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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Why can't I select ZERO stars? Why, Goodreads? Tell me why!
WTF is the matter with this author?! We have an amazing heroine, in most respects. Paired with a hero that is fucking unforgivable. After saving their lives, he betrays her, treats her like a whore, and virtually threatens her with sexual assault on a constant basis.
Then, heroine helps them again. I don't know why. Personally, I would have left the bastards to fucking die. I would have been rubbing two sticks together to try and light them on fucking fire, frankly. But I guess she was trying to garner some goodwill, to improve her situation a little. Good fucking luck with that.
Anyway, she helps save the life of one of them AGAIN, and then the hero decides it is time to start dosing her with opiates.
WHAT. THE. FUCK?!?
This is where I started skimming.
She comes on to him - STONED OUT OF HER MIND - and he happily takes advantage. With Adrian, whom I sort of liked up until this point (because he had been pressing Gray to lay the fuck off), encouraging him to go ahead and screw her while she's like that.
FUCK!
She continues to help, after the "hero" (yeah, I am being sarcastic. Fuck Gray.) SLAPS her out of the drug-induced haze he has been keeping her in (hey, I guess he prefers his women to just lie there drooling).
WTF is the matter with this author? How can anyone like this book? I can't even, really, like the heroine anymore, because I have ZERO respect for her. And frankly, if I kept reading to see her hook up with the hero once she, you know, recovers from her opium addition, fucking thank you very fucking much, I would probably instantly die of apoplexy.
Fuck this book. Arrrrrrrrggggggghhhh!!
WTF is the matter with this author?! We have an amazing heroine, in most respects. Paired with a hero that is fucking unforgivable. After saving their lives, he betrays her, treats her like a whore, and virtually threatens her with sexual assault on a constant basis.
Then, heroine helps them again. I don't know why. Personally, I would have left the bastards to fucking die. I would have been rubbing two sticks together to try and light them on fucking fire, frankly. But I guess she was trying to garner some goodwill, to improve her situation a little. Good fucking luck with that.
Anyway, she helps save the life of one of them AGAIN, and then the hero decides it is time to start dosing her with opiates.
WHAT. THE. FUCK?!?
This is where I started skimming.
She comes on to him - STONED OUT OF HER MIND - and he happily takes advantage. With Adrian, whom I sort of liked up until this point (because he had been pressing Gray to lay the fuck off), encouraging him to go ahead and screw her while she's like that.
FUCK!
She continues to help, after the "hero" (yeah, I am being sarcastic. Fuck Gray.) SLAPS her out of the drug-induced haze he has been keeping her in (hey, I guess he prefers his women to just lie there drooling).
WTF is the matter with this author? How can anyone like this book? I can't even, really, like the heroine anymore, because I have ZERO respect for her. And frankly, if I kept reading to see her hook up with the hero once she, you know, recovers from her opium addition, fucking thank you very fucking much, I would probably instantly die of apoplexy.
Fuck this book. Arrrrrrrrggggggghhhh!!
I liked the premise, but the writing wasn't good enough. Not subtle enough with the sex.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Bourne's writing, characterization, and plotting are excellent. This is a romance that moves. The fundamental issues between her characters are never blown out of proportion - they are based in true ethical dilemmas. Gray, as a character, is a bit opaque (especially in contrast to Annique) which makes it harder to go along with some of his iffier behavior (and of course, the real star of the proceedings is Hawker...)
I loved this book. I think the author did a great job with the characters. There is an incident at the end, where the h acted in a TSTL way, that knocked it down from 5 to 4 stars. I really don't think it should have been done that way. The same results could easily have been accomplished in a different way that would not have been the character's fault, thus not TSTL.
Looking forward to more from this author.
Looking forward to more from this author.
[author: Joanna Bourne]'s [book: The Spymaster's Lady] was an entertaining read with a capable, at times almost too capable heroine against the nicely complex told background of the espionage between Britain and France during the bloody part of the French revolution. In this game of spies, virtually nobody is who s/he seems to be.
However, the involved family relations revealed toward the end were a bit much and - at least in my eyes - not necessary for a believable (and nicely romantic) conclusion of the tale. In fact, they robbed the book some of its initial appeal to me.
Especially the rediscovered grandfather irked me.
However, the involved family relations revealed toward the end were a bit much and - at least in my eyes - not necessary for a believable (and nicely romantic) conclusion of the tale. In fact, they robbed the book some of its initial appeal to me.
Especially the rediscovered grandfather irked me.
This was a ridiculously fun read. And I loved how Bourne captured Annique's French intonation in dialogue (written in English).
God, what an awful cover and title.
If adventure novels were marketed to women, that’s the niche this book fits in.
If adventure novels were marketed to women, that’s the niche this book fits in.
For the past couple of weeks, I've suddenly found myself taking a break from the grittier dystopias and dark fantasies and decided I needed some good old fashioned historical romance. Joanne Bourne was a fantastic find. Her Spymaster quartet (yes, I read all four) deals with French female spies and male British intelligence agents during the French Revolution, yet Bourne's lively writing and well-developed characters move beyond the cliche into truly enjoyable (though perhaps escapist) fiction. This is the second book in the series, though I accidentally read it first, and I loved the first half of the book. I still very much enjoyed the second half, but I agree with some of the other reviewers that the heroine loses a bit of what made her so kickass in the first half. Still, a very fun brain candy read.
i hate characters that are stupid when they are not supposed to be stupid. might give it a try again later.