Double Take

by Brenda Joyce

From New York Times bestselling author Brenda Joyce comes an alluring novel of a woman’s dangerous quest to protect her twin sister---and the secrets, lies, and deceptions that threaten them both. . . .

Kait London has been estranged from her twin sister for years. She has never understood why and has always regretted it. When her phone rings in the middle of the night, Kait learns that Lana desperately needs her help. All Kait has to do is take her place, for two days, at her home in the horse country of Virginia. If Kait can play this role convincingly, she will save Lana’s life.

This is a game the twins have played before. But never like this. For the charade is much more difficult to pull off than when they were children. Lana has many secrets, secrets she has kept from everyone, including Kait---and she has as many enemies---including her own husband. Kait had not been expecting Trev Coleman to be in residence. Worse, she is soon forced to recognize how darkly seductive he is---and that he may very well be her worst enemy.

And then Kait realizes that she is directly in the line of fire. Someone is deliberately stalking Lana, but Kait is the trapped prey. Filled with stunning twists and turns, with mind games and body heat, Double Take is a taut romantic thriller from an author who delivers one surprise after another until the very last page.

Genres: Romance, Romantic Suspense, Mystery, Suspense, Fiction, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Brenda Joyce is the bestselling author of forty-one novels and five novellas. She has won many awards, and her debut novel, Innocent Fire, won a Best Western Romance award. She has also won the highly coveted Best Historical Romance award for Splendor and Two Lifetime Achievement Awards from Romantic Times BOOKreviews. There are over 14 million copies of her novels in print and she is published in over a dozen foreign countries.

A native New Yorker, she now lives in southern Arizona with her son, dogs, and her Arabian and half-Arabian reining horses. Brenda divides her time between her twin passions—writing powerful love stories and competing with her horses at regional and national levels. For more information about Brenda and her upcoming novels, please visit her Web sites: www.brendajoyce.com, www.thedewarennedynasty.com and http://mastersoftimebooks.com.

Reviews

[Azet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning,exciting and sexy...a book i couldn`t put down from the first page to the last.Many readers have given this book negative reviews because of it`s naive heroine and unbelievable incident in the book..but guess what:

Brenda Joyce couldn`t have done it better.

The idea of a plot about identical twins who switch sides were turned over in a way the author made it unique and fascinating and i greatly admired the characters.
Given to Kait London`s good-hearted nature,lonely life and her desperate craving for a family is something i sympathize with.So that`s why i understood when she switched places with her twin sister Lana.Oh Lana!What a psycho,mad,selfish bitch...i somehow knew her ending would be that way.She was for one a very clever villain.Seems Farell was right on that,and it seems he also really loved her.(ughhh)And then we have the hero...Lanas husband.

Trev Coleman is a very charismatic hero and his HOT AS HELL CHEMISTRY with Kait just SWOONED ME OVER.That raw angsty scene near the end just left me crying and i just couldn`t understand how a happy ending could be possible for these two!I was really intrigued by Trev`s hot brother Rafe ,that was another dangerous Alpha male!Wonder if Brenda will write a book about him and Anna Leigh?The suspense also left me reeling and i had many suspicions like Kait as to who the murderer was,who hated her enough to try to kill her.AMAZNG and SENSUAL read..will never forget this one because i don`t usually read books with trope.

[Medollga · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise was just what I was looking for to a T, but my God, what an execution! 😅😬🆘

Listen, I'm a sucker for a good twin switch romance. Especially, when they're sisters. Double especially, when there's an established relationship, that a swapee has to navigate. Triple especially, when the switched sister gets together with the husband/fiance/boyfriend of the other twin 👉🏼👈🏼 I know, sue me! 🫣🤭

So, when I read the blurb of this book, I was ECSTATIC! 🥰🥳

BUT! ⚠️🚨🆘

There were a lot of plotholes, inconsistencies, over-the-top dramatic outbursts and reactions, and soap opera ending (and really, the whole middle).

The hero wasn't swoony or dreamy at all, I found him to be a bit of an idiot, a bit of a jerk and a bit of a hypocrite 🤡

The heroine wasn't fleshed out, especially regarding her previous life. She was supposed to be a VP of some PR company or something like that, so by all logic, she was an accomplished woman with many connections and at least somewhat of a social life. But she behaved as if she had no life before the switch and was in love with the hero, his kids, and his house THE SAME DAY SHE CAME THERE! 🤣☠️😱 Also, don't even get me started on her naïvete and inconsistent actions. One minute she wanted to confess, the other she wanted " to hear her sister's side of the story", then she wanted the husband for herself, then she wanted him to patch things up with her sister. Like, girl...pick a lane, my head spins🤷🏼‍♀️😭

The other twin was a caricature of a woman and a villainess. Somehow she was always lying, cheating WITH THE WHOLE COUNTY 🤷🏼‍♀️🤔 and everyone knew it, but the husband didn't know for 6 years??? What an idiot! Plus, of course, she was a bad mother to boot and a child predator AND a thief AND a con-artist AND a sociopath 🥰🤣 lol, girlie was living a thousand lives, and honestly, good for her.

Also, the whole idea that if the evil twin didn't meddle in their business meeting and stop it from happening, the hero and the heroine would fall in love and be married and it's somehow a known fact is laughable😂 and ofc the sister was an evil seductress for seducing poor vulnerable hero in his hour of need, but the horny idiot hero isn't to blame that he fell for her NOT EVEN A YEAR AFTER HIS WIFE'S DEATH ☠️ and brought this woman home after a sex-weekend to his tween daughter 🆘😱🤡

And I'll leave you with the knowledge that these two adults supposedly fell in love less than after a week of meeting each other 🤞🏼🤣

[Jena · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reread 2021



Safety spoilers

Yes, there’s double dipping. He slept with his wife the evil twin, then her nice twin sis when they swap.

The H seems to fall in love quite easily. He loved his dead ex wife, he loved the evil twin (and they had a steamy sex life), and then he fell in love with the nice boring twin.🙄

- they only sleep with each other. No cheating with anyone else, but they’re cheating with each other. He knew the h was her twin.

- no one was a virgin (thank God since they’re all past 30)

This was a horrible book in every way.
Boring
Super repetitive
The h is a tstl doormat
The H was a pushover doormat.
The plot was ridiculous

[elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

If any hereon from all the books I have ever read deserves the title of to stupid to live it was this one. Kait just could not understand why everyone hated her sister so much. I don't want to give away any spoilers so I will just say you learn very quickly why everyone hates Lana. The term "Doormat" does not even begin to describe Kait. Did Ms. Joyce really need to remind me several times on each page that the hero's name was Trev Coleman? Was she afraid that I as the reader would forget and get him confused with some other Trev from a different book after the first 60 pages! I am so glad this was a library book because I would have been very upset if I had paid for this book.

[Melluvsbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this was fun and entertaining, if not ridiculous and silly. It’s getting an extra star from me for the “entertaining” part.

The heroine was annoying with her dogged determination to “hear her sister’s side of the story” when EVERY SINGLE indicator pointed to her sister being a bottom dweller of the first order.

I was disappointed that we didn’t get a surprise v scene… that would have made this so much better… instead we get the hero realizing the h isn’t his wife when they had sex, but no details. 🫤 WHY?? Give me the cringy details! 🤣🤣

Anyway this was fun but not stellar.

[Joy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I knew into the first few pages that I'd read this book some time ago.

Twin one bullied twin two into pretending she was the wife.

The term identical is stretched to the limit in this book. I have yet to meet a set of identical twins (I have a set of my own) where I cannot see some point of difference either physically or in their personality traits therefore its a bit too much of a stretch that Trev months later had to bed Kait, the introvert of the twins to finally 'know' with certainty she was his extrovert wife's twin, the twin he'd been married to for six years! Ew and pullleeezzzeee! But did he confront her with his new found knowledge? Hell no! He was enjoying himself too much but when he finally couldn't ignore it any longer he got mad as a hatter reducing Kait to begging for his forgiveness and understanding...then more begging.

What Kait really needed was a bloody backbone.

[Sahara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7 stars. Only because this was such a page turner. Brenda Joyce's writing is so addicting and the plot was insane and very entertaining.

I didn't particularly like any of the characters very much, including the mmc who I felt was more of a secondary character to Kait and her twin Lana. Kait was really naive and kept making dumb decisions, which was also a little irksome. But the main characters had good chemistry and that hate/lust push and pull I crave so much. So I'm overall happy.

[Xiamera · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kait sucked the life out of me. For the entirety of the book, she was deliberately blinding herself to her sister's faults. How on earth did she think she could pull off a charade of that magnitude if her sister and the husband had this perfect life? Wouldn't everyone know instantly that something was amiss? And even with irrefutable evidence of how much people disliked and hated her sister she still was rationalising the sister's behaviour. Trev was hardly any better. The whole book was unbelievable.

[Krissy Horner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhh....was annoyed with the main character...she was too naive!!!!!

[Barbara Elsborg · Rating 2 out of 5]

It drove me insane with the - why am I doing this repeated by Kait, over and over again. I kept wanting her to speak out but she didn't and eventually the story lost me. I did understand her wish to make up with her twin but at the expense of her dignity, her personality? No, it didn't wash with me. If she'd have spoken out sooner, of course, there would have been no story but it dragged on and on. And the end - not sure that's the message I wanted the book to give.
On the plus side, the writing was good enough to keep me reading. I had a constant feeling of being unsettled, nervous as to what was going to happen but the deceit - oh that was too hard to stomach.

[Samantha Oledan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 stars

I've first read this book back in 2009, and I remember really getting hooked with the story. Flash foward to 2019, I had the urge to read this book again, but I couldn't remember the title, so I had to Google the plot until I found the book that sounded like the one I was looking for. Thank goodness, I found a used copy on Amazon.

I like the plot, especially the part about the push-and-pull between Kait and Trev. I'm really a sucker for love stories where the main characters were trying to suppress their feelings for each other because they were afraid of what the other might think if they knew about their feelings. I'm weird like that. Anyway, I love the sexual tension between the leads, enough to keep me going with this book.

I deducted 1 star because I wasn't too crazy about Kait's character. She was too naive. I don't think anyone in real life would actually agree to do a switcheroo with their twin sibling in a situation where something as serious as threat of harm is present... especially in Kait's case where she had hardly seen Lana in years then she suddenly just popped out of nowhere asking her to do a switch without much explanation. Kait had too much faith in Lana's goodness, and for most part of the book, she kept trying to find excuses for her sister's actions despite much evidence pointing against Lana. It got pretty annoying as she repeatedly brood over how her sister could do bad things, and maybe Lana was just forced to commit crime because she was in a tough position.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. I'm glad I came across this again after 10 years since I've first read this book.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Double Take was one of the few "romance" books that kept me on the edge of my seat. It went straight into action from the very first page to the very last. The main character Kait, while extremely naive, loved her sister enough to switch places with her with barely any information. Waiting for Kait to figure everything out was entertaining enough, but throw everything else and it made for a very good read!

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot of the book had potential but the writing is absolutely atrocious. Although the story is pretty predictable, it was compelling enough for me to finish, but I wouldn't recommend wasting your time.

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you were someone’s identical twin, how far would you go to save the life of your twin? Oh, sure, when you were kids and maybe even teenagers, you did the old switcharroo thing to confuse friends or boyfriends, but what about your adulthood? That’s the horror Kait London faces when the phone rings, and the disembodied voice at the other end of the call belongs to her estranged sister, Lana.

A desperate Lana explains that she owes a significant debt, and someone from her past will pay it for her if she can find that person. The creditors threatened Lana and her little daughter, Marnie.

Kait is horrified at the news, and she agrees to help without hesitation. Cait had always been the romantic one. She lived a quiet, bookish life and worked in Manhattan as an assistant editor at a publishing house. Lana had always been the one who took increasingly large risks. She stole boyfriends of girls she befriended and cheated on them with other boys. The wild risk-filled life is what Lana craved most.

When Kait arrives at the charming old house in Three Falls, Virginia, she can’t fathom that her sister would ever want to leave the bucolic place. Lana’s husband, Trev, sizzles with sexual attractiveness, and Kait realizes she’s going to have to keep herself under control. This is, after all, Lana’s husband.

But Kait soon learns that there’s nothing but hostility in the house. Lana has been a bitch for years. She cheats on the husband, ignores Marnie completely, and trashes the guy’s oldest daughter, Samantha, born during his first marriage to a wife who died.

Kait valiantly tries to be Lana, but she slips often enough that the family begins to wonder who she really is. Even little Marnie realizes she has a new mommy who only looks like the old mommy. But Kait can’t tell the truth. She’s sure if she does, she and Marnie will die. That’s what the letter Lana sent warned.

And it looks like Kait is a target for death. Someone creates a horse accident that concusses her; someone rearended her car; someone took potshots at her, and they even tried to burn her to death.

I had a hard time laying this down. The plot moved fast and kept me interested. There are far too many stupid sex scenes in here. They aren’t as detailed as some I’ve read, but they’re tiresome by every measure. If moderately unimaginative sex scenes fuel you, enjoy. If they don’t, jump forward by either minutes or chapters. The other downside is I got tired of Kait not being truthful. I’m practically shaking my book player yelling, “Come out already!” That got way ridiculous. But the writing style will likely keep you reading.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially it took a bit to get into the book. But once I started reading, I enjoyed the majority of it

A few things I didn't like:
.
.
.
.
-Trev Coleman's behavior. Hot and cold. When he found out Lana wasn't herself, quite literally, after the new york swich, as he had sex with his "wife " I'll stop there. It was aggressive, he used who he thought was his wife. He deserved at least something. He owned her. Didn't like it. When he realized it wasn't his wife the next morning he was cruel. Said hurtful things.
-Kait London. I understand wanting to be loved and desperate. I understand wanting to help out but dropping everything, with so little details? Red flag. There are many red flags that Kait misses.
-repetition of phrases: "Kait felt ill."
-kait denying the obviously truth of Lana.
-Lana. Literally everything about that character. Everything.

I appreciated:
-Marni recognition of the new mommy
-Sam, a 16 year old who clearly is struggling, and blamed and acting out, and how she in the end realized Kait truly wanted her best interest.
-the storyline over all and the emotions it evoked.

Overall a rating of 3/5 stars. I'd say it's worth reading, just to Experiance the rollercoaster of adrenaline of emotion. :)

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kait is really trying to win the stupidity award. Her twin sister suddenly requests to meet after six years and says she's in danger and to take her place while she figures things out. Why she didn't stay to solve the issue or tell her loving husband, no one knows. Then, when Kait discovers her sister lied about the danger and everyone has something bad to say about her, she's in denial. She hasn't been in touch with her twin for over SIX YEARS and still thinks she knows what her sister is like. What a delusional idiot.

Look, I have siblings. I love them no matter what. But we're so different, we would never have even been friends if we weren't related. All that's to say, you can love someone and still acknowledge the person they are. And people change over time. So the fact that Kait is thinking her sister is innocent despite evidence to the contrary just tells me she's stupid and incapable of seeing reality.

I don't have much to say about the other characters, because they're just cardboard cutouts. Sam could've been Trev's sister, niece, etc. and the plot would remain the same. Marni only existed to show that Kait is the motherly type and the twin wasn't, see how she's changed?

[Patricia Dickerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book forever ago, like 12yrs ago, and have never forgot about it. Took me forever to remember the name and I finally did just now. The story was sooo good. It was well written and flowed easily. I couldn't put it down.

[Elaine Xiques · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting plot

The double take in the story is how twins switch places but one twin is evil the other not. How the web is weaved is interesting and how many lives are involved. Enjoyed the story and the ending.

[martha schaffarzik · Rating 1 out of 5]

absolutely not. found this in a public takeaway library in a bathroom and should've flushed it down the toilet when i
had the chance

[LaDonna Mead · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my all time fav authors. Not her best book but it was an easy read. Pretty sure I read this several years ago

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read, although quite unbelievable at times.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I ever picked up by this author, and one of the first things I did after I put it down was to look at the ratings of her other books to see if they were higher. They mostly seem to be, which falls in line with my thoughts on this book: There was something there, a spark, a bit of emotional subcontent, a promise of potential...something that made me think I'd like to try something else by this author to see if maybe it's a little bit better.

The trouble with this book is twofold, and the two things fed off of one another so that they were inseparable: gullibility and dishonesty.

Kate London hasn't seen her twin sister in over 6 years. They were never close. She always wanted to be close, as twins are theoretically supposed to be, but even though they are the only family one another has, they aren't. Kate feeds off the crumbs of Lana's affections, so that when Lana calls, Kate will do anything for her.

Anything includes trading places, going to Virginia to fool Lana's husband and child (who Kate didn't even know existed) because of some cock and bull story anyone with sense could have seen was a lie. Although Lana suggested someone might be trying to kill her, and indeed, someone tries to shoot Kate, and drive her off the road, and...

I didn't mind the setup, actually. Even though I knew Lana was lying, I understood Kate's desperation to have a real family, and Lana sure did know how to play her sister. The trouble was the execution. Here's how the book seemed to progress:

"I can't live this lie!"
"I have to tell him the truth."
"He must know the truth."
"Lana is probably lying about something, but I'll give her a few more days to come back like she promised."
"I can't live this lie!"
"I have to tell him the truth!"

To make a long story short, the repetition and circular nature of her own internal arguments, which never seemed to be resolved, were a big problem. And as more and more of Lana's duplicity was revealed, Kate's willingness to keep taking the fall for her twin became less and less believable, especially as she was falling in love with Lana's husband.

This type of book often fails because the truth doesn't come out soon enough, and this was no exception. I think it would have worked much better if Kate had confided in Trev, and they would have worked together to figure out what was going on.

Then again, it would also have worked better if what was going on had turned out to be more .... well, more. The ending was a bit of a let down.

Still, there was the potential, and this was an engaging book. This is one of those times when I believe I will give this author a second chance.

[Shirlene]

Kait London and her sister, Lana Coleman, had never been close. After their mother died, the girls lived completely different life styles. Both rode horses but Lana competed, Kait did not like the attention. Kait was quieter and more studious. Lana was more outgoing and much more a party girl.
Lana called Kait one night and asked her to take her place for a couple of days. Lana didn't give Kait much information but Kait didn't ask many questions either. Lana told her that her husband was out of town and someone was threatening her and her daughter because she owed someone money. Kait soon found out that everything she was told was a lie. The two days ended up being a week.
Lana's husband was at home and served her with divorce papers. Lana was having affairs with numerous men in their circle of friends. Someone shot at Kait and locked her in their barn and set it on fire.
Kait found out that seven years previous, she had told Lana that she was meeting with Trevor Coleman to discuss some fund raising. Lana had called Trevor and changed the date and time of the meeting. Kait thought that she had been stood up. Lana convinced Trevor that she was in love with him and they married quickly and had a daughter. Lana wasn't much of a wife and cared little for Marni. Lana had a boyfriend, and had for at least ten years. The two of them stole things from within Trevor's circle of friends. Trevor's brother was the local sheriff and suspected Lana. Rafe had also convinced Tevor to hire a private investigator to watch Lana.
Kait quickly fell in love with Trevor and his daughter, Sam, along with their daughter, Marni. The girls noticed the difference in the personality but as the girls were identical twins, weren't totally convinced that she was a different person. Trevor noticed that they were not the same person but he didn't know about the twin thing either. He was upset when he found out and almost let Kait leave. He went to get Kait back when his housekeeper, Elizabeth, was taking her to the airport. He found Elizabeth trying to shoot Kait with a gun. He called his brother and had Elizabeth put into a mental hospital.
Rafe publicized the fact that Lana was in jail and after a few days, Lana was caught trying to leave the country. She tricked the police that were taking her back home to face the charges and she escaped. After another seven years, Kait and Trevor were still together and had a son and daughter. Lana was pronounced dead and they finally married each other.

[Cessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ja dieses Buch ist kitschig, ja es ist teilweise auch etwas vorhersehbar und dennoch ist es soooo gut. Ich habe mir eigentlich nichts großes erwartet als ich zu diesem Buch griff aber ich war so gefesselt von der Geschichte und aus einem mir unbegreiflichen Grund machte mir weder das kitschige noch die Liebesgeschichte etwas aus - wirklich wirklich toll. ich werde mir definitiv noch weitere Bücher der Autorin ansehen!

[Priscilla Mensah · Rating 5 out of 5]

completely stunning, and a unexpected. i loved every single page and i just could not take a break till i completed it and i still kept thinking about it a long time after i read it. i still read it years after and i never get bored
it is the story of two twin sisters Kait and Lana who have been estranged for years and have to switch places because Lana needs help.

[Jessy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a few years ago, and I still enjoyed it quite a bit. I think the premise of the story is quite original (i.e. other than the twin-switch). I would have liked the climax of the story to have lasted longer, and I thought Kait a little too eager and gullible. Nevertheless, this book is great if you're looking for a quick read while in transit (e.g. an airplane).

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully frustrating this book is. I loved Kait and hated Lana for the obvious reasons, I loved the ending and the Middle bit, the beginning of this book was a bit too slow and repetitive for me, but hang through it and you'll be awarded, cause in the end of the day it was a good book and it was not one of those books you already know before you read it what will happen so go for it!

[Coleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kaitlin takes the place of her identical twin sister Lana's life for what she thought would be only a couple days while Lana sorted through some recent problems.

Characters: Kaitlin, Lana, Trev
Takes Place: New York & Virginia

Donated to Milford Library

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not bad but I don't like how the main character is gulliable and weak. Only good thing about her is that she finally stood up for herself which was at end of the book??!! Soo. I don't have any tolerance for weak characters. Hence, here's my biased rating. :D (the plot was good).

[Queenstacelareads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many of this author's books. Some are romance driven and some are suspense driven. This is one of the latter and is a great read! It took no time for me to read, because I couldn't put it down! I highly recommend it to those that like suspense!