The Switch

by Lynsay Sands

When they first met Lord Jeremy William Radcliffe, Charlie and her twin sister, Elizabeth, were escaping from their uncle—taking turns acting the young gentleman to avoid detection. But Charlie couldn't help falling head over heels—and out of a window—for the handsome lord. Of course, that was only the beginning; Lord Radcliffe insisted on showing "him" and her lovely sister to London.

But how could he do that? With every touch, Radcliffe seemed unknowingly to incite indecent desires in Charlie, and his fraternal intent was certain to land her in a fine mess. Though it was a great game to play a boy, there was more fun in being female. And after one brush of his fiery lips when her guise was gone, Charlie swore to be nothing but his woman forevermore.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Regency, Genderqueer, Humor

362 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

LYNSAY SANDS is the nationally bestselling author who is known for her hysterical historicals as well as the popular Argeneau/Rogue Hunter vampire series. With her witty and charming personality, Sands describes books as, “Waking dreams or stories, tales to amuse, entertain and distract us from everyday life.” She’s been writing stories since grade school and considers herself incredibly lucky to be able to make a career out of it. Her hope is that readers can get away from their everyday stress through her stories, and if there are occasional uncontrollable fits of laughter, that’s just a big bonus. Visit her official website at www.lynsaysands.net.

Reviews

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I needed a change of pace from my usual paranormal / sci fi fare and I LOVE THIS BOOK!!

The Switch refers to twin sisters who are trying to escape horrible marriages that their uncle is selling them into. One sister dresses up as a man and hijinks ensue. First off let me say with all of the role switching, things could get a bit confusing. But it was HILARIOUS to hear Radcliff's inner thoughts when he thought that he was lusting after Charles who was actually Charlotte. The characters had such sly ironic humor that you can't help but laugh with them. If you need a good laugh this book is definitely for you!

[❁ lilyreadsromance (and other stuffs too) ❁ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I went into this, actually expecting some humour or shenanigans. Like, she disguised herself as a man, went to brothel, gaming hall, having a switcheroo all the time with the sister. While having a girl chasing for her affection.

This sounded hilarious, if you ask me. Also reminded me of that Amanda Bynes' movie, She's The Man.

However, maybe the jokes passed over my head, because I felt really bored. Nothing was cheeky or funny. I felt really meh. Maybe it was just the wrong book I've just picked.

[Luana ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a laugh! Full of adventures, dares and crazy things happening.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Running from forced marriages, Charlie (Charlotte) and Elizabeth flee from their home and their evil uncle in the dead of the night. But two young women traveling on their own will draw too much attention so in an effort to avoid raising eyebrows, Charlie dons the clothing of a young man.

Unfortunately they haven't even cleared the window before they are caught by William Radcliffe who upon hearing a slightly altered version of their story decides to help them. And so begins the hijinks.


This book isn't too bad, it's not the greatest book ever written but if you feel like some entertaining fluff, you could do much worse. I think the cross dressing was a little overdone and Radcliffe's attraction to Charlie as both a young man and a young woman started to get annoying but setting those things aside it was a fun read.

[Katrina Passick Lumsden · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, so this one's pretty bad. Not terrible, but it's definitely one I'll never bother with again. Charlie is obnoxious and overbearing, and one can't help but think Lord Radcliffe is a bit of a simpleton for not figuring things out long before the end.

But it was towards the end, when Charlie once again rushes headlong into trouble without any thought to the consequences, that I decided I hate this story. Seriously, the girl's an idiot. So if you don't want to read about a termagant with the intellect of a sand flea, don't bother with this one.

[BookLover · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first Lynsay Sands read. She has a real knack for writing oddball female leads and alpha males which are completely endearing. Charlie was hilarious and poor Lord Radcliffe never knew what hit him when he rescued Charlie & Elizabeth and took them under his protection.

Amongst mistaken genders/identities, Lord Radcliffe unwittingly ends up taking in stray animals, a prostitute and orphaned family… all in a hilarious way. I couldn’t stop laughing at his reaction to Charlie’s antics and to losing control of his house.

A truly enjoyable read.

[Ange · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is hilarious. A little bit silly but hilarious.

I know comedy is a matter of opinion. However, I'm pretty sure most people can find something to laugh at within the pages of this book.

Basically the plot revolves around two sisters: Beth and Charlie.

They are orphans and under the care of an evil uncle who cares nothing for them and plans to marry them off to old/cruel men who would use them as glorified incubators for their heirs.

Charlie (Charlotte) is a feisty young girl who will not allow injustice, let alone allow herself to be married off to a man who is known for having killed all of his previous wives. So she and Beth design an escape plan. Charlie will dress up as a man and as sister and brother they will escape from their uncle's clutches.

Everything goes according to plan until they stumble with Lord Radcliffe. Lord Radcliffe is a gentleman in all the sense of the word. When he first meets the "brother" and sister he offers them his company during their trip. And after learning of their uncle's evil plans he even offers them assistance and protection. Radcliffe has his own reasons to offer his help, based on a personal tragedy that affected him long ago. At first though, Charlie and Beth are reluctant to accept Radcliffe's help. In the end they decide to accept it because there's just no other way out and they need to escape pronto.

Along the way a friendship forms between Radcliffe and the "brother" Charlie. However, Radcliffe is thoroughly confused by the fact that he feels a strange attraction towards Charlie that has nothing to do with friendship. It's hilarious to read Radcliffe's inner conflict about his sexual desire for Charlie "the brother" and how he tries to convince himself he's only attracted to Charlie because "he" looks like Beth.

This is a funny journey filled with social commentary about the society of the time, some absurd situations that will make you giggle and Charlie/Radcliffe unresolved sexual tension.

I only give it four stars though because I found some of the situations in which Charlie found herself a bit silly, however, I know comedy is a lot about perspective and what I find silly someone else may find perfectly funny.

All in all this was a perfect, light, weekend read that had me giggling like a nutcase.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Switch
1 Star

Twin sisters, Charlotte “Charlie” and Elizabeth Westerly, are on the run from an uncle determined to marry them off to the highest bidders. Escaping out a window, Charlie, disguised as a boy, collides with Lord Jeremy Radcliffe, who takes it upon himself to aid the “brother” and sister. Alternating between male and female costumes, Charlie’s attraction to Radcliffe only increases the more time they spend together, but can she trust him with her secret?

Utterly ridiculous!

Lynsay Sands Devil of the Highlands is an engaging historical romance series, which led me to expect more of the same from another of her historical books. Unfortunately, The Switch does not even come close to meeting these expectations.

The cross-dressing plot goes on for a tedious amount of time and when the secret is finally revealed in a haphazard manner, there is virtually no reaction on the part of the hero. Shouldn’t he be angry at being duped for so long? Moreover, for a supposedly intelligent and worldly man, Radcliffe is blind to the ruse and does not understand his on/off attraction to Charlie and her sister, Beth. This is completely unbelievable, especially considering the fact that other characters catch on more quickly.

Charlie and Radcliffe’s romance is tepid to say the least. They have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever and the fact that Charlie is dressed as a boy for much of the book adds a rather uncomfortable tone to their relationship.

The secondary suspense storylines have potential, but are poorly executed with no real tension or action to speak of and the resolutions feel very contrived.

All in all, this is way to farcical and implausible to be entertaining.

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to really like this book based on some reviews I read. I did, however, need a book to listen to; and this one was available at my local library.

This book is a ridiculous farce. It is not plausible or historically accurate. As long as you can enjoy a fantastical gender switching HR, this story is amusing.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was okay. It started out good but the whole cross-dressing thing went on for too long and the multiple endings really dragged the story down while also launching it into throwing-popcorn-at-the-screen levels of GTFOOH.


As the dust jacket says, our heroine is Charlie (short for Charlotte). She and her twin sister, Beth, are running away from horrible arranged marriages set up by their abusive, alcoholic uncle. Beth is being sold to an old geezer who we later find out has “strange proclivities” in the bedroom while Charlie is set to marry a physically abusive brute who has already put three wives in the ground. Charlie decides they’re too noticeable as twin sisters and hits upon the idea of dressing like a young man and masquerading as Beth’s twin brother instead. They’re climbing out of an inn window in the dead of night when they’re caught by the hero, Radcliffe.

Radcliffe buys their story and is totally fooled by the cross-dressing act. He volunteers to escort them to London so they won’t be such easy prey on the road. We soon learn that Radcliffe had a beloved younger sister who was killed along with her husband by a highwayman one night after visiting Radcliffe. He feel responsible for their deaths because he didn’t insist they take a carriage rather than going on horseback. This is the sum total of ALL the depth we get to Radcliffe’s character. He’s a very bland hero, all told. There are a few lines about him being some kind of financial genius but it never really goes anywhere in the story and we don’t see it affecting his character in any way.

Even this supposed guilt over his sister’s death doesn’t really amount to much. It’s used to provide some justification for him helping Beth and Charlie at the start but then isn’t mentioned again until the second climax where the villain confesses to murdering the sister and her husband so Radcliffe can conveniently shed all his guilt over the matter. Which I found weird just by itself. Radcliffe is all “oh, it’s not my fault for not keeping them safe that night because this crazy guy would have just killed them some other time instead, my conscience is now totally clear.” Instead of maybe feeling guilty for not having noticed that this guy was crazy before the murders? Or possibly looking a little harder into their deaths rather than just assuming it was this alleged highwayman who’d been working the area but had previously only robbed people, never killed them? But, whatever.

Getting back to the story, Beth and Charlie plan to ditch Radcliffe at the first opportunity but one contrivance after another comes up to prevent it until they finally decide to just stay with him. They think he’s a legitimately nice guy and he’s offered to let them live at his house and provide Beth with a season so she can find a husband. Now, at this point in the story, most characters would have come clean about the fact that they’re both girls and then they’d both have been able to have a season and find husbands. But of course they can’t do that because it would make sense, so instead they go on with the charade and promise to trade places every day so they both have a chance to be the girl and the boy.

So they keep on with the act, which forces Charlie to share a room and a bed with Radcliffe all during their trip to London. Radcliffe, for his part, is finding the “boy” Charlie to be strangely attractive and he’s totally skeeved out by the idea that he might have some homosexual tendencies. He keeps waking up with his arms wrapped around Charlie and sporting massive wood, then leaping out of bed all pissed off at himself. When they finally get to London, Radcliffe decides that part of the problem is how effeminate the boy is. So he sets out to make a man out of Charlie by taking her to a brothel.

I suppose this was meant to be a hilarious series of wacky events but I found the scene to be rather tiresome and overdone. Radcliffe’s bright idea is to give Charlie over to the not-so-tender ministrations of the much older, larger and painted up Madame of the brothel rather than, say, one of the sweeter, younger women who might possibly appeal to a boy his age. The Madame is all set to rape Charlie by any means necessary and ends up tying her to the bed and breaking out the whips and paddles. Charlie screams and Radcliffe finally has second thoughts about his grand plan and goes in to rescue her. The Madame insists on payment and Radcliffe goes to find the wallet he left in another room. (Which sounded like a one-way ticket to getting robbed to me. You never leave your valuables unattended at a brothel, everyone knows that!)

While he's gone a confusing set of circumstances has Charlie stumbling to one room where she sees Beth's old codger fiancé and learns of his "strange proclivities" and then into another room where she finds a young girl being kept against her will. Charlie helps the girl escape in the first of what will be many, many rescues she accomplishes throughout the book. It really was getting ridiculous that every time she left the house she stumbled upon yet another hard-luck case who she immediately adopted. Seriously by the end of the book she's adopted this girl, 6 puppies, a widow with 2 small children and an abused young boy. All of whom Radcliffe had to financially support. If I was him, I'd probably stop letting Charlie leave the house before she spotted a neglected elephant or something...

Back home Charlie and Beth while away the time by switching back and forth. Radcliffe is super-attracted to Charlie, whatever role she is playing, but totally unmoved by Elizabeth. When Charlie is playing the girl, he swoops in and kisses her. When she's playing the boy, he just feels really uncomfortable for noticing what a great @ss the boy has. Poor Radcliffe was feeling really confused and unsure of himself but it was never explored all that deeply. Not enough to give his character any dimension. For example, he briefly worries about the fact that by kissing "Beth" he's taking advantage of a young girl to whom he's offered his protection and that's dishonorable...but not enough to stop himself from kissing the girl the next time Charlie is the one wearing the dress. And he's also totally confused by his inexplicable desire for this boy when he's not only never been attracted to men before, but he also keeps finding himself crazy in-lust with the sister one day, only to feel unmoved by her the next. This state of affairs goes on for a really long time and it makes the story drag. The author waited too long to get to the punch line. Radcliffe never once suspected the truth throughout this whole long charade and that made him seem kinda dumb.

There's even a part where Beth runs off to Gretna Green with her beau and Charlie is left to play both parts and Radcliffe still never suspects anything. It just didn't seem believable that he could spend this much time with Charlie in both guises and not pick up on similarities. Her scent, her mannerisms, the way she walked, etc. Even her voice. Heck, the villain even figured it out...after only seeing Charlie ONCE! FROM BEHIND! And he listed the way she walked and her obviously feminine hips and butt as being the tip-off. So the clinically insane bad guy can spot the truth in a second, but our allegedly super-smart financial genius hero can't even after weeks spent in her company?? Yeah I call BS.

Also during all this blandness there’s a strange blackmail scheme going on that didn't really fit with the rest of the story. Charlie gets a note saying that the blackmailer knows who she really is and will tell her uncle if she doesn't pay them off. She goes to meet the person by herself, TWICE. The first time Radcliffe followed her and mistakenly thought she, as the boy, was going into a gaming hell to gamble away all the money left to them by their parents. So the blackmailer has to leave without his payoff, which didn't make a whole lot of sense. Charlie is remarkably unperturbed by the fact that Radcliffe messed up the transaction. She's not worried that the blackmailer will spill her secret, etc. She just kind of shrugs and assumes he'll get back in touch to set up another meeting. Which he eventually does, when it's most convenient for the plot. And that time is: the day after Charlie and Radcliffe finally sleep together.

It was a weird scene. Beth is off eloping with her beau so Charlie is playing the girl role while also keeping some pillows stuffed under the sheets to indicate that the boy is sick. Radcliffe has once again found himself wildly attracted to the girl he thinks is Beth so he decides he might as well just marry her. He wants to talk to the brother to get his blessing or whatever but Charlie is desperate to keep the charade going for....reasons. I really didn't get it. I mean, Beth is off getting married right now but plans to rush back so that she can then play the role of the boy full time and Charlie can continue to attend balls and search for a husband.....so Beth was going to be married but not living with her husband for some undefined amount of time and masquerading as a boy, including going to gambling halls and so forth and he was totally fine with that? And they're all just going to keep on lying to Radcliffe until Charlie finds a husband...while going by the name Beth...and then once she's engaged to some guy who doesn't even know her real name the real Beth will rip off her powdered wig and say "ha-ha! it was all a lie, we're actually both girls!"?? What kind of sense does that make?

But anyway, Charlie is so desperate to keep Radcliffe from finding out the truth that she distracts him with kisses and all his allegedly noble intentions to marry her first go right out the window and they just go ahead and have sex. The scene was light on description and emotion which didn't do anything to make me believe their romance and the next morning Charlie wakes up with Radcliffe already gone without even a few murmured words of affection. Then she hears him knocking on the brother's door and she has to race through the connecting door and hastily don her boy clothes as Radcliffe barges in and very un-gracefully explains that he's just deflowered the boy's sister. He says a lot of half-sentences that are set up so that the author can create the Big Misunderstanding. He appears to say that he doesn't love "Beth" but that he "er-ed" her. (As in, "It's about your sister. I er...." "You er-ed my sister?") Charlie gets pretty pissed about the whole thing which Radcliffe mistakes as justifiable brotherly outrage over the loss of "Beth's" virtue. Radcliffe makes it plain that he's going to propose to her to set this situation to rights, but of course never gives any indication of affection for her so Charlie basically tells him to do whatever, but is of course planning to spit in Radcliffe's face when he comes to propose to "Beth". But before Radcliffe can get back with a ring, another letter comes from the blackmailer and this time Charlie takes Bessie, the girl she saved from the brothel, along disguised as Beth. In order to accomplish this, she had to let both Bessie and the widow with the two kids she rescued (who is now the cook) in on her secret. None of these other people had ever suspected the truth either. Not even the ladies maid who was helping the girls wash and dress had any idea they were two different people. Sure.

The blackmailer takes the money Charlie brought to pay him off and then kidnaps the two girls to deliver them to the uncle and the arranged husbands up at Gretna Green. The real Beth returns from her hasty marriage and by pure coincidence, happened to have seen the uncle and the fiancés at an inn along the road so she and her now husband rushed back to warn Charlie. Radcliffe is worried and confused as to how Beth can be standing there on the doorstep newly married when she was in his arms last night losing her virginity and also supposedly left just a few hours ago with her brother. In a tortuously long scene Beth has to painstakingly connect all the dots for him before he finally catches a clue. The cook reveals the blackmail and saw the note but can't quite remember the meeting place.

Then, in another scene that I'm sure was supposed to be hilarious but just came across as forced slapstick, Beth, her husband, Radcliffe, his butler, the new cook AND her two kids all pile into a carriage to race over to the meeting area so the cook can look at the names of the inns until one jogs her memory. Then after a short stop to threaten the innkeeper into revealing that the bad guys' plan was to take the girls to Grenta Green, they all pile back into the carriage like popes in a Volkswagen and decide they all need to go on this adventure...even the two small children!

They end up catching up to the bad guys at Gretna Green but then don't know how to get Charlie away from them so the action comes to a screeching halt for a bunch of pages. The uncle is sleeping and never rises before noon, so the bad guys just stand around with Charlie and Bessie still in the carriage for a few hours. Then they take Bessie and leave the door unlocked so Charlie just gets out and walks away. Ooookay that was kind of...anticlimactic. She goes in search of Bessie, vowing to get her out of this mess since Charlie's the one who forced her to come. Meanwhile, Radcliffe, Beth and her husband are standing around trying to come up with a plan, which Beth eventually does. She says that if "Charlie" and Radcliffe get married, then her uncle can't force her to wed someone else. So Beth plays the part of Charlie and signs Charlie's name on the license, then they leave. 20 minutes later, Bessie is dragged before the same officiant and forced to marry the codger Beth was lined up for. This makes her a duchess or something and when the guy finally takes off her veil he has a heart attack and falls over dead, apparently leaving her the sole heir. Charlie raced in and tried to stop the wedding but failed and now the uncle and her abusive fiancé are there and try to force her to marry. Except the officiant, who had no qualms whatsoever about Bessie being married against her expressed wishes, staunchly refuses to marry Charlie "twice" because that would be wrong. Radcliffe and crew finally wander up, show the license and when the uncle says he'll have the marriage annulled because they can't have consummated it yet, Radcliffe happily confesses to deflowering her a few nights earlier. The abuser wanders off to buy some other poor girl, the uncle is pissed but also disappears into the ether, and the rest go back to London.

But wait! That's not the end! The story picks up 2 weeks later with Charlie unhappy. Radcliffe, now that he knows she's a girl, has completely changed the way he interacts with her. Supposedly when she was a boy he laughed and joked and discussed politics and business investments with her, although we never once saw that happen on-page. But now that she's a girl he refuses to discuss anything more mentally taxing than the weather and treats her like an inferior. This was a weird shift in Radcliffe's character that wasn't handled very well. We didn't see any of it happening, we were just told about it after the fact.

A message arrives for Radcliffe while he's out and Charlie looks at it and sees it's a message from the blackmailer threatening to tell the whole world...something. It's not really important, it was just a threat to get Radcliffe to come meet the blackmailer. Oh and the ones who kidnapped Charlie and Bessie were just go-betweens for this REAL blackmailer or something like that. Like I said, not important.

The meeting place is that same brothel Radcliffe took Charlie to and the villain is some guy named Norwich who Charlie danced with once at a ball. He also happens to be Radcliffe's dead sister's husband’s step-brother. He monologues for a while about how he killed Radcliffe’s sister for various convoluted reasons and now plans to kill Radcliffe and marry Charlie because that’s how things work. So he locks Charlie up.

Back home, Radcliffe and Beth figure out that Charlie is missing and find the blackmail note. And in a COMPLETELY ridiculous turn of events, they dress Radcliffe in a frilly pink dress and gaudy makeup so that he can approach the brothel without them knowing it's him. This is the point where I'd have been throwing popcorn at the screen if this was a movie. This was so over-the-top that I started skimming. There's a whole long scene with some gigantic guy mistaking Radcliffe for the prostitute he's sweet on and groping Radcliffe's butt while apparently having no idea it's a man he's holding. Seriously, what is wrong with the people in this book? When Radcliffe finds Charlie, the villain catches them pretty quick...but then just locks both of them in the room instead of killing Radcliffe like he supposedly wants to because...he planned to do the killing at midnight and it's not midnight yet. Are you f*cking kidding me?

Charlie decides that Radcliffe must really love her if he'd wear a frilly pink dress to come rescue her and he's like, duh, of course I do. And she says she loves him back. But then they immediately start fighting about how Radcliffe has been treating her differently and he's shocked to realize it's true and that he really did think of her as being stupider now that he knows she's a woman. Charlie claims that they're not really married since she wasn't actually present for the ceremony and that she's not sure she really wants to be married to him anymore. They finally make their escape with the help of Beth, the butler and I think Beth's husband but who really cares at this point. The villain and the Madame are allegedly dealt with off page by the authorities.

The epilogue picks up a year later with some bizarre stuff about Charlie "finally" consenting to marry Radcliffe again/for real this time but insisting that it has to be done exactly on their one year anniversary so it won't be confusing for everyone to have 2 different dates because, you know, that's what's important here. But she's 9 months pregnant when the big day arrives so this whole "we're not really married" business sounds like a lot of overly dramatic hogwash since they were obviously still living and sleeping together during the last year. She's late to the wedding because she spotted a man hitting a boy and naturally jumped the guy, along with Beth, who is ALSO hugely pregnant. They were busy ripping the guy's hair out when Radcliffe and Beth's husband showed up and just resignedly offered to buy the boy off the guy. And, of course, Charlie goes into labor while all this is going on but insists on getting married first. In the typical fiction "oh my god the baby's coming we have to rush through whatever we're currently doing" fashion, they yell at the priest until he distills the ceremony down to "Do you? Do you? Great, you're married" and they go on their way....and then sit around waiting for another 12 hours as labor slowly progresses. The baby is a boy and everyone is happy. The end.


Yeah so this book kind of lost me by the end. It started out okay but the gender-bending went on way too long and all the supposed-to-be-funny wacky scenarios went over like a lead balloon with me. Radcliffe started out a decent, if bland, hero but the second climax and the epilogue made him out to be a totally different, and worse, person. He suddenly adopted heretofore unseen misogynistic behaviors and then when he was called on it he went totally, 100% in the other direction and became a p*ssy-whipped, beta. Charlie started out pretty strong and interesting but continued the charade for literally no reason, put herself and others in stupidly dangerous situations, and then turned into this awful fishwife by the end. Can't really recommend.

[Jane Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant and enjoyable romance novel.

I debated between giving this 3 or 4 stars. When I finished reading it, my reaction was I liked it and I had no problems with it. That fits my definition of 3 stars. I wanted to give it more than 3, but I decided to stay with my initial reaction and definition.

It's a fun story about twin sisters Beth and Charlie (Charlotte) who run away from their uncle who plans to sell them as brides. To reduce their chance of discovery, they dress as a boy and a girl, taking turns being the boy. Radcliffe is attracted to Charlie. He is in turmoil because he is sometimes drawn to the boy and other times drawn to the girl, not knowing it is the same person.

Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: one. Setting: time not stated, probably 1800s England. Copyright: 1999. Genre: historical romance.

For a list of my reviews of other Lynsay Sands books, see my 5 star review of "Love is Blind" posted 1-22-07.

[Seline · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75
I remember really enjoying this novel but I don’t recall all the details....

[Thenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of two twin sisters, Charlie and Elizabeth, who are running away from their greedy uncle and the marriages he's basically sold them to.

In order to avoid notice and be able to travel alone, Charlie is pretending to be a man and Elizabeth's cousin, escorting her to London. Unfortunately, they encounter a good Samaritan as soon as their adventure begins, in the form of Lord Radcliffe, a nobleman who feels for them and decides to take them under his protection.

Deciding to go along with this change in their plans and use the opportunity to find husbands as soon as possible, the two sisters alternate between who will play the brother and who the sister in each outing, and soon enough, they both find men that interest them.

Unfortunately for Charlie, the one who interests her is none other than their host, Lord Radcliffe, who finds himself confused by this young lad he seems drawn to. While the signs are all there, it takes him quite a long time to get to the truth, and that only after Elizabeth comes back with her new husband and explains everything to death, before they have to go rescue her sister from her uncle's schemes.

A light story that includes the heroine in disguise trope combined with twins switching places, a trick that gets them out of a difficult situation in the end.

[Darbella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. For this Lynsay Sands story one must go with the flow and just enjoy. LOL I did wonder how come no one noticed that both girls did not have manly voices but then decided to just go with it. LOL I thought it was cute how the Hero only was attracted to the heroine.

[Elley Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I had to pick a favorite trope, it would be women disguised as men. Ever since I was 11 and read Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness series, I was hooked. I especially love when the male lead gets feelings for the woman in her man-disguise and starts to question his sexuality (and/or sanity!), or decided he loves whom he loves regardless of their gender (that last doesn’t happen often, I will admit).

I love that Charlie and Beth trade off who is Elizabeth (the sister) and who is Charles (the brother), and the number that does on Radcliffe. Speaking of Radcliffe, I didn't care him very much as a male lead. He is overbearing and condescending and I wanted to punch him in the nose half the time. Beth also grated on my nerves, and the twins say Beth is the steady and level-headed one, but she just came off as spoiled to me (though she does have some personal growth throughout the story, which I appreciate). I loved Charlie with her madcap ideas, her need to rescue every troubled stray she finds, and even her motion sickness (which I can totally relate to - the motion sickness, I mean). Charlie is brave and bold and sensual and self-sacrificing, all of which I really admire. I just wish Radcliffe was someone I admired more. I will say that while usually the duped male lead is upset to find out he'd been tricked, Radcliffe took the reveal in stride (though that likely had as much to do with his relief that he wasn't gay as anything else) rather than having a hissy fit about it, so I will credit him that. He also goes to some rather (ahem) extreme lengths to rescue Charlie, which was funny. Some of his attempts to "help" Charlie are also pretty hilarious, such as a trip to the brothel to help him lose his virginity and "man up," a trip to the gambling house to teach him the dangers of gambling (except Radcliffe's plans never seem to go quite as he plans…)

I listened to the audiobook as narrated by Fiona Hardingham. I quite enjoyed her performance, and Ms. Hardingham made the sometimes antiquated language of the novel seem quite natural.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so, completely, ridiculously bad that it ended up good. The plot was flimsy at best, and from what I've seen in this book, Sands is the best example possible of telling instead of showing. Case in point, at one point early on in the book Radcliffe teaches Charlie how to shoot. Instead of actually showing us the encounter, and the nuances in the H/h's interactions that would signal their attraction to each other, Sands skips the scenes right out and instead makes Radcliffe recall in the driest, most elementary voice possible that he (to sum it up) got the tinglies when *gasp* he had to put his arms around Charlie to teach him how to shoot! We don't get a window on whether Charlie's affected by this or not either (same with when in the beginning Radcliffe finds the two wrapped around each other after starting the night out on opposite ends of the bed--one of the oldest, most contrived plot devices in the history of romances by the way--, we get a very shallow handle on how Radcliffe felt--"It felt pleasant. That disturbed him. Because Charlie was a boy."--but we hear nothing from Charlie).

The writing, the dialogue was completely uninspired, this book felt like it could've been on a sixth grade reading level! The characters themselves were quite bland, but, BUT.

I couldn't stop reading anyways. There was just something so self indulging about spending an hour or two on a book stuffed with so many warm and friendly cliches. Maybe it was because I'd had a long day and didn't want to really tax my brain anymore, but The Switch held enough of my interest that I was able to sit down and finish it all in one go. All in all, a really quick, pretty bad, but definitely comforting beach read.

[Britta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beth and Charlie are caught red handed. Or red ... dressed. Trying the sneak out the window of an inn that they and their uncle are staying at, Lord Jeremy William Radcliff comes upon them and berates them for trying to leave the inn without paying. Charlie is dressed as a boy even though she is a girl.

The pair (identical twins) explain that they are running away from their uncle (who is their guardian) because he is marrying one of them off to a brutal man who only wants to sire a son and is suspected of already killing two of his wives.

Lord Radcliff immediately takes the pair under his wings, traveling with them to London. Here's the problem. Because he is under the impression that Charlie is a boy, Charlie has to sleep with him (in the same bed) at the first inn they stay at.

Radcliff is perplexed. He loves women, in all shapes and forms and in all quantities. But suddenly, he is feeling more than friendship for the little slip of a boy, Charlie. So he takes him to a brothel (a disaster) and then a gambling parlor (where Charlie wins a boatload of money). But even as Radcliff tries to make a man out of the boy, he's feeling more and more "unnatural" emotions for him.

Throughout the book, Charlie and Beth switch back and forth between who is playing the boy and no matter who is which gender for the day, Radcliff seems attracted to Charlie (whether she is dressed as a boy or a girl).

This book is ok. Amusing at times but nothing to drop other books and start this one over.

[Inna · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars (only because it started out interesting)

Oh god, this book after about the 50% mark was just SO BAD. Sooooooo bad, I could scream. I wanted to scream. I still want to scream. I probably am still screaming in horror over this mess of a story.

This book officially has the WORST HEROINE EVER.

Did the author just get extremely lazy with the storyline or something? The heroine just gets so extremely lazy and careless... and does tons of stupid, stupid shit. She literally just walks her way into all kinds of dangerous situations - meeting with a blackmailer not once, not twice, but three times. And doesn’t learn her lesson when shit goes wrong. Is this girl brain dead? She needs a babysitter to keep her from harming herself. I feel like this is something a toddler would do, although maybe the toddler would still learn faster.

On top of that, when she could just have told the hero the truth about her identity, she continues to lie for no apparent reason... there is ZERO reason for her to lie to the hero and she still does. What a dumbass.

And circling back to the dangerous situations - apparently the police don’t even exist in this book because no one seems to think of calling them or involving any authorities.

Here’s my advice: skip this book and don’t look back.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Switch

The Characters

Charlotte “Charlie”
Elizabeth “Beth”
Lord Jeremy Radcliff - I was quite confused at the end of the story when Charlie calls him Jeremy, during most of the book he just goes by Radcliff

Other various friends, foes and waifs.

The Story

A dizzying tale of twins searching for freedom from their oppressive/abusive uncle and his machinations. Or at least that is the way it starts out. As we continue we find a love story, adventure and even more dastardly foes.

All and all this was quite enjoyable. Sands’ trademark wit once again brings us delightful characters and sometimes over the top situations that you just have to love.

The Random Thoughts



4 Stars

[ضحى الحداد · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this was the first I read in the year 2022 and it was BORING as hell !!
So the story is about twin sisters Charlie and Beth, they decide to run away from their uncle so they don't get stuck in arranged marriages both of them don't want, Charlie disguises herself as a boy named "Charles" to provide protection for them both .. in the process of running away they meet lord Radcliff, and he insists on helping them .. but he feels a sudden attraction for Charles which he should not feel.. and thus begin a funny adventure between the three of them
to be fair, I did find some of the scenes funny and I actually laughed.. but the relationship between Radcliff and Charlie was really rushed and doesn't make any sense and I was bored most of the book TBH

[starryeyedjen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yay for gender-bending and cross-dressing and twins switching places! This story was so fun and I honestly don't think I've read anything like it. I preferred Charlie, the twin who was more adept at playing the brother -- and the one who got herself into predicament after predicament. And, sure, it would have been easier -- and more realistic -- had they simply informed Lord Radcliffe of their situation, but it would not have been nearly as hilarious.

[Desi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable and amusing. Pretty much preposterous plot but the gimmick carried to the end.

What was rather unnecessary was when they drew the hero into it for no logical reason in the final scenes. His garb added nothing to the plan.

And I really though the uncle supplied sufficient villainy. There was no need to draw a random character in as a new bad guy, or to create crimes out of an already adequately explained years' old accident.

Other than that complaint it had a quite a few laughs, the pacing was good, and the characters charming.

[Courtney Mines · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Switch
by Lynsay Sands

Genre: Historical Romance

When they first met Lord Jeremy William Radcliffe, Charlie and her twin sister, Elizabeth, were escaping from their uncle - taking turns acting the young gentleman to avoid detection. But Charlie couldn't help falling head over heels - and out of the window - for the handsome lord. Of course, that was only the beginning: Lord Radcliffe insisted on showing "him" and her lovely sister safely to London.

But how could he do that? With every touch, Radcliffe seemed unknowingly to incite indecent desires in Charlie, and his fraternal intent was certain to land her in a fine mess. Though it was a great game to play a boy, there was more fun in being female. And after one brush of his fiery lips when her guise was gone, Charlie swore to be nothing but his woman forevermore.

Two orphaned sisters are avoiding their uncle's marriage decision by masquerading as a traveling brother/sister group, but upon their night of escape, they are discovered by the earl of Radcliffe. Deciding to offer aid to some innocent-looking siblings on their first-trip to London, Lord Radcliffe takes this group under his wing and eventually finds himself romantically draw to one sibling in particular --- although sometimes drawn to the boy ("Charlie") and other times the girl ("Beth"), Radcliffe finds himself hilariously torn between his sexual desires toward the two --- who are actually Charlotte in disguise throughout the whole book.

This was a great, fun tale with wonderful characters and would be a fantastic summer read! The plot was intriguing and always kept you on edge to see what mischief the sisters would get into next and what new romantic fumbles would happen with the male leads. I was in the mood for a theme in regards to the 'Hero not knowing she's a woman' story and was immensely happy with The Switch. It was enjoyable to experience Radcliffe's awkwardness throughout the book in his feelings toward Charlotte in disguise. The sisters got along splendidly and the side characters didn't distract the reader away from the overall plot, but I did find Charlotte's (aka Charlie & Beth) attitude towards helping the less fortunate bittersweet ... she took caring to the extreme and I found it a bit annoying and not really realistic.

All in all, if your looking for a fun beach read that is both humorous and romantic - this would be a great candidate.

Likes: The sisters daring mannerism toward anything manly (ie. wanting to visit gambling hells and clubs, etc.)

Dislikes: I felt the story dragged here and there, but would pickup again after a few chapters.

[Jade · Rating 2 out of 5]

*sigh* My first thought after sighing is, Why did I read this *rap?. How did I even get my hands on this book? Then, I remember that I have read other Sands books in the Argenue line and have liked them. Also, I remember getting this at the 10 for $1 bin at my used Book Heaven. I see why it was that price. It was terrible, pretty much from beginning to end.

I am both a cheap drunk and a cheap reader. Buy me a Margarita and I'm toast. Entertain me and distract me with a decent story and interesting characters and you are on your way to getting 4 to 5 stars from me. I'm not picky about grammar, since I myself barely have any. I am willing to let authors get away with a lot as long as they keep me fully entertained,relaxed and enraptured in their stories. I even start my stars rating at 2 bc I think the effort of managing to get the book published deserves that much. I guess with this book I am willing to reconsider. It was just plain absurd, ridiculous, slow and overall boring.

I was reading this book for the romantic element. Sometimes I am too stressed by daily life as a stay at mom and need something really mellow and uncomplicated. A certain happy ending, paved with cheesy dialogue, obvious misunderstandings and hopefully good laughs. This book did not even accomplish that. The lack of logic and likeability in the characters and story was too much even for me.

So 2 stars bc I'm generous and the book was published and I got it for $.10. I only regret the time I used to read it. OH well. I just do not recommend it to anyone who has anything better to do.

[Lisarenee · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book. Very funny, fast paced, and thoroughly enjoyable. This is now my favorite book by Sands. Set in England. About a set of orphaned identical twins who decide to take their fate into their own hands. They runaway from their uncle and their undesirable prospective bridegrooms in search of more acceptable husbands. Their uncle, who ran the family estate into debt, is basically selling the twins into marriage to whomever will pay the right price. Their plan is to escape to another uncle and ask for help. Dressed as brother and sister so they can travel, (2 women traveling alone just isn't done) they put their plan into motion. While attempting their escape things start to go awry when they are spotted by another individual who decides to take the pair under his wing.

The story is funny as situations are encountered when everyone thinks one of the girls is a boy. The two actually enjoy the privileges being a young man allow them and they take turns being the young man known as Charles. Very fun especially when they each fall in love with a different man and there is only (supposedly) one of them. I don't want to give away too much because I'm afraid I'd ruin some of the funny moments for you. I was laughing so hard. This will probably go into my top 10 favorites for 2010. HIGHLY RECOMMEND this one. Jayne I think you would love this one! Thanks Sans for letting me borrow it.

[Caroline Yamashita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quando li a sinopse, parei tudo o que estava fazendo para ler.
Eu SABIA que seria muito engraçado.
E foi! E foi também incrível!
Charlotte e Elisabeth são gêmeas. Seu tio Harry as vendeu para casamento com uns caras muito esquisitos, um com fama de assassino de esposas, já que era viúvo por 3 vezes e o outro como pervertido.
Então as duas moças resolvem fugir, mas não como duas irmãs. Charlotte vira Charles! Um menino.
Eis que estão fugindo e se encontram com Radcliffe, um lorde inglês que promete ajudar os irmãos.
Mas acontece que pobre Radcliffe não sabe o que pensar, deve estar enlouquecendo porque ele sente uma enorme atração pelo Charles! Como pode?!
Ele sabe que é errado, que tá ficando doido, mas não consegue evitar!
Enquanto isso, as irmãs trocam de lugar, pois decidem que já que estão em Londres, a melhor coisa para escapar de um casamento é outro casamento. Então, Charles/Charlotte, vira Elisabeth e Elisabeth vira Charles!
E agora não é que o coitado do Lorde Radcliffe se sente aliviado, pois sabe que era uma loucura mesmo, e que tem sentimentos mesmo é por Elisabeth!
Mas no outro dia volta a se sentir atraído por Charles!!!
É tanto problema!
A única certeza é qque temue depois que os gêmeos entraram em sua vida pacata, virou de ponta cabeça e problemas viraram rotina!
Amei, amei amei!
Me apaixonei por essa autora!
Obrigada Stephanie Antunes pela dica! :*

Primeira leitura em 31/05/2015
Segunda leitura em 19/03/2018

[Mya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Switch by Lynsay Sands (Audio Edition)
Performed by: Fiona Hardingham

♥ ♥ ♥ This is the first audio book I have listened to that I have not read previously. I had read a few reviews on it and was expecting some silliness - which I got and didn't mind. There were some chuckles as well. Charlie (Charlotte) and Beth were good characters. I liked how they switched often and the resulting confusion for poor Radcliff was amusing.

I do agree with one reviewer that when the switch was revealed to Radcliff, he should have caught on a bit sooner in that conversation. He's a bit of a stuffed shirt in my opinion and even though he supposedly loosens up.. by the end he seems to get worse.

The downside for me was when I thought the story was fairly all tied up and at that point I thought it would be a 4 heart review. However, it kept going.. and everything after that point seemed to be added to just draw out the story, and it just went downhill for me and I was losing interest fast. Personally, I felt the book could have been done without this part.

The reading by Fiona Hardingham was good. Though at times she sounded as though she had a bored tone to her voice. Her accents were good and I felt pulled into the story.

Original review posted at: http://paragraphsandpetticoats.blogsp...

[☘Katie☘ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!!

This was my first book by Lynsay Sands and I absolutely loved her writing. She had my interest in the first scene of the book with Radcliffe watching Beth climb out a window on the shoulders of her "brother" Charles. The humor and comedy in the book was great, that I actually laughed out loud a couple times, very rare an author can make me do that.

I absolutely loved the plot device of needing Charlotte to disguise herself as "Charles" in their attempt to escape their uncle's forced horrible marriages. The antics Charlie gets into are great-- and no one suspects that 'he's' a 'she'. I just really enjoy the stories when the heroine successfully disguises herself as a guy. I thought it was hilarious that Radcliffe had no clue and even suffered anxiety questioning his own sexuality at his attraction to "Charles".

The heroine and hero were well developed and likeable. Even all the secondary characters were great (Bessie, Mrs. Hartshair, and Stokes). The plot moved along well and uncovered backstory on Radcliffe, concerning his sister's death which he felt very guilty about.

It was a well done novel! It definitely made it onto my favorites shelf right from that very first scene I knew it would. I also will probably reread this one in the future, it is that good!!

[Chumchum_88 · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a loooooooong while since the last time I read a Lynsay Sands book and I loooooooved this book sooooo much.

- I've always had a thing for cross-dressing XD so I was totally eager to reading this book

- I've liked both the hero and the heroine, both were very responsible people and I liked the chemistry between them

- Even though the heroine was a twin she obviously was the responsible adult

- I loved how the hero and the other guy were attracted to the right twin even when they change their roles

- I loved the parts where the hero was confused about his sexuality when he was attracted to the heroine when she was a guy XD that was so funny

- It was hilarious when the hero took the heroine to a brothel as way to entertain him then he was so protective of him it was really funny XD

- I love the cross dressing in this book in all its forms XD

- I loved the parts where the heroine was constantly hit on by girls whenever she was cross dressing XD

Overall, *thumbs up* I'm already getting the book again for a re-read after finishing this review XD