Life as a secret agent is never easy, especially when catching the bad guys seems easier than catching a date.Five years ago, Annabelle Clarence promised to make the world a safer place. These days, she has a lot on her plate; a promotion at work, a mission to take down a deadly villain, and another night in an empty bed. In the fast-paced life of spies and secrets, who has time for love?Until, … love?
Until, of course, an international transfer sees the UK’s most famous agent arrive on Annabelle’s doorstep.
Landon Cromwell is the ultimate spy; just ask him. As ruthless as he is debonair, the only thing that could defeat Landon is his own popularity. After all, in a world of mobile phones and social media, it’s hard for a secret agent to stay secret when he’s the internet’s biggest hit.
For Annabelle and Landon, it’s dislike at first sight. They can handle super-villains and evil henchmen, but can they handle each other? When the only thing bigger than the stakes are the egos, the stage is set for an epic battle of wills. And as the temperature rises, will they tame the heat or both get burned?
As for love… sorry, that’s classified.
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Our heroine became a spy to take up where her dead husband left off. Our hero is a superspy who has become so well know that women flock him where ever he goes. Put these two together and there will be trouble.
This is an action romance story written as a spoof on the spy genre. The characters and actions frequently come across as over-the-top, but that is by design. Real spy work is dangerous and often dull, so this is much more fun. The story is well written and easy to read and the characters are well developed, even if they are frequently caricatures of ones you have seen before. Our heroine is the most original character and, perhaps coincidentally, the one I like the most. If like spy stories but don’t mind making fun of them from time to time, then this story should serve your well. I found it to be a diverting weekend read.
Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout for review purposes.
Annabelle Clarence went to visit her deceased husband’s grave as the rain misted around her. Even after 5 years, she still missed him. This time she shared with him that she was GAIA’s newest field agent. The Global Allied Intelligence Agency had assigned her as her husband’s analyst when she was first hired; and at first, they didn’t like each other. But gradually, she saw that he wanted to make the world a better place, and he planted that idea in her as well. That was what inspired her to become an agent and take up where he had left off.
Six months later, Annabelle finishes up a mission where she captured a henchman they needed to question. After pretending that he had captured HER, she got information from him, then removed the cuffs from her hands and held a gun on him while her team in a second helicopter shot a rope across the intervening space and began to rappel over. Since Annabelle was meeting Martina Ortega for dinner and was late, she jumped from the helicopter, identified Martina’s house, and landed perfectly. The parachute had an auto self-destruct and the ashes blew away as she walked down the sidewalk. She and her mother-in-law celebrated Dominique’s birthday together and remembered how wonderful he had been.
Landon Cromwell was a tall, blond, British secret agent, and soon he would become noticeable in the almost empty streets in Istanbul as he trailed after the delivery boy, Taavetti, who appeared very nervous and in a hurry to get somewhere. Landon’s analyst had told him of this possible alternate sighting, so Landon went off-mission to follow it instead of where he had been told to go. The boy went down an alleyway, Landon hid and watched, and soon someone that looked suspiciously like the Ottoman, a local henchman, approached him. He seemed angry at whatever news he received. Having a henchman like this in the game changed things. A woman spotted Landon, squealed “Sceptre”, and the two men in the alley ran. Landon chased Ottoman, twisting through the heavy crowd, until the heavy man tripped. They grappled with each other until they fell through a gate into a yard filled with women! And to his dismay, all of the women squealed “Sceptre” and threw themselves all over him ad Ottoman backed slowly away, smirked at him, and escaped.
When Landon’s boss met with him later, he completed faulted Landon for their losing Taavetti, Ottoman, and the failure of the mission. They hadn’t known where Landon was so no reinforcements were brought in. His fans had a large part in the blown mission, and his boss was removing him from field work. His photos, even when under cover, appeared on fan sites! He was compromised and no longer useful. He even had a Facebook page he didn’t know about. But an email arrived from their U.S. GAIA counterpart announcing a new exchange program and providing him a job!
When Annabelle walked down the GAIA halls, instead of applause and congratulations on her major capture, there was dead silence. In fact, the halls were empty. When a coworker analyst ran out to her, so excited he could hardly speak, she asked what was wrong! “Sceptre is coming!” She had no idea who that was. His analyst, Georgia McDougall, would also be coming. As her boss walked away, she apologized that they would have to cancel Annabelle’s debrief of the grandiose capture.
The big day came, Landon angry and determined to be obnoxious as he felt Americans were. For Annabelle and Landon, it’s dislike at first sight, and a battle of wills is about to start as the two of them size each other up. Can GAIA contain these two, or will their conflict bring down the agency? Or will they perhaps begin to see the qualities in the other that could give them second thoughts?
I enjoyed this book and the clever story line that had me chuckling along the way. The characters were a bit childish at times, but the fun parts kept it light and moving along. Grab your copy and enjoy the outcome!
The cover reminded me of a cartoon from the 70’s.
Being a secret agent isn’t easy according to Annabelle. Catching bad guys seems to be easier than getting a date.
According to himself, Landon Cromwell is the ultimate spy. In today’s world with internet, social media and cell phones, a secret agent can’t always stay a secret.
This story isn’t all romance right away. Annabelle and Landon do not like each other but have to work together. When the temperatures between them rise will it become love and romance? They say that’s classified so you’ll have to read and find out for yourself.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This book was so annoying I could not finish it. First, the author has the American characters using British vernacular throughout the book. Second, the male character, Landon Cromwell, comes across as an attempt to mirror James Bond, but falls pathetically short. Third, the story is reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon – henchman, villian, super-villian. The only well developed character was the female lead, Annabelle Clarence, and her character acted like an immature, unprofessional millenial. The dialogue was well written but could not save the book. Don’t waste your time or money on this one.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A nice change from the usual.
by Penny Hickman
Normally I read paranormal mysteries, this was a nice change. I loved that it wasn’t all romance. You have two spies, who don’t like each other working together, giving the story several stars for that alone. They aren’t falling all over each other as soon as the story starts and I loved the banter. This was an interesting story and I will read the next if there is one.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.