Adopted?! Somewhere out there, Blair Stephens had a twin--an identical twin--she would do anything to find in time for the holidays. But it was double trouble when the first twin Blair found was devastatingly handsome private investigator Devin Quartermain. A twin himself, Devin could sympathize with his gorgeous client's plight. He would help her find her other half, but he'd already found the half that made him whole, and he didn't intend to let her go. Not without showing her that he was the perfect Christmas gift.
Marie Rydzynski was born on March 28 in West Germany to Polish parents. She moved to America at the age of four. For an entire year, Marie and her family explored the eastern half of the country before finally settling in New York.
Marie swears she was born writing, "which must have made the delivery especially hard for my mother." From an early age, Marie's parents would find her watching television or tucked away in some private place, writing at a furious pace. "Initially, I began writing myself into my favourite shows. I was a detective on '77 Sunset Strip,' the missing Cartwright sibling they never talked about on 'Bonanza' and the 'Girl from U.N.C.L.E.' before there was a 'Girl from U.N.C.L.E.,' not to mention an active participant in the serialized stories of 'The Mickey Mouse Club.'" Marie began to write her first romance novel when she was 11 years old, although she claims that, at the time, she didn't even realize it was a romance! She scribbled off and on, while dreaming of a career as an actress.
Marie was only 14 when she first laid eyes on the man she would marry, truly her first love, Charles Ferrarella. During her days at Queens College, New York, acting started to lose its glamour as Marie spent more and more time writing. After receiving her English degree, specialising in Shakespearean comedy, Marie and her family moved to Southern California, where she still resides today.
After an interminable seven weeks apart, Charles decided he couldn't live without her and came out to California to marry his childhood sweetheart. Ever practical, Marie was married in a wash-and-wear wedding dress that she sewed herself, appliqués and all. "'Be prepared' has always been my motto,"the author jokes. This motto has been stretched considerably by her two children, Nikky and Jessi, "but basically, it still applies," she says.
In November of 1981, she sold her first novel for Harlequin. Marie, who now has written over 150 novels, has one goal: to entertain, to make people laugh and feel good. "That's what makes me happy," she confesses. "That, and a really good romantic evening with my husband." She's keeping her fingers crossed that her reader's enjoy reading her books as much as she enjoyed writing them.
OMG, so clichéd. Blair finds out she was adopted after the death of her mother, and hires a PI to find her sister, Claire. The PI, Devin, is also a twin, and his brother, Evan... I know, why all the rhyming?, ends up coming to town at the very end of the book with his new fiancé - Claire.
I, uh, I have nothing.
2 stars, because it wasn’t Dante’s Blackmailed Bride.