTRAIT OF DECEPTION is very good. The story is interesting and dramatic. The passion between Sam and Zora is loving and
tender. Physical passion is absent from the text but would have been a welcome addition as the reader becomes so wrapped up in the characters
and their romance. Nonetheless, Janette McCarthy Louard’s great writing delivers a novel that is a must buy!
jennifer@romanceincolor.com (5th December 2004)