MASQUERADE

Twin sisters switch places with unforeseen consequences in Elward’s debut novel.

Seven years ago, Parker Keaton was sitting in a Florida bar watching a Miami Dolphins game when he caught the eye of the beautiful Rennick twins. Beth, the more subdued of the two, couldn’t tear her gaze away from Parker, but she was too nervous to go introduce herself; her confident twin, Dorie, masqueraded as her sister and walked right over to Parker. Fast-forward to the present: Dorie greatly regrets doing her sister that favor. She is “head-over-heels in love with Parker, almost to the point of being obsessed with him,” but Parker married Beth, and they now have a daughter, Jet. However, all is not well between Parker and Beth: Beth is an uptight workaholic engineer with little patience for their daughter. Dorie, by contrast, is an effervescent musician who cares deeply for her niece and brother-in-law. With some subtle references to The Parent Trap, Elward engineers the kinds of tangles identical twins can get into when the lighthearted switching of places backfires. As Dorie gets stuck in the middle of Beth and Parker’s unhappy marriage, her own feelings cloud her judgment as she agrees to switch places with Beth one more time, pretending to be her sister at Jet’s recital while Beth attends an important meeting about a dream job that would require her to move away. When tragedy strikes, the masquerade comes crashing down, with life and death consequences. The novel’s premise is an intriguing one, though the narrative’s pivot from a love-triangle romance to what feels almost like a thriller two-thirds of the way through the story is a little jarring. Though slightly uneven, the prose conveys a suspenseful and compelling scenario that will keep the reader engrossed throughout—as will the complex dynamic between the polar-opposite twins, who remain loyal to each other despite their differences.

A tense romance for readers who enjoy a love triangle.