My Lord and Spymaster *Exclusive Review*

One of the best authors to come out of 2008 and the publishing world, especially the historical romance genre is Joanna Bourne. Joanna’s first novel, The Spymaster’s Lady was one of the best historicals I have read in almost five years. Her writing is lush and so very intelligently written. When Ana from The Book Smugglers told me she was a huge fan of Joanna, I realized we have so much in common. She was also very lucky to get an advanced copy of Joanna’s July release, My Lord and Spymaster. And since she was posting her review, she asked if I was going to post my own since I too was able to get a copy. So, today we are both linking our reviews and we welcome you to read both our thoughts and comment on them.

The heroine of My Lord and Spymaster is Jess Whitby. Jess may seem like a respectable lady with a fortune and a successful business, but Jess has an unfortunate past as being a former thief who lived in the underbelly of Katherine Lane in London. Her father, who I really thought of as a total jackass, left Jess to fend for herself because he was never around. Without a mother to care for her, Jess had to survive anyway she knew how, so the streets became her home and thus her career as a thief, all before the age of ten. Jess has come back to her old haunts looking for the man responsible for framing her father for crimes against the crown. Because Jess is so independent and a bit plucky, she will go deep into the dark streets, where danger is thick, searching for a way to find the villain who has the power to send her father to the gallows. This is where she meets Sea Captain Sebastian Kennett.

Sebastian and an associate, Adrian, (Adrian was a big secondary character in The Spymaster’s Lady) are walking back from a celebration of sorts when a young woman comes rushing towards Sebastian and begs for his help. He knows something is off because he feels her trying to pick his pockets. Before he can get to the bottom of Miss Sticky Fingers, they are attacked. Sebastian and Adrian are able to hold their attackers off, but Sebastian’s lovely pickpocket is bashed in the head and falls unconscious. Sebastian takes her back to his ship and waits till she comes to. From that moment on Sebastian feels Jess is his. In between the fighting and the time it takes for him to bring her to his ship and wait for her to awaken, Sebastian wants to claim this unknown lady as his own. These few pages where we see Sebastian’s thoughts and sudden feelings for Jess are so telling. It sets in motion the dance or rather the foreplay these two will engage in before they become lovers.

Jess does not trust Sebastian at all. She believes he is someone called the Cinq, and the one responsible for imprisoning her father. Jess may be very attracted to Sebastian, but she really does think he is the dastardly Cinq.

**Side note- for the life of me I couldn’t tell you what “Cinq” means. Why do these villains in such spy stories have such strange names? What if his name was Bill or Harry? I personally like the name of Fred. But then again have you ever heard of a villain with the name of Fred?**

You have to feel for Sebastian because he makes it his mission to protect and help Jess in any way. Jess is an ungrateful wench and makes sure to give Sebastian the run around. He just doesn’t know how to handle her. She is one slippery woman who can escape from his guards who are suppose to keep tabs on her. Jess is quite skillful and she climbs various rooftops and drops into rooms without being noticed. Jess reminded me a bit of Anne Wilder from the Connie Brockway classic, All Through the Night. And I would love to know if Joanna was paying homage to Connie because at certain points, Jess was very much like Anne. Sebastian is not at all like Jack Seward, but he is there to help Jess out of her scrapes. There is one such scrape where Jess decides to go back into the "belly of the beast" and see the man who turned her into a thief and may just kill her because she left him, even though she was just a child. Sebastian is the only one who can rescue her. Surprisingly in this scene, you would think Sebastian would lay claim to Jess himself, much like he told himself he would when he first met her. Rather, Sebastian makes Jess realize she belongs to no one, not her father and not even himself.

I found My Lord and Spymaster to be a tensioned filled novel, especially between Jess and Sebastian. These two do not fall into bed right away and then spend the rest of the story running around London. The loving comes much later. Sebastian can’t stand dear old dad because of what Jess had to go through as a young girl. Jess can hardly trust Sebastian, which became a bit tedious because Sebastian has done everything in his power to make Jess want to put her trust in him. I felt that Jess had such issues because of her past and it should fit, but sometimes too much denial and angst between the two main characters can be a bit too much.

Again Joanna has written another wonderful heroine in that of Jess, who really makes this story shine. Sebastian was a pleasing in his own way, but I was so involved with Jess that Sebastian is more of a sidekick to Jess if anything else. I was even surprised by who Fred…er…the Cinq was. For a sophomore effort, I think those who enjoyed The Spymaster’s Lady will feel the same about My Lord and Spymaster.

Joanna simply breathes life into a genre that needs more stories like her own.

4 out of 5 stars

Katiebabs (KB)

This and That

For a little bit of This

One of the things I look forward to in February is the Annual Reader Poll at All About Romance. I love voting and seeing which books are readers favourites. For the past couple of years they have done it differently and they have an ongoing update of which books are in the running, out of the running, back in the running. I cast my ballot the other day. Be sure to check it out!

And a little bit of That
I don't know how many of you have checked out the new blog The Book Smugglers yet - they are two newbie bloggers, but they scored pretty good with a fascinating interview with Joanne Bourne, author of what already is and I'm sure will remain, one of my favourite books of 2008, The Spymaster's Lady. Be sure to check it out too!

And in non book related news, I can see the end of the tunnel on my kitchenless house! It's getting there. The ceiling, floors, walls, painting are all done and the cupboard frames are all done. It's fascinating coming home at the end of the day to see how much more they've done. I've been taking pictures - before, during and I'll take after so I can post them. I'm so excited! One of the things that bothered me most about the old kitchen was how dark it was. Well it's not dark now! It's nice and bright. Pics to follow!

'till later

Duo Review

The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne

Kristie's Thoughts:

First of all I’ll have to get past the WOW part of this book. Barely into the New Year and already I’ve read my first 5 out of 5 book.

I think I first became aware of this one because of Jayne and Jane’s reviews at Dear Author. I was intrigued enough to know that I was going to have to read this one myself.

The story starts out with a bang and never stops.

Annique is a young French spy who’s gotten caught in the clutches of a fellow, very evil French spy. He thinks she has information he wants and is willing to do anything to get it out of her. But Annique is a very resourceful young woman and manages to escape and also to help two other men being held prisoner. The other two are English spies and when they hear what it is that Annique is supposed to have, they kidnap her and journey back to England.

Grey is the commander of the English spy department and while at first he thinks Annique is the one responsible for the death of some of his men, he soon realizes what a compassionate young woman she really is.

It’s not often that one comes across a heroine as vivid and well-written as Annique. While a poorly written heroine can ruin a book for me, I still focus more on the hero. But in this case Annique lept off the pages. She’s inventive, she’s kindhearted, she’s oddly naive, she’s intelligent. She’s simply wonderful. I told Katie that I had to find enough superlatives to describe this book and I’m probably going to go overboard with them – but I can’t help it.

And Grey is an equal match for her. He realizes very quickly how good she is in her profession and he treats her with respect. Very early on he becomes quite protective of her while still recognizing her intelligence and what a contribution she can make. One scene in particular exemplifies this for me. The third member of their quartet, Adrian, has been shot. It’s Grey’s job to try and remove the bullet and he is quite reluctant, thinking he will kill Adrian. When Annique volunteers and tells him she has experience in this kind of thing, he doesn’t doubt her for a moment. He trusts her with the life of one of his men.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this book and I don’t want to say too much for fear of giving it away to anyone who hasn’t read it yet but is planning to.

One of the things that a number of people have commented on is the wonderful dialogue she writes. Here is an interesting post on how she came up with it.

I’ve gone on record about my ‘I’m over it’ thing with hero spies. Well, now I’m going to have to eat my words – except I don’t have a kitchen. I loved this one and there’s not a shadow of a doubt I’ll be reading her next one!!

And oddly enough, is the fact that I even like the cover. I’ve heard complaints about it, but I like it, I really do.

Do Not Miss this book. All the buzz is right – it’s a good one.

Katie's Thoughts:

I feel that historical romances get such a bad “rap”. From cliché plots to major heaving bosoms and naked men chests on these covers, (well I really don’t mind the naked men part!) I wasn’t too sure what to think when I saw the cover for The Spymaster’s Lady. I groaned because quite honestly, that cover is bad! It screams of that old fashioned Fabio type romance where the hero forces the heroine to do his bidding. I also felt like he is trying to be Superman by ripping off his shirt and is ready to fly away at a moment’s notice.

But then I started hearing wonderful things about this book and that of first time author, Joanna Bourne. When was the last time the consensus about one book is so good that you can not pass it up? So, I quickly got myself a copy of The Spymaster’s Lady and was blown away. If you think the hero forces the heroine to do anything in this one, watch out because Annique is unlike any heroine I had read since Eve from the JD Robb In Death series or Anita Blake from Laurel K. Hamilton’s vampire slayer series. The thing these three characters have in common is their overall tenacious attitude and their will to survive. They will do anything to come out on top and won’t go down without a fight. They would seriously fight very dirty to win aka kick a guy where it hurts. A perfect example in this book is when Annique takes her sash from her nightgown and tries to strangle Robert with it.

From that point on I became all Ricki Lake and said “You go on girl with your bad self!”

Joanna Bourne has taken a typical spy story and made it so much more. Her words come off the pages and it is so rich, especially with the dialogue. Annique reminded me so much of Maddie from The Winter Garden by Adele Ashworth. And we know how much we all love Maddie. Annique is a French spy and when she speaks, she sounds so perfectly French to my ears. She is strong, intelligent and very sly. She will lie, cheat and play any part to perfection. But a strong woman needs a strong man and that is where our British “spy master” comes into the picture. Robert Grey is England’s ultimate spy. I adored Robert because he is such a good guy. He protects his friends and associates and when he meets Annique, he is thrown for a loop.

Their attraction for each other is instant because they have a battle of wills and the foreplay between them is the words they use. Every ling spoken out of their mouths is a journey that will lead them into the bedroom. And when they get there… well their minds and hearts merge and those scene are heavy in passion but so very much more.

The plot seems so simple and should be that typical historical spy drama that is found so readily in romances today. But Joanna Bourne has done something incredibly. She has taken a cliché story and made it shine.

It all really comes down to the character of Annique. She comes alive and is not just a one-dimensional character you will read about and soon forget. But there is one thing that Kristie(J) and I have a difference of opinion on that makes my grade a bit lower. Annique has a big secret you come to realize very soon. This secret perhaps makes the relationship between Robert and Annique even more incredible, but it grated on my nerves a bit, especially when Annique’s secret is fixed suddenly. Perhaps I am just nitpicking because this truly is a wonderfully written book, but that small thing took a little bit away from making this a true masterpiece of romantic literature.

Never the less I give The Spymaster’s Lady 4 out of 5 stars. I probably would have given it a 4.5 if not for that secret that Robert can see in Annique’s eyes.