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Kentwell #2
An Unlikely Hero
Defending her gentle identical twin sister from undesirable suitors by arranging a match between Vivian and Lord Kentwell, strong-willed Lady Venetia is unprepared for her own feelings for him. Original.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1996
10 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Gail Eastwood
19 books37 followersAs a child, Gail Eastwood wrote stories and dreamed of becoming an author. After almost twenty years of writing as a journalist, theatre critic and PR consultant, she finally wrote and sold her first novel, achieving that childhood dream. Published by Signet, that first book earned several honors including The Golden Leaf Award for Best Regency, 1994, and Gail hasn't looked back since. Her books have been nominated for multiple awards, and for two years running Gail was a nominee for Romantic Times Magazine’s Career Achievement in the Regency category.
Hailed as "brilliantly versatile" and "a master at painting pictures of Regency life", Gail enjoyed a growing reputation as a writer who pushed her genre to new levels with her emphasis on emotional depth and unusual plots. After over a decade away from writing, she is back!! She lives in RI with her actor/attorney husband and two adult sons. She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature and Sociology from Case Western Reserve University. Writing and researching are her greatest loves (after her family), but she stubbornly refuses to give up her interests in theatre, dance, costuming, the middle ages, and going to the beach, even though she has little time for them!
Hailed as "brilliantly versatile" and "a master at painting pictures of Regency life", Gail enjoyed a growing reputation as a writer who pushed her genre to new levels with her emphasis on emotional depth and unusual plots. After over a decade away from writing, she is back!! She lives in RI with her actor/attorney husband and two adult sons. She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature and Sociology from Case Western Reserve University. Writing and researching are her greatest loves (after her family), but she stubbornly refuses to give up her interests in theatre, dance, costuming, the middle ages, and going to the beach, even though she has little time for them!
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 3, 2018
This has a bit more depth to it than your usual house-party-themed Regency. The Duke of Roxley has invited various unmarried peers of the realm to his country estate, hoping to find husbands for his twin daughters. The duke's son Nicholas also invites his good friend to the same house party, enlisting his aid in chaperoning the two girls and their would-be suitors.
The friend, Gilbey Kentwell, is a poor viscount, low on the peerage totem pole and, as such, the twins' father warns him against any pretensions to his daughters' hands in marriage. All this, in itself, would be enough for many Regency authors, but Eastwood throws in a misunderstood health issue of one of the daughters, which they are keeping secret, and a blackmailer who has apparently discovered this secret.
Our hero, the viscount, is a lovely beta fellow who ends up saving the day for everyone and also ends up with the love of his life. This is a nicely written HR. Characters are well developed and the writing is good and professional.
The friend, Gilbey Kentwell, is a poor viscount, low on the peerage totem pole and, as such, the twins' father warns him against any pretensions to his daughters' hands in marriage. All this, in itself, would be enough for many Regency authors, but Eastwood throws in a misunderstood health issue of one of the daughters, which they are keeping secret, and a blackmailer who has apparently discovered this secret.
Our hero, the viscount, is a lovely beta fellow who ends up saving the day for everyone and also ends up with the love of his life. This is a nicely written HR. Characters are well developed and the writing is good and professional.
July 7, 2014
Delightful! A charming story of twins whose search for husbands is complicated by a factor known to only a few. The unlikely hero is the scholarly Gilbey Kentwell, Viscount Cranford, twin brother of the heroine in A Perilous Journey.
June 9, 2025
I always enjoy Ms. Eastwood's novels. One of her older works, this one was a fun read, I couldn't put it down and lost sleep reading it.
After the death of his depressed and gambling father, the bookish Viscount Gilbey finds himself without a feather to fly with and a long road of financial recovery ahead of him. He also left Gilbey with many doubts about marrying for love, after his father and mother's family turned their backs on them, and he and his twin sister found themselves quite alone after the death of his mother.
Gilbey's best friend is Nicholas, who is heir to a dukedom and also has a way of talking Gilbey into joining him in most of his forays. But when Nicholas' father decides to have a two-week country party to marry off his twin sisters to an elite gathering of bachelors, Nicholas cons, twists, and refuses to take no for an answer from his best friend.
Gilbey knows that in his financial condition, he will be uncomfortable and out of place with this high-born gathering. But he finds himself there anyway, expecting to have two weeks of fishing and riding and staying out of the way of the aristocrats vying for his sisters.
As you expect from any well-written Regency Romance, that isn't going to happen. Gilbey, in his quest to keep a low profile and out of the way of the eligible gentlemen hoping to gain the attention of the beautiful and very well-dowried twins, continues to be in the right place at the wrong time or vice versa, however you want to see his plight.
Even the duke, who also believes him to be ineligible, takes several opportunities to remind him of this and to stay away from his daughters, which Gilbey assures the duke he knows well enough, he is not eligible and has no intention of seeking the hand of either of his daughters.
Ms. Eastwood introduces several challenges along the way, including a villain who has decided that his best course is to blackmail the twins with a family secret that no one wishes to be discovered. She weaves a delightful story filled with thrusting our hero into situations he hoped to avoid, misunderstandings about twins who do not wish to marry, at least one of whom has her own game plan to protect the family's secret, and the unexpected emotions that unravel in the close proximity of a country party. There is also a nice twist at the end that, if you're not paying attention, will blindside you when the villain is unmasked.
All in all, this was a fun, quick read.
After the death of his depressed and gambling father, the bookish Viscount Gilbey finds himself without a feather to fly with and a long road of financial recovery ahead of him. He also left Gilbey with many doubts about marrying for love, after his father and mother's family turned their backs on them, and he and his twin sister found themselves quite alone after the death of his mother.
Gilbey's best friend is Nicholas, who is heir to a dukedom and also has a way of talking Gilbey into joining him in most of his forays. But when Nicholas' father decides to have a two-week country party to marry off his twin sisters to an elite gathering of bachelors, Nicholas cons, twists, and refuses to take no for an answer from his best friend.
Gilbey knows that in his financial condition, he will be uncomfortable and out of place with this high-born gathering. But he finds himself there anyway, expecting to have two weeks of fishing and riding and staying out of the way of the aristocrats vying for his sisters.
As you expect from any well-written Regency Romance, that isn't going to happen. Gilbey, in his quest to keep a low profile and out of the way of the eligible gentlemen hoping to gain the attention of the beautiful and very well-dowried twins, continues to be in the right place at the wrong time or vice versa, however you want to see his plight.
Even the duke, who also believes him to be ineligible, takes several opportunities to remind him of this and to stay away from his daughters, which Gilbey assures the duke he knows well enough, he is not eligible and has no intention of seeking the hand of either of his daughters.
Ms. Eastwood introduces several challenges along the way, including a villain who has decided that his best course is to blackmail the twins with a family secret that no one wishes to be discovered. She weaves a delightful story filled with thrusting our hero into situations he hoped to avoid, misunderstandings about twins who do not wish to marry, at least one of whom has her own game plan to protect the family's secret, and the unexpected emotions that unravel in the close proximity of a country party. There is also a nice twist at the end that, if you're not paying attention, will blindside you when the villain is unmasked.
All in all, this was a fun, quick read.
July 9, 2021
Mystery and romance
A fun read trying to figure out who was in love with who and who, and who was leaving love poems, and who is the blackmailer.
You will soon be absorbed into the story!
A fun read trying to figure out who was in love with who and who, and who was leaving love poems, and who is the blackmailer.
You will soon be absorbed into the story!
February 5, 2026
Nice and clean traditional regency romance like I love!
November 9, 2013
Lord Gilbey Kentwell, twin brother of Gillian in A Perilous Journey, has just completed three years at Cambridge and is academically brilliant but has difficultly in social situations. His close friend, Nicholas St. Aldwyn, the Marquess of Edmonton has helped Gilbey considerably, which is why Gilbey has such difficulty saying no to an invitation to a house party at Lord Edmonton's family's country home in honor of Nicholas's two sisters, twins Vivian and Venetia. Since their come out, the twins have earned a reputation for refusing all suitors and putting the men through all sorts of tests. Gilbey is certain he doesn't want to face them, especially since his rank and fortune are too meager to be of interest to the twins' father, but Gilbey feels he owes Nicholas and heads off to the house party, hoping to be inconspicuous. Things don't go according to plan however, and Gilbey is struck by the twins' great beauty and Venetia's teasing smile. Venetia has her own plans for her and her sister, which don't include marriage without love. She is doubtful that she and her sister will find suitable husbands in the party guests. What the gentlemen don't know, however, is that Venetia has reasons for her actions. Vivian has a secret and a blackmailer wants to expose the secret or force Venetia into marriage. To add to their problems, someone is writing the twins bad poetry! Gilbey finds Venetia both interesting and exasperating but sees through her mask. He longs to help her but she's not sure she wants help, though she finds herself attracted to the young Viscount. Venetia soon realizes that Gilbey will make a perfect husband - for her sister and endeavors to arrange matters to her satisfaction. However, Vivian has some strong opinions of her own, as does Gilbey, which complicate the matter of a happily-ever-after for all of them. This is a more lighthearted comedy of manners with a hint of traditional Regency plot. I could relate to Gilbey and felt sorry for him many times as he tries to figure out what he wants. My favorite character is the strong-willed Venetia. She's a strong female character and doesn't suffer from the usual trite romance novel conventions. This is a nice, light read and I would definitely recommend it.
May 27, 2013
This was a good one. Charming. You could totally tell who was going to end up with whom pretty early on, but (since I couldn't flip ahead like I would with a paperback) I enjoyed the mystery of trying to figure out who the blackmailer was. (I was not able to figure it out on my own; I was sure it was the sort of lecherous old lord from early in the book.)
February 4, 2014
Cute book. The mystery was nice and I liked the distinct personalities the major and minor H/h had. The secondary characters were flat and not in the book much. The vernacular wasn't quite spot on, but once I got into the story, it wasn't too glaring. All in all, cute one-sitting read.
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May 16, 2016DNF. I've read another by Eastwood which I enjoyed enough to buy this. I found the heroine annoying in the extreme and couldn't get much beyond the 20% mark. I've got one other by her on my "to read" list but I'm going to have to think long and hard before taking the plunge.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews