Moonspun Magic

Author: Catherine Coulter
Published: July 1999 (Signet), First edition published 1988
Category: Historical Romance
Series: Magic Trilogy #3
Rating: 6/10

Just what I always wanted in a romance: evil twin vs. good twin.

Rafael Carstairs has returned to England after several years as a spy during the Napoleonic Wars. While traveling through Cornwall on the way to London, he rescues a young lady from smugglers. This young lady, Victoria Abermarle, has been living with her cousin, wife of Damien Carstairs, Baron Drago, and Rafael's twin. Damien was trying to ravish his wife's cousin, and even told vicious lies about Victoria to her one suitor. And men being phenomenally stupid in this book, the suitor believed Damien's claims, rather than trying to talk it out with Victoria. Of course a man's word must be taken ahead of a woman's word.

Rafael and Victoria decide to marry, as they get along well and she needs protection. And it seems as though all will be well in their world, but Damien tells Rafael the same horrible lies he told Victoria's previous suitor, and Rafael begins doubting her innocence. On their wedding night, Victoria stops him, saying she has to tell him something, and he thinks she's about to admit that she's not a virgin, and flips out. He says mean things to her and keeps on having to make it up to her. Victoria's angry with him for believing Damien and refuses to tell him her secret, even though it would've cleared everything up if she'd communicated. He figures what could she have that was so important to reveal during their wedding night? Apparently, Victoria has a big scar on her thigh from a childhood riding accident, and she's unable to handle much physical exertion, so that rules out dancing and riding for extended periods of time. The scar affects her emotionally too, as her cousin has always made it sound like it was something awful, so she's afraid that Rafael will reject her for being imperfect when he looks so perfect.

When they finally have a wedding night, he realizes that Damien was lying, and says so, and Victoria is angry at him for sleeping with her just to find out if she was a virgin. And she still refuses to tell him about her leg. It's this constant dance of mistrust, and I kept wishing that they'd just grow up already.

After the wedding, they return to Cornwall so Rafael can investigate a revival of the Hellfire Club, which has been committing the gang rape of several young women, and one of the victims was the daughter of a viscount, which brought about Rafael's involvement. The newlyweds stay at Drago Hall, and that gives Damien the opportunity to masquerade as Rafael. I knew it was going to happen, and Victoria is clever enough not to fall for his tricks. However, Rafael hears about this and thinks that Victoria is cheating on him, which leads to more mistrust and anger, as Victoria finds out AGAIN that Rafael believes another person's word over her own.

Apart from the constant annoyance of secrets, mistrust, and lies, there is a good story. It could've been a lot less soap opera-esque in terms of drama quota if the characters were less stupid. Even up to the end, Rafael doesn't fully trust Victoria, infiltrating the Hellfire Club without telling her and having Damien (who turned a new leaf) act as Rafael. And Victoria, after finding out that she'd been duped so she wouldn't try to "help" Rafael and cause more problems for him. But at least this time around, she doesn't get angry with him.

Maybe I picked the wrong Coulter to start off with, as I've read some reviews for this book that say the other two books in the trilogy were better.