Beauty and the Spy

Holy guacamole, straight up awesome beginning. The prologue has the Holt sister's dad being murdered, their mom going on the run, and them being given over to their parents friend James Makepeace. I hope Long can keep this pace and amount of intrigue throughout the book!
Wonderfully written characters, can not wait for Kit and Susannah to meet. They both seem very immature and I am interested in how Long will get them to grow up.
Great. First. Meeting. Between Kit and Susannah ;)
Ooh the character Caroline is really intriguing to me. I was completely prepared to loathe her and then when she finally appears I find myself fascinated by her instead.
I enjoyed how Long wrote these two characters falling love. Strangely I felt like it was a slow show more gradual process and at others I felt like they fell in love instantly.
All the characters are extremely multifaceted, even the villain Thaddeus Morley. As with the other villain Caroline you may not agree with what they are doing but it's hard not to understand the choices they made.
I liked how Long wrote the clues to the mystery in the story so that the reader figured it out before the characters. It was fun seeing Kit connect the dots and cheering him on.
Long definitely kept up the pace in the story and I never wanted to put the book down. The ending has a little shocker, hopefully in the next book Long updates the reader on John Carr and Caroline! Beauty and the Spy was a great book; intriguing characters and an actually storyline which was enthralling.
Usually in order for books to receive As from me they have to be "keepers". However, in order to be deemed a "keeper" by me they have to be books I know I will want to read again. This was a great book but for some reason I don't think I would read it again and I'm not sure why I feel that way. So anyway this book is definitely worth your time reading but I don't consider it a keeper for me.

P.S. I chose this book because of the cover, yes I am that shallow but it turned out to be an excellent choice. So my advice for the day: Is be shallow! You never know where it could take you ;)

A show less

LOVED! Were there holes? Sure. The resolutions for a couple of secondary characters were ridiculous, but the core story was great. Kit and Susannah were fantastic characters, funny and smart and a blast to follow and to root for. The central thriller was interesting and somewhat believable. Best of all Julie Anne Long is a very good writer, and that is essential for me. Her prose is lovely, things happen in their own time, and nothing ever heaves. This is my first book with this author, and I can't wait to jump into another.

Three sisters, whisked away from their mother and into secret and separate homes when their natural father, a government spy, is brutally murdered. This first volume in the Holt Sisters series follows the adventures of Susannah, brought up by a kind but reserved gentleman and then looked after by an impoverished aunt when he dies.

Her tedious rural existence is enlivened by the appearance of a rakish government spy, exiled to his country home and ordered to catalogue the flora and fauna of the region as rehabilitation therapy.

Another superb historical romance from an author I've come to associate with fascinating characters, complex plots, and elegantly beautiful prose.

Susannah was raised to be a wealthy heiress on the marriage mart, but when her father dies, his debts leave her destitute. She must move in with a poor spinster relative and figure out what she wants out of life and why someone would want to murder her father. She meets Kit, a viscount and spy for England after the Napoleonic Wars, who wishes to unravel the secret of her father's death for his own reasons.

I wanted to like this book more since I love the author, but it was only average (but better than average for most other romance authors). This is one of Long's earlier books and it seems that the author's writing improves with each book, because her current novels are much better. I didn't care too much about Susannah, she was sort of show more bland, personality-wise. There was a few inaccuracies that I didn't like, and it jarred the realism while reading the book. Lastly, the characters read Pride & Prejudice, which I always feel is "too cutesy" in a Regency-period romance. show less

This story had a great premise, plot, supporting characters and setting. However, it fails as the heroine, Susannah's, great losses are not well portrayed in her character. Her actions and emotions were inconsistent with her upbringing by a distant sole parent with no 'loving' female caregiver-- nanny or governess. When she loses her father, home, fiance' and is destitute, her reaction is surprisingly flat. I had a hard time getting to 'know' Susannah, and her actions were difficult to understand in light of her situation.
Our hero-- Kit, on the other hand, is well portrayed, his character well developed and consistent with his upbringing and life in the army and as a spy. It's disappointing to see such a great potential lost due to the show more failure to fully develop the heroine. show less

I've used most of my extra energy from this book to well, revel in it, but also in the buddy read w/ Whiskey, Lorien, and Joanna. Some was predictable in the suspense/mystery, but as I've said I don't real Julie Anne Long for her math skills, her suspense, plots, etc. This very well could be a favorite of hers, which is saying something! Might update this inadequate review later, might have to be on a reread.

Almost a four star book, but the heroine just didn't have enough of a personality, and the mystery subplot dragged.