Isabella Bradford has a knack for creating compelling and believable characters. In A SINFUL DECEPTION, she gives us Miss Serena Carew, a woman with a troubled past and a secret that could end her comfortable new life in London, and Lord Geoffrey Fitzroy, a second son more interested in fleeting pleasures than in marriage. The fire between them sparks the moment they meet at a ball, and the more they try to resist, the more fate conspires to bring them together.

The secondary characters are complex as well, from Serena's gruff and changeable grandfather to a down-on-his-luck wounded soldier she encounters in a park. The only one who's one-dimensional is the villain of the piece, who is as vile as they come.

When reading a romance, one knows the couple will live happily ever after, and sometimes the twists that keep them apart could be easily solved by a little honestly. That's the case here, but Bradford has given Serena strong reasons for trying to conceal the truth; it's not hard to believe she would do anything to keep her secret. The final scenes had me holding my breath, waiting to see how the big reveal played out.

I recommend A SINFUL DECEPTION for readers who enjoy Georgian-era historical romance with a splash of Imperial occupation of India. This is the second book in the Breconridge Brothers series, but it will stand on its own.