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الأخت البديلة
كان قرارا جريئا ولكن الاسره بالنسبه الى آن
كانت تأتي اولا كانت اختها في امس الحاجه
الى الانفراد بنفسها فتره من الزمن كما ان آن
سيتيسر لها الدراسة الجامعية اما مالم يخطر لها
ببال فهو انه كان عليها ان تسكن بجوار البروفيسر
هانتر لويس الاستاذ بالجامعة والذي سرعان ما
داخله الشك في امرها
كان المفروض ان لا تسمح آن لهانتر بالدخول الى شقتها
او الى قلبها
وذلك كي لا يكشف الطفل الذي كان معها
كانت تأتي اولا كانت اختها في امس الحاجه
الى الانفراد بنفسها فتره من الزمن كما ان آن
سيتيسر لها الدراسة الجامعية اما مالم يخطر لها
ببال فهو انه كان عليها ان تسكن بجوار البروفيسر
هانتر لويس الاستاذ بالجامعة والذي سرعان ما
داخله الشك في امرها
كان المفروض ان لا تسمح آن لهانتر بالدخول الى شقتها
او الى قلبها
وذلك كي لا يكشف الطفل الذي كان معها
160 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 10, 1995
8 people are currently reading
286 people want to read
About the author
Susan Napier
141 books153 followersPerhaps being born on Valentine’s Day was an omen that Susan Napier would become a romance writer. This New Zealand author has written over 30 Mills & Boon category romances since 1984. Napier and her husband Tony Potter met when they both worked at the Auckland Star newspaper. After they married, she left the newspaper to work for a film company where she learned the art of dialogue. After the birth of her sons, Simon and Ben, she was a freelance scriptwriter for documentaries. It was soon after that she decided to try her hand at writing the romance fiction she dearly loved.
She and her husband still live in the home they bought in Auckland shortly after their marriage.
She and her husband still live in the home they bought in Auckland shortly after their marriage.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
September 1, 2018
Re The Sister Swap - Susan Napier brings us a snarktastic h being sneaky with a baby trope for her entry into the Dangerous Liaisons series.
We start out with our redheaded 23 yr old h, Anne, dancing around her new above-a-warehouse digs with the rock blasting out at maximum decibels. A large, angry man barges in and turns off her music and harsh words are exchanged. The man, 37 yr old Hunter, is the next door neighbor and he objects to loud noises as the walls are paper thin.
We find out Anne is in the apartment belonging to the winner of a special writer's grant and that she is involved in some deception about that grant involving her older sister, Kaitlin. She also has a little plot moppet named Ivan the Terrible. Which is a huge misnomer, because SN tells us:
So Anne and Ivan are gearing up for Anne's long held dream of earning a university degree in languages with an emphasis on Russian as Anne is fascinated with the country.
Anne is also fiercely loyal and devoted to her family and the whole reason she is faking things is that her mother had a serious back injury when she was 15.
Kaitlin, the oldest sister, is too much a selfish snot to do anything but remove herself from her large farm family to go off and write in isolation, have a brief affair with a Russian sailor to deliberately get pregnant and give birth to Ivan. So it is up to Anne, the only other sister amongst the brothers, to take over for years for her mother in keeping up the farm domestic duties.
Then Anne gets cozened into taking on Ivan's care when Kaitlin wins a grant to write a novel that has a guaranteed publishing contract. Kaitlin decides that baby care and writing are all too much for her, so she gets Anne to move to Auckland to fulfill the residency requirements of the grant while also caring for Ivan.
(It is pretty clear that Kaitlin is useless. She just shovels her responsibilities onto her younger sister without any appreciation that if the deception is found out, Anne will probably lose her chance at an education.
That is fine in Kaitlin's mind, because then Anne will be available to continue to be her helpful doormat and childminder while Kaitlin creates great "Art", as she thinks she is an artist and deserves all kinds of differential treatment.
I despise Kaitlin and her presence brought this book way, way down in my estimation. As did the rest of Anne's family, who obviously encouraged Anne to martyr herself for their own comfort.)
Anne may be a loyal martyr, but she is also one of the snarkiest ever h's in HPlandia. After several hilarious snarky run-in's with the next door neighbor, Hunter, we learn that he is a visiting political profession with a reputation for being exceedingly grumbly to everyone who doesn't meet his expectations.
(He also is extremely knowledgeable about the grant requirements Anne is supposed to be on and this is cause for concern on Anne's part.)
Apparently 95% of the known population of humanity fails to meet Hunter's expectations, so Anne has a great time baiting him about it. Her remarks are full of double-entendre's, hysterical ursine and porcine comparisons and Hunter is beside himself trying to keep up.
Anne is almost beside herself trying to invent reasons for the discrepancies in her little masquerade, such is why she is called Anne and not Kaitlin and having to hide Ivan's living in the apartment and why her typewriter is not pounding out the words all the time.
Neither one of them can seem to help themselves tho and soon all that snarky banter and inadvertent confrontations leads to a baby Ivan discovery, (it turns out formerly married Hunter is great at babies and quite curious about breastfeeding,) then on to big passionate groping, roofie kissing moments after an impromptu invite to share dinner.
The roofie kissing moment ends in another fight and soon Hunter is convinced that Anne is the Tart of Auckland when he keeps finding large, brawny males leaving her apartment and one in particular was very suggestive when Hunter stopped by to drop off some mail.
(Actually Anne is offering low cost massage therapy to athletes who can't afford a physiotherapist, they either pay or trade for babysitting.)
Anne goes to confront him about his mistake, but Hunter isn't home. So Anne and Ivan just waltz right into Hunter's apartment and snoop around. We find out that Hunter is also a famous thriller author writing under a pseudonym. Then they are confronted by a tall, lovely Valkyrie who thinks that Anne and Hunter are a thing and that Ivan is their child, per Anne's instigation. (Ivan looks a lot like Hunter.)
We soon learn that the Valkyrie is actually Hunter's artist mother and Anne has to scramble again to cover up her initial assertion that she was Hunter's lover. There is a funny scene where Hunter is enjoying Anne's panic and then it is Hunter's turn on the hot seat when his mother insists that she babysit Ivan and Hunter and Anne go out to 'enjoy' themselves cause the walls are too thin for them to go next door.
So Hunter and Anne go out to dinner and finally Anne is able to explain how she learned from a physio about massage therapy during her mother's problems and how she is using it to earn extra income.
(Tho she is highly offended when Hunter nags at her for prostituting herself, the verbal exchange when she explains what is really going on and he says he did not bang on the wall to shut down the moans and groans was because he did want to ruin her 'stroke' was one of the funnier scenes of the book.)
On the way back to their apartments, Anne and Hunter get into another roofie kiss and there is a confrontation with a policeman that leads to almost being arrested for public indecent exposure. Then Kaitlin shows up, she decides she wants Ivan now and she needs the money she was giving to Anne out of the grant to support him while she continues to write. (Someone must have pointed out how much a fertilizer mother she really was.)
She also has 'one more little favor' to ask Anne, this time she wants Anne to go the harbour where her lover's ship has just docked at and make inquiries about Kaitlin's Russian sailor lover. Kaitlin feels bad that she did not tell him about his child, (more likely she wants another stooge to care for Ivan while she continues her 'Art',) and Anne gets accused once again of prostitution, this time by the police.
Fortunately Hunter is on his way to the Russian sailor's ship for some diplomatic do and he rescues Anne by pretending she is his date. He also gets her on board the ship and Anne finds Dmitri in the crowd and gives him Kaitlin's letter.
Unfortunately, Dmitri insists on Anne taking him right away to meet Kaitlin and Ivan and Anne is forced to tell Hunter that Dmitri is Ivan's father. Hunter loses his temper in a big way when he thinks Anne was just using him and is now going to go off with Dmitri and Anne still can't tell him the truth because there is the whole grant situation.
So Dmitri, Kaitlin and Ivan have a happy family reunion and go off into the HP mists. Anne decides to chase Hunter again after she explains that Ivan is her nephew and is reunited with his mother and father. Anne eventually works her way up to becoming Hunter's lover, while he basically treats her like an expensive tart he is paying for Purple Passion Moments.
Anne allows this, despite all her protestations about not being a tarty tramp and never actually spending the night in the same bed as Hunter. She instead decides she needs to know all about Hunter's marriage and his aversion to love in between passionate lurve club moments.
We find out that Hunter's wife, who committed suicide, was a poet. (Her father, the guy who set up Kaitlin's grant, is also Hunter's father in law. So Anne can't explain her deception about who is the actual grant recipient, especially after Kaitlin refuses to acknowledge her part in it and pours on the emotional guilt trip. )
Hunter's wife was also a secret bulimic and soon found herself unable to carry out her early writing talent promise. She hid her illness at first then used it to start blaming Hunter and his material success in 'low brow' novels for own inability to write.
She claimed that Hunter's success, his criticism, his sexual demands, his jealousy of her talent and his 'forcing' her to be bulimic stifled her and their marriage deteriorated until she eventually ended it all by overdosing on pills while Hunter was on a business trip.
This affected Hunter greatly, he blames himself for her death and he is soon getting very angry that Anne doesn't seem to be getting anywhere on the grant novel, as she hasn't written anything.
Hunter insists that Anne needs to write, he doesn't want to be accused of causing yet another promising writer's destruction. Then Hunter just drops Anne and goes away, leaving a letter telling her to follow her dreams.
Anne has the standard mopey moment where she doesn't have jobs cause she figured Hunter would support her and then she goes home to her family and to visit Kaitlin and Dmitri and Ivan. We learn that Hunter helped Dmitri get established with New Zealand residency and therefore, because Kaitlin's name would be on the paperwork, he knows about Anne's impersonation.
Anne goes back to Auckland, but Hunter did not spill the beans yet. So when Anne sees Hunter in a local coffee shop, she barges in and curses him out in Russian in front of his companion. There is another embarrassing moment when Anne realizes that the companion is Russian and understood every word she said.
Then Hunter decides he loves her and does the big declaration, explaining that he admired her loyalty, only knew about her deception for a few days before his scheduled trip and that he heard about her years of sacrifice for her family and he knew she wanted to be a traveling translator, so he wanted to leave her free to follow her passions.
But eventually his love for her overrode his doubts left over from his first marriage and he came back to ask her to marry him. Anne decides that love is more important and linguist careers can accommodate marriage, so she declares her love back. In one last attempt at humor, Hunter proposes right there in the coffee shop and Anne replies she will think about it and then takes off running.
Hunter chases her down and it takes ten seconds until she says yes for the big HEA, leaving his dinning companion to pay the restaurant bill.
This one started out great, the banter was really funny and at first Anne's little situations were amusing. I found myself getting more and more intolerant of both her sister Kaitlin and Anne's lies as the story progressed. Hunter really deserved better than what he got in Anne and for all her protestations, in the end she really kind of did come off as a pay to play tart.
(That undercurrent of prostitution seems to be a favorite sub trope of SN at this time in her writing. I have to say that I don't really like it.
I get the feeling that SN might be having a period of deep romance cynicism, as SN seems to be building up to a book that literally has the h prostituting herself and doing so quite willingly in a very tawdry manner.
It is almost as if SN is mocking both her heroines and her readers and that isn't a comfortable feeling to have when you just want a fun, HEA guaranteed HPlandia outing.)
For the most part tho, this book gets high marks and it is very funny. Anne is cute in her optimism, almost admirable in her loyalty to her family and Ivan is the very definition of adorable plot moppet. Hunter was pretty likable as well, so don't be afraid to take this one out for a spin when you want a lively, entertaining HP venture and a pretty good day at the HP office.
We start out with our redheaded 23 yr old h, Anne, dancing around her new above-a-warehouse digs with the rock blasting out at maximum decibels. A large, angry man barges in and turns off her music and harsh words are exchanged. The man, 37 yr old Hunter, is the next door neighbor and he objects to loud noises as the walls are paper thin.
We find out Anne is in the apartment belonging to the winner of a special writer's grant and that she is involved in some deception about that grant involving her older sister, Kaitlin. She also has a little plot moppet named Ivan the Terrible. Which is a huge misnomer, because SN tells us:
The Terrible was Anne's purely ironic nickname. Ivan was the most friendly, good-natured and well-behaved baby in the world. In fact, he was enough to make a capable adult feel inferior. Sometimes Anne felt as if he was not really a baby at all, but a computer-generated ideal. He didn't dribble, he never threw up his food or cried for no apparent reason; he even messed his nappies in the tidiest possible fashion. You could set the clock by his naps and he had slept through the night since he was four weeks old. If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't walk or talk for himself Anne would almost feel superfluous to his well-ordered existence!
So Anne and Ivan are gearing up for Anne's long held dream of earning a university degree in languages with an emphasis on Russian as Anne is fascinated with the country.
Anne is also fiercely loyal and devoted to her family and the whole reason she is faking things is that her mother had a serious back injury when she was 15.
Kaitlin, the oldest sister, is too much a selfish snot to do anything but remove herself from her large farm family to go off and write in isolation, have a brief affair with a Russian sailor to deliberately get pregnant and give birth to Ivan. So it is up to Anne, the only other sister amongst the brothers, to take over for years for her mother in keeping up the farm domestic duties.
Then Anne gets cozened into taking on Ivan's care when Kaitlin wins a grant to write a novel that has a guaranteed publishing contract. Kaitlin decides that baby care and writing are all too much for her, so she gets Anne to move to Auckland to fulfill the residency requirements of the grant while also caring for Ivan.
(It is pretty clear that Kaitlin is useless. She just shovels her responsibilities onto her younger sister without any appreciation that if the deception is found out, Anne will probably lose her chance at an education.
That is fine in Kaitlin's mind, because then Anne will be available to continue to be her helpful doormat and childminder while Kaitlin creates great "Art", as she thinks she is an artist and deserves all kinds of differential treatment.
I despise Kaitlin and her presence brought this book way, way down in my estimation. As did the rest of Anne's family, who obviously encouraged Anne to martyr herself for their own comfort.)
Anne may be a loyal martyr, but she is also one of the snarkiest ever h's in HPlandia. After several hilarious snarky run-in's with the next door neighbor, Hunter, we learn that he is a visiting political profession with a reputation for being exceedingly grumbly to everyone who doesn't meet his expectations.
(He also is extremely knowledgeable about the grant requirements Anne is supposed to be on and this is cause for concern on Anne's part.)
Apparently 95% of the known population of humanity fails to meet Hunter's expectations, so Anne has a great time baiting him about it. Her remarks are full of double-entendre's, hysterical ursine and porcine comparisons and Hunter is beside himself trying to keep up.
Anne is almost beside herself trying to invent reasons for the discrepancies in her little masquerade, such is why she is called Anne and not Kaitlin and having to hide Ivan's living in the apartment and why her typewriter is not pounding out the words all the time.
Neither one of them can seem to help themselves tho and soon all that snarky banter and inadvertent confrontations leads to a baby Ivan discovery, (it turns out formerly married Hunter is great at babies and quite curious about breastfeeding,) then on to big passionate groping, roofie kissing moments after an impromptu invite to share dinner.
The roofie kissing moment ends in another fight and soon Hunter is convinced that Anne is the Tart of Auckland when he keeps finding large, brawny males leaving her apartment and one in particular was very suggestive when Hunter stopped by to drop off some mail.
(Actually Anne is offering low cost massage therapy to athletes who can't afford a physiotherapist, they either pay or trade for babysitting.)
Anne goes to confront him about his mistake, but Hunter isn't home. So Anne and Ivan just waltz right into Hunter's apartment and snoop around. We find out that Hunter is also a famous thriller author writing under a pseudonym. Then they are confronted by a tall, lovely Valkyrie who thinks that Anne and Hunter are a thing and that Ivan is their child, per Anne's instigation. (Ivan looks a lot like Hunter.)
We soon learn that the Valkyrie is actually Hunter's artist mother and Anne has to scramble again to cover up her initial assertion that she was Hunter's lover. There is a funny scene where Hunter is enjoying Anne's panic and then it is Hunter's turn on the hot seat when his mother insists that she babysit Ivan and Hunter and Anne go out to 'enjoy' themselves cause the walls are too thin for them to go next door.
So Hunter and Anne go out to dinner and finally Anne is able to explain how she learned from a physio about massage therapy during her mother's problems and how she is using it to earn extra income.
(Tho she is highly offended when Hunter nags at her for prostituting herself, the verbal exchange when she explains what is really going on and he says he did not bang on the wall to shut down the moans and groans was because he did want to ruin her 'stroke' was one of the funnier scenes of the book.)
On the way back to their apartments, Anne and Hunter get into another roofie kiss and there is a confrontation with a policeman that leads to almost being arrested for public indecent exposure. Then Kaitlin shows up, she decides she wants Ivan now and she needs the money she was giving to Anne out of the grant to support him while she continues to write. (Someone must have pointed out how much a fertilizer mother she really was.)
She also has 'one more little favor' to ask Anne, this time she wants Anne to go the harbour where her lover's ship has just docked at and make inquiries about Kaitlin's Russian sailor lover. Kaitlin feels bad that she did not tell him about his child, (more likely she wants another stooge to care for Ivan while she continues her 'Art',) and Anne gets accused once again of prostitution, this time by the police.
Fortunately Hunter is on his way to the Russian sailor's ship for some diplomatic do and he rescues Anne by pretending she is his date. He also gets her on board the ship and Anne finds Dmitri in the crowd and gives him Kaitlin's letter.
Unfortunately, Dmitri insists on Anne taking him right away to meet Kaitlin and Ivan and Anne is forced to tell Hunter that Dmitri is Ivan's father. Hunter loses his temper in a big way when he thinks Anne was just using him and is now going to go off with Dmitri and Anne still can't tell him the truth because there is the whole grant situation.
So Dmitri, Kaitlin and Ivan have a happy family reunion and go off into the HP mists. Anne decides to chase Hunter again after she explains that Ivan is her nephew and is reunited with his mother and father. Anne eventually works her way up to becoming Hunter's lover, while he basically treats her like an expensive tart he is paying for Purple Passion Moments.
Anne allows this, despite all her protestations about not being a tarty tramp and never actually spending the night in the same bed as Hunter. She instead decides she needs to know all about Hunter's marriage and his aversion to love in between passionate lurve club moments.
We find out that Hunter's wife, who committed suicide, was a poet. (Her father, the guy who set up Kaitlin's grant, is also Hunter's father in law. So Anne can't explain her deception about who is the actual grant recipient, especially after Kaitlin refuses to acknowledge her part in it and pours on the emotional guilt trip. )
Hunter's wife was also a secret bulimic and soon found herself unable to carry out her early writing talent promise. She hid her illness at first then used it to start blaming Hunter and his material success in 'low brow' novels for own inability to write.
She claimed that Hunter's success, his criticism, his sexual demands, his jealousy of her talent and his 'forcing' her to be bulimic stifled her and their marriage deteriorated until she eventually ended it all by overdosing on pills while Hunter was on a business trip.
This affected Hunter greatly, he blames himself for her death and he is soon getting very angry that Anne doesn't seem to be getting anywhere on the grant novel, as she hasn't written anything.
Hunter insists that Anne needs to write, he doesn't want to be accused of causing yet another promising writer's destruction. Then Hunter just drops Anne and goes away, leaving a letter telling her to follow her dreams.
Anne has the standard mopey moment where she doesn't have jobs cause she figured Hunter would support her and then she goes home to her family and to visit Kaitlin and Dmitri and Ivan. We learn that Hunter helped Dmitri get established with New Zealand residency and therefore, because Kaitlin's name would be on the paperwork, he knows about Anne's impersonation.
Anne goes back to Auckland, but Hunter did not spill the beans yet. So when Anne sees Hunter in a local coffee shop, she barges in and curses him out in Russian in front of his companion. There is another embarrassing moment when Anne realizes that the companion is Russian and understood every word she said.
Then Hunter decides he loves her and does the big declaration, explaining that he admired her loyalty, only knew about her deception for a few days before his scheduled trip and that he heard about her years of sacrifice for her family and he knew she wanted to be a traveling translator, so he wanted to leave her free to follow her passions.
But eventually his love for her overrode his doubts left over from his first marriage and he came back to ask her to marry him. Anne decides that love is more important and linguist careers can accommodate marriage, so she declares her love back. In one last attempt at humor, Hunter proposes right there in the coffee shop and Anne replies she will think about it and then takes off running.
Hunter chases her down and it takes ten seconds until she says yes for the big HEA, leaving his dinning companion to pay the restaurant bill.
This one started out great, the banter was really funny and at first Anne's little situations were amusing. I found myself getting more and more intolerant of both her sister Kaitlin and Anne's lies as the story progressed. Hunter really deserved better than what he got in Anne and for all her protestations, in the end she really kind of did come off as a pay to play tart.
(That undercurrent of prostitution seems to be a favorite sub trope of SN at this time in her writing. I have to say that I don't really like it.
I get the feeling that SN might be having a period of deep romance cynicism, as SN seems to be building up to a book that literally has the h prostituting herself and doing so quite willingly in a very tawdry manner.
It is almost as if SN is mocking both her heroines and her readers and that isn't a comfortable feeling to have when you just want a fun, HEA guaranteed HPlandia outing.)
For the most part tho, this book gets high marks and it is very funny. Anne is cute in her optimism, almost admirable in her loyalty to her family and Ivan is the very definition of adorable plot moppet. Hunter was pretty likable as well, so don't be afraid to take this one out for a spin when you want a lively, entertaining HP venture and a pretty good day at the HP office.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2018
This book reminded me why Susan Napier was the auto-buy author of my misspent youth. She creates this hot sizzling chemistry with the wittiest repartee full of naughty wink-wink innuendos and double-entendres that leave you chuckling and panting for more!
Her h/H connect and burn like no other – if you want chemistry beyond just the physical, she delivers. For the temperature is fairly bursting before they even get to the sex.
This h, to begin with, was annoying and over-reactive and I couldn’t see how a ‘nice, warm hearted’ girl like her could be so offensive and aggressive towards a Professor. Even a prickly chemistry doesn’t explain it. Anyways, they soon get into the hot and heavy part I loved immensely. He’s her neighbor- cranky and all arrogant male but out country-girl virgin is no pushover - not by a long shot. And he's not really her professor but the forbidden bit is there. The middling chapters are a hoot and hot!
It’s not a perfect story Ivan adds his opinion at the most relevant points even without speaking a word. A more adorable, amiable, cuddle-able baby I don’t remember reading about before – ever!
Her h/H connect and burn like no other – if you want chemistry beyond just the physical, she delivers. For the temperature is fairly bursting before they even get to the sex.
This h, to begin with, was annoying and over-reactive and I couldn’t see how a ‘nice, warm hearted’ girl like her could be so offensive and aggressive towards a Professor. Even a prickly chemistry doesn’t explain it. Anyways, they soon get into the hot and heavy part I loved immensely. He’s her neighbor- cranky and all arrogant male but out country-girl virgin is no pushover - not by a long shot. And he's not really her professor but the forbidden bit is there. The middling chapters are a hoot and hot!
It’s not a perfect story Ivan adds his opinion at the most relevant points even without speaking a word. A more adorable, amiable, cuddle-able baby I don’t remember reading about before – ever!
July 19, 2019
At 2 stars, I feel very generous. These two just irritated me the whole way through the book.
This author just isn't for me.
This author just isn't for me.
July 7, 2023
Couldn’t enjoy it. The MCs argued all the time and their banter wasn’t remotely funny. Who even talks back disrespectfully to their professor on the first day of school and makes porcine comparisons and synonyms. Their back and forth wasn’t natural. Seemed like they used a book of quotations to put each other down.. who tf talks like that.
Majorly the h had a runny mouth. She was truly a country girl and was loud and boisterous and I didn’t find her dainty or shy in any way. I was also put off by her offering body massages to male athletes. Eventually dnf’d
Majorly the h had a runny mouth. She was truly a country girl and was loud and boisterous and I didn’t find her dainty or shy in any way. I was also put off by her offering body massages to male athletes. Eventually dnf’d
May 16, 2010
I don't think Susan Napier can write a bad HP. I mean, I usually hate deception-based plots - there's always cringing as the lies crumble, and it's hard to sympathize with a liar caught in his/her own trap - but Napier can apparently make me like one.
Anne Tremaine is our liar. Her sister Katlin is an author and single mother who won a lucrative grant to write a novel. Lovely as this is, she feels she can only write at her secluded cabin and without her infant to fuss over. As the grant requires the recipient to reside at an Auckland university, they plan to have Anne stay with the baby in Auckland and pretend to be her sister.
Anne's neighbor Hunter Lewis turns out to be a visiting professor, a famous author and a personal friend of the grant giver. Naturally, he's also gorgeous, overbearing, mercurial and absolutely irresistable. Cue the angst over competing wants and needs.
Regardless, I loved the characters and their conversation. Anne is fiercely devoted to her family, and the book seems to agree that it's both a strength and a flaw of hers, so her ruse is a bit more palatable. Watching her brazen it out with Hunter is pretty amusing, seeing her mix truth, half-truth and outright fabrication, and occasionally painting herself into a corner doing it. Hunter was a big cuddly bear with Anne and the baby, and just a straight up bear with Anne, and she was all up ons, more than a match for his moods, whatever they were.
These two were made for each other. Anne's eternal optimism and pragmatism complement Hunter's cynical pessimism, and neither would ever be able to run roughshod over the other. Exactly what I love to see in an HP - a strong alpha male and a woman who can take him down a notch.
Anne Tremaine is our liar. Her sister Katlin is an author and single mother who won a lucrative grant to write a novel. Lovely as this is, she feels she can only write at her secluded cabin and without her infant to fuss over. As the grant requires the recipient to reside at an Auckland university, they plan to have Anne stay with the baby in Auckland and pretend to be her sister.
Anne's neighbor Hunter Lewis turns out to be a visiting professor, a famous author and a personal friend of the grant giver. Naturally, he's also gorgeous, overbearing, mercurial and absolutely irresistable. Cue the angst over competing wants and needs.
Regardless, I loved the characters and their conversation. Anne is fiercely devoted to her family, and the book seems to agree that it's both a strength and a flaw of hers, so her ruse is a bit more palatable. Watching her brazen it out with Hunter is pretty amusing, seeing her mix truth, half-truth and outright fabrication, and occasionally painting herself into a corner doing it. Hunter was a big cuddly bear with Anne and the baby, and just a straight up bear with Anne, and she was all up ons, more than a match for his moods, whatever they were.
These two were made for each other. Anne's eternal optimism and pragmatism complement Hunter's cynical pessimism, and neither would ever be able to run roughshod over the other. Exactly what I love to see in an HP - a strong alpha male and a woman who can take him down a notch.
September 18, 2017
"The Sister Swap" is the story of Anne and Hunter.
When Anne decides to pretend to be her sister Katlin and babysit her nephew Ivan for the sake of her college grant, she never guessed she'd end up having a tiff and subsequently falling for her surly neighbor and college professor Hunter.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. From hilarious banter, to sexy dirty talk and almost sex (breast feeding paraphernalia, to vigorous male boob suckling and dialogues like "they're just like mine")- this case of mistaken identities kept me smiling and hooked. Their chemistry was flammable, emotions volatile and the lovemaking beautiful.
That being said, the drama in the last 1/4th was uncalled for- as the H was being a dramatic waif IMO, and it derailed my love for the book a bit- but still a pretty good read.
Safe
4/5
When Anne decides to pretend to be her sister Katlin and babysit her nephew Ivan for the sake of her college grant, she never guessed she'd end up having a tiff and subsequently falling for her surly neighbor and college professor Hunter.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. From hilarious banter, to sexy dirty talk and almost sex (breast feeding paraphernalia, to vigorous male boob suckling and dialogues like "they're just like mine")- this case of mistaken identities kept me smiling and hooked. Their chemistry was flammable, emotions volatile and the lovemaking beautiful.
That being said, the drama in the last 1/4th was uncalled for- as the H was being a dramatic waif IMO, and it derailed my love for the book a bit- but still a pretty good read.
Safe
4/5
June 26, 2016
رواية لطيفة خفيفة بعد قراءة عدد من الكتب من الوزن الثقيل
let's call it a break
let's call it a break
May 8, 2014
One of THE most humorous/witty books ever ( and not just in Harlequin either) - sometimes the humor is realllllly raunchy but its still very spot-on funny.
The heroine's extremely in-your-face to the hero to the point where he has to back down cuz she's just so spunky....
EEEEEEEEEEk! I love this book although of course there are some misunderstandings blah blah blah....
Just the snappy dialogues between the H/H makes it worth a read again and again!
P.S: I loved the baby too - he's adorable ( esp the part where he's clapping and every other clap gets missed cuz he's uncordinated - a major AWW moment for me)
The heroine's extremely in-your-face to the hero to the point where he has to back down cuz she's just so spunky....
EEEEEEEEEEk! I love this book although of course there are some misunderstandings blah blah blah....
Just the snappy dialogues between the H/H makes it worth a read again and again!
P.S: I loved the baby too - he's adorable ( esp the part where he's clapping and every other clap gets missed cuz he's uncordinated - a major AWW moment for me)
August 25, 2018
It was funny.
May 18, 2020
Too Close for Comfort!
Anne: it was a daring deception, but she always put her family first. Her sister desperately needed some time alone and Anne would at least have the chance to study at college. But there was something - someone - she hadn't bargained for....
Hunter Lewis: visiting professor and Anne's very attractive neighbor. He was soon immensely suspicious of her....
However, Hunter's arrogant assumptions about Anne made it easier for her not to let him into her apartment - or into her heart. For it would be disastrous if Hunter discovered that Anne had been left - quite literally - holding the baby!
Anne: it was a daring deception, but she always put her family first. Her sister desperately needed some time alone and Anne would at least have the chance to study at college. But there was something - someone - she hadn't bargained for....
Hunter Lewis: visiting professor and Anne's very attractive neighbor. He was soon immensely suspicious of her....
However, Hunter's arrogant assumptions about Anne made it easier for her not to let him into her apartment - or into her heart. For it would be disastrous if Hunter discovered that Anne had been left - quite literally - holding the baby!
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November 20, 2020
The hero in this one is kind of boring. Your average big, dark-haired gruff, which has not ever been my type.
The heroine though is pretty funny - a lithe redheaded 23-year-old who's learning to speak Russian and agrees to masquerade as her twin sister for a while. Cue shenanigans with the hero, a uni professor who's living next door.
Some funny lines but not a reread.
[Blog]
The heroine though is pretty funny - a lithe redheaded 23-year-old who's learning to speak Russian and agrees to masquerade as her twin sister for a while. Cue shenanigans with the hero, a uni professor who's living next door.
Some funny lines but not a reread.
[Blog]
May 4, 2014
A cute read about a masquerade. There were plenty of lighthearted moments and zany antics as the heroine tried not to give away that she was only pretending to be her sister. I quite enjoyed both the hero and the heroine
April 7, 2015
close to 4 stars...
So witty, fun and a blast to read!
So witty, fun and a blast to read!
October 15, 2018
WTF did I just read?
February 7, 2018
This is a MUST read!
Everything about it is brilliant. The dialogue, the characters, the humor, the tenderness, but mostly, Ivan. He stole my heart.
Anne takes the place of her sister Kaitlin, who has won a writing grant with housing, but does not want to live in the city. Kaitlin is also a mum of Ivan the Terrible, but cannot take care of him while she’s writing so Anne take the baby and moves into the apartment the grant has provided.
What she doesn’t expect is the hunk who lives in the apartment next door. The book starts with Anne celebrating her freedom the same way I do, ear-bustingly loud rock music and an impromptu dance party! She’s having a blast until the grouch from next door ruins her fun.
And that is where the reader’s fun starts. These are two of the best characters I have met in HPlandia. They are brilliantly witty and equally snarky. It’s obvious from minute one that the sparks were flying, but they tried to hide it all under the snark.
The h, having to cover up the fact that she is not the grant winner, tells the most outlandish whoppers to the H! The whole breastfeeding things had me stopping and laughing till I cried. Poor Hunter didn’t stand a chance.
I have not read many Susan Napier books but I will start hunting them down now.
Everything about it is brilliant. The dialogue, the characters, the humor, the tenderness, but mostly, Ivan. He stole my heart.
Anne takes the place of her sister Kaitlin, who has won a writing grant with housing, but does not want to live in the city. Kaitlin is also a mum of Ivan the Terrible, but cannot take care of him while she’s writing so Anne take the baby and moves into the apartment the grant has provided.
What she doesn’t expect is the hunk who lives in the apartment next door. The book starts with Anne celebrating her freedom the same way I do, ear-bustingly loud rock music and an impromptu dance party! She’s having a blast until the grouch from next door ruins her fun.
And that is where the reader’s fun starts. These are two of the best characters I have met in HPlandia. They are brilliantly witty and equally snarky. It’s obvious from minute one that the sparks were flying, but they tried to hide it all under the snark.
The h, having to cover up the fact that she is not the grant winner, tells the most outlandish whoppers to the H! The whole breastfeeding things had me stopping and laughing till I cried. Poor Hunter didn’t stand a chance.
I have not read many Susan Napier books but I will start hunting them down now.
March 29, 2013
4 Stars ~ When Anne was 15 her mother had suffered horrible injuries in a car accident that left her bed ridden for years. She hadn't hesitated in stepping into the role as caregiver, not only to her mother, but for her father and younger brothers. Her sister was older, a writer, and away at school. With cheerful determination, Anne persisted in pushing her mother's physiotherapy so that now finally after seven years, she's able to lead a somewhat normal life again. It's finally Anne's turn to follow her dreams of becoming a linguist Her sister, Katlin has just received a grant awarded to promising new authors, with stipulations that she reside in an university apartment and devote her time to writing. Katlin's recently had a baby, it was a very difficult birth, and Ivan, though content, saps her creativity. To benefit both sisters, Anne takes up residence with Ivan at the university apartment and enrolls in language courses, and Katlin retreats to her isolated cabin to write her book. Anne is fiercely loyal to her family, so when she meets her neighbour Hunter, she carries on the charade of being Katlin and pretends that Ivan is hers. Hunter is exasperated with his perky new neighbour, not only is she a distraction, she seems to take delight in provoking him with her quick teasing and sharp wit.
With her remarkable flare for making the most ridiculous seem plausible, Ms. Napier brings us Anne and Hunter. Anne's tendency to jump in with both feet, quickly has her spinning a web of well intentioned lies that soon traps her. Anne's exuberance and daring taunts, leave Hunter incredulous and suspicious. It's not long before their verbal sparring leads to some very passionate kissing. While I'm not fond of intentional deception, I understood Anne's belief that she was protecting Katlin. Hunter reacts as expected when he learns the truth. These two are destined to be together, and I thoroughly enjoyed their often hilarious journey to HEA.
With her remarkable flare for making the most ridiculous seem plausible, Ms. Napier brings us Anne and Hunter. Anne's tendency to jump in with both feet, quickly has her spinning a web of well intentioned lies that soon traps her. Anne's exuberance and daring taunts, leave Hunter incredulous and suspicious. It's not long before their verbal sparring leads to some very passionate kissing. While I'm not fond of intentional deception, I understood Anne's belief that she was protecting Katlin. Hunter reacts as expected when he learns the truth. These two are destined to be together, and I thoroughly enjoyed their often hilarious journey to HEA.
March 11, 2015
After years taking care of her mother, Annie finally got the chance to go to college. The only problem was that the scholarship she took was for her sister, a single mom who was writing a great novel. So Annie and her nephew, Ivan, went to college. There, they met a grumpy profesor who was their neighbor, Hunter Lewis.
He was a writer and a diplomatic who felt attracted to Anne but he thought that she was Ivan's mother and a woman who had multiples affairs. After a terrible experience whith his dead wife, Hunter didnt want to love again but Anne become quickly in a guilty pleasure.
Anne fell in love with him but she was afraid of her secret, a secret she couldn't tell him becouse of he sister's scholarship. ..
What would happend when he found out the sister swap?
He was a writer and a diplomatic who felt attracted to Anne but he thought that she was Ivan's mother and a woman who had multiples affairs. After a terrible experience whith his dead wife, Hunter didnt want to love again but Anne become quickly in a guilty pleasure.
Anne fell in love with him but she was afraid of her secret, a secret she couldn't tell him becouse of he sister's scholarship. ..
What would happend when he found out the sister swap?
September 12, 2013
3.5 stars. Enjoyable characters, except I didn't have much use for the author sister, Katlin, who was so incredibly selfish. I enjoyed the back and forth between Hunter and Anne, the humor, the buildup of the relationship, but mostly I enjoyed the fact that Anne stood up to him when he tried to bully her.
September 19, 2016
I loved this book, I couldn't help laughing and creaming myself all the way through it. It was such a beautiful story and the heroine was so perfect I don't think it's possible to fall in love with another. The emotions were right there, it was just an amazing blend of a story. 5 stars!
February 10, 2016
اول روايه اقرأها
ومازلت احفظها و افضلها واعيد قراءتها دون ملل
انصح بقرأتها
ومازلت احفظها و افضلها واعيد قراءتها دون ملل
انصح بقرأتها
December 21, 2014
Wonderful writing- surprised me again and again!
May 14, 2014
me encanto el libro la heroina anne es muy independiente ella esta viviendo sola con su sobrino y ademas esta estudiando pero a toda situacion que se le presenta ella siempre la enfrenta el heroe me encanto siempre muy odioso y ostinado pero con anne no puede evitar reirse y bueno la escenas de amor son hermosas muy linda historia y muy comica
March 15, 2015
Excellent mills n boon. Enjoyed the witty banter/humour.
July 15, 2016
Well, if you're looking in to read something humorous and increase your vocabulary, this is the one!
I literally needed a dictionary to get some of the words...!!
I literally needed a dictionary to get some of the words...!!
August 12, 2016
I liked this novel even though the last two chapters were a little disappointing to my taste. I felt them weird.
December 25, 2018
After the recent rounds of lackluster reads from Susan Napier, The Sister Swap turned out to be a godsend in the way it sent my senses humming. This is the Susan Napier that I fell in love with when I first read her work, and this is the voice that I seek every time I pick up one of her titles to read.
Anne Tremaine has a big heart, which means that she always puts her family first. When her sister Kaitlin requests from Anne to swap places with her, Anne enters into a deceptive existence, seizing the opportunity, given her thirst for knowledge and want for a college education. With her nephew Ivan in tow, Anne foresees no dangers of her secret coming out, that is until she meets her neighbor aka Professor Hunter Lewis.
Hunter does not want distractions, which includes neighbors who play trashy music loudly enough to disturb his peace. A writer who requires his quiet, Hunter is further disconcerted by the fact that he literally cannot figure out Anne as a woman. Just when Hunter believes that he knows everything there is to her, she surprises him in a way that intrigues him. Hunter does not like it, not one bit at all, which is why his temper gets the best of him where Anne is concerned.
Anne cannot believe that she is stuck with a surly and churlish neighbor the likes of Hunter. But when circumstances bring them together time and yet again, Anne finds that she is rather fascinated by the conundrum that Hunter presents to her as a man. He excites her, arouses her, and irritates her in equal doses. There is no denying that for an innocent like Anne, Hunter at full throttle was definitely going to end up being a disaster. Hunter gets a dose of what its like to be confronted by a woman who is all that he wants, but his fear that stems from the past acts as a deterrent.
I so loved The Sister Swap and what it entailed. I cannot quite figure out why the book has received bad ratings. Because Susan Napier is at her most charming and hilarious form in this novel, presenting to readers two characters that cannot stand each other and at the same time want each other so very badly.
Hunter’s character was riveting. He is equal doses passionate and likes control in his life, especially given the circumstances upon which he had become a widower a couple of years back. He has no intention of letting the feels catch him once again, but for the love of him, he cannot stop the avalanche of need that seems to take over his body when it comes to Anne.
I loved watching Hunter unravel, piece by piece. I reveled in the fact that he could not help himself when it comes to Anne. I enjoyed watching him succumb, watching him lose that patience of his, that intellectual part of him being taken over by the passionate man he is deep inside, until he gives in, and oh so headily.
I loved Anne, for the warmth of her character, the spark of her intelligence, that wit and sarcastic humor that sets the pace between the two of them, and the love she shows to Hunter in abandon, even when he tries to steer clear of emotions that could bring him down.
The ending was equal parts hilarious and endearing. Anne certainly knows what she is doing when it comes to Hunter. I closed the book with a huge ass grin on my face, already envisioning a Hunter trying to keep up with his charming and sexy wife, who stirs him in every single way that matters, with a bunch of small Hunters and Annes’ in the mix, with more on the way. I could literally picture that, given the earthy nature of both characters. The way Hunter gets seduced by Anne’s long and plaited hair was one of the highlights of the story.
Loved, loved, loved! Recommend this wholeheartedly for the fun and sizzle!
Final Verdict: A super grumpy hero who is reluctant to fall in love, a heroine who holds a secret that she would take to her grave with or die trying; but when these two meet, there is no denying the sparks that fly.
Rating = 4.25/5
For more reviews and quotes, please visit www.maldivianbookreviewer.com
Anne Tremaine has a big heart, which means that she always puts her family first. When her sister Kaitlin requests from Anne to swap places with her, Anne enters into a deceptive existence, seizing the opportunity, given her thirst for knowledge and want for a college education. With her nephew Ivan in tow, Anne foresees no dangers of her secret coming out, that is until she meets her neighbor aka Professor Hunter Lewis.
Hunter does not want distractions, which includes neighbors who play trashy music loudly enough to disturb his peace. A writer who requires his quiet, Hunter is further disconcerted by the fact that he literally cannot figure out Anne as a woman. Just when Hunter believes that he knows everything there is to her, she surprises him in a way that intrigues him. Hunter does not like it, not one bit at all, which is why his temper gets the best of him where Anne is concerned.
Anne cannot believe that she is stuck with a surly and churlish neighbor the likes of Hunter. But when circumstances bring them together time and yet again, Anne finds that she is rather fascinated by the conundrum that Hunter presents to her as a man. He excites her, arouses her, and irritates her in equal doses. There is no denying that for an innocent like Anne, Hunter at full throttle was definitely going to end up being a disaster. Hunter gets a dose of what its like to be confronted by a woman who is all that he wants, but his fear that stems from the past acts as a deterrent.
I so loved The Sister Swap and what it entailed. I cannot quite figure out why the book has received bad ratings. Because Susan Napier is at her most charming and hilarious form in this novel, presenting to readers two characters that cannot stand each other and at the same time want each other so very badly.
Hunter’s character was riveting. He is equal doses passionate and likes control in his life, especially given the circumstances upon which he had become a widower a couple of years back. He has no intention of letting the feels catch him once again, but for the love of him, he cannot stop the avalanche of need that seems to take over his body when it comes to Anne.
I loved watching Hunter unravel, piece by piece. I reveled in the fact that he could not help himself when it comes to Anne. I enjoyed watching him succumb, watching him lose that patience of his, that intellectual part of him being taken over by the passionate man he is deep inside, until he gives in, and oh so headily.
I loved Anne, for the warmth of her character, the spark of her intelligence, that wit and sarcastic humor that sets the pace between the two of them, and the love she shows to Hunter in abandon, even when he tries to steer clear of emotions that could bring him down.
The ending was equal parts hilarious and endearing. Anne certainly knows what she is doing when it comes to Hunter. I closed the book with a huge ass grin on my face, already envisioning a Hunter trying to keep up with his charming and sexy wife, who stirs him in every single way that matters, with a bunch of small Hunters and Annes’ in the mix, with more on the way. I could literally picture that, given the earthy nature of both characters. The way Hunter gets seduced by Anne’s long and plaited hair was one of the highlights of the story.
Loved, loved, loved! Recommend this wholeheartedly for the fun and sizzle!
Final Verdict: A super grumpy hero who is reluctant to fall in love, a heroine who holds a secret that she would take to her grave with or die trying; but when these two meet, there is no denying the sparks that fly.
Rating = 4.25/5
For more reviews and quotes, please visit www.maldivianbookreviewer.com
January 10, 2017
Quite amusing, the heroine was a minx and led the Hero a merry dance. She was feisty quick witted and a flirt, different from the usual. The hero started off as a bad tempered boor, but it was easy to see, he was entranced with the heroine. There is a little twist since the heroine is involved in a deception but she makes good use of her opportunity. Good reading but lost a star since I didn't understand why the Hero had to do a disappearing act. He was a much older man, he should have dealt with the issue better.
July 7, 2025
The hero (37) is a writer/temporary professor and a widower. He’s definitely not the right guy for the heroine (23) who is more earthy. She lies to him to protect her sister, but I think that as it got to the stage that she was going to sleep with him - she should have told the truth. But then he was spiteful when he found out she was not a mother/writer and used her infatuation for his body against her.
I can’t see a real HEA here as he was clearly disappointed that she had no writing talent (unlike his first wife). Once the attraction dulls, they will have nothing in common.
I can’t see a real HEA here as he was clearly disappointed that she had no writing talent (unlike his first wife). Once the attraction dulls, they will have nothing in common.
December 27, 2020
Great repartee between H and h. Some interesting secondary characters. A fun read. For a novel written in late 90s, it was surprisingly modern despite the fact that the h turned out to be a virgin (no surprises there!)
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