Surrender to a Wicked Spy

I like Celeste Bradley. I like her a lot. I liked Surrender to a Wicked Spy. But it's also the weakest Bradley that I've read so far.

This book didn't feel as careful or as intricately set up as her others; there were moments where she was obviously jumping right over a hole in the plot, or rushing through what could have been an interesting sub-plot, in order to dive right into another sub-plot that she doesn't develop quite enough.

There are a few examples. One is from the beginning of the book. Olivia, the heroine, all unknowingly seeks out a renowned courtesan in order to ask for help preparing a ball. There are already problems here, but the point is that Bradley gives this courtesan a lot of character, she's really very well drawn, show more she agrees to help Olivia, they get along swimmingly...then Olivia leaves and that's it. She never talks to this woman again, never communicates with her again. This leads to trouble, of course, but I was really upset that this character appeared once, captured my attention, and then disappeared permanently.

That kind of thing, repeated enough, makes the whole novel feel uneven and poorly thought through.

Another is Dane's "problem" - from the sounds of things, he's never met a woman before who was *excited* to help him out. Yet, also, from the sounds of things, he actually made the attempt numerous times, with fairly experienced prostitutes...and, frankly, I just don't buy that. Yeah, a lot of people would get really, really freaked out by his size - and a lot of others would just faint from joy. How many prostitutes can you talk to before you find one who's excited? Cuz I'd guess, you know, not many.

I don't want to give away any more of the plot, which is really all it should be: a fun page turner, sometimes dreamy, sometimes embarassing, sometimes scary. Fundamentally, I think this is a *good* romance that could have been a *great* romance, and from an author like Celeste Bradley, I'm used to getting a *great* romance. show less

This book was pretty lame. The french spy plot was pretty cheesy and non compelling. The idea that the hero couldn't even get a prostitute to do him because of his size is pretty ludicrous and the whole thing with the fake phalluses was neither good love scenes nor good women's erotica. Messy unexplained motivations all around and gratuitous humilitation for the heroine. Try Patricia Veryan for much better historical spy series stuff in the romance genre.

I liked it! Big Misunderstanding didn't bug me. Writing is superb.