Acquired Book By: I am a regular tour hostess for blog tours via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours whereupon I am thankful to have been able to host such a diverse breadth of stories, authors and wonderful guest features since I became a hostess! I received a complimentary copy of “Fool Me Twice” direct from the publisher Madison Street Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
On wanting to read the releases by this author and her publisher:
I’ve had my eye on Madison Street Publishing for quite a long while now, especially keen on the works by this author as I’ve caught sight of her books previously. When this one went up for a blog tour, I was quite wicked happy to participate as I have wondered about her personal style after finding out about how she became inspired to write these kinds of stories herself. I think for all of us who read Historical Fiction and Historical Romance with a strong influence from #BritRom, we become enthralled to know more stories and soak inside more lives of the characters we cannot help but feel motivated to become acquainted. It is entirely plausible to understand how a reader could develop their own craft of stories based on the passion they embraced themselves by the works of authors they loved reading!
Likewise, I have been able to host a few of her colleagues’ works in the past, too! I hosted an interview with Scott D. Southard and I loved reading The Duke’s Last Hunt by Roseanne E. Lortz! Therefore, it was a sweet and unexpected surprise to be able to sample the writings Ms Keyworth! This particular publisher tends to focus on what I love about Historical Romance and Historical Suspense; they seek out writers who love the same worlds I love being lit up inside through the pages of a novel whilst being grounded in realistic characters who have such a lot to express about their lives! It’s a special treat to find their authors and to note how well in-tune they are with their historical eras of choice and of the #HistRom stories we all seek to find next to read!
Be sure to check out the ‘Genre’ section of links below this review to see which other Historical Romances catch my eye!
Fool Me Twice
In the gaming hells of eighteenth century London, orphan Caro Worth is leading a double life. By day she plays a proper gentlewoman on the lookout for a wealthy husband. By night she plays the infamous Angelica, her fictional half-sister with a talent for cards and an ability to finance the life her respectable self has built. An introduction to a rich Marquis brings marriage and security within Caro’s grasp…until the arrival of the unpredictable and totally ineligible Mr. Tobias Felton.
Dismayed by Felton’s persistent appearances, shocking frankness, and enigmatic green eyes, Caro watches helplessly as he comes closer than anyone to guessing her secret, but when complete and utter ruin threatens, she finds that Felton’s suspicions just might become her salvation. As the walls she has built to protect herself crumble down around her, Caro learns that no matter how careful your plans, life and love have a habit of falling quite spectacularly out of control!
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9780996264846
on 1st December, 2016
Pages: 263
Published By: Madison Street Publishing (@MStPublishing)
Available Formats: Trade Paperback, Ebook
Previous stories by Keyworth:
The Unexpected Earl | Synopsis
The Widow’s Redeemer | Synopsis
Converse via: #HistFic + #HistRom
About Philippa Jane Keyworth
Philippa Jane Keyworth, known to her friends as Pip, has been writing since she was twelve in every notebook she could find. Originally trained as a horse-riding instructor, Philippa went on to become a copywriter before beginning a degree in History. A born again Christian, Philippa lives in the south of England with her handsome husband.
Philippa has always written stories and believes that, since it is one of her loves and passions, she always will. In her early writing career, she dabbled in a variety of genres, but it was the encouragement of a friend to watch a film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that began her love affair with the British Regency. Since then, she has watched every Regency film and TV series she could get her hands on and become well acquainted with Georgette Heyer’s novels which gave her the inspiration to write her own.
Both as a reader and a writer, Philippa believes it is important to escape into a world you yourself would want to live in. This is why she writes stories that will draw you into the characters’ joys and heartaches in a world apart from our own. Her debut novel, The Widow’s Redeemer (Madison Street Publishing, 2012), is a traditional Regency romance bringing to life the romance between a young widow with an indomitable spirit and a wealthy viscount with an unsavory reputation. The novel has been received well by readers and reviewers who have praised the heartfelt story and admirable characters. Her second novel, The Unexpected Earl (Madison Street Publishing, 2014), explores another romance in the Regency era when an impetuous young woman has her life turned upside down by the reappearance of the earl who jilted her six years ago. Her third novel a Georgian romance will come out at the end of 2016.
My review of fool me twice:
The most intriguing part of starting this story is the duality of Angelica’s role in society; she’s formed such a clever disguise of identities for herself to win back what was lost whilst never cluing in others to be wise to her tactics. She’s taken a liking to the gaming dens where you can win a quick profit back for your efforts, if you knew how to read your opponents but also how to gamble to gain the best advantage. In this, she’s attempting to fix the financial straits she’s fallen into whilst knowing her peers would not accept her methods at all. She puts up ‘appearances’ in her house – where the lower level is a mere mask of her circumstances; outfitted to ‘blend in’ with other people’s homes but without anything backing it. She remains true to herself in quieter hours – between where she is herself and this ‘other’ incarnation who gambles into the middle of the night.
What was most interesting is how she found a confidence in her maid and her maid’s husband; which helped of course, is that she’s known him since she was quite young but evenso! To have a couple protect her and her reputation whilst understanding the truth of it is that without the gambling, none of them would have a roof over their heads. There simply wasn’t enough to sustain them and this was proving to be a means to an end. However, Keyworth has written in the gravity of this deception into her character’s heart as well. Angelica is really ‘Caro’ the daughter of a dead aristocrat of whom has one sort of reputation and not one that blends well with the life of a gambler! Caro, herself, is caught between both worlds; the darker loosely moralistic underground lifestyle and the one on the surface, where the rules and etiquette rule the roost.
Despite the pace of the story being quite fast, I felt a bit of a disconnect between Angelica and Caro; if anything I felt the passages featuring Angelica were stronger than the passages where she was herself as Caro. When she embodied her position in society as Caro, the part I struggled with resolving is how she suddenly was less in confidence than she had been as Angelica. She had such strength of centering in the opening pages, but then, as she started to make her rounds to her society friends’ and even coming close to being ‘outed’ as Angelica by a cad of a bloke whose morals were absent at this stage in his life (he’s not a bloke you’d rally behind to be her equal) seemed to be a bit forced. If anything, I think it would have been more befitting if he had said Angelica and Caro were one of the same, but I suppose this early-on in the story-line, it would have spoilt the ending; but it did explain the title.
I found myself a bit bored with the dialogues and the way in which we moved out of the gaming dens into her social circles. Something was missing for me and I couldn’t quite figure it out, except that I wish more of Angelica’s personality and strength of character was represented in Caro. Caro, I know had to struggle with her emotions and her conscience as she was choosing to endeavour to go between the lines of society in order to pull herself back on solid ground. Yet, I simply could not get interested in continuing to read this story. There were small things that took me out of the context of the story, too. Little things like how the ton was described and how things were moving forward but not quite proving to be engaging. At least, I couldn’t find it engaging, as I was more keen on seeing the story shift back to Angelica’s point-of-view and limit Caro’s; in fact I think that might have made this a more plausible story to get behind. If most of the focus was on Angelica and then, re-enter Caro’s life where the lies and truths were too dicey to carry forward any longer, Caro would have to step forward out of Angelica’s shadow rather than being the other way round.
on the historical styling of philippa jane keyworth:
I must say, it was new to me to see the gaming halls called ‘hells’ but after I did some personal digging online to sort out why previous Regency stories have opted one word over the other, I can only attest it was personal preference. Apparently they really were called ‘gaming hells’ and they were quite popular as it was a place to win or lose by how well you played the games. I appreciate Ms Keyworth cluing into the historical reality of the era even if reading the difference in terms took a bit to get used too, myself. I honestly prefer ‘halls’ but even without knowing why they called them what they did (as I couldn’t get line on that online) I would presume it was due to the lifestyle choices of the participants and how the viles of gaming can catch up to a man (or woman) if they cannot walk away from gambling.
Keyworth has a different approach at writing her Historicals, as she’s very matter-of-fact and doesn’t spoilt you on long descriptive passages of what is happening ‘in scene’ but rather gets to the heart of the truth whilst disclosing the details which are necessary to understand her lead protagonists’ motives. It took me a bit to adjust to her style, as all writers have their own written voice and style of narrative. I have the tendency to read more writers who opt for descriptive narrative over the blunter style of only giving out parse details, but both have their place in Historicals, as sometimes the focus is not on the settings nor the period of the story itself but rather the angst of the situation we meet the characters.
This blog tour is courtesy of: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
My apologies to the author and publisher – due to heavy lightning storms, I was unable to post this on my scheduled day on the blog tour – working around mother nature is always a bit tricky as a book blogger, but I do try to post as close to a blog tour as I can if and when weather patterns make it quite impossible to get online. Especially considering I have the unfortunate benefit of living where tornadoes can sneak inside the thunderstorms and make a lightning storm even more intensive to wait out.
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Fool Me Twice”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Philippa Jane Keyworth and the tour badge were all provided by HFVBTs (Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours) and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Book Review Banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Frank McKenna and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2017.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2017 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
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