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brandypainter 's review for:
The Spymaster's Lady
by Joanna Bourne
First of all I just want to say how hysterical I find it that these books originally had the cheesy male chested Regency romance covers, because these don't really fit that brand.
All three of these stars are for the adventure/spy/politics part of the book. (And Adrian of course, who I'll get to in a minute.) It turns out I'm super grateful to whichever benevolent friend told me to read [b:The Forbidden Rose|7099471|The Forbidden Rose (Spymasters, #3)|Joanna Bourne|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1383019558s/7099471.jpg|7357200] first. If I had started with this one, I don't know that I'd be as eager to continue with the series. (Except maybe yes, because ADRIAN.) As I said, the political intrigue and spying part of the book REALLY worked for me. I love how complicated and complex all the layers of that were and that there were twists and secrets inside secrets inside secrets. I appreciate how Bourne assumes intelligence on behalf of her audience and brings them along for the ride. She is not compelled to explain every detail or person. And it was really interesting to see Doyle and Maggie in this book after already having read their story.
But dear heaven the romance. The romance part of The Forbidden Rose wasn't my favorite part of that because I thought it happened kind of fast, but I enjoyed Doyle and Maggie together. Robert and Annique just kind of squicked me out.
Now Adrian. Holy cow. I said when I finished The Forbidden Rose that I kind of just wanted to jump to his story because I loved him so much. My love grew exponentially in this one. My expectations for his book may now me too high to ever meet. I'm sure he's everybody's favorite though. HOW COULD HE NOT BE??????
All three of these stars are for the adventure/spy/politics part of the book. (And Adrian of course, who I'll get to in a minute.) It turns out I'm super grateful to whichever benevolent friend told me to read [b:The Forbidden Rose|7099471|The Forbidden Rose (Spymasters, #3)|Joanna Bourne|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1383019558s/7099471.jpg|7357200] first. If I had started with this one, I don't know that I'd be as eager to continue with the series. (Except maybe yes, because ADRIAN.) As I said, the political intrigue and spying part of the book REALLY worked for me. I love how complicated and complex all the layers of that were and that there were twists and secrets inside secrets inside secrets. I appreciate how Bourne assumes intelligence on behalf of her audience and brings them along for the ride. She is not compelled to explain every detail or person. And it was really interesting to see Doyle and Maggie in this book after already having read their story.
But dear heaven the romance. The romance part of The Forbidden Rose wasn't my favorite part of that because I thought it happened kind of fast, but I enjoyed Doyle and Maggie together. Robert and Annique just kind of squicked me out.
Spoiler
She spent a good portion of their first meeting drugged and all of their second meeting assuming he was someone else. The entire time (whether she knows it or not), she is his prisoner. After realizing who he is and that she is indeed his prisoner the second time around, she immediately starts having sex with him and the consent in that scene was blurry enough to bother me immensely. She finds out she's been lied to all her life. Her mother died SIX WEEKS prior. She recovered from a major head injury. Her entire world crashes down around her. She loses EVERYTHING. For goodness sake, Robert, give the girl time to breathe. And I don't use "girl" lightly here. SHE IS SO YOUNG. I know her experience makes her older and whatever, but she even reads young and confused. Much younger than Maggie read. And then there's her line at the end about him freeing her with one hand and trapping her with the other (something like that). It was so SPOT ON.That's exactly what he was doing. And I couldn't be excited about that. I really felt like she was trapped and had no choices left.Now Adrian. Holy cow. I said when I finished The Forbidden Rose that I kind of just wanted to jump to his story because I loved him so much. My love grew exponentially in this one. My expectations for his book may now me too high to ever meet. I'm sure he's everybody's favorite though. HOW COULD HE NOT BE??????