There are many of us who think that if Regency Romances want to keep and gain readership, the sub-genre needs to somehow change, to become more believable, to have more complex heroes and heroines, and to deal with difficult issues. To me, this would be a good thing. This doesn’t mean, however, that there is no place for a traditional Regency, as long as it is written well, with likable characters (even if they are a bit uneven) and an interesting plot. This is the case with The Rebellious Twin.

Identical twins Clarinda and Clarissa (Rissa) are impossible to tell apart – very few people, not even their parents, are able to do so. Over years of manipulation, Rissa has managed to have her parents and just about the entire neighborhood believe that she is the good twin. Clarinda, being the honorable and loyal one, has not been able, because of her honest nature, to do something to clear her good name. Since no one will believe her professions of innocence, she has learned to tolerate the situation with the help of her best friend Sara. Finally, after years of being forced to dress like her sister, and with the threat of an impending marriage to identical twin brothers, Clarinda has had it – she wants to be her own person.

Lord Stormont has won Hollyridge Manor in a game of chance. While investigating his new property, he comes across Clarinda, his new neighbor, and is enchanted. Although Clarinda finds Lord Stormont to be interesting as well, she first has to overcome her initial prejudice against him, caused by a misunderstanding regarding his role in the change in the life’s circumstances of her best friend, Sara, who has gone into a life of service.

The Rebellious Twin is based on a series of misunderstandings aside from the good twin/bad twin confusion. Many of them are based on the needs and wants of Rissa, an antagonist who has no care for anyone but herself. The Rebellious Twin is a simple book, really, with no grand plots or mysteries – just a simple story of two likable people and the hurdles they overcome for their happily ever after.

Neither Lord Stormont nor Clarinda are complex characters and the secondary characters are even simpler. As an antagonist, Rissa is not complicated or even very interesting. Clarinda behaves unevenly. She is strong and honorable on one hand, and a bit of a doormat on the other. Lord Stormont is uneven too – a strong and proper British Lord on the one hand, but he doesn’t fight for what he wants and is a bit of a wimp on the other. The twins’ parents are clueless, the best friends are puzzling, and the neighbors are easily fooled. And yet, despite the uneveness of the characters, there is a simple sweetness about the story that gave me a good feeling at the end.

If you are looking for a Regency that covers the darker, more realistic side of the era, The Rebellious Twin may not be for you. If you are looking for a light, traditional Regency with a bit of a secondary romance thrown in, it might be the book for you.