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midknytowl 's review for:
The Spymaster's Lady
by Joanna Bourne
(My first review!)
This was my first spy book, though from reading other reviews I'm getting the impression it's a big subgenre I somehow never stumbled across in my years of reading Historical Romance.
I was intrigued at first, especially because it was a new idea for the story (for me), and I really appreciated that the heroine was a spy, and a competent one, and not just some damsel in distress the Spymaster has to save over and over again...
...until the second half of the book when that's all she is.
Other reviews have said it, so I'm glad it wasn't just me. I read the first half happily for the characters and their interactions (though agree that Grey's methods and actions were ethically questionable, especially as time went on). I kept reading the second half because of the plot twists, but that was really all.
The competent heroine in the first half that was believable as a master spy made you wonder how she ever managed to live into adulthood in the second half. I shouldn't be rooting for the heroine in a ROMANCE novel to not fall in love, since she seemed to become more and more incompetent the further she fell.
For (a non-spoiler) example, one of the things she did in the first few chapters, as a skill she had used many times as a spy, was call up another character inside herself to play to match the situation. Annique, the virginal young girl, might be scared shitless, but could settle into a character of a wanton woman of experience, push her own emotions aside, and act appropriately to lure the lusting man in close enough to konk on the head.
It made sense, showed how the heroine could have pulled off some of the spy situations she had in her backstory, and I loved how she was able to still have appropriate emotions of being frightened and worried. It was a good balance of being competent in the situation but still being human.
Too bad she forgets that's a skill she has, because she doesn't do in the latter two-thirds of the book, even though many situations would have called for it. In fact, she's so upset so often in the end, different men keep suggesting she go elsewhere to calm down while she's simpering on the hero's chest.
That's why the two stars - the first half would have gotten you a three, maybe a four, but she turned into the useless, typical damsel in distress the second half and that knocked it down. I'll give the author another shot, but probably just one.
This was my first spy book, though from reading other reviews I'm getting the impression it's a big subgenre I somehow never stumbled across in my years of reading Historical Romance.
I was intrigued at first, especially because it was a new idea for the story (for me), and I really appreciated that the heroine was a spy, and a competent one, and not just some damsel in distress the Spymaster has to save over and over again...
...until the second half of the book when that's all she is.
Other reviews have said it, so I'm glad it wasn't just me. I read the first half happily for the characters and their interactions (though agree that Grey's methods and actions were ethically questionable, especially as time went on). I kept reading the second half because of the plot twists, but that was really all.
The competent heroine in the first half that was believable as a master spy made you wonder how she ever managed to live into adulthood in the second half. I shouldn't be rooting for the heroine in a ROMANCE novel to not fall in love, since she seemed to become more and more incompetent the further she fell.
For (a non-spoiler) example, one of the things she did in the first few chapters, as a skill she had used many times as a spy, was call up another character inside herself to play to match the situation. Annique, the virginal young girl, might be scared shitless, but could settle into a character of a wanton woman of experience, push her own emotions aside, and act appropriately to lure the lusting man in close enough to konk on the head.
It made sense, showed how the heroine could have pulled off some of the spy situations she had in her backstory, and I loved how she was able to still have appropriate emotions of being frightened and worried. It was a good balance of being competent in the situation but still being human.
Too bad she forgets that's a skill she has, because she doesn't do in the latter two-thirds of the book, even though many situations would have called for it. In fact, she's so upset so often in the end, different men keep suggesting she go elsewhere to calm down while she's simpering on the hero's chest.
That's why the two stars - the first half would have gotten you a three, maybe a four, but she turned into the useless, typical damsel in distress the second half and that knocked it down. I'll give the author another shot, but probably just one.