Title: Lord and Lady Spy
Author: Shana Galen
Genre: Historical
No man can outsmart him…
Lord Adrian Smythe may appear a perfectly boring gentleman, but he leads a thrilling life as one of England’s most preeminent spies, an identity so clandestine even his wife is unaware of it. But he isn’t the only one with secrets…
But one woman almost certainly can…
Now that the Napoleonic wars have come to an end, daring secret agent Lady Sophia Smythe can hardly bear the thought of returning home to her tedious husband. Until she discovers in the dark of night that he’s not who she thinks he is after all…
When I picked this book I had no expectations of this book as I had never read a Shana Galen book. I have to say that after reading this book it won’t be my last book by her. There wasn’t much about this book that I didn’t love.
Sophia and Adrian have been married for five years and for the entire time of their marriage Sophia has lied to Adrian about who she really is. She is bound by something that happened when she was a child to live the life of a spy and she doesn’t know how to be anythign else. She really doesn’t want to go back to being only his wife, especially as it will mean that she has to return to the marriage bed. Something that she absolutely did not want to do.
Adrian feels like that he has to make amends for what his father did. So when he is retired and told to go home and start working on his heir he isn’t exactly excited about the thought of doing that. Not because he doesn’t desire his wife, but because she closed her bedroom door to him over a year ago and has no intention of letting him back in.
I loved every minute of this book. The reasons behind all the angst in their marriage are very real to each of them. They are both afraid to open up and let the other in because of the lessons of their pasts, when what they both want is to be with each other. They have spent so much time hiding who they are from each other that they have no idea who they are for real. As they have to work together to solve a mystery they discover so much about themselves and each other.
I have to say that this is one of the best romance stories that I have read this year. If you have never read a book by Shana Galen then I highly recommend that you start with this book.
Grade A
I also reviewed this book and enjoyed it very much. Regency is my preferred genre but I had ventured out of this safe zone over the summer. LORD AND LADY SPY was my return to Regency. No doubt this book will be compared to the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Althoough I never saw that movie, I believe this book has more emotional layers and less violence.
And I’d love to see a follow up romance for Agent Blue!
This books sounds like one I would love! Regency is also one of my favorite sub-genres of romance to read. Can’t remember if I’ve read this author before, but I will be reading this book for sure. Great review.
I have to confess, I have a whole stack of her books, and still have not read one. I love the cover and the story of this one though, so perhaps this one will be the first.