The Latest Oz Reading

I'm continuing my reading of the works of Rachel Cosgrove Payes with Love's Promenade, the third in the Seven Sisters Regency Romance series. The Lassiter's have already married off three of their daughters, so now it's the twins' turn. Yes, Taysie and Rho are identical twins. You can probably guess what that means in this kind of book! When Papa accepts a new job as a headmaster in Brighton, the family moves. Taysie goes with them, but Rho heads to London to help out Allie (married off in the first book in the series) now that she's pregnant. Of course, all the lads in Brighton are smitten with Taysie. And she picks out Sir Godfrey. But when Baron Guildford goes to London on business, he meets Rho and thinks she's Taysie. When Rho finally makes it to Brighton, Taysie is laid up with the flu, and can't go to the ball. Of course, Rho takes her place! These two are pretty mischievous, and all gets befuddled and confused before their deception is uncovered and they have to pay the consequences. Of course, love conquers all in the end, and both girls end up engaged to fetching young gentlemen — not necessarily the ones they were expecting, however. I'm especially amused by all the references to Shakespeare comedies and novels with mixed-up twins that the characters refer to, usually with the admonition, "Yes, but that's just a story. It doesn't always work out that well in real life." I'm also surprised at how easily the twins rope their family, and even some of their friends, into the deception. Nobody is going to mistake this for great literature, but it is a fun, tightly-plotted amusement. And when one considers what many current romance novels are like, this series is positively chaste (and Rachel wrote some racier stuff). This is even more amusing when one realizes that these books were published by Playboy!

Hmm, two daughters left at home now, and two more books in the series. It should be Electra's turn next. Considering how the youngest daughter, May, is still more interested in horses than boys, I'm reasonably certain that Electra finds her match in the next book.