Series: The Royal Saboteurs, #1
Traits & Tropes: spies/government work; wrong side of the tracks hero; starched heroine; forced proximity; fake relationship; enemies to lovers; only one bed; illegitimate hero
Publication Date: 08.09.22
Genre/Setting: Historical; Victorian; England/Dublin, Ireland, 1847
Heat Level: 3.5
Rating: 4/5
Callahan Kelly is a thief, a trickster, a swindler, and there’s really no way around that. With his good looks and charm, he’s good at getting his own way and he knows how to spot another liar as well. So, he can’t quite figure out why he’s been included in a group of new agents in training to work for the Crown, heading to their secret training facility in the far north of England. But Baron, the leader of the Royal Saboteurs, has offered Cal too much money to refuse to at least go through with the first week of the training, with the option to leave if he wants and with full pay after that first week. Cal is surprised to find he doesn't mind the training so much and he’s enthralled by Bridget, Baron’s secretary, a lovely woman who shows no reaction at all to his charms. When he’s asked to take her as his partner and infiltrate a group of violent Irish separatists, rather than return to London, the choice is a difficult one on many levels.
Bridget Murray is just a secretary, not an agent. As such, she never expected to be given a mission to carry out and she’s certainly not fond of her partner. She disliked him from their first meeting but now their mission requires that she pretend to be his wife. Unfortunately, living in such close proximity with Cal isn’t nearly as bad as she expected it to be. In fact, as the two grow ever closer, and are thrown into more danger, she begins to realize that she doesn’t actually want to go back to living separate lives.
This book had a huge job to do with worldbuilding setup for the rest of the series, so I think the romance here did sometimes take a backseat, but the premise and all the characters that were introduced have me looking forward to more books in this series. I tend to be a bit of a sucker for spy stories, so I was very excited about this one and Cal is the type of wrong side of the tracks hero that is like kryptonite for me. Actually, I think it was a pretty bold move for Cal’s character to be as rough as he was and the fact that he was so openly flawed and so clearly still working to overcome some challenges that would typically be deal breakers in a romance hero (gambling/alcohol addiction), made him unique and, honestly, lovable. I did struggle to like Bridget much of the time. While Cal had excellent character development and growth, Bridget didn’t exhibit the same rate of change and much of the time I was annoyed by how easily offended she was over every little thing. She was often a little bit insufferable with her tendency to believe she already knew everything, despite her clear naivete, and to not give Cal enough credit for his street smarts. She definitely gave poor Cal a lot of mixed signals, but I loved that he challenged her in a way she’d never experienced before and she soon saw what she’d been missing, so that at least was a bit of an area of growth for her. I couldn’t help but root for Cal as he struggled and tried to do the right thing and that made it possible to see what Bridget saw in him, though they did at times seem like a bit of a mismatch, mainly because of her childhood with an alcoholic father. Although, that said, her experience with her father did help her see how different Cal really was and how much effort he was putting into changing himself. These two made a good team together, despite, or perhaps because of, their differences, and I’m excited to read more books to come in this new series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/479823550
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2629694830
Comments
Post a Comment