365 books in 365 days Challenge ... book #43

The English Aristocrat's Bride - Sandra Field
Mills and Boon Modern

Single title-
Harlequin Mills and Boon, 2005
ISBN: 9780263841565

Reprint-
The Right Bride? By Request
Harlequin Mills and Boon, 2010
ISBN: 9780263881059


My rating




From the back cover:

"The English aristocrat...
Blue-blooded millionaire Rafe Holden needed a wife, one who would agree to a loveless marriage. And he had a most suitable candidate in mind...
The wrong twin...
But she had an identical twin sister. Karyn Marshall aroused the kind of desire in Rafe that he'd been hoping to avoid....
Or the right bride?
Rafe was no stranger to making ruthless choices. So would he decide to risk more than a marriage in name only, and take Karyn as his arranged bride?"

This is the second book in the above By Request omnibus. I know, I know, it's ANOTHER book from the Modern line, I just can't seem to help myself!

The story begins with the heroine Karyn arriving in England with the intention of meeting her twin sister for the first time. She only recently found out that she was both adopted and had an identical twin sister after her mother died. Karyn is trying to work up the nerve to approach when she meets the hero Rafe. Rafe initially mistakes Karyn for her twin Fiona, whom he has been close friends with since childhood. They share an explosive kiss, which causes Karyn to flee and Rafe confused as has never felt anything like that towards Fiona before. When the truth is revealed no one believes Karyn and she decides to leave and not disturb her twins life, however Rafe tells Fiona the truth and the sisters build a relationship. Rafe and Karyn's feelings for one another grow but both are wary of relationships after past bad experiences.

I enjoyed the story and thought the plot line and dialogue between all the characters was really good. There were elements, however, that I found a little frustrating, which lessened my enjoyment of the book. First, when Karyn reveals she is Fiona's twin no one believes her, not even Fiona, Fiona's father and Rafe! Come on, they are identical twins it would be pretty obvious, and even Rafe mistook her for Fiona in the beginning. Then Rafe had the cheek to accuse her of trying to scam Fiona, er what? So she searched the whole world for someone who looked like herself just to pull a fast one, a little ridiculous. Secondly I thought that Karyn's trust issues with men were just dragged on and on and on, which got a tad annoying.

Despite this I did enjoy the book, and will look to read other Sandra Field books in the future. Oh, the title and back cover blurb are misleading so don't let this sway you either way!

Xx