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Faith

by Deneane Clark

reviewed by Valarie Pelissero

January 2010, 288 pages, Publisher: Leisure, ISBN: 0843963522

Faith by Deneane Clark is a “caught in the act and now must marry” tale, which if done right can carry me away, but in this book was just a story I have already read dozens of times, most recently in Ms. Clark's first book Grace. In her sister Grace's story, Faith Ackerly wasn't much more than wallpaper even though she and Grace were very close and attended their first season together. In her own story though, Faith was really just a place-holder to help move the story along allowing Grace to take the forefront which I wasn't pleased with because I didn't like Grace in her own story and I did not want to read about her again.

As a character Faith had no substance, no overall character development. She was, as the ton labeled her, an “Ice Princess” and she never thawed enough for me to like her as a character. Unfortunately, Ms. Clark makes the mistake that most new writers make in that she relies on the BIG MIS for character conflict, unfortunately, there wasn't just one giant misunderstanding there were a lot of them, so many that I just wanted to reach inside the book, slap both the characters and tell them to TALK TO ONE ANOTHER!

Last season when Gareth and Faith first meet he is just a younger brother to the Earl of Seth, but now he has inherited a title and fortune he didn't know was his and is the catch of the season, but his reputation as a rake prejudices Faith against him so that she isn't willing to give him a chance to court her properly. Does it prejudice her against kissing him at a ball? Nope, and they are caught by his former mistress, who gleefully spreads the tale, ensuring that Gareth and Faith are quickly engaged and soon married, which was not her plan at all and provides a rather tedious conflict.

When Faith was five she was tricked into a neighbor's hedge maze and left there by her sister. When she catches the eldest son of the house getting busy with one of the maids, she is told that if she moves or makes a sound a giant spider will eat her. Because of that incident Faith determined to always be good, and as an adult Faith is absolutely terrified of anything resembling intimacy, hence the term “Ice Princess.” Grace knows this and thinking to help, just before the nuptials she convinces Gareth to not consummate the marriage allowing Faith more time in which to get to know him. While Gareth agrees he is coldly furious about it thinking that Faith sent her sister rather than talking to him herself, so after they are married, he is in a snit and instead of talking about it, they grow apart. Then another BIG MIS happens and they grow even farther apart, and then another, and yet another, all the while the two are about to burst with pent-up lust, and the entire book continues that way so that by the end when feelings are finally revealed I literally gagged because it was so out of character for Faith that it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Unfortunately, there really isn't much more to the story than Gareth and Faith jumping to the wrong conclusions about one another's actions and lack of intimacy, and one misunderstanding after another. Apart from his tendency to continually jump to the wrong conclusions Gareth was a good character, he was more well-defined than Faith and I liked him despite his stupidity in choosing Faith.

I'm sure current fans of Ms. Clark's have been eagerly waiting Faith's story, but as Faith is the second book by Deneane Clark that I have read, it will be my last. I know we should give a new writer time to mature and develop their craft, but with so many books and so little time to read, two chances is all I am willing to take out of my precious reading hours.