Brief Thoughts: The Switch

The Switch

by Lynsay Sands

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars

When they first met Lord Jeremy William Radcliffe, Charlie and her twin sister, Elizabeth, were escaping from their uncle--taking turns acting the young gentleman to avoid detection.  But Charlie couldn't help falling head over heels--and out of a window--for the handsome lord.  Of course, that was only the beginning; Lord Radcliffe insisted on showing "him" and her lovely sister to London.

But how could he do that?  With every touch, Radcliffe seemed unknowingly to incite indecent desires in Charlie, and his fraternal intent was certain to land her in a fine mess.  Though it was a great game to play a boy, there was more fun in being female.  And after one brush of his fiery lips when her guise was gone, Charlie swore to be nothing but his woman forevermore.

I love a good cross-dressing plot device.  In fact, it is actually one of my favorite devices because of all the delicious possibilities for comedy, drama, and angst.  Embarrassing situations are also the icing on the cake.  Yes.  I love watching fictional characters squirm.

So when I read the summary for The Switch, I got really excited.  First of all, this book would satisfy one of the squares for Romance Bingo 2017.  Secondly, CROSS-DRESSING PLOT DEVICE!

The Switch was an enjoyable book, though to be honest, a couple days after completing said book, I'm not entirely sure I can recall anything that really stood out about it.  On the other hand, I actually found some of the tangents in this book a little hard to suspend disbelief for, namely Lord Radcliffe's reactions towards the twin sisters dependent on who was playing the boy and who was playing the girl that day.  Unless pheromones are really as strong as media tends to make them seem in humans, I suppose.

Otherwise, if you don't think too hard about some of the logical fallacies in The Switch, the book was actually quite entertaining.  I DID love watching the brief self-revelation plot point take place with our twins, each sister learning something significant about herself, and then moving forward with that newly discovered knowledge.

I did not quite care for the dragging on of the ending.  While it seemed like a significant part of the story, the last few chapters just felt kind of forced--like tying up loose ends in the form of a prolonged epilogue or something.  Or like forcing a last minute suspenseful encounter to balance out the romance heavy story.

Something like that.

***

I read this book for Romance Bingo 2017, the Twins square.

Other possible squares:

• Insta-love -- While we could argue that Charlie and Lord Radcliffe's story wasn't insta-love, Beth and Tomas's story was definitely insta-love.
• New Adult -- The twins are eighteen, I think.  I don't recall reading how old Radcliffe or Tomas are.
• Regency Romance
• Eyeshadow and Heaving Bosom -- The original cover from 1999 doesn't show bosom.  The cover from Avon in 2013 shows a generously more amount of bosom.
• Virgin & Best First Time -- There is no monologue about whether or not the sex was great, but the virgin part is true.
• Historical Romance
• Love (Free Space)