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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
"Suffers" from the Stuart-style rushed ending but still a four-star rating. As the author commented in her forward, this is one of her "lighter" novels.
Cross-dressing, pretending to be brother's wife, accused of murder. And he's the hero!
3.5 stars (why, oh, why can't GR update it's system to include 1//2 star?)
There are 2 romances in this book as per the norm for Ms. Stuart books. The main hero, Phelan in this book is an exact copy of Francis from [b:Ruthless|7756459|Ruthless (The House of Rohan, #1)|Anne Stuart|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1274961210l/7756459._SY75_.jpg|10613440]. So, if you like that book, you'll like this one as well. I believe her books are formulaic, so this one is a standard fare. I was pretty much on auto-cruise whilst reading. This one didn't inspire any strong emotions in me. This was just okay.
There are 2 romances in this book as per the norm for Ms. Stuart books. The main hero, Phelan in this book is an exact copy of Francis from [b:Ruthless|7756459|Ruthless (The House of Rohan, #1)|Anne Stuart|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1274961210l/7756459._SY75_.jpg|10613440]. So, if you like that book, you'll like this one as well. I believe her books are formulaic, so this one is a standard fare. I was pretty much on auto-cruise whilst reading. This one didn't inspire any strong emotions in me. This was just okay.
I liked how unconventional this romance was. There was a cross-dressing brother of the hero and the heroine dressed up as a man. Typically I like Anne Stuart's work but despite all the gender bending I couldn't really find enough interest to finish it.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gender-bender HR with two couples! Older brother's romance is with a cross-dressing runaway wife, and younger brother is a cross-dresser hiding from the law who falls in love with an heiress. I was hoping for darker version of my favourite Leslie Cheung gender-bender He's a Woman, She's a Man but this book does not suffice. The 1st heroine's façade is exposed early, so there's no confusion for the 1st hero, and there isn't much confusion for the secondary heroine - it's more of the 2nd hero's torture.
I much prefer the primary romance - the MCs are more fleshed out and the push/pull of their romance and their complicated love/hate feelings are intriguing, although the hero's pretty much gone from start despite his insistence on not loving her. I kinda love him, asshole and all. Secondary hero is a reformed playboy sweetheart (so different from AS's usual!), but his romance is a bit blah. Decent suspense with evil villains, some minor plot holes overall, and a bit of a rushed ending. Kept me entertained regardless!
I much prefer the primary romance - the MCs are more fleshed out and the push/pull of their romance and their complicated love/hate feelings are intriguing, although the hero's pretty much gone from start despite his insistence on not loving her. I kinda love him, asshole and all. Secondary hero is a reformed playboy sweetheart (so different from AS's usual!), but his romance is a bit blah. Decent suspense with evil villains, some minor plot holes overall, and a bit of a rushed ending. Kept me entertained regardless!
this book has probably the silliest premise ever, i mean, a double gender bender?
actually let me rephrase that, it would be worst if BOTH the main characters were playing opposite genders
Also i think this is the first time i'm more interested in the side romance than the main one...
actually let me rephrase that, it would be worst if BOTH the main characters were playing opposite genders
Also i think this is the first time i'm more interested in the side romance than the main one...
I hate writing spoiler reviews but I don't think I can relay what I liked about this book without using spoilers, considering the book wasn't really great until the end.
The story is about two brothers on the run from murder charges. One dresses in drag and plays as his brothers wife. The transvestite falls in love with a blue-blooded woman who is pretty uninteresed in dudes and the other brother falls for a woman who is in drag and on the run from her abusive husband. This is why I got the book and stayed with it until the end. I love gender-benders and this had a 2 for 1 deal.
The first 80% of the book is predictable and is just below the bar for as funny as the premise warrents, and then the resolutions begin and the two heroes are outed as completely dispassionate and useless where as the women settle everything with awe inspiring practicality.
The transvestite get's revealed as a man to his lady friend (who remains pretty asexual to the end) after she's planned out a lesbian union for them. She get's mad and leaves. He shrugs and sulks. No attempt to go after her or "claim what is his" as we see in most romance novels. After a few hours she comes back and forgives him. She efficiently (albeit grudgingly) re-works her lesbian romance to fit his cock in.
Funny.
There is one man, the other woman's husband, who is mentioned throughout the novel as the Big Bad Wolf and it seems obvious the book will end with a heroric rescue of his wife from his clutches...but instead he shows up at around 2/3rds of the way in, the brothers let him stay with them and take his wife with him when he leaves. You can't very well kill someone who has manners as nice as his. A few scenes later the wife awakens to find an old woman over her with a knife and her husband slashed to death next to her in bed. The old woman is all "I met your husband. He's kind of a dick so I killed him. I killed my maid too, so you better get my bags for me."
Really funny.
The dramatic climax of the book has the non-trans brother making a valent attempt at a rescue of the newly widdowed trans-woman from the murderous elderly woman, but he ends up being 0% useful and his love interest falls to her death in the ocean. He sulks and goes home. Hours later she shows up at his door and his reaction is, "I thought you died," and she says something to the effect of, "I can swim, dumbass."
The End
I loved this book.
The story is about two brothers on the run from murder charges. One dresses in drag and plays as his brothers wife. The transvestite falls in love with a blue-blooded woman who is pretty uninteresed in dudes and the other brother falls for a woman who is in drag and on the run from her abusive husband. This is why I got the book and stayed with it until the end. I love gender-benders and this had a 2 for 1 deal.
The first 80% of the book is predictable and is just below the bar for as funny as the premise warrents, and then the resolutions begin and the two heroes are outed as completely dispassionate and useless where as the women settle everything with awe inspiring practicality.
The transvestite get's revealed as a man to his lady friend (who remains pretty asexual to the end) after she's planned out a lesbian union for them. She get's mad and leaves. He shrugs and sulks. No attempt to go after her or "claim what is his" as we see in most romance novels. After a few hours she comes back and forgives him. She efficiently (albeit grudgingly) re-works her lesbian romance to fit his cock in.
Funny.
There is one man, the other woman's husband, who is mentioned throughout the novel as the Big Bad Wolf and it seems obvious the book will end with a heroric rescue of his wife from his clutches...but instead he shows up at around 2/3rds of the way in, the brothers let him stay with them and take his wife with him when he leaves. You can't very well kill someone who has manners as nice as his. A few scenes later the wife awakens to find an old woman over her with a knife and her husband slashed to death next to her in bed. The old woman is all "I met your husband. He's kind of a dick so I killed him. I killed my maid too, so you better get my bags for me."
Really funny.
The dramatic climax of the book has the non-trans brother making a valent attempt at a rescue of the newly widdowed trans-woman from the murderous elderly woman, but he ends up being 0% useful and his love interest falls to her death in the ocean. He sulks and goes home. Hours later she shows up at his door and his reaction is, "I thought you died," and she says something to the effect of, "I can swim, dumbass."
The End
I loved this book.
I first read this book many, many years ago. Probably around the time it first came out. I loved it. It was one of my favourite romances for quite a number of years.
My last reread of the book was before I started my reading diary, back in 2001, so needless to say… it’s been a while.
This didn’t really stand the test of time, as some of my other favourite romances have over the years. This book was almost evenly divided between the two romances, with Phelan and Juliette taking a bit more prominence.
For me, I actually enjoyed the “side” romance of Valerian and Sophie more. It had a lot more time than the traditional side romance, so you could easily get involved in their storyline. I liked that it was a bit of a unique situation, with Valerian in disguise as ‘Valerie’.
A good amount of the plot movement points felt quite contrived, so dues ex machina was clear and present. There were also occasional inconsistencies with characters, like the black eye moment between the brothers. It also never really did anything except demonstrate Phelan’s jealousy and seemed a bit all around pointless.
I didn’t really enjoy the storyline that went along with Juliette, although I did quite enjoy the romance between her and Phelan.
Overall, there was a lot going on in this, far too much really. It could have done a lot more with a lot less. Enjoyable, but it wouldn’t make the top of my romance favs list these days.
My last reread of the book was before I started my reading diary, back in 2001, so needless to say… it’s been a while.
This didn’t really stand the test of time, as some of my other favourite romances have over the years. This book was almost evenly divided between the two romances, with Phelan and Juliette taking a bit more prominence.
For me, I actually enjoyed the “side” romance of Valerian and Sophie more. It had a lot more time than the traditional side romance, so you could easily get involved in their storyline. I liked that it was a bit of a unique situation, with Valerian in disguise as ‘Valerie’.
A good amount of the plot movement points felt quite contrived, so dues ex machina was clear and present. There were also occasional inconsistencies with characters, like the black eye moment between the brothers. It also never really did anything except demonstrate Phelan’s jealousy and seemed a bit all around pointless.
I didn’t really enjoy the storyline that went along with Juliette, although I did quite enjoy the romance between her and Phelan.
Overall, there was a lot going on in this, far too much really. It could have done a lot more with a lot less. Enjoyable, but it wouldn’t make the top of my romance favs list these days.