Customer Reviews

Twin Peril (Signet Regency Romance)

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

 

 

The first thing you should know about this book is that it is number 4 in a series called "The Six" The Six are a group of musical women who have formed a group by that name. The books are written in pairs, so that "A Scandalous Journey" takes place at the same time as "The Marriage Campaign" and this book, "Twin Peril" occurs during the events of "A Rake's Redemption." It is not necessary to read them in order, but it is helpful to understanding the motivations of the minor characters. In the book pairs the first one is usually very action-orientated and the second is more character-driven. If you want a fast-paced, action-packed book (or just want to know what happened to Lady Sarah) I suggest starting with "A Rake's Redemption", but be sure to give this one a shot. I have given the book 5 stars because when I reached the end I was happy for our heros...but a little sad that I had to leave them so soon. That's the best compliment I can give any book.

Deborah Woodhurst is tired of being popular simply because she's a twin. She and her sister Diana are very different people, and she wants nothing more than for someone to be able to tell them apart. Unlike her sister, Deborah wants to marry for love, and hopes to find a good-hearted man in her short list of prospects.

Michael Winslow, Duke of Fairfax, is also hoping to find a wife... but not just any wife. He's not going to let his grandmother pick his bride. Michael wants a girl to like him for HIM, not simply because he's a duke. He can't think of a better woman than Deborah Woodhurst. Now, if only he'll be able to tell her apart from her twin sister...

There were things I liked about this novel, but there were also things I didn't like. So I'll break it down into "The Good" and "The Bad."

The Good: As always, Susannah Carleton has a good feel for the Regency period. And she's also very good at characterizations. I liked Michael a lot. It was refreshing to have a beta hero instead of an alpha male. Michael is an average-looking fellow without a lot of experience with women. I get tired of the "grab and kiss" rakish types. Also, Diana Woodhurst was an interesting character. Her snobbishness was amusing. I liked the "good twin, bad twin" aspect of the book.

The Bad?: Susannah Carleton doesn't bring anything new or exciting to the table. Where's the peril? Where's the conflict? If you tire easily, the slow pacing isn't for you. Also, you can always count on Susannah Carleton to set aside an entire chapter for her heroine's exploits to the dressmaker. (That's not a good thing) And... who really wants to read about the upholstries and wall hangings and furnishings all the time?

All in all, "Twin Peril" is a nice story that paints a very realistic portrait of the time period. If you've liked Carleton's previous novels, you'll also like this.

I've been waiting for this one, after seeing identical twins Deborah and Diana in action in A Rake's Redemption.

It would be easy to say that Deborah is the good twin and Diana the evil twin, but it's not that simple. When I was a child, I always thought it would be wonderful to have a twin sister--definitely better than having a little brother! But while the Woodhurst twins did enjoy the closeness, they've also suffered for it. Diana feels like she's always being compared negatively with Deborah, so she refuses to compete on the same level, and turns to manipulation and subterfuge to get what she wants--she's a practical young woman, though her practicality is slanted by bitterness that Deborah is the favorite. Ironically, she's trapped, because being one of a set of beautiful twins is her claim to fame, and when Deborah starts asserting her individuality, Diana feels further betrayed.

Deborah, on the other hand, is tired of being considered one of an indistinguishable pair. Every suitor she's had has been interested in "one of the Woodhurst twins," not in her specifically. Thus her criteria for a suitor she'll accept: he has to be able to tell the twins apart.

Which makes her the perfect match for Michael Winslow, the Duke of Fairfax. Fairfax is being pressured by his grandmother to marry and establish his nursery, and has helpfully provided him with a list of suitable candidates. However, Michael, though he hesitates to admit to wanting something as unmanly as a love match, does want to marry someone who wants to marry Michael Winslow, not the Duke of Fairfax.

The story starts at New Year's, when the Woodhurst family members traditionally evaluate what they've accomplished over the past year and set goals for the coming year. Diana confides to Deborah that she intends to snare a wealthy, titled husband--regardless of her feelings for him or his for her. After all, she can always have affairs if she doesn't like the man. She also has a list of candidates, and Fairfax, as the highest ranking, is at the top of it.

It's no coincidence that both Diana and the dowager duchess have lists of suitable mates--they both subscribe to the view at the time of marriage as more a political merger than a love match.

Looking back, I've commented more on Diana than on the heroine, Deborah--that's because Diana is the main thing that's keeping Deborah and Fairfax apart. Without her plotting and scheming, they'd have had a much easier time of it, I'm sure.

I enjoyed watching these two realize they'd fallen in love with each other, and work to be together despite Diana's efforts. The ending in particular was a lot of fun, with overlapping plots from both sides.

Speaking of overlapping plots--the timeline of Twin Peril overlaps that of A Rake's Redemption, which is fascinating. I'm tempted to re-read them both together. One of these days, when I have time.

In the epilogue, it hints that Diana has learned her lesson, but no details are given. Dare I hope this means she'll get her own story? I'm always interested in a good redemption story.

Briefly - this Regency romance develops the courtship of Lady Deborah(daughter of the Marquess of Kesteven and one of a pair of identical twins) and Michael Winslow, Duke of Fairfax, a somewhat diffident, average looking man who has agreed to marry to placate his grandmother who has raised him after his father's death. A very standard plot, however I was charmed to find that Deborah and Michael had both decided to marry someone who cared for them as a "person". In Deborah's case, this means a man who can tell her apart from her identical twin, Diana. In Michael's case, this means a woman who can see the man behind the title and wealth. The social situation is very realistic: both hero and heroine are looking for a "peer" in social status terms - no tricked up Cinderella story challenging believability; the courtship takes place with a full complement of chaperones as appropriate. All in all a very enjoyable read until the end....when I was left wondering "what happened" ???

The problem is that Twin Peril takes place in parallel with the events in a previous novel which I have not read (I figured this out from reading the reviews of A Rake's Redemption), I kept thinking that I came into the middle of the situation and was expected to have more knowledge of the various friends and relations of the heroine and hero. For the most part this was only a vague thought that did not detract from my enjoyment until the ending of the book where the reader is left hanging without a clue as to what happens to the bad guy, the heroine's friend, and even the heroine's sister. It really spoiled what would have otherwise been a solid 4 star read. I also would have loved to have a description of the musicale....It's a great pity that due to page length constraints in this genre, the ending had to be so rushed and unsatisfactory.

My recommendation, if you have read The Rake's Redemption - you will very much enjoy this book, provided you like character driven romances. There is very little "action" in the plot. If you haven't, then you will, like me, enjoy the main part of the book and be disappointed by the ending.

Michael Winslow, the Duke of Fairfax, has vowed to marry only for love. But how to be sure that the lady he desires loves him, Michael Fairfax the man, rather than the title and riches that comes with the package? Michael soon realises that his problem is an even thornier one when he realses that the lady he's in love with, the beautiful and sweet tempered Lady Deborah Woodhurst's identical twin, Lady Diana's (who is Lady Deborah's exact opposite in temperament) prime objective seems to be to entrap him into marriage...

I had really been looking forward to reading Lady Deborah's and Michael's story ever since I read Sussanah Carelton's previous novel. "The Rake's Redemption." Unfortunately, as a previous reviewer has already noted, "Twin Peril" is tied heavily to that book. All the tension and suspense happens off stage as it were (in "The Rake's Redemption") -- nothing new or novel ever happens and you begin to wonder why this book was written. Because, as it stands, the author could have tacked on Deborah's and Michael's story to "The Rake's Redemtion" and saved her fans some disappointment. The other problem with "Twin Peril" is that Lady Diana is not evil or nasty enough to carry the story -- she behaves very much like a spoilt child, and so again there is very little tension to make you wonder if Lady Diana will trick Michael into proposing to her. Unfortunately, the whole good twin/evil twin thing has been done before and a lot better by other Regency romance authors. I really had been looking forward to reading this novel, especially since Michael and Deborah as characters had rather captured my interest in "The Rake's Redemption" so that the disappointment was rather acute when I realised that "Twin Peril" really hadn't lived up to my expectation. (No doubt another lesson for me about expectations.) Which is a shame because Sussanah Carelton usually does deliver a good and polished read. Just not this time.