Score: 3/5 Bookmarks

Steam Rating: 0/5

Thank you to Entangled for gifting me a review copy of The Duplicate Bride by Ginny Baird.

Jackie is engaged to Brent Albright, a hotel magnate, but she needs her twin sister Hope to fill in for her at some of the pre-wedding activities. The only problem is that while they might look alike, they really couldn’t be more different. And what happens when Brent and Hope start to realize they’re much more suited for each other than Jackie and Brent ever were?

Brent’s family is adorable, and all the characters are pretty likable. It’s like a grown-up version of The Parent Trap. Is it completely far-fetched that no-one would notice they had switched places? Yes, absolutely, but you just have to roll with it.

Something that did really bother me though was the lack of content, and I don’t feel like that was adequately addressed in the book. Not just that Brent thought he was kissing his fiance and was in-fact kissing someone else, but the intimacy of spending time together, with family, preparing for a wedding etc. I feel like if the genders were reversed and it was a man who stepped in to take his twin brother’s place, and took advantage of an unsuspecting woman we’d all be outraged. And yes the engagement between Jackie and Brent is basically a business deal, but if I were Brent that wouldn’t make me feel any less violated or make it easier for me to trust again.

If you’re able to put those issues aside, the book is a fun, clean romance so I’m feeling rather conflicted about it. I’d love to know your thoughts on the deception issue presented in the story. Think it’s an acceptable premise, given that it’s fiction, or should it have been handled differently?

Synopsis:

Saying “I do” has never been this much fun in this charming new romance from New York Times bestselling author Ginny Baird.

Hope Webb can’t believe her twin sister, Jackie, is begging her to swap places and play fiancée at Jackie’s pre-wedding festivities. Sure, it’s only a business-deal sort of marriage, but Hope is a carb-loving teacher who enjoys curling up with a good book. Jackie is a workaholic whose idea of a good time is a brisk five-mile run at the crack of dawn. The two sisters couldn’t be more opposite.

Now Hope is stuck in the middle of a warm, tight-knit family she can’t help but adore and a groom who turns out to be entirely wonderful...for her.

Hotel magnate Brent Albright knows something is off about his fiancée, but he doesn’t care. Gone is the driven woman with similar career goals, and in her place is someone warm and funny who not only charms his family but him as well. She’s doing everything she can to avoid him, but that’s probably just nerves. Two people about to wed couldn’t know each other less.

Now Brent is determined to woo his fiancée, for real this time, because the more he gets to know her, the more his sweet fiancée turns out to be entirely wonderful...for him.

And that’s when things start to get really complicated...