REVIEW: The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne

Series: The Spymaster

Author's Website

Summary:

Annique Villiers is the Fox Cub, the notorious French spy, while Robert Grey is the English spymaster. He had been ordered to bring the beautiful French spy and her secrets to England. They met in prison, and they forged an uneasy alliance to escape a common enemy.

Comments:

The author captivated me from the start by the clarity of her prose and her use of unexpected humor throughout the story. Also, the setting is unique, a refreshing change from the usual ballroom and Society backdrop of most historicals. In most stories, sometimes the hero is a former spy for England, but we don't actually see him doing his spy stuff.

The heroine is true to her character, from her speech to her actions. She fought Grey every step of the way, being the enemy that she perceived him to be, despite the fact that she also desires him. She is also different from the other heroines I've encountered in romances. I know I sound like a cliche; after all, lots of heroes have fallen for their heroines because she was different from the other women he had seen. Well, Annique is different from the other heroines I've read. I like the unexpected ways she sees her world. A clever, engaging, yet very complex heroine. If I've read about someone like her before, they are very few.

A to-die-for hero, Robert Grey is depicted magnificently as the cunning spy who was more than a match for Annique. Yet, for all his hardness and suspicions of Annique, he was tender and caring of her, protecting her when she was officially their enemy. (Excellent hero qualities!) I, for one, would've loved to bring him home. Too bad I live in a different time period.

The pacing of the book was just right, with equal action and excitement and romance. I couldn't put the book down, and I even stayed up late to finish it, which made me sleepy for the DJ the next day. There is a lovely twist toward the end of the book that I won't spoil by revealing, which even I didn't suspect until in the middle of the book when Annique met a certain person.

I'm looking forward to Joanna Bourne's next book, My Lord and Spymaster, in which I hope Grey and Annique would have cameo roles.

Book Rating: 5 stars (A keeper! Yes!)