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Standin Wife Karina Bliss Books

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Standin Wife Karina Bliss Books

I recently found this author and I've enjoyed most of her books. I didn't love this one. Firstly, I'm not mad about stories where the h chases the H. Secondly, I don't like my Hs to be unlikeable for most of the book. Given that this story contains both elements, I didn't stand a chance. The h is an identical twin, who swaps places with her sister in crazy circumstances. I thought this would be a stretch but it really wasn't. The twins have very different personalities and so it was always going to be tricky. The H is an injured SAS soldier on medical leave. He's full of anger and grief, and desperate to get back into service but his injury is making it difficult. Mayhem is created when the h bumps into the H at her sister's mother-in-law's house. The H is the brother of the h's twin. He has come to retrieve something from his stepmother, which was made by his late mother. In a freak accident, the stepmother/mother-in-law dies. This creates a chain of events where the h ends up switching places with her sister. The h's sister is separated from her husband but she wants to be reconciled. The h has a hard time managing her sister's kids and life. She relies on the H for his help. She had propositioned the H at her twin's wedding 8 years before but he turned her down. She does again here but once again he rejects her. As I said he is a pain for most of the book. The hea felt a bit rushed.


Tags : Amazon.com: Stand-in Wife (9780373717224): Karina Bliss: Books,Karina Bliss,Stand-in Wife,Harlequin Superromance,0373717229,Love stories.,Soldiers;Fiction.,10014287,1153749,1722,20110801,706848,AUSTRALIAN NOVEL AND SHORT STORY,Alpha Hero;BabyChildren;Damaged Hero;Deception;Divided loyalties;Family;Fear of intimacy;Hero to the Rescue;Humor;Mistaken Identity;Mock relationship;Personal Issues;Secrets;Surrogate Parent;Twins,Canada,FICTION Romance Contemporary,Fiction,Fiction - Romance,Fiction-Romance,General Adult,Love stories,MASS MARKET,Monograph Series, any,Romance - Contemporary,RomanceModern,Romance: Modern,Soldiers

Standin Wife Karina Bliss Books Reviews

I did not expect to love this book so much, but it was a fantastic read. THIS is the way a Superromance should be.

Set in New Zealand, we have `the bad twin', Viv, who returns home from New York just in time to help rescue her hospital-bound identical twin sister's crumbling marriage. Because of an initial misunderstanding with hero Ross, Viv poses as her sister, which means trying to become Super Mum to her niece and nephew. One by one the others are dragged into the secret, with Ross - despite himself - finding he can't just abandon Viv to sort this out on her own.
Stand in Wife is connected to earlier book Here Comes the Groom in a number of ways, but the most significant being that the heroes of the series are former SAS soldiers. I really enjoy Special Forces heroes in romantic suspense, but find them to be overkill in these kinds of tamer books. However, I am willing to forgive the author in this instance as Ross' conflict was written brilliantly, and pivotal for the action.

Why did I not expect to like it, and why was I wrong?

#1 The cover
The folks at Harlequin should be ashamed of themselves. For every person who would be attracted to a book with Dislocated Neck Guy and the Kidlets from Hell on the cover, there're another nine who will run a mile. The happy-go-lucky daddy figure shown on the cover is a far cry from the gruff, troubled man we meet in the book.
There's no way I would have picked this up if I wasn't already familiar with the author. The scene in the picture has next to nothing to do with the actual book.

#2 The premise
Twins who spend the entire book pretending to be each other? It sounded hokey. It sounded like an overused plot device.
It worked. It really, really worked. I loved the way this bunch of adults, who were trying to do the best thing by everyone, got themselves deeper and deeper into a situation they didn't know how to fix.

#3 The children
I do not like children, and usually run a mile from any book that has them on the cover. But the thing is, Karina Bliss writes children SO well. It's fantastic, how good she is as creating younger characters. The woman made me like a baby - which is an incredible feat! They do not take over the story, and when they are there they help to further the story, rather than taking over with stereotyped cutesy behaviour.

#4 The continuation of a series
This book works perfectly as a standalone. Yes, I'd read the one before it, but wasn't in a mood to have to revisit old storylines. I didn't have to Bliss made sure this books works perfectly on its own.

Superromance is a category line that can suffer from being too true to life (boring), but along with the likes of Sarah Mayberry, Tara Taylor Quinn and Susan Gable, Karina Bliss is a Super author who knows how to draw you in and keep you reading. She's an extremely engaging writer.

As always with the Superromance line, the book is rife with jarring Americanisms. The first that comes to mind are the references to Indians as `East Indians'. East of what, may I ask, because last I checked India was west of New Zealand! Of course, there're all the bizarre references to the American system of measurement in a book that is decidedly not American. It was funny to occasionally see `nappy' instead of `diaper' sneaking past the editors though.
I did like the Mummy/Mommy debate, and loved that the author found a way to work that into the book.

This month has been stellar for Superromance releases. Stand-in Wife is just great.
While interviewing on a job out of town, Merry Coltrane breaks her leg. She pleads with her twin sister Vivienne Jansen to pretend to be her like they did as kids so her estranged husband Charlie who walked out on her and their three kids will not know as he sues for visitation rights. Flying in from New York, the theater costume designer arrives in Auckland, New Zealand to temporarily masquerade as Merry when the latter's mother-in-law Linda dies with the former in the house in Hamilton.

Vivi as Merry helps arrange the funeral while caring for her sister's children and keeping her brother-in-law at a distance as Merry's husband seeks a reconciliation. Although overwhelmed Vivi handles all this with aplomb until Charlie's brother Ross (support role in Here Comes the Groom), the injured Special Forces operative, comes home. Ross finds himself inexplicably attracted to his sister-in-law; while Vivi reciprocates but as Merry has to hide her feelings.

Twins switching is an old theme, but Karina Bliss makes it refreshing with a zany madcap romance. The support cast is a delight as they add madness to the wild comedic New Zealander comedy. Still the bottom line is the romantic subplot as Ross and Vivi fall in love in a wonderful example of chaos theory at work.

Harriet Klausner
It was a good book
I really enjoyed this book, it's a romance with two storylines. Two adult couples and two children. Different lifestyles that showcase the difficulty of being happy with who you are. No matter who you are.
I have to thank the other reviewers for convincing me to give this book a shot. I'm a fan of complex characters who have to work through real issues. As hokey as the premise of this book sounds, it really works. The Viv finds herself caught up in a misunderstanding that just goes from bad to worse. I can see why two adult women would choose to switch places and why everyone around them falls in line with the masquerade. I think the switching places plotline works because it truly isn't the primary focus of the book, but rather we see the long standing emotional issues that each of the characters has with each other and their struggles to work through it to find themselves in a better place at the end. There is also a subtle wry humour throughout the story that keeps it from getting too heavy. And as for the cover of the book? Wow, Harlequin. Cheesy much? This isn't a happy-go-lucky we're-in-it-for-the-kids romp.
I recently found this author and I've enjoyed most of her books. I didn't love this one. Firstly, I'm not mad about stories where the h chases the H. Secondly, I don't like my Hs to be unlikeable for most of the book. Given that this story contains both elements, I didn't stand a chance. The h is an identical twin, who swaps places with her sister in crazy circumstances. I thought this would be a stretch but it really wasn't. The twins have very different personalities and so it was always going to be tricky. The H is an injured SAS soldier on medical leave. He's full of anger and grief, and desperate to get back into service but his injury is making it difficult. Mayhem is created when the h bumps into the H at her sister's mother-in-law's house. The H is the brother of the h's twin. He has come to retrieve something from his stepmother, which was made by his late mother. In a freak accident, the stepmother/mother-in-law dies. This creates a chain of events where the h ends up switching places with her sister. The h's sister is separated from her husband but she wants to be reconciled. The h has a hard time managing her sister's kids and life. She relies on the H for his help. She had propositioned the H at her twin's wedding 8 years before but he turned her down. She does again here but once again he rejects her. As I said he is a pain for most of the book. The hea felt a bit rushed.