GRR Reviews Restoration: A Golden Beach Novel by Kim Loraine

Restoration is a somewhat pun-y title in that it's about a second chance at love... with a lost twin of the lover she had lost! And it is a very weird situation indeed, with a very emotionally charged "same but different" feel to the romance...

Grace McConnell had to get away after death of her fiancee firefighter John, and a restoration project in Brayle, England seems to be just the project for her as an architect. But the town came with a surprise... Andrew "Drew" Tensley, who looked so much like John, Grace was sure she was suffering a mental breakdown. But Drew was real... He was on his way of becoming a solicitor (a lawyer to you Yanks) when he gave it all up to go back home and run the family Ten's Market in Brayle when he learned that his adopted mother has terminal cancer. His wife Sarah left him, berating him for throwing his future (technically, her future as a socialite) away. So he divorced her. It's been five years, and he had not regretted his decision. And the new architect in town, Grace, who literally ran into him in the market, fascinated him. And Grace is torn... Drew is the twin of John, that she's sure, but the personalities are vastly different, and in fact, Drew is a much better fit to Grace. But Grace hadn't told him about his twin brother... And which one was she really in love with?

The plot and serendipity were excellent without making it cliche. While "lost twin of a dead lover" was so... melo-dramatic and worthy of a soap opera, the author managed to make it work and the romance is fine.

Category: Contemporary

Primary Plot: Woman who lost her fiancee left for UK, and ran into her fiancee's lost twin brother, who's a much better fit for her!

Tropes: family secrets, twin, triangle

Overall Rating: 4/5