Customer Reviews

Wrong Mirror

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Karen Aylward had only two important things in her life--her twin sister and her son. Being twin sisters, Karen and Kirsty were sometimes able to read each other's thoughts or feel each other's pain.

Karen feels Kirsty is in terrible pain one night. She knows who Kirsty is with but she can't get to her soon enough and feels Kirsty die.

The following day, Karen answers the door to Owen Chissolm, father of Hall Chissolm, who was the man in Kirsty's life and who also was with her when she died. Owen tells Karen that before Kirsty had died she had confessed the one secret she swore to Karen she would never tell--that she, Kirsty, had given birth to Hal's son and given him to Karen to adopt without ever letting Hal know he had a son.

Agreeing to travel to the Middle East where Kirsty died in a terrorist attack and Hal was seriously injured, Karen took her son to meet his father for the first time in his life. Once there, she couldn't stop from exchanging bitter words with Hal causing him to swear he would do whatever it takes to get his son back.

Back in Sydney, Karen tries to go on with her life knowing Hal was going to do what he swore but the solution Hal had when he finally showed up was one she never thought he'd come up with--marry him and be the mother of his son and future children or give him up in a custody battle. Knowing she didn't have the resources Hal and his father had for a custody battle she agreed to the marriage knowing it would be a real marriage...not a marriage of convenience.

Karen and Hal were both wonderful in this story, both were strong individuals made stronger for their love for each other. Emma Darcy never fails to write a heartwrenching story that will tug at any mother's heart and soul.

FROM THE BACK COVER: He had robbed her of everyone she loved

To Karen Aylward, newspaper magnate Hal Chissolm was a monster. He'd refused to marry Kirsty, her pregnant twin sister, so that Kirsty had given up their son at birth--to be adopted by Karen.

Then Kirsty was fatally injured in a terrorist attack. And from her deathbed she had told Hal about their child. It was the first Hal had heard of him.

He wanted the son he had never known and he threatened to take him away unless Karen agreed to marry him. To her he had seemed to be a man of no feeling, yet clearly he was--and the feelings he aroused in Karen were equally intense ....

MY THOUGHTS: As usual my first thoughts were, ugh, hero gets it on with BOTH sisters? How in the world will Emma Darcy make this alright? Well, what can I say, she was able to remove the distate with her worderful storytelling. I don't want to spoil it for you but I really liked this book. The hero was definitely conflicted and even though the premise was what it was, I didn't really hate him for it. It was just an unfortunate incident the way things happened. As for the heroine, she was great. I like her devotion to her sister and her capacity to forgive. I like that she was not a ninny. She had backbone. I like that Darcy didn't focus so much on the nitty gritty relationship between hero and sister. If she did, then it would just put too much pictures in my head of the hero "whatevering" two sisters, lol. There was a couple of scenes/line where I was like, wow, hero actually said that. For a harlequin presents, LOL. The love scenes were kinda hot too =) Anyhow, a really good story and a keeper for me.

A love triangle with 2 of the sides being sisters, 1 side being a hero who "does" them both, 1 side having a child with the hero, 1 side raising the other's child by the hero, and 1 side being dead. Confused yet?

A love triangle can be angsty, although not my favorite trope. I usually find a hero/heroine waffling over who they really love to be annoying and a romance buzzkill. This one didn't work for me at all cuz all 3 sides of this love triangle were obtuse. I've rarely seen such illogical and incomprehensible behavior. I like angst but here's the thing - you gotta like the folks involved, or even just understand them, in order to feel moved by their plight. With all 3 sides here acting bizarrely, all I felt was a big yawn coming on.

Karen - the heroine, I wish I knew ye. No, seriously. What are your thoughts on travel, art, Mexican food? How did I read an entire book about you and still not know anything except that you're obsessed with first David and then Hal? It's all David, David, David. Then Hal, Hal, Hal. Don't believe me? Try this passage: "It was impossible to actually pinpoint the time when her life had stopped revolving around David and started revolving around Hal, but as the weeks had passed her awareness of him had grown until he was now the focus of practically everything she did and thought and felt." Oy! Now I don't expect to find a hotbed of radical feminism in my HP reading but give me a break.

Hal - the hero, I don't understand you. Did you love Karen's sister or not? You said "I never loved Kirsty but I gave her love". WTF does that mean? Why would you stay in a relationship for 6 years with a woman you didn't love? Why did you propose marriage to a woman you didn't love? Who does that? You say you love Karen now, but when did you fall in love with her? I didn't feel it happening dude. And why did you insist from the start on your marriage to Karen being a "full" marriage instead of a marriage in name only? When Karen despite the odds was happy, why did you pitch a fit? Why accuse her of enjoying her new lifestyle too much? She didn't marry you for your money, she married you because you blackmailed her, remember?

Kirsty - the dead sis, oh where do I begin with you? Why did you conceal Hal's baby when you knew he would welcome kids? And then go on living with him after, who does that? If you loved Hal, why did you turn down his proposal of marriage? Why did you lie to Karen about Hal not wanting kids? Why in 6 years did you never bring Hal home to your family to meet? Why did you press Hal to marry Karen when you were dying, how could you "know" they were right for each other when they'd never even met? Is Hal right that you had a death wish, and if so why?

Why, why, WHY??