A funny, fast paced historical espionage/romance story that I’m sure would appeal to those who like the genre, and those who look for something light and fun to read. ~ Under the Covers
I didn’t think I could encounter a novelty when it came to historical romances, however, I see that I was wrong. True Spies tells the story of a husband and wife duo who work as spies in the Regency era.
When I first heard of this plot, I thought I’d get a fast paced historical with a bit of romance in it. I didn’t expect a married couple of fourteen years with two kids discovering their passion. I say discovering because although the heroine, Elinor, is already in love with her husband, our hero Winn, looks at their marriage as a cover for his hidden life of espionage. What starts off as a marriage of convenience turns into passion in the action filled life of our spies.
I liked both characters. Elinor is the kind of woman the society expects all women to be like, a mother and caretaker. She has been married for fourteen years and gave birth to two daughters and she doesn’t have much to expect from her life, perhaps other than a response to her feelings from her husband. It’s always nice to see a heroine in a historical romance who defies the rules of society, and Elinor certainly fits the bill. Although she wasn’t familiar with the kind of life a spy leads, she was more than ready to learn and help. She knew her weaknesses, but she was ready to better herself despite her fears. I was glad to see there was a balance between what came to her naturally and what she was able to improvise or not, because this is a woman in the Regency era, one who wasn’t trained for such a life, you can’t expect her to suddenly start jumping off rooftops or fight back against men with knives or guns.
As much as Elinor was a nice heroine, Winn was a good hero. All through the book, the biggest change happened in Winn’s personality. He turned from the indifferent husband to a caring man who slowly-and finally- fell in love with his wife. I have to say, it was fun to read the story almost backwards, usually what we get is the couple meeting, falling in love and then forming a family and we’d get our happily ever after, but in this story, the couple was already married with children and only after years of marriage they finally managed to get to know each other and fall in love.
Since this was a book revolving around spies, there was quite a lot of action involved, which I very much enjoyed. It was fact paced, and although it seems like it took me a while to finish it, it was easy to read.
Many of the secondary characters were nice and funny, and they more than intrigued me to hunt down any other books in the series.
A funny, fast paced historical espionage/romance story that I’m sure would appeal to those who like the genre, and those who look for something light and fun to read.
*ARC provided by Netgalley
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[about-author author=”Shana Galen”]
Thanks for the review!