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Rating: 
Summary: A rollicking ride into the gay nineties
Review: A BICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO is a rollicking ride into the gay nineties and a look
at life on the wrong side of the tracks. Alex is part of the rich
aristocracy and quite the snob when it comes to associating with the
unfortunate people of the lower classes. He has the absurd idea that the
poor are simply down on their luck because they choose to be. He is
exasperating and sometimes so naive that he frustrates me. Kate is an
acid-tongued young woman who is rude and pushy to the extent you want to
shake her out of it. When Alex's rose-colored vision of life meets Kate's
every day reality there is an explosion of fireworks. Alex is brought down
to humility and Kate is brought up to the realization that there is kindness
in the world. Ms. Duncan has penned a fine adventure. A BICYCLE BUILT FOR
TWO is a delightful story and not to be missed! Diana Risso, Romance Reviews Today
Rating: 
Summary: Romantic Book:A Bicycle Built For Two
Review: Alice Duncan is an excellent author. She composed the Meet Me at the Fair series and A Bicycle Built for Two is the third book in this series. I like Alice Duncan's books because her writing is suspenseful, which makes you want to finish the book without stopping. I like trying to predict what will happen next. However Alice Duncan's stories are unpredictable with many surprises. A Bicycle Built for Two is a third person story about a young woman, Kate, who tries to care for her ill mother and keep her jobs despite the threats of her abusive father and opposition of her superior. I would recommend A Bicycle Built for Two for people who read at least at the 6th grade level. There are some difficult words that are understood when taken in context. The dictionary is useful for understanding the story. If you like books about people in challenging life-like situations with surprise endings, then this absorbing book is for you!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, poignant story of opposites attract!
Review: Alice Duncan superbly recreates the 1890's in this terrific tale of two people from completely different worlds who find what they didn't know they were looking for in each other. Alex English is a fastidious, stuffy, proper gentleman farmer who is extremely proud of his participation in the World's Columbian Exposition being held in Chicago. For him, the Expo showcases all that is good about America and should be an educational and uplifting experience for all who attend - and he will not allow anything to taint it. But when a young woman who works at the Expo is attacked (and by her own father!), Alex is outraged and decides she has to go - can't have this sort of unpleasantness spoiling the Expo! For Kate Finney, the Expo is just an opportunity to make a bit more money to support herself and her mother. She's working two jobs, one at a fortune-telling booth and the other as an "Egyptian" dancer. But her worthless drunk of a father has not only threatened her life, but now her livelihood - for when Alex English shows up, she knows with dread exactly why he's come. But she's not going without a fight, darn it! Alex is completely unprepared for her outrage and her fighting spirit! He's never met anyone like Kate Finney! Once Alex gets over the shock of his initial meeting with Kate, he becomes curious about her and learns of her desperate family circumstances. Kate is waging a one-woman battle against poverty, an abusive, dangerous father and the tuberculosis ravaging her beloved mother. When Alex takes steps to make what may be her mother's last weeks or months as comfortable as possible, Kate is initially suspicious and resentful. But over time, she realizes that Alex is genuinely a nice guy with only pure motives. Gee, it would be real nice to have a man like that in her life, but he's not for the likes of her - poor Kate Finney from the slums of Chicago. As for Alex, he's come to admire Kate - she's smart, strong and beautiful and he longs to knock that chip off her shoulder and make her life better. Would she even let him? In a genre full of sometimes tawdry and empty stories with characters who manipulate and deceive one another, this was a breath of fresh air! Well developed characters that you really care about and a terrific story. Highly recommended!
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