The Pretender

The Pretender is the 1st book in Celeste Bradley's series of regency-era romances centered around a group of spies known as the Liar's Club.

Synopsis: Agatha Cunnington has come to London determined to find her missing brother, James. Though James has grown distant over the past several years, he is all the family she has left and the sheltered country miss is willing to risk whatever it takes to find him. Agatha's got problems, though. She has a conniving neighbor back home who wants to marry her off to his slimy son at the first opportunity. On top of that, a young unmarried lady cannot simply go gallivanting around the capital alone. So Agatha concocts a fake identity for herself: one Mrs. Mortimer Applequist. To make her disguise show more complete, she enlists her handsome new chimney sweep to pose as Mr. Applequist himself. Simon Raines, spymaster and chimney sweep extraordinaire, cannot believe his good fortune. As the leader of the Liar's Club, a secret ring of spies working for the Crown, he too is searching for James Cunnington. He believes that James is responsible for the recent deaths of several Liars and the leaking of critical information to the enemy. Believing that Agatha is James' mistress, he tries insinuate himself into her confidence while posing as her "husband."

This author came highly recommended to me and I was delighted with this first book. The plot is exciting and I got caught up in the drama involving the secondary characters. Bradley does a good job with character development. Often in romance, one or both of the main characters are really just character archetypes with little depth and simple motives. Bradley's heroes and heroines are complex, with many different emotional motivations based on their unique experiences and needs. Both are wary of telling the truth, but for very different reasons. Agatha is protecting her beloved brother while Simon is duty-bound to keep his mission secret. Then, when it all comes out in the open, Simon struggles with balancing his love for Agatha with his need to protect her from the dangers of being involved with a spy. For her part, Agatha is a very determined woman who selflessly loves her man. I think that's a really admirable quality. When he tries to push her away, instead of taking what she can from him and then letting him go, she focuses all of her energy on loving him and helping him to face his demons. show less

This was a 3.5 for me. I thought it started very slowly and then about 1/3 of the way through I started to like it a lot. It was a 3 star start, a 4 star middle and a 5 star ending. These were really great characters, loved them both, and the complications they faced were more authentic than is the norm in these types of books. A fun read that keeps getting better.

I enjoyed how bold the heroine wasn't a fainting damsel constantly needing to be saved. I appreciated that the hero was attracted to her intelligence and strategy. I think the ending could have been less contrived. The heroine had proven herself by that point and the ending conflict could have been more believable.

First read ever for this author. Well paced, humorous, interesting characters. I did spend the entire book feeling like I'd read the story before. This is mostly because I've read a dozen or more regency spy romances. I like Bradley's heroine as much as I like her ability to drive the story.

E-book - I enjoyed most parts of this romance. The dialog was intelligent and I enjoyed the spy side of the book a lot.

This book was alright. It didn't blow me away but it kept me entertained. I'll look for the other books in the Liar's Club and see if any of them do better for me.

I had a problem with Simon's spy business right away. He thought that Agatha was her brother's mistress (which I can believe) and that she might be a spy too. He kept remarking that she put everything together too well to be anything but a spy. I really started to doubt his intelligence. Agatha's logic didn't really strike me as anything special and it really made Simon seem incompetent when he kept being so impressed by her information.

I really liked the dynamic that Agatha and Simon had between them. I really felt their love and passion for each other. They seemed like they show more just fit. The scenes where Agatha keeps trying to seduce Simon and he keeps throwing her out made me laugh. I loved Agatha's determination to have Simon. Nothing I like better than a woman who knows her own mind. I did have a problem with her belief that it was okay to "steal" a baby from Simon and never let him know. That really dropped her character in my eyes.

I found it hard to believe that Agatha would be so naïve as to invite some random stranger to live with her for a couple weeks. It really made her seem stupid. Also, I know the fake husband thing gets used a lot in historical romance, but was it really all that common? Maybe I'm just critical of this trope because it has been done to death.

I found the ending with the Prince to be an eye rolling event. It all just seemed faintly unbelievable. I really did like the humor in this book though. The brother seemed interesting although his "whatever" attitude toward Agatha and Simon didn't ring true. I think that this author has the potential to be a keeper for me so I'm going to check out more of her work. show less

This was a simply delightful romance - I really loved it! It was a rollicking roller coaster ride of a story, funny, charming, exciting, mysterious and sexy - plus, a happy ending! What more could you want?

http://ktleyed.blogspot.com/2008/11/pretender-liars-club-by-celeste-bradley.html