Carolina Isle by Jude Deveraux

Review by Cristy Ballard

Having been a longtime fan of Ms. Deverauxʼs writing, I was eager to dive into this book. Iʼd come to expect feisty heroines, twisty plots, witty dialogue, and love scenes that made my hair sizzle. I was more than willing to overlook the weak premise the bookʼs Amazon page presented because hey, this writer had never failed to deliver.
Mere pages into the book I could see that something was not quite right.

Ariel and Sara are cousins who look exactly alike. They felt fairly certain theyʼd be able to pull off an old fashioned switcheroo – despite never having met. Theyʼd written each other their whole lives and each had their own reasons for wanting to trade places. Ariel wants the attention of a man who sees her only as a co-worker, and an inferior one at that. Sara wants to experience the luxurious life her cousin lives. The two hatch a plan to trade places and of course hilarity ensues, right?

Wrong. From a highly implausible situation emerges two couples who seem to be incredibly wrong for each other. The creepy island that serves as the main setting for the book was nothing more than a gimmick for placing the characters in strange situations that are never fully resolved. Questions that I, as a reader, might possibly have found intriguing were answered in so many ridiculous ways that I found myself putting the book down after reading only a few pages and looking longingly to the past, where Ms. Deveraux seems to have left all her good plots. I canʼt say that this book was predictable; it certainly wasnʼt. The problem was that nothing was resolved and so many plot holes were left unfilled that I wondered if there might be a sequel planned, but that only provided another conundrum. I didnʼt even want to finish this book so there was no way Iʼd want to read a sequel. I simply did not care enough about the characters to want to know more.

At best this book could be considered a very rough first draft manuscript. If it had been developed more, with both character and plot rounded out to satisfying conclusions, Jude Deveraux might have had a good second-rate novel on her hands. As it stands, I not only do NOT recommend this book, but I would go so far as to say Iʼm skeptical of it having been written by Ms. Deveraux at all. That is how thoroughly out of line it stands in regards to her previous work. For a real taste of the talents of this author, I recommend her earlier works, specifically “A Knight in Shining Armor”, “Sweet Liar,” or “Wishes.” In each of these books Ms. Deveraux weaves magical love stories with heroines you can really root for, swoon-worthy gentlemen, and a story that will leave you smiling and satisfied.

Letʼs just hope her best work isnʼt behind her and we can look forward to more of the Jude we know and love.