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xishimmerix's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
zenithharpink's review against another edition
5.0
I re-read this book because it's one of my favorite romances, I just love Violet and Adrian! The characters are super fun, and the story, though contrived, is entertaining and has a bit of a different take on it. Violet is the perfect heroine - completely sympathetic without being a doormat. Adrian is lovable and virile without being overbearing. I also love Horatio's side-story - I'm such a sucker for dog rescues!
The second book in the trilogy is NOT worth reading. Violet's sister is unlikable in this book as well as the second one, so I'll probably skip that book in the series and go straight to #3, about Kit and Elsa.
Tracy Anne Warren is one of my favorite authors for historical romance.
The second book in the trilogy is NOT worth reading. Violet's sister is unlikable in this book as well as the second one, so I'll probably skip that book in the series and go straight to #3, about Kit and Elsa.
Tracy Anne Warren is one of my favorite authors for historical romance.
heyhaley17's review against another edition
5.0
Beautiful romance thats sure to keep you entertained and turning the page then feel as if you never wanted it to end.
I really liked the way the story was set up for the reader. It jumped right into the story and kept the perfect pace to keep the reader entertained and the story moving along without being too mind numbingly slow but still getting in all points to make the story understandable.
Even better is that the story itself isn't one that needs something like spies or realy dark secrets and people out to kill each other to keep it interesting. It is that I think that makes this books so great becuase it doesn't need to be dressed up with wild rides (even though I love those books). It's difficult to find a ordinary story that is made extrodinary. It takes a talented writter to create that sort of story and Warren is definately one of them.
Character wise I had a huge issue with names. i couldn't get over the WAY too similar names for the twins. No mother would do that...with only a single 'e' seperating the names. It drove me crazy. In the case of Jeanette I think its intersting how much I can't stand her in this first book (I read the second first) while I loved her in her story. It makes it all the more enjoyable to know how much she grew from being such a disliked character to a great one that I enjoyed.
Kit, what more can I say other than he's awesome and i can't wait to read his story.
Violet was the stort of character I absolutely loved to see grow and prove to herself that she can be more than what people think of her. I liked watching her grow more confident in herself as she grew more condifent in her love for Adrian and their relationship grew. She is just one of those well rounded characters that you just want to see grow and get all the better as the story progresses. Adrian I love as well. He's not one of those dark brooding heros that are so often seen in romance novels. Instead like Violet he's very human and very likeable. There is no real barrier between them as they grow to love each other openly however more reluctantly on his end. When the big secret is revealed to Adrian it is a test of their relationship but the big push that he needs to realize what could've happened if he had made the choice he thought he had and what he would've given up. Their relationship is so beutiful I totally fell in love with them.
I really liked the way the story was set up for the reader. It jumped right into the story and kept the perfect pace to keep the reader entertained and the story moving along without being too mind numbingly slow but still getting in all points to make the story understandable.
Even better is that the story itself isn't one that needs something like spies or realy dark secrets and people out to kill each other to keep it interesting. It is that I think that makes this books so great becuase it doesn't need to be dressed up with wild rides (even though I love those books). It's difficult to find a ordinary story that is made extrodinary. It takes a talented writter to create that sort of story and Warren is definately one of them.
Character wise I had a huge issue with names. i couldn't get over the WAY too similar names for the twins. No mother would do that...with only a single 'e' seperating the names. It drove me crazy. In the case of Jeanette I think its intersting how much I can't stand her in this first book (I read the second first) while I loved her in her story. It makes it all the more enjoyable to know how much she grew from being such a disliked character to a great one that I enjoyed.
Kit, what more can I say other than he's awesome and i can't wait to read his story.
Violet was the stort of character I absolutely loved to see grow and prove to herself that she can be more than what people think of her. I liked watching her grow more confident in herself as she grew more condifent in her love for Adrian and their relationship grew. She is just one of those well rounded characters that you just want to see grow and get all the better as the story progresses. Adrian I love as well. He's not one of those dark brooding heros that are so often seen in romance novels. Instead like Violet he's very human and very likeable. There is no real barrier between them as they grow to love each other openly however more reluctantly on his end. When the big secret is revealed to Adrian it is a test of their relationship but the big push that he needs to realize what could've happened if he had made the choice he thought he had and what he would've given up. Their relationship is so beutiful I totally fell in love with them.
hijinx_abound's review against another edition
2.0
Just meh overall. Not terrible but not great either.
ab18's review against another edition
2.0
I couldn’t enjoy the book due to all the silly mistakes/decisions by the author.
Having the story begin at the wedding ceremony is a bold choice that, unfortunately, didn’t work out well for me. I want to know my characters enough to cheer for them before being thrown headfirst into the conflict. And honestly, the heavy exposition through character conversation sounded unnatural.
The author didn’t really make me feel like Violet had any right to do what she did. She says she wants to marry the man she loves for as long as it lasts and wants to be able to save the family from scandal.
This makes zero sense. If you love someone you want to start off on the right foot. Fooling an innocent person from day one, just so you can be near them, seems like a remarkably selfish thing to do. That means she knew the marriage probably wouldn’t last but was willing to risk HIS happiness and reputation just to be near him for however long.
And if she was worried about the scandal of leaving him at the altar without a bride she could have offered a last minute switch. The gossip from such an unorthodox happening seems far less problematic than the future discovery that she was living in sin with her “husband”, had lied to him for ages and that her children were illegitimate (yes, I know she signed the marriage papers with her real name and that probably saved the marriage in a legal sense but SHE didn’t know that). Honestly, this made Violet sound like an absolute airhead. She was ready to erase her entire existence on the chance that Adrian, who barely noticed her before, would make her happy. She keeps doing idiotic things up until the end of the novel for no discernible reason, not even love. Why did she take Jeanette up on her offer of a second switch? I wish Adrian had throttled her.
The conversations are all pretty boring, nothing clever or entertaining in the phraseology or content. We get gems like “I will try to make you proud, brother” as the extent of conversation between two men. We also get “You only ate two bites of soup.” Huh? Heyer, it’s not.
But that wasn’t the only thing that confused me. We’re told Violet is incredibly blind without glasses. She can see nothing close OR far without them. The author keeps stressing this, even letting us know that she could hardly sign the marriage papers because she couldn’t figure out where her signature went. She can’t see cards that are in front of her face. But then she’s able to see multiple interactions across a crowded room down to people’s expressions. She can also see the hair on her husband’s feet across a wide bedroom in the dark of night. And seagulls over the channel, and someone waving on a horse a ways off… The inconsistencies kept pulling me out of the story. As a glasses wearer myself, I was finding it hard to believe she wasn’t going absolutely crazy without proper vision and that she miraculously avoided a splitting headache.
The trope of the heroine being a blue stocking with spectacles, bad fashion and a wispy personality was just too much. Of course she also loves animals (and children, I assume). She's well-read but knows nothing of the male anatomy (eye roll). I like a sweet innocent heroine but don’t overdo it. Of course she’s also possessed of a beautiful face and figure but no one notices that because she reads BOOKS … even though she has an identical twin who’s the queen bee…even though her sister is a narcissistic shallow witch with NO redeeming qualities. Because that’s what human beings are totally like.
The anachronistic names and words for the Regency period were also pulling me out of the book. Research, people! If you can look up the minute details of a bonnet, you can look up a dang name. Christabel? Jeanette? Those names didn’t appear for years. And the word gooey is American and from the 1890s.
And out of curiosity, why spend multiple paragraphs describing the physicality of the heroine but leave your reader mostly clueless on what the hero looks like?
Having the story begin at the wedding ceremony is a bold choice that, unfortunately, didn’t work out well for me. I want to know my characters enough to cheer for them before being thrown headfirst into the conflict. And honestly, the heavy exposition through character conversation sounded unnatural.
The author didn’t really make me feel like Violet had any right to do what she did. She says she wants to marry the man she loves for as long as it lasts and wants to be able to save the family from scandal.
This makes zero sense. If you love someone you want to start off on the right foot. Fooling an innocent person from day one, just so you can be near them, seems like a remarkably selfish thing to do. That means she knew the marriage probably wouldn’t last but was willing to risk HIS happiness and reputation just to be near him for however long.
And if she was worried about the scandal of leaving him at the altar without a bride she could have offered a last minute switch. The gossip from such an unorthodox happening seems far less problematic than the future discovery that she was living in sin with her “husband”, had lied to him for ages and that her children were illegitimate (yes, I know she signed the marriage papers with her real name and that probably saved the marriage in a legal sense but SHE didn’t know that). Honestly, this made Violet sound like an absolute airhead. She was ready to erase her entire existence on the chance that Adrian, who barely noticed her before, would make her happy. She keeps doing idiotic things up until the end of the novel for no discernible reason, not even love. Why did she take Jeanette up on her offer of a second switch? I wish Adrian had throttled her.
The conversations are all pretty boring, nothing clever or entertaining in the phraseology or content. We get gems like “I will try to make you proud, brother” as the extent of conversation between two men. We also get “You only ate two bites of soup.” Huh? Heyer, it’s not.
But that wasn’t the only thing that confused me. We’re told Violet is incredibly blind without glasses. She can see nothing close OR far without them. The author keeps stressing this, even letting us know that she could hardly sign the marriage papers because she couldn’t figure out where her signature went. She can’t see cards that are in front of her face. But then she’s able to see multiple interactions across a crowded room down to people’s expressions. She can also see the hair on her husband’s feet across a wide bedroom in the dark of night. And seagulls over the channel, and someone waving on a horse a ways off… The inconsistencies kept pulling me out of the story. As a glasses wearer myself, I was finding it hard to believe she wasn’t going absolutely crazy without proper vision and that she miraculously avoided a splitting headache.
The trope of the heroine being a blue stocking with spectacles, bad fashion and a wispy personality was just too much. Of course she also loves animals (and children, I assume). She's well-read but knows nothing of the male anatomy (eye roll). I like a sweet innocent heroine but don’t overdo it. Of course she’s also possessed of a beautiful face and figure but no one notices that because she reads BOOKS … even though she has an identical twin who’s the queen bee…even though her sister is a narcissistic shallow witch with NO redeeming qualities. Because that’s what human beings are totally like.
The anachronistic names and words for the Regency period were also pulling me out of the book. Research, people! If you can look up the minute details of a bonnet, you can look up a dang name. Christabel? Jeanette? Those names didn’t appear for years. And the word gooey is American and from the 1890s.
And out of curiosity, why spend multiple paragraphs describing the physicality of the heroine but leave your reader mostly clueless on what the hero looks like?
share_the_book_dragon's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
alinarashid's review against another edition
4.0
It was so emotional and capturing Novel; happy to discover a great writer!
ufcasey's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
This was a simple concept (twins switching places) but the author really pulls on your emotions. The book opens on the wedding day of Adrian and "Jeannette" and immediately pulls you into the emotional turmoil of Violet who is getting everything she wants but with a heavy dose of guilt for deceiving the man she loves. Meanwhile, the real Jeannette is not making it easy to keep up the ruse, and Adrian's brother gets closer to the truth, throwing Violet into further turmoil. When everything finally falls apart, you don't know who to feel worse for, Violet or Adrian. My only qualms with this book are: 1) I wish the resolution to the whole situation didn't wrap up so easily and 2) I really wanted an epilogue. But really those are small things. I'll definitely check out other books by this author.
This was a simple concept (twins switching places) but the author really pulls on your emotions. The book opens on the wedding day of Adrian and "Jeannette" and immediately pulls you into the emotional turmoil of Violet who is getting everything she wants but with a heavy dose of guilt for deceiving the man she loves. Meanwhile, the real Jeannette is not making it easy to keep up the ruse, and Adrian's brother gets closer to the truth, throwing Violet into further turmoil. When everything finally falls apart, you don't know who to feel worse for, Violet or Adrian. My only qualms with this book are: 1) I wish the resolution to the whole situation didn't wrap up so easily and 2) I really wanted an epilogue. But really those are small things. I'll definitely check out other books by this author.
cowmuffcns's review against another edition
4.0
very good! it definitely slowed down a little in the middle but the story kept me on my toes and i couldn't wait to see how it would end up.
the characters could've been developed a little more but i enjoyed violet finding her identity and not comparing herself to her sister constantly. will definitely check the series for the other books :)
the characters could've been developed a little more but i enjoyed violet finding her identity and not comparing herself to her sister constantly. will definitely check the series for the other books :)
kriff08's review against another edition
4.0
Pleasantly surprised to have really enjoyed this one! The story was charming, although the main character's deception really did go on too long- can't imagine being married to someone that long without telling them I wasn't who they thought. I still thought it was a cute book, light and enjoyable totally an easy historical romance to get into for a day or two.