When a sly London belle and His Majesty’s best spy cross paths, sparks fly in this sensual Regency romance of espionage, scandal, and secrets. 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 … 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?
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Susannah Makepeace has always been the toast of the ton, until her father dies, and she’s left with nothing but a few gowns and sent to live with her aunt in the small village of Barnstable. Susannah is expecting abject boredom but is surprised to find the country offers delights she’d never have found in London, the first of which is a beautiful man enjoying a naked swim in a pond near her house. Of course, she has to draw him in detail, and he catches her watching him.
Christopher Whitelaw, Viscount Grantham, is known as a playboy amongst the ton, which he is, but he’s also a highly skilled spy in His Majesty’s service. Unfortunately, his rakish reputation has gotten a bit out of hand, and he’s been sent to rusticate at a small estate his family owns near Barnstable. He’s meant to be preparing a naturalistic folio on the flora and fauna of the area and Susannah’s artistic talents make her the perfect assistant to help with his illustrations.
After several potentially fatal accidents around Susannah, Kit realizes they aren’t accidents at all and sets out to solve the mystery that began during her childhood, all that while he avoids succumbing to the allure she holds for him.
I’ve been working my way through the Pennyroyal Green series lately so I have to say you can definitely tell this book is an earlier work. The writing is still excellent, but I don’t think this will make my list of new favorites. That said, I really enjoyed the characterization of both Susannah and Kit, as they felt very real and well-developed. I think what didn’t jive for me here was the incredibly slow burn and equally slow pacing. I struggled to stay invested, which is clear if you look at the date I marked this one as currently reading; it took me quite a while to finish. I also think Kit went on a bit too long noticing the attractiveness of other women, especially doing so openly in front of Susannah. Of course, this is realistic, but I’m not a fan of it in my real-life men or fictional heroes. It also frustrated me that Susannah did eventually tell Kit how she felt, but he struggled mightily to give her the actual words and now I can’t remember if he ever even did. However, I must say that despite his lack of verbosity and tendency to let his eyes/thoughts stray, Kit’s feelings for Susannah were made clear by his actions, probably even before he admitted them to himself. In that respect, I did come to appreciate the simplicity of the admission of feelings between these two, nothing dramatic, no big declaration, just a quiet acceptance of the inevitable. I’m not saying I want this in all my romance, but I’m surprised at myself for finding it romantic in hindsight, even if it was a bit underwhelming while reading.
I think the mystery/spy aspect here was well done and gave me just enough answers to satisfy me as to the HEA for Susannah and Kit while still leaving me with questions that make me want to continue the series. I have this as a two in one novel so I will definitely at least read the next book, likely after the Christmas romance reading season. Anyway, I think the best feature here was the fact that Susannah and Kit both learned who they truly were when their circumstances changed and they wound up in the country, so I really enjoyed that they found their true selves and found love at the same time. I loved that there was never any question about Kit’s intentions toward Susannah, i.e., they weren’t intimate before they’d acknowledged their feelings and he never asked her to be his mistress (I hate that!) and I think Susannah’s aunt stole the show in her scenes, so I was happy she was included in their HEA. All in all, I enjoyed this story and Julie’s excellent writing.
I voluntarily read and reviewed a gifted copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Blog link: https://mustreadalltheromance.blogspot.com/2021/11/beauty-and-spy-by-julie-anne-long-arc.html
My first read by Julie Ann Long and I enjoyed the story very much. Susannah Makepeace loses everything to go live with in the country with her aunt. She meets a viscount who has to some extent been cast away to the country too by his own father. The murder, mystery and entanglement of romance makes for a nice novel by this author.
The pacing of the story kept me enthralled and turning the pages. The sexual tension between the H/H did not hurt either. I like this one and believe that there are two others in the Holt Sisters series. Welcome reading those and this novel made for a nice comfy read.