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gillianw's review
4.0
4 stars
It’s a rare day when you pick up a romance featuring older MC’s. Rarer still when one of them is a strong, successful, capable woman (a butler, no less) who isn’t a mother or a career-minded super bitch. If that doesn’t completely do it for you, imagine the MC’s played by Helen Mirren and Daniel Craig. Yeah, baby!
I really enjoyed book. It’s a romantic-suspense-spy-caper with zero virginal damsels in distress and absolutely no alpha males who act like assholes. Basically, it has a complete lack of tired tropes and I couldn’t be happier.
Mae is a fully grown adult woman who takes her job seriously, invests her money, speaks several languages and lives a fairly quiet life, still mourning the sudden loss of her husband 16 years prior. She dates men, of course, but never gets seriously involved. Kitt is a retired army major who still works for the government, albeit in a less official capacity (think James Bond), and who relies on the ever professional Mae to keep his life in order. When Mae finds herself suddenly and inadvertently the target of some rather unpleasant people, her and Kitt work together to find out why someone wants her dead.
I loved that Mae wasn’t some shrinking violet needing Kitt to bail her out of every situation. Yes, he’s more than capable - it is his job after all - but she finds herself more than proficient at dealing with the bad guys too. I found her to be realistically kickass and pragmatic to a fault, and I can’t tell you how refreshing I found it.
If you’re looking for something to break you out of a reading slump, or you find that constantly reading about people half your age is getting boring, or if you just want to read about an older woman who isn’t relegated to wife/mother/career-bitch status, then I definitely recommend picking this one up.
It’s a rare day when you pick up a romance featuring older MC’s. Rarer still when one of them is a strong, successful, capable woman (a butler, no less) who isn’t a mother or a career-minded super bitch. If that doesn’t completely do it for you, imagine the MC’s played by Helen Mirren and Daniel Craig. Yeah, baby!
I really enjoyed book. It’s a romantic-suspense-spy-caper with zero virginal damsels in distress and absolutely no alpha males who act like assholes. Basically, it has a complete lack of tired tropes and I couldn’t be happier.
Mae is a fully grown adult woman who takes her job seriously, invests her money, speaks several languages and lives a fairly quiet life, still mourning the sudden loss of her husband 16 years prior. She dates men, of course, but never gets seriously involved. Kitt is a retired army major who still works for the government, albeit in a less official capacity (think James Bond), and who relies on the ever professional Mae to keep his life in order. When Mae finds herself suddenly and inadvertently the target of some rather unpleasant people, her and Kitt work together to find out why someone wants her dead.
I loved that Mae wasn’t some shrinking violet needing Kitt to bail her out of every situation. Yes, he’s more than capable - it is his job after all - but she finds herself more than proficient at dealing with the bad guys too. I found her to be realistically kickass and pragmatic to a fault, and I can’t tell you how refreshing I found it.
If you’re looking for something to break you out of a reading slump, or you find that constantly reading about people half your age is getting boring, or if you just want to read about an older woman who isn’t relegated to wife/mother/career-bitch status, then I definitely recommend picking this one up.
costumer_jen's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.0
Bad editing. Misplaced and missing words.
cassandra67b07's review against another edition
5.0
This was the most surprising book. I've read Sandra Antonelli before and I've always appreciated how she doesn't consider characters over 40 to be dead, but I didn't expect this one at ALL.
Mae is smart, organized, amazingly competent and still grieving her late husband when she takes on a new tenant, Major Kitt. She then becomes his butler. He pays her rent for his lodging and she makes his scrambled eggs and cleans up his booze and the female debris left behind after his numerous conquests.
And then the trouble starts and doesn't stop. And they are in the thick of it.
Kitt is not quite James Bond, but there is some definite channeling of Daniel Craig here. He's usually quite competent but Mae throws him off his game.
I love that Mae is older than he is. I love that he values so much more about her than her scrambled eggs with Bernaise.
I don't want to spoil too much, but this is a tour de force.
Read it.
And I'm very encouraged about that Book 1 signifier up there in the title.
Mae is smart, organized, amazingly competent and still grieving her late husband when she takes on a new tenant, Major Kitt. She then becomes his butler. He pays her rent for his lodging and she makes his scrambled eggs and cleans up his booze and the female debris left behind after his numerous conquests.
And then the trouble starts and doesn't stop. And they are in the thick of it.
Kitt is not quite James Bond, but there is some definite channeling of Daniel Craig here. He's usually quite competent but Mae throws him off his game.
I love that Mae is older than he is. I love that he values so much more about her than her scrambled eggs with Bernaise.
I don't want to spoil too much, but this is a tour de force.
Read it.
And I'm very encouraged about that Book 1 signifier up there in the title.
kelialql's review against another edition
2.0
This was... not a good book. It didn't ooze rottenness from every bad scene but, lord, it wasn't good.
The spy who wasn't handsome in the classical sense but still managed to bed woman after woman. Not that he loved them. No, he doubted he was even capable of love. Not anymore. Not after... her. Then there's his butler who, we are told over and over, is quite attractive for an older woman. She mourns her long-dead husband but still can't help admiring her employer's stony eyes, remarkable arse, and penchant for violence. (I'm not making this up. It's in there.)
They embark on what may be the silliest spy-thriller-mystery adventure ever conceived and wind up in love. I guess it was supposed to be a "will they/won't they?" scenario (heavy on the "will they") but I honestly didn't care if they did or didn't. (Thanks for keeping that scene blessedly short, btw. It was not sexy.)
Maybe file this under "guilty pleasures" or "beach reading" or some other, similar category. (It's officially on my "one year into the pandemic and I'm far beyond the capacity for rational thought" list.) Two stars for reveling in its own inanity.
The spy who wasn't handsome in the classical sense but still managed to bed woman after woman. Not that he loved them. No, he doubted he was even capable of love. Not anymore. Not after... her. Then there's his butler who, we are told over and over, is quite attractive for an older woman. She mourns her long-dead husband but still can't help admiring her employer's stony eyes, remarkable arse, and penchant for violence. (I'm not making this up. It's in there.)
They embark on what may be the silliest spy-thriller-mystery adventure ever conceived and wind up in love. I guess it was supposed to be a "will they/won't they?" scenario (heavy on the "will they") but I honestly didn't care if they did or didn't. (Thanks for keeping that scene blessedly short, btw. It was not sexy.)
Maybe file this under "guilty pleasures" or "beach reading" or some other, similar category. (It's officially on my "one year into the pandemic and I'm far beyond the capacity for rational thought" list.) Two stars for reveling in its own inanity.
tessa_b's review
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
radiareads's review against another edition
5.0
This book feels like a historical romance. I suspended disbelief about the same amount I do for those, but it wasn’t just that. The romance was as cautious as it often is in historicals. Too often when I read books from the past ten years, I spend a lot of time dating them. Was Netflix a big thing yet? What about Tinder? With this book, I didn’t care what time period it was set in, I was so swept up in the story.
Was this book perfectly crafted? No. I love a good plot with twists but I had some trouble keeping track of the secondary characters. Did it feel refreshing after a few disappointing reads? Absolutely. Would I read other books by this author? In a heartbeat, I’ve already requested a couple from the library.
Was this book perfectly crafted? No. I love a good plot with twists but I had some trouble keeping track of the secondary characters. Did it feel refreshing after a few disappointing reads? Absolutely. Would I read other books by this author? In a heartbeat, I’ve already requested a couple from the library.
qbit99's review against another edition
4.0
This was NOT like most of the romance novels I've read so far.
It felt.... grown up. I very much liked how Kitt and Mae slowly acknowledged and processed their feelings towards each other. I really liked it. The honesty towards themselves and each other. It wasn't just 2 horny ppl attracted to each other, regardless of the history and whatever they found themselves in. The processing. I love it.
So i'll happily head to the next book in the series.
It felt.... grown up. I very much liked how Kitt and Mae slowly acknowledged and processed their feelings towards each other. I really liked it. The honesty towards themselves and each other. It wasn't just 2 horny ppl attracted to each other, regardless of the history and whatever they found themselves in. The processing. I love it.
So i'll happily head to the next book in the series.
rclz's review against another edition
5.0
Really enjoyed this. Such a complicated duo. Good plot and good characters.
ccgwalt's review against another edition
4.0
This is definitely one wild ride for Kitt and Mae. The plot is complex and convoluted, and there is really no way to figure out what is going on until it's all revealed. The fact that Kitt turns out to be hiding things make it even more confusing. Still I couldn't help liking him, although I felt Mae might have forgiven him a little too quickly.
Kitt in At Your Service reminds me a little of Kit in K.J. Charles Will Darling Adventures. Both are hiding more than they are sharing and although they care about the other person (Will and Mae), they still deceive them. I find this Kitt a little more relatable.
Antonelli's writing style is different from what I'm used to in romantic suspense, and although this is definitely suspense and there is definitely a romance building, I'm not inclined to give it the RS label. While part of the story is watching Mae and Kitt figure out their own feelings and motivations, that is not the focus of the book. The relationship development, or perhaps it's better to say relationship revelations, are seamlessly woven into the action and the mystery. The reader isn't sure where their relationship is eventually headed for most of the book.
Kitt in At Your Service reminds me a little of Kit in K.J. Charles Will Darling Adventures. Both are hiding more than they are sharing and although they care about the other person (Will and Mae), they still deceive them. I find this Kitt a little more relatable.
Antonelli's writing style is different from what I'm used to in romantic suspense, and although this is definitely suspense and there is definitely a romance building, I'm not inclined to give it the RS label. While part of the story is watching Mae and Kitt figure out their own feelings and motivations, that is not the focus of the book. The relationship development, or perhaps it's better to say relationship revelations, are seamlessly woven into the action and the mystery. The reader isn't sure where their relationship is eventually headed for most of the book.
vickis's review against another edition
4.0
Lots of fun, think James Bond with a female butler who gets into trouble and plunges into his world of espionage. There will be places you laugh and places you gasp and a few places you suspend disbelief and don't care. Good light travel reading or if you want something to brighten your spirits.