Book Review: The Duplicate Bride by Ginny Baird

The Duplicate Bride by Ginny Baird is a contemporary romance novel . 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.

The Duplicate Bride is a romance that hooked me early but then had me dreading going back to the story because I knew the big reveal of the deception could happen at any moment. I liked Hope's character, even if a good number of her choices. I understood why she made some oft hose choices, but that did not always make it easier to deal with. She got sucked into an impossible situation, and it kept snowballing, and I could sympathize. Her mother and Brent's family were all great characters, but I did feel like I never got to know or understand Jackie- the reason this whole story happened. I liked getting to know the families and seeing the relationship between Brent and Hope grow, but I spent too much of the book anxious and waiting for the other shoe to drop to really enjoy the sweet or silly moments. It was all very well done, and had me on pins and needles, but I was not really ready for the stress this read inspired in me. I think I will definitely give the author another read, maybe a less tense read and hopefully with some of the characters I met in this one.

The Duplicate Bride is a solid romance with plenty of feels and solid characters. I think I will be reading more from the author in the near future.