Could it Be You?
Grade : A-

Could It Be You? is an old favorite of mine. The original copy I bought ten years ago this month has followed me through several cross country moves, one book I always like to keep on hand. It's a short book, a simple but effective romantic fantasy (in the non-paranormal sense). It does contain two questionable elements which some readers may not be able to get past. But it is also, by turns, sweet and sad, emotional and romantic, melancholy and uplifting, delivering exactly what a romance should.

Mackenzie Gerard is a drifter who most recently skipped town after being wrongfully arrested in New Orleans. Alone and adrift, he finds himself in a Seattle bar one rainy night, waiting to catch a freighter the next morning. While he's there, a man sits down next to him, a man who, by some strange coincidence, could be his double.

A businessman based out of Paris, Charles Elliott is briefly returning to his home on Sanctuary Island off the Washington coast. He buys Mac a drink and shows him a picture of his wife, Sean. For Mac, who's never had anything, it's like a glimpse at a life he could have had. But when they leave the bar, Elliott is struck by a car in the driving rain and dies on impact. In the split second before help comes, Mac has an opportunity, one he takes. He switches his wallet with Elliott's and takes his car keys, and disappears into the night.

This is the book's first potential flaw. Obviously Mac's decision isn't the most ethical one, and many people would have a hard time calling it heroic. It's a choice some readers will not be able to get past. But in the opening stages of the book, the author creates such a mood of loneliness and longing, it's easier to buy into the fantasy of stepping into someone else's life. For Mac, Sanctuary Island is an aptly named place that represents something he's always wanted. He's never had anything, and suddenly there it is, everything laid out right in front of him for the taking. Home. Job. Wife. Of course, he's still feeling the effects of diving out of the car's path at that moment, and not being quite in his right mind makes his actions more defensible. But then, the masquerade plot is one of my favorites, so it worked for me. Anyone who can buy into the premise should find a rewarding story follows.

What Mac finds on Sanctuary Island is anything but the idyllic life he imagined. There's no love lost between Sean Warren-Elliott and her husband. Her marriage was a mistake and only Charles's threat to sell his shares of the family company to a competitor if she divorces him keeps her from doing so. She's more than happy that he works from the company's offices in Paris while she remains in Seattle. His sudden arrival is an unpleasant surprise, and all she wants to know is when he'll be leaving again. But there's something different about Charles, something in the way he deals with people and the emotions he stirs in her. He's no longer the ruthless bastard who made life hell for those around him. And in spite of knowing better, she finds herself falling back in love with her husband.

And so the story unfolds, with Mac falling in love with his "wife," slowly coming to terms with the life he's stolen, and then moving to make amends. The book's other flaw is the ease with which Mac, someone with only basic computer skills, solves a crisis at the company that no one else can. But the business plot and the logic of it matter less than what they say about the character. It shows how Mac, however misguided, is not a bad person.

As a pure romantic fantasy, the book is a sweet love story between two people who've never really known love. Sean dedicated herself to the family corporation and cut herself off from emotion - she even calls her father by his first name. She knows better than to trust "Charles" again, but as the story develops, she slowly thaws toward him, sensing the changes in him. Mac thought it would be easy to step into another man's life, but as he falls for Sean, he knows how wrong this is and seeks to be worthy of her.

The final fifty pages are the best. The inevitable revelation scene where Sean learns the truth unfolds in a less predictable or melodramatic way than you might expect. Like the rest of the story, it's more tender and low-key. Everything that follows it, as Mac moves to make things right, is moving and effective, building to a particularly sweet ending. These sections are everything I could have hoped for for this story and these characters. There are several moments to savor that stick out as particularly memorable.

From its title (Has there ever been a more poignant title for a romance novel than this one?) to the final words, Could It Be You? is a sweet story of love and redemption. It's not the deepest or most dramatic romance novel I've ever read, but it delivers just about everything I'm looking for in the genre. Ten years after I first read it, those last few chapters still work for me every time. That's a keeper.

Reviewed by Leigh Thomas
Grade : A-
Book Type: Series Romance

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : March 23, 2004

Publication Date: 1994/01

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