The Trap Trilogy by Tracy Anne Warren / Historical Romance Book Series

The Husband Trap by Tracy Anne Warren (2006)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Trap Trilogy series. This book starts right with the action (which I love). Violet is on her way down the aisle to marry Adrian, except that she’s pretending to be her twin sister Jeannette who wanted to call off the wedding two hours earlier and somehow convinced Violet to take her place. Shy and bespectacled Violet knows that she won’t get another chance like this and takes it because she’s already been in love with Adrian. The rest of the book involves Violet playing the part of a spoiled and bratty Jeannette, while sometimes slipping into her actual good-natured self, and hoping that her husband won’t notice. Of course Adrian can’t believe his good luck that maybe his snobby and shallow bride actually has kindness and depth, so he doesn’t suspect anything at all. But you know that the secret will eventually come to catch up with Violet in the most heartbreaking ways. Such a good book that I dived right into the second one immediately!

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

The Wife Trap by Tracy Anne Warren (2006)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Trap Trilogy series. Well, after Jeannette is found out for the scandal from Book 1, she’s banished from her home and sent to Ireland to live with her elderly cousins. On the way, she meets a middle-class Irishman, Darragh O’Brien who is brash and boorish. Glad to be rid of him, she’s surprised to see him again at her cousins’ home, where he’s the architect in charge of renovations on the property. So, for most of this book Jeannette is a spoiled and bratty snob with no regard to country life, hard work, or character. She interferes with estate construction on multiple occasions just because she wants to sleep late, like her usual party going London ways and doesn’t realize that her actions can withhold laborers’ ability to get paid. This type of story usually involves some sort of maturation of the spoiled main character, but it was a painfully slow sort of growth here. Add in the part where the plain old architect is actually an earl who works hard to pay off his family debts, Jeannette looks even more selfish and spoiled in comparison.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

The Wedding Trap by Tracy Anne Warren (2006)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 3 of the Trap Trilogy series.

Shy and bookish Eliza is about to enter her fourth Season with newfound wealth from her aunt’s inheritance. Her longtime crush Kit, the younger brother of a duke, is recruited to help build her confidence in order to secure a suitable match. Of course, once she’s gotten new hair and clothes, Kit notices how attractive she is and is baffled by his reactions to her. This book was about as predictable as you would expect, but still fun to see Eliza build her confidence (and her backbone) with her successful relaunch into society. Watch out for villainous spiteful cousins and unexpected jealousy (except Kit doesn’t realize it’s jealousy). And we get to interact with the couples from the previous two books of the series.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.