Customer Reviews

Double Trouble

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Boston, Maralys O’Reilly enjoys providing netiquette advice to users. However, her quiet life ends when she receives a call from her preadolescent nephew who tells her that their mother Marcia has failed to pick him or his younger brother up. Their father James remains en route from California. Maralys picks up the kids and takes them to their suburban home. Not long afterward, James arrives home to learn Marcia left him. A few days later, James visits Maralys and kisses her, but she says she is not a Marcia substitute even if she is her twin.

(...)

DOUBLE TROUBLE is a very funny contemporary romance mostly told by the irreverent Maralys’ perspective with her Internet musings as a key element in understanding her. James and the support cast enhance readers’ comprehension of what makes Maralys tick. Though James’ problem with his father is an unnecessary sidebar, even if it places him in financial jeopardy, fans will fully appreciate Claire Cross’ amusing tale.

Harriet Klausner

When Maralys O'Reilly received the phone call from her 10 year old nephew telling her he and his younger brother were stranded because their mother, her twin sister Marcia hadn't picked them up, she raced across Boston to get them. Bringing them home she was surprised to find a note - from her sister not addressed to her, but hey, under the circumstances she read it - telling the boys father, James that she was leaving - and good luck with the boys! Maralys and James had been at each other's throats for a long time, but she'd never imagined there was so much trouble in paradise. Besides Marcia leaving for parts unknown, James was deep in debt, losing his job and his inheritance.

Surviving a bad marriage and climbing out of debt herself, Maralys wasn't sympathetic for James, even though Marcia seemed to be in the wrong to just abandon them. As a web-designer running her own business, Maralys was emerging into her own writing code and running an advice column on the web. She now found herself offering advice to James on downsizing and living more modestly. Surprised when he took her advice, started downsizing and moved into a middle-class neighborhood, Maralys, who'd used anger as a safeguard to her heart, was now looking at James in a new way. When James started putting moves on her, Maralys began to wonder if he was looking for a substitute wife or, was he looking for more. More importantly, was she ready to take a chance on love again.

I found this contemporary to be both humorous and serious. It demonstrates how innocent comparisons made by parents can have an effect on shaping a child's psyche. In such a way, the author characterized Maralys as this wise cracking cynic who at thirty something was still a rebel - using cynicism as a shield to mask barbs still being inflicted by an aging father and caused her to retreat into the safety of her cyber world rather than living in the real world. James was also drawn as a bit more complex then just the abandoned husband, whose live had been given a major shake-up and now was learning how to be a real father. The kids were sweet, even as they too were given a `wake-up' call from living high to a more modest way of life.

While not your ordinary romance, especially with the ex-brother-in-law getting involved with his ex-wife's sister, it is still a romance, but with a surprising twist that readers will enjoy. The often-irreverent musings of advice on the internet will have you all thinking of Dear Abby, and there are truly some gems of sage advice to the lovelorn here! - BOTTOM LINE - Although not your typical boy meets girl romance - it is amusing and provides some food for thought on how innocent remarks made in the hearing of little ears can have life-changing repercussions. --- Marilyn, for www.contemporaryromancewriters.com ---

This book is wonderful, funny and touching. Yeah, I know people throw these terms around but this really is an unfairly neglected favorite. Maralys' voice is a joy to read. The revelation of the events that have shaped her unique character is particularly effective.
Claire Cross/Delacroix does a great job with the first person; I've been searching for a new title for years, in vain, alas. Grab it - get one for your best friend while you're at it.

Maralys O'Reilly is an internet advice columnist who is a loner with no desire to marry or have kids. Then one day her nice, comfortable, "I am an island" lifestyle is totally disrupted. Her nephews Jimmy and Johnny call and tell her that their mother, Maralys's twin sister Marcia, didn't show up to get them up from swim practice. Not long after, the news gets worse, much worse. After Maralys takes the kids home, she finds a note from her sister declaring she's dumped her husband James and her two sons.

James Coxwell is the Number Three criminal attorney in the city, rich, powerful...and on the fast track to oblivion. Not only has his wife dumped him, he's just found out his own father is ousting him from the family firm on behalf of another relative. At age 42, he's all washed up.

Maralys has never considered herself the save-anyone type, but the situation of her brother-and-law and nephews is a mess. Before she knows it, she agrees to move in and help out, and there is no telling where the heck this will all end.

This book is more women's mainstream fiction than typical romance, in that it is written in first person and it violates a major taboo of romance: the book starts out with the hero not only married, but married to the heroine's sister. However, its ending does fulfill normal expectations of romance readers, so if you are a lover of traditional romance, you can rest assured you will be satisfied with how the story comes out.

The plot itself has the sharp, dark-humor tone of two romantic comedy movies I enjoyed a lot, My Best Friend's Wedding and The Truth about Cats and Dogs. The characters are sharply drawn, both protagonists intelligent, strong, and honest, but with the interesting flaws of cynicism in both of them and more than a little despair in James. The two children are also cute and often touching in a believable and enjoyable way.

If you are looking for a contemporary romance that is very much out of the ordinary, Double Trouble might be just the ticket for you.

Fast and efficient!! Love the book, been looking everywhere, since the author no longer has her book in print

I loved this book!! The heroine was one sarcastic puppy (kinda like me), opinionated (like me) and had an answer for everything (me again). I enjoyed reading this book and laughed out many times. The book was very witty AND did not take itself too seriously. Just like a good, fun book should be. Good work Mrs. Cross!!!

Okay, I got this book after my heart was broken this past valentine's day as a theraputic tool to get rid of the blues.

I loved this book when I first started to read it and I got most of the way through it until...it turns out the two main characters KNEW EACH OTHER BEFORE HAND. As in, they were lovers and there was a case of mistaken identity. After that, frankly...the book just plain sucked. I couldnt' take it seriously anymore, and after a while, Maralys, the main chracter would not develop, it was just like, "all right already, we've heard this soliloquy before hand...will you develop already?!".

Also, all of the computer stuff...it was just too unbelievable that the main character was a highly-trained computer programmer. It didn't fit, and the author overly described a LOT of things.

It got tedious to read and I skipped pages upon pages of reading and I didn't miss out on any plot. The low points of conflict were too drawn out, I'd say.

However, you'll just love the main male character and wish you had one of your own.

~ Rebecca A. Paisley

Double Trouble by Claire Cross
February 10, 2005

Courtesy of WWW.Loveromances.com

DOUBLE TROUBLE by Claire Cross opens with what looks to be an advice column. "Hot_Chic" needs advice on going to a funeral versus meeting Mr. Right. "Aunt Mary's" reply is to wear "something sleek and black" in case the heir of the deceased needs solace, and thus begins the story of Marylys O'Reilly, the protagonist of this novel, a spin-off to Cross's 2001 book THIRD TIME LUCKY.

In DOUBLE TROUBLE, Marylys is a computer geek who among other things writes an advice column through the Internet. Her twin sister has just left her husband, James Coxwell, a very handsome and successful lawyer, and two pre-adolescent sons. So, how does Marylys fit in with this story? At first it wasn't apparent what she had to do with James and Marcia Coxwell, and that made the first half of the book very frustrating for this reviewer. Marylys reacts to her brother-in-law James (and vice versa) with such chemistry and near-passion that this reader questioned why one would like or even admire Marylys, who as the main character of this contemporary romance, spent a lot of her time flirting with her own brother-in-law. It didn't make any sense at all, since it seemed that the author started out by painting Marylys as a likeable person, yet Marylys was doing something so heinous as to go after her sister's husband when Marcia had just left him. It didn't matter that Marylys and her twin Marcia had a very strained relationship. The fact that Marylys was the main character almost dictates that going after one's sister's husband was not something she should have been doing, at least in the eyes of the romance reader.

After halfway through the story, the reasons for this character's aberration becomes clear to the reader. Marylys' personality and behavior was based on an event in her life that happened years ago, before James had even met her sister. With this one event, everything changes Marylys in the eyes of the reader. This reviewer was able to breathe a little better, knowing that the protagonist was not as shady as she was starting to appear, but despite the explanation, it may have been better if the reader wasn't left in such suspense for so long. The problem with the main character in a romance seeming to have such an attraction toward her sister's husband may anger and turn off some readers, as it did this reviewer. If this secret was revealed sooner, instead of taking up half the book, this reviewer feels the book would have been much better.

Another problem with this book was the dialogue. A lot of the dialogue just did not read right, in that when the reader goes from one person to the next in a conversation, it felt as if the same person was speaking the entire time, with the author just changing the names in between quotes. The conversations were often boring, or irrelevant to the story.

The same can be said about the whole section about the "Ariadnes", a group of women that Marylys met with once a month. Although it is understood that these women were a somewhat important element in Marylys' life, and they also helped to explain some of her character traits, the group for the most part was really an unnecessary addition to the plot line. If they had been left out of the book, the novel would not have lost anything. There were many parts of the book that felt extraneous, and better editing may have made a better book.

On the other hand, there were some fun characters in DOUBLE TROUBLE. The relationship between the two sisters, although most of it was "off camera", was a great idea, albeit not original. This reviewer would have enjoyed seeing more of this relationship. The two sons of James and Marcia were also a welcome addition to the cast of characters, and should have been utilized more. The same goes for Connor O'Reiley, Marylys and Marcia's widowed father, who was cantankerous and yet lovable at the same time. And Meg, Marylys' best friend, was a hoot!

With that said, this reviewer is giving DOUBLE TROUBLE a three-star rating, despite the negative aspects of the novel. There were enough positive things that made up for it, mainly interesting and fun characters that are often what makes a romance work. A little bit of editing would have made this a four-star book and a much enjoyable read.