Two Peas in a Pod
Reviewed by Katie
This is a charming Regency for Valentine’s
week. The brothers Coldwell are both
struggling to reacquaint themselves not only with family, but just who they are
and what direction to take with their lives, post war. Though neither is excited by their elder
sister’s machinations for matrimony, the inevitable happens and they are
besotted and yes, confused by hopes, doubts and possibilities. But after a declaration of one of the misses
that she could never consider the elder, the brothers hatch a plan that makes
their sister’s look tame. The farce that
follows is amusing yet handled with care.
Normally stories of twins exchanging
identities makes me cringe but Mr. Wilkin pulls it off with the feel of a
Shakespearean comedy laced with enough reality to prevent it from becoming too
ridiculous. He deftly uses the truth of scars
unseen and facts of life at the time to balance the humor and what could have
been cruelty on the part of the brothers.
The ladies, not to be outdone, plot a counter attack that even
Wellington could never have imagined. Beatrice
and Benedict would have danced at the weddings in perfect charity.
I love stories that contain more than one
romance. That family and friends - the
kind we all want to be and have - do not live their life in an isolated story
line used to translate well to the written tale. It is a fact of modern fiction that we expect
One Great Hero and One Awesome Heroine per story with nods to the secondary
characters that might have their own book, later, if sales are good. I’m not sure if that’s due to reader
preference or the fear of writers and publishers. Either way, I am always delighted to find an author
willing to flesh out a well crafted story of more than one couple, especially
when they make me laugh!
For several generations, we’ve been
romanced in fiction by wonderful authors explaining their view of how women believe
men think and feel. Mr. Wilkin provides
a generous glimpse of a man’s perspective in a formulaic genre that is quite
consistent with the literature of the era while mindful of his modern audience. I can only hope more men are as bold and more
women alert to the subtle differences in perspective that remind us all just
how romantic the differences can be.
This is definitely a *keeper* for my bookshelf.
