Pink Heart Reviews
Seducing the Spy
Celeste Bradley
ISBN: 0312939671
St. Martin, August 2006, 323 pages
Historical Romance-Regency
$6.99 (US) $9.99 (CDN)
Reviewed by Marilyn Rondeau
August 2006
Lady Alicia Lawrence, daughter of the Earl of Sutherland, was not only ruined but labeled a notorious liar where even her own family had disowned her. After five years of isolation she accidentally overheard a plot against the royal prince of England and felt she should at least tell someone. That someone turned out to be Stanton Horne, Marquis of Wyndham and possibly the only person who might listen to her.
Stanton was rigid, a brilliant strategist but a cold unfeeling member of the Royal Four secret society who also possessed a unique gift of being able to read any person to determine if they lied. Unfortunately, he’d met his match for he could not read Lady Alicia. Not quite believing her claims, but on the off-chance that she was telling the truth, he made a bargain with her to pose as his mistress and attend a scandalous house party in order to track down the enemy she claimed would be there. For Stanton, the mission was fraught with danger, not only to track and stop a deadly spy, but that the impudent and audacious Lady Alicia might be the one woman to melt the ice surrounding Stanton’s bleak heart!
From the very first line of Lady Alicia’s letter to Lord Wyndham, “I am writing to you because you appear to be a somewhat lesser idiot than other gentlemen”, I knew I was going love this heroine! This impression was further enhanced with the incredibly hilarious dialogs and correspondence between Stanton and the ‘infamous’ Lady Alicia after they formed a partnership, which I felt, was absolute genius! My admiration increased ten-fold by the positively brilliant characterization this author put forth in fleshing out this remarkable heroine who made a lasting impression on me. Stanton was portrayed beautifully as a perfect foil as Alicia pushed him beyond his limits of endurance and he began to surrender to her abundant charms.
The ambiguity of Alicia’s ruin and the shameful reaction from her family was adequately revealed and went far into explaining the insolent attitude she adopted to deal with the immense hurt of being betrayed. As the fourth book in the Royal Four series it completely stands alone yet with the reintroduction of characters featured in previous books it has piqued this reader into planning to pull them from my TBR stack and read them posthaste. Bottom line – This has every element designed to entertain – humor, adventure, edge of the seat excitement, and divine sensuality – a totally entertaining read!
Marilyn Rondeau also reviews for RIO— Reviewers International Organization