BEAUTY AND THE SPY

Author: Julie Anne Long ISBN: 0446616869 3/2006 HISTORICAL Publisher: WARNER FOREVER
Time Period: Regency 1803, 1820

DESCRIPTION: SHOCKING! London’s belle of the ball, Susannah Makepeace, is the last person who should suddenly be stuck in the sleepy village of Barnstable. In town, she would never have seen a man swimming naked in a pond. And she certainly would have resisted the urge to draw every single bit of him in astonishing detail! SIZZLING! Very few people know that Viscount Kit Whitelaw is the best spy in His Majesty’s secret service. But his high-flying life has finally banished him from London. Not to worry—if Susannah’s erotic sketches are any indication of her nature, she’ll be a delicious stand-in for the thrill of espionage. SCANDALOUS! When odd accidents follow in Susannah’s wake, Kit’s spy senses start tingling. For what better mystery is there for England’s greatest spy than the secrets of the delectable puzzle that is Susannah?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Once again, Julie Anne Long turns out a delicious, delectable, and infinitely charming love story with her latest offering, BEAUTY AND THE SPY. It's one of those page turning historicals with just enough suspense, action, and romance to keep you completely captivated.

One of the best things about BEAUTY AND THE SPY is the relationship between Kit and Susannah, and how it first develops and then gradually deepens over the course of the story. It just feels so much more realistic and believable as they become first, acquaintances, then employee/employer, then victim and protector, and then emotionally committed and in love with each other. Refreshingly, there's no hurry over the evolution of their relationship. That's not to say there's no sexual tension; there is, and there's plenty of it. But Kit and Susannah come together in what seems to be the way love works, most times, or at least the way I suppose it does, and it's one of the things that made this book so much more romantic to read.

Ms. Long excels in so many areas of her writing, from her prose, to her dialogue, to her characterizations, that it's hard to single out anything in particular that makes this book such a standout. Everything just comes together perfectly: the dialogue, the plot and the characters all seem to flow into one another. Her characters have depth and personality; even the secondary characters seem sometimes as fascinating and important as the two leads. From the cat loving, sleazy politician villain, to the warmth and charm of Susannah's Elsa Lanchester-like Aunt Frances, all have important parts to play and play them well—Ms. Long has definitely seen to that.

This is the first book in a trilogy about three sisters separated by circumstance, and if BEAUTY AND THE SPY is any indication, readers are about to be treated twice more to Regency spies, cloak and dagger suspense, intriguing villains, and lead and secondary characters that are easy to fall in love with. I can hardly wait for WAYS TO BE WICKED!

Nancy Davis