"A hilarious romance"

In Boston, Maralys O'Reilly enjoys providing netiquette advice to users. However, her quiet life ends when she receives a call from her preadolescent nephew who tells her that their mother Marcia has failed to pick him or his younger brother up. Their father James remains en route from California. Maralys picks up the kids and takes them to their suburban home. Not long afterward, James arrives home to learn Marcia left him. A few days later, James visits Maralys and kisses her, but she says she is not a Marcia substitute even if she is her twin.

When her elderly father takes a bad fall, Maralys rushes him to the hospital. James arrives to help. He kisses her, takes her home, and they have sex. He notices the mole on her left nipple and says he has dreamed of that birthmark for twenty years, having once made love to the girl of his dreams. He thought she was Marcia, who did not have the mole, but now knows it has always been the Maralys. He tells her he loves her and wants her as his wife, but wonders how to persuade Maralys they belong together.

DOUBLE TROUBLE is a very funny contemporary romance mostly told by the irreverent Maralys' perspective with her Internet musings as a key element in understanding her. James and the support cast enhance readers' comprehension of what makes Maralys tick. Though James' problem with his father is an unnecessary sidebar, even if it places him in financial jeopardy, fans will fully appreciate Clare Cross' amusing tale.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 22, 2001