The description of this book held such promise, but I found the story disappointing. The first thing that felt off was all of a sudden Devlin has broken his leg and there was no reference to how he did that. The story trudges along with Mary trying to mold herself into what Devlin desires. I was hoping for some witty banter, but that didn't happen either. I was also surprised that Mary didn't realize that Devlin was not the vicar. For someone who watched the vicar so intensely, this should have been quite apparent.

The storyline got me all curious. Twins exchanging places, one is a vicar and the other one is a gambling lord. And the love story happened in the country and not in a London ballroom.

The hero and his brother exchanged places due to a series of events and they had to maintain a consistency (Of deceit) sort of. And the Innocent heroine originally liked the original vicar brother due to his qualities as a vicar. But when the gambling lord brother pretended to be the vicar the heroine felt attraction for the first time. Anyway, they develop feelings for each other and the heroine got compromised but the hero walked out. And I think this is the point where other readers might hate the hero. He abandoned the heroine literally and tried (unsuccessfully) to resume his old life. In the end he redeemed himself. The heroine made him work for it which is good. I just wish several chapters were dedicated to this. There is an epilogue as well as an intro to the next book.

The things I did not like about this book but is in no way a deal breaker was the narrative introspection part. I did appreciate getting i to the minds of the character but not maybe several pages at a time. It could have been more fast paced in my opinion but nonetheless it is well written.

3.5 stars

Not a bad story, a bit contrived. Devlin (identical twin) decides to help his brother Daniel disuade our heroine Mary that the vicar is not in the market for romance. Obviously it gets very confusing. There were quite a few anomalies: If you've broken your leg you don't get up soon after and deliver bounty to the village. Why do all his siblings have names beginning with D. Why having said they were mirror twins didn't anyone spot the mannerisms were also handed. It was a good idea to use twins to start off a series as the author then has at least two books to write!

I might look out for Number 2 in the series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Lord Devlin Wayward pretends to be his identical twin brother, Reverend Daniel Wayward, and in the process breaks his leg. Because Devlin is unable to travel to an important meeting in London, Devlin and Daniel switch places. Miss Mary Tomblin is taken with the very handsome Reverend and believes him to possess the moral character she is looking for in a husband. Mary doesn’t understand why the Reverend keeps rebuffing her advances but, when he allows her to help with parish duties, she’s determined to show him what a perfect wife she could be.

I was drawn to this plot and I felt like it was well done. At first, Mary seems very shallow and her attraction to the Reverend superficial. As her character is revealed, she’s aching for normalcy and a settled home. Devlin tries to dissuade Mary for Daniel, but he’s drawn to her and sends constant mixed signals. I liked seeing them spend time together doing visitations to the elderly neighbors.

I believe this is a continuation of the author’s previous series, Once Wicked. I have never read her books before and this one can be read alone. This is Devlin’s story but there is a set up for a second book to describe what happened to Daniel during the switch. I look forward to that story!

Lord Devlin Wayward is a rake and a gambler who is bored in London and decides to go home. His twin, Daniel, is the local vicar who agrees to swap places with him. The blurb sounded quite good, but the story just felt forced. Daniel has been avoiding the parson's net with Mary, a local unmarried miss who had a bad run-in with another rake, yet the reader is supposed to believe she doesn't notice the difference in personality between the reticent vicar and his rakish twin which doesn't give her character much credit. Devlin ends up with a broken leg, so he turns to Mary for help with the Parrish duties.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not usually a historical romance person unless there's something paranormal afoot, but the premise of this one was too amusing for me to pass up. This plot is fueled by a twin-swap scenario. In a prank gone wrong, the gambling den magnate, Devlin, takes the place of his twin, Daniel, a vicar, only to absorb the affections of Mary. She has long been infatuated with the idea of both the reverend and settling down in their small down.

Devlin's frequent misogynistic thoughts were entirely unflattering. For one, he likes Mary as an alternative to the "immoral" women of London. These other women are unsuitable because they engaged in either consensual or paid sex with him in the past. How dare they 🧐? For another, he ponders wether Mary will become a "shrew" in marriage and decides it's not possible because his love is so fulfilling. There are so many upsetting layers to his thoughts, and I can't even unravel all my rage-hazed thoughts on the subject.

Mary is so innocent as to become not realistic, especially as her primary interest is getting herself married. Their courtship plays out in a battle of one-upmanship for the moral high ground, i.e. who helps others the most and for the most pure objectives. She readily accepts any moral judgment from Devlin and molds herself to suit his desires. Never mind that Devlin is lying about who he is the whole time...

I'm essentially disappointed that a book with this premise not only lacked the subversive humor I sought but endorsed norms where women have to maintain moral purity even to earn the affections of a liar. Mary is flattened into a character that seeks perfection to earn a man, and while I could not fault her for it, I did not love the author for locking her in that position. Not only was I not swept up in the romance, but the resolution left a bad taste in my mouth. I will keep my spoilery rage on that topic to myself.

I was a little disappointed in this book. I thought that the story plot looked interesting but as I started to read I started to lose I intersect.

2 Stars - I can't particularly recommend this title.

I am sucker for a priest plot, so I thought that this story would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. It seemed like there were some moments in the book that were edited, and then referenced in a confusing way. For example, we don't ever see Devlin break his leg... but then it is referenced later and a bit confusing. There were several other instances of this happening as well. I enjoyed the parts of the story where Devlin and Mary visit the elderly and poor in their community and that there was a bit of tension between them. I was hoping for more banter and tension between them though, and found that lacking, especially in the beginning of the book. In the end, I was just very disappointed in how things shook out between all of the characters. I won't leave spoilers here, but I found myself second guessing if this was indeed a romance novel. Everyone ended up being manipulative, and that left the swoony moments feeling uncomfortable to me, and the ending feeling rushed and dampered by all that went wrong. Maybe this just isn't my kind of book.