Lawson’s review of The Spymaster’s Lady (The Spymasters, Book 1) by Joanna Bourne
Historical romance released 2 Jan 08 by Berkley

There was a lot of hype surrounding The Spymaster’s Lady and I wasn’t really interested in reading it because I was afraid it wouldn’t live up to expectations. I was pleasantly surprised by the story, the characters and everything else in Spymaster’s Lady. Bourne has written a wonderful historical romance and I was glad to be taken along for the ride.

Annique is a young spy who is doing everything she can to survive. A woman doing well in a world of male spies would have been a hard thing to do, especially in Napoleonic Europe. Though she’s 18, she never does anything TSTL and never acts anything other than she is. She’s had a hard life so far, being used as a spy and forced to dress as a boy a time or two, but she’s smart enough to work her way out of problems and have something for herself as well.

The Spymaster is Robert Greyson Fordham, called Grey by the British secret service to help hide his identity. Grey is one of the higher ranking spies and controls a network in France. He and Annique are in the same dungeon cell at the beginning of the book and thus that’s where the story starts. From there they make their way from the outskirts of Paris to the coast, then into England.

Bourne made sure to pay attention to detail, and it shows in many ways. The history is well researched and used in the right spots as part of the plot and not only as a setting. The dialogue is well written to not only show characteristics of the characters, but also what language is being spoken, whether the crisp grammar of English, the different dialects that exist in French, or the cadence of German.

One thing that seemed a bit odd was the fact that Grey uses a lot of tactics on Annique to get her to tell some secrets that, though not brutal, would not inspire tender emotions. He does feel guilty about it though, and Annique does get the best of Grey from time to time. Another that was just a personal dislike, was Grey was about 36 (I think) and Annique being 18, granted a wise 18, seemed a bit young for him. That’s pretty accurate though, given the time period and there are people that do have that age difference and do make it work.

With realistic details, excellent dialogue and well drawn characters, Spymaster’s Lady will be a hard historical to beat this year.

Grade: A-

Blurb:

She’s never met a man she couldn’t deceive…until now.

She’s braved battlefields. She’s stolen dispatches from under the noses of heads of state. She’s played the worldly courtesan, the naive virgin, the refined British lady, even a Gypsy boy. But Annique Villiers, the elusive spy known as the Fox Cub, has finally met the one man she can’t outwit.

Read an excerpt.