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 … 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…
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The blurb of this book intrigued me. The old twin switcheroo, but I haven’t seen it for pre-wedding festivities. That was truly an intriguing twist. I felt for Hope because she’s between a rock and a hard place. Helping out her twin, but falling for her twin’s fiancée. That sets up complications galore especially for Brent when he thinks his fiancée has let her hair down for once. I really liked Hope right from the beginning. One of my first thoughts was I would so be friends with her. Then throw in Brent and his awesome family. This book had me sold. Awesome characters with a fascinating storyline will have you gobbling up this book.
I enjoyed this charming contemporary romance that immediately captivated me and kept me totally involved in all that was happening until I read the last word. I enjoyed the attraction and undeniable chemistry between Hope Webb and Brent Albright when she pretends to be her twin who is a wedding planner and can’t get away from a difficult wedding. Ms. Baird never disappoints whatsoever and I loved the strong family dynamic and sweet, slow-burn romance. This is a perfect read to get a break from everyday stress and will leave a smile on your face as it warms your heart. I received an advance reader copy of “The Duplicate Bride” and am voluntarily leaving my review.
The Duplicate Bride is a whimsical romantic tale featuring identical twins; one a workaholic wedding planner for the upper echelon , the other a lowkey school teacher. When Jackie is busy with a high maintenance wedding but her own nuptials are a week away, she can’t leave the high profile wedding she’s managing. Jackie pulls a favor with her twin, Hope, wanting Hope to step in as her during the wedding week festivities. It’s only supposed to be for a couple of days and then they will “trade” back. Hope puts her foot down but a case of mistaken identity puts the ball in motion. Hope can do this for a couple days. She’ll try to woo the standoffish grandmother and help blend Jackie into the family she doesn’t really know, especially Jackie’s fiancé, Brent. What is only supposed to be a couple days becomes much longer and Hope has a a hard time keep up the charade. Jackie’s future in-laws and Brent are wonderful people.
I spent a lot of this book cringing – not in a bad way but in a “Oh, Hope, this is not going to end well for you” way. Her intentions were wonderful, if not completely unethical and deceitful. Hope blended in nicely with the family in a way you could tell Jackie didn’t in the few interactions she may have had with them. Even Brent warmed to Hope much better than is alluded to when he spent time with Jackie.
Hope and Brent together were cute. They brought out the best in each other. While Hope is a strong and independent woman, Brent brought out her need for companionship and love. Hope also allowed Brent to discover his true wants, needs, and desires concerning marriage, taking over the family business, and opening himself up again after a disastrous previous relationship.
I was engaged in their story from the very beginning. I devoured this book in one day. I was anxious for Hope, hopeful for her and Brent, and thoroughly disgusted with Jackie for suggesting the switch, and not being upfront with Brent and his family. I didn’t agree with Hope’s actions either but she truly thought she was doing the right thing at first. The charade should have never gotten as far as it did.
I enjoyed this contemporary romance. The author’s writing style is smooth and conversational. The characters has depth and development. The setting was written well and I was able to visualize the story as I read along, right down to the “eye” from Grandmother Margaret. I will seek out more from this author.
The Duplicate Bride is the first book by this author that I have read. I loved following Brent and Hope’s story of a marriage of convenience, and swapping places with her twin sister Jackie. I found the story to be entertaining read, and look forward to reading more from this author.
A fun, engaging, deception starts with one sister phoning her twin to persuade her to help her during a pre-wedding week at her prospective in-laws. Upon arrival, the in-laws mistake the sister for her twin who is actually the bride. The story continues through a series of occurrences that delay the actual bride from attending. The reader sees the twin sister go through a gamut of emotions attempting to keep the in-laws and the fiancé from discovering the sisters deception. This story grabs the attention of the reader with a funny, intense storyline and relational characters. I received an ARC for review. I would highly recommend this book for a great romantic read.
I love a good story surrounding a wedding so the cover of this book pulled me in right away. And I’m so gad it did. The Duplicate Bride is the story of twin sisters. Jackie is marrying Brent. It’s a marriage of convenience for both as they hope it will boost their careers and decide to worry about love later on. When Jackie’s job keeps her tied up the week leading up to her wedding, she asks twin sister Hope to stand in for her until she can make it to Brent’s family home in Maine where the ceremony will take place. Hope says she cannot lie but will explain Jackie’s absence to the family. Brent’s family had never met Jackie and Brent had spent little time with her himself so a misunderstanding has them believing Hope is Jackie after all.
I really liked this story. It’s fun and sweet and romantic. I loved Brent’s family and their home setting on the coast of Maine. I really enjoyed the sideline stories and hope that there will be future stories about them down the line. While some aspects of the book where less than believable, I liked the premise and it read like a romantic movie to me and so those little points didn’t bother me so much. I found myself having a hard time putting this one down. I had not read a book by Ginny Baird in the past but will definitely have my eyes out for more from her in the future. 4.5 stars rounded up 5.
Talk about a case of mistaken identity, only the mistake was easy enough to make considering the circumstances. When you have identical twins, stepping in for one another is part of the game, I’d imagine…but what starts as a way of Hope helping out her sister Jackie, soon becomes something so much more DANGEROUS than a stand-in bridal week appearance or two. What’s at stake? Only the greatest thing of all…their hearts…and I do mean ALL of them.
With its STUNNING cover and ridiculously ENTICING story, that’ll keep you glued to the page from start to finish as you wonder just how things got to where they are and how on earth they could possibly survive the eventual fallout…this is one wedding you don’t want to miss!
**ecopy received for review; opinions are my own
If you like a good book about twins switching places to see if anyone can tell the difference, this book is for you. Hope and Jackie Webb are twins. Hope is a teacher and just down to earth. She has had bad luck in the dating department. Jackie is the opposite. She is all about being the perfect wedding planner, to the exclusion of everything else. That’s where the switch takes place. Wedding gone astray and she needs Hope to step in and pretend to be her for her own wedding. Brent Albright is ready to take over the family business. He feels he needs to be settled down to prove his worth. Let the fun begin! You will fall in love, sigh and just laugh like crazy. In the end, truth will win out but will true love?
I received an advance copy for an honest review. This is in my opinion.
Ginny Baird is among my favorite authors. I did not hesitate when I was given the opportunity to read her newest release, The Duplicate Bride. Hope’s story was so much fun, delightful and entertaining. I had to find out how it would all end for her, so I read the whole book in one sitting. It was so very good.
I am giving The Duplicate Bride a very well deserved five plus stars. I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy clean and sweet romance.
I received The Duplicate Bride from the author, but was no required to write a review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.
When Hope’s twin sister, Jackie, begs her to take her place at her pre-wedding week while Jackie finishes up managing one of her company’s weddings, Hope is initially set on NO. But as each word Jackie spits out shows how her fiancé’s grandma already dislikes her, Hope knows she needs to go rescue her twin’s reputation with her soon to be in-laws. Unfortunately once Hope arrives, the whole family mistakes her for her twin. What’s a carb loving teacher to do when faced with a gorgeous man intent on marrying her?
Well…she could have fessed up, should have fessed up, but then there wouldn’t have been a story to tell. The rest of the story is a clean yarn about Hope and Brent making their way from a marriage of convenience to a real marriage, one of course marred by Hope’s lie of omission.
I admit the premise of this story is fun and cute. And the story is fun and cute too, to a point. But mostly my takeaway from it is a kind of boring story where I had to suspend my disbelief to the highest extent, be annoyed that Hope didn’t just admit she wasn’t her twin, and, most importantly, wish for some heat between the two leads. Because this is a clean (read, no descriptive scenes), alas, the heat is not present, and it made an already veering into boring story, that much less entertaining for me. I can get behind a good clean romance, IF there’s enough tension between the two leads that the lack of descriptive details doesn’t matter, and if the story is highly entertaining too. Unfortunately, neither of those two things happened here, to the detriment of what could have been a great story.
Hope Webb finds herself pretending to be her identical twin, Jackie. She knows that she shouldn’t, but she finds herself trapped by circumstance. Brent thinks that Hope is his bride-to-be as does his family. Jackie is tied up planning a wedding. Just not her own. For Jackie and Brent this is a marriage of convenience. Disaster looms when Hope realizes that she is in love with the groom. I couldn’t believe what was happening! Brent has fallen in love with the wrong sister. I didn’t want him to be hurt. How it works out is such a charming story. The characters are easy to care about. The dialogue is sweet and the setting is romantic. I wasn’t sure how Ginny Baird was going to give me the happy ending that I craved. She had me worried. I should have known better. I loved The Duplicate Bride! It made me smile.
I received a copy of this book which I voluntarily read and reviewed. My comments are my honest opinion.
When your sister calls of course you are going to do anything, you can help them. Even if the very thing you are bring asked to do is something you are completely not on board with. When Hope’s sister Jackie begs her to pretend to be her for just one day at Jacki’s wedding week gatherings at her fiancée family estate, Hope says absolutely not. Jackie is having a huge problem with an important wedding and cannot leave on time. Jackie starts to beg. Jackie finally lays on the guilt think with she shares that the fiancée’s grandmother is mean. Hope refuses to pretend to be Jackie. She does get Jackie to finally agree to letting Brent know she was not going to be there on time for the week but Hope would be there to help in every way she can.
After an impulsive decision in response to his grandfather’s demands that Brent settle down he comes up with the plan to marry Jackie as part of a mutual beneficial arrangement.
Hope with every intention to make it know she was Hope, not her sister Jackie. Her first run is literally with Brent’s mother and receives the kindest welcome. That is until snarky mean Grandmother made a very unattractive remark about Jackie being there. After a comedy of errors and misunderstanding Hope is now fulfilling the role of Jackie.
Brent’s character is a soul looking for his purpose. He is looking for he soft place to land. He thinks that running his Grandfather’s hotel empire will give him that comfort but there is still the unknow of this marriage of convenience. He sees his older brother happily married. His parents and grandparents are the picture of the loving couples. He wants that but since he hasn’t’ found it at 30 he is willing to settle with running his family’s business.
I sat through this whole book screaming “I hate Jackie”!! Hope’s character is wonderful, and you instantly fall in love with her. You see her getting in deeper and deeper in this deception even though she is being her genuine self. You want to shake her from her first interaction with Brent and tell him the truth because you see the potential for them. And the more you want Brent and Hope together the more you HATE JACKIE!
This is a marriage of convenience trope on top of twins switching places. I was worried it was going to be too much going on in the story, but it really plays out very well. The added characters of Jackie’s best friend and the twins’ mom really added to the movement of the story. I had moments of giggles, moments of tears, some in frustration some in sadness. This was a 4/5 read for me. The piece that was the toughest for me was the very ending. I felt that after the deception of switching places it just resolved almost to easily.
The Duplicate Bride was my first book by Ginny Baird and color me impressed. The premise of this book was what drew me in.
Twin sisters Jackie and Hope are as different as night and day – personality wise, so when Jackie asks her twin to step in for her, the week before her wedding, so she can handle work issues, Hope is justifiably shocked. The plan is for Hope to help her sister out but not take her place.
What ends up happening is very different. Hope becomes Jackie and things get difficult when she discovers that a) her sister’s engagement is not what it seems and b) she is extremely attracted to her soon to be brother in law.
Intrigued? Need to know more? If yes, then this is the perfect book for you. The Duplicate Bride is a sweet and funny, clean romance with all kinds of twists and turns that will keep you glued to the page. TBR and Enjoy!
Ginny Baird is a new-to-me author, and since I’m always on the hunt for my next favorite author, I opted to give this new book of hers a try. It’s a standalone contemporary romance that takes a marriage of convenience and mistaken identity to an entirely new level!
What I Liked Most About the Book: Hope’s heart and Brent’s family. Our heroine has a huge heart and a sweet personality and is the complete opposite of her twin sister. Her heart is truly in the right place, but it’s so easy for her to get caught up in the fantasy of her own happily ever after, especially since she’s a romance book enthusiast. And Brent’s family is the kind of family you really would want for your own. They are loyal, close-knit, and love big, but they aren’t perfect, either.
NICUnurse’s Rating: I’m married to a twin and despite the fact that my husband and his twin brother are very opposite and don’t look as much alike as they once did, they still are mistaken for each other a lot. So in a situation where the family doesn’t know Hope and barely knows her sister, it wouldn’t be too terribly hard to pull off playing Jackie. This story is a bit sweet, a little bit of heat, and a lot of swoon-worthy moments between Hope and Brent. And since neither one of them is a character you would want to hate, it totally tugged at my heartstrings, and I found myself absolutely rooting for the best for them both. This was a nice escape from the still harsh reality we are living in right now, and that says a lot because since the pandemic and quarantine began, I’ve had a hard time concentrating and enjoying even some of my top fave authors’ books. If you like contemporary romance and are looking for a happily ever romance without much angst at all, this is should be your next read!
I give The Duplicate Bride by Ginny Baird 4 out of 5 stars!
It seems like every time I read a book by Ginny Baird I say this is the best one yet. Then I pick up another and say the same thing. This book will hold your interest and make you wish you were there. The cast of characters are great and so is the storyline. Everyone dreams of their own wedding but when you are in Hope’s position what can you do. Except try to help out your sister.
A must read.
I guess this was well written and I did giggle at Hope’s wedding night antics but I just found the plot so totally unbelievable and I couldn’t believe how Hope was able to interact with the Allbright family without any guilt affecting her behaviour. I enjoyed the last five chapters but 85% of the book was a wash out for me and my attention wasn’t held by the story.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Hope and her twin sister Jackie decide to switch places. Her fiancé Brent and his family has no idea what is happening. This leads to some funny and awkward moments as Hope tries to dodge PDA and finds herself falling in love with the groom. Disaster looms as the wedding day approaches and the real bride is still absent. The characters are fun as the wedding week activities lead to all kinds of hilarity. In the end it all comes down to who is his true love.
Rating: 3 – 3.5 stars
The classy book cover caught my eye and intriguing synopsis lured me into saying “I do” to a NetGalley advanced reader copy, folks. Now I’m finding I don’t have the words to adequately stress my thoughts on this trio of main characters. So I’m thinking a brief heart to heart with each one of them separately may do the trick.
Poor Brent, you really were duped so badly I don’t even know where to begin. Maybe with eliminating the “poor” part for starters. Not just because you are from an insanely wealthy family and thought to outdo your older bro, but because you were so darn, unbelievably gullible and ultimately looking for love when you didn’t even realize you were looking for love. In the wrong place to boot, meaning with “just thinks about herself” Jackie. Really, what were you thinking? Am I talking in circles? Well, that’s exactly my emotions right now, buddy, so I guess we’re in the same boat. I’m not surprised her identical twin, Hope, was like a life line and breathe of fresh air compared to the woman you actually proposed to previously.
Jackie, oh, how I really didn’t like you from the get go. Success wasn’t good enough for you, hon. Money and lifestyle hungry to rub elbows with the rich is obviously what always got your motor running. Agreeing to Brent’s hairbrained proposal to begin with proves that. It isn’t any wonder you wanted in their pockets and in Brent’s bed, so you could live the life of a socialite parasite. Even worse was how manipulative and selfish you became towards your own family, who you professed to love dearly, in making sure you always got your way. Am I sounding too harsh, girl? Well, it’s a good thing they still love and forgive you.
Hope, dear, there isn’t an easy way to tell us this, so I’ll be blunt. You definitely dropped the ball here and didn’t live up to your name. You see, there really isn’t any hope for someone who sets their principles by the wayside so easily just to appease someone else, especially when that somebody does not deserve to be catered to. Yeah, you admit you got carried away and why, but I still think you had it in you to have done better. At least you and Brent went the extra mile and owned up to your part in all this hot mess and sincerely asked for forgiveness. Making me do the same for you two knuckleheads. The tied things up in a bow, sweet conclusion made sure of that, my fellow romance book loving friends. Ultimately, I just couldn’t stay mad at the right couple here and were glad they got their HEA.
Title: The Duplicate Bride, Author: Ginny Baird, Pages: 368, stand-alone, school teacher & wedding planner identical twin sisters, rich guy hero, one complicated hot mess, passionate kisses only, clean romance. Rating: 3 – 3.5 stars
(I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not given any payment or compensation for this review. There is no affiliation or relationship between this reviewer and the author/publisher/NetGalley.)
The switcheroo…I love it for the pure pleasure of anticipating how long before the house of cards tumble down. I like Hope, I think she is the less selfish twin and such a heartwarming character clearly way out of her league for this fiasco. I really like Brent too, he’s a nice guy with a big heart and a whole lot of love to share. His family is a little challenging but they clearly love and support one another. Didn’t really like Jackie, she comes across as shallow and elusive. I really think the ruse went on for entirely too long and definitely went way too far for the bounce back not to seem a little bit rushed.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
The story follows Brent and Hope. Hope’s sister Jackie is getting married to Brent but when Jackie gets super busy the week of the wedding, Hope pretends to be her. When Hope meets Brent, she realizes that Jackie and he have a marriage of convenience. Hope shows her dismay to Brent and he realizes that he needs to make an effort for the bride to be.
I enjoyed this book so much. It was a different concept than books that I have read before this one. I love all the different personalities of all the characters. The way Hope makes friends with everyone in Brent’s family was heartwarming. The book was a lot of fun to read. There were so many twists and turns that you couldn’t really predict the outcome.
I wrote this voluntary review in exchange for an ARC copy.