I received this review copy via Netgalley, Thank you to Joanna Bourne and Berkley for the opportunity, Yes, this is an honest review,
What to expect when you read Rogue Spy by Joanna Bourne:
, Expect an unconventional love story told through an unconventional plot structure,
What is amazing about Joanna Bourne is how well she mixes the spy/intrigue element with the romance element in her stories.
In Rogue Spy, the firstchapters has Pax pursuing Cami, There's very little interaction between the two, but Bourne establishes the connection between our hero and heroine through flashbacks of the time when Pax was Devoir and Cami was Verite of the Coach House in France.
There's such a rich and tragic backstory in our hero and heroine's childhood both of them orphaned by the French Revolution and then trained to be deadly and ruthless spies.
Now Pax knows he must finally face his past as a Cache and member of The Coach House and accept the consequences of his "treachery" from British intelligence.
Cami has lived a quiet, and peaceful life with the Leyland sisters her "Fluffy Aunts" who happen to be England's greatest code breakers, Now a letter threatens to expose her for the impostor that she is, and Cami is caught in a deadly web of international conspiracy.
. Expect a fastpaced and wellplotted spy story,
Rogue Spy is bookin Joanna Bourne's Spymaster series and this might be her most actionpacked story ever written.
I want to know how Bourne does it and what sort of research she does for this series, . . Because it is so wellexecuted, The writing is impeccable and precise, The action sequences are so wellchoreographed and planned out, I also love how the author reveals the inner workings of the world of espionage, It was fascinating reading how Cami and Pax did reconnaissance on Semple Street and how agents were positioned like chess pieces, covering all possible escape routes Chapter.
The central questions that Bourne poses are:
, Who is The Merchant
, What does The Merchant truly want from Cami
, Is Pax really a traitor
, Is Cami really a traitor
The last two questions are crucial if our hero and heroine are to have a future together.
In other romances, this lack of time with translate into an emotional urgency hero and heroine must act NOW because there might not be a tomorrow.
Pax and Cami, on the other hand, refuse to act, and refuse to burden the other with the unnecessary pain of heartbreak and possible loss.
It is a noble sacrifice to contain their love, desire, emotions, fears, It's actually part of their tragedy that their lives as spies only affords them the present, There is no guarantee of the future: there is only the success of the current mission to contend with,
He turned her hand over and touched the centre of her palm, holding all her thought, all her intention and awareness, right there, in that spot.
She closed her hand around the sensitivity, around the little fireball of excitement, Her voice was rock steady, "I don't have time to want you, "
lox
, Expect to fall in love with Pax and Cami,
I honestly thought sitelinkJustine and Adrian had a really amazing love story and it's difficult to match the passion, and conflicting emotions that those two went through but, I have to say, Pax and Cami are a strong contender as my favorite Joanna Bourne characters.
Like Justine and Adrian, there's an adversarial aspect to Pax and Cami's relationship, but there's also the childhood friendstolovers side to their story one of my favourite tropes.
There's a fluidity and vagueness to their current situation: are they enemies Do they have the same goals
"The problem is, we're both lying about some things.
We're lies within lies within lies, you and me, like Chinese puzzle boxes, Boxes within boxes. " She shifted from one foot to the other, "You're loyal to somebody. That's your nature. Loyalty. I just wish I could figure out which side you're on, "
loc
And it's wonderful and incredibly sad how love develops amidst the doubts it's very clear that their love is a choice.
. . a conscious decision that both Cami and Pax make, Despite all the questions and uncertainty, they have chosen to love and to feel right now, I also loved how very singleminded and determined Pax and Cami were to keep each other alive, As agents and as survivors of the French Revolution, their lives have been surrounded by death both necessary and unnecessary,
Let Pax live through this, If you'll just let Pax live, . . She caught herself bargaining with God, promising to light a hundred candles in gratitude, She knew better than to haggle with God like a fruit seller in the market, God expected her to pay attention to the business at hand,
But she'd light flocks of candles if Pax lived,
loc
, Expect to
get excited for more,
Joanna Bourne has a wonderful way of writing interesting characters, and she introduces a few of them in Rogue Spy.
I've become intrigued by the children of the Coach House and am very curious about the names they were given when they were there: Pax was Devoir duty and Cami was Verite truth.
I am still reflecting on this and on why Bourne has presented these two concepts in "opposition" or in "sameness" and I'm certain there's a reason and a story for it.
I also loved, loved, loved the Fluffy Aunts and would love to read more about them and, maybe about their previous dealings with Galba, head of the British Service.
I am crossing my fingers and hoping they get a book or a novella, or something, Joanna Bourne's stories aren't written chronologically and Pax's story actually happens before Hawker's story, so I am very, very hopeful about this,
The whole game of counterintelligence and intelligence was so, so engrossing that I actually forgot to make a lot of notes about this book for this review but, this book is that memorable and leaves that kind of infinitely deep and positive impression on me.
After I read this book, I felt a rush of inspiration and was able to work out an outline for this review and write it on theminute plane ride home from my family's holiday.
Rogue Spy is Bookin Joanna Bourne's Spymaster series and will be released on November,, .
the entire series
sitelink goodreads. com/review/show .Joanna Bourne does not write typical romance books, She captures the flavor of an age, the essence of danger, then lures you into a twisty, winding road of a tale, that captures all of your interest and refuses to let you go.
Thomas Paxton and Camille Leyland are survivors of the revolution, trained as children to the infamous Cache, a secret school for children to be trained in the art of subterfuge and espionage.
A chance meeting brings this combustible pair together where they must set aside their distrust and recapture the loyalties of their youth that bind them.
Camille is being blackmailed, and Thomas is torn by both his need to protect her, as well as the new country he has betrayed.
This is romance for grownups, without simpering misses, and silly plots, Don't expect stale cake of Almacks and bored aristocrats, In James Bond fashion, the heroes are almost indistinguishable from the villains, London is gritty, the players experienced in the art of spying, I loved this book. In a sea of boring Regency romps, this stands out like tiger lily among the daisies, Joanna Bourne's books keep you reading all night long, because you can't put down the book, Her stories are never predictable, I keep checking Amazon for her next publication, Keep writing, Joanna! You have saved me from giving up the genre, Ms Bourne writes great books, she really does, "Do not have a good escape plan, Have three" p, ch.
"Do not drink deeply at the table of your enemies" p, chprecedes dinner where Pax meets her family, Every chapter starts with "A Baldoni saying", pithy, wry, that Cami can attribute to her ancient Venetian heritage,
"Some day,. . her life could become no more dangerous and complicated, She hadn't arrived there yet, apparently" p, I like this series. More than romance. Thriller. Espionage. Danger. Death. Fun. Clever.
Thomas Paxtonp, spare lean, and codebreaker Camille Leyland of black hair and golden skin, were starving Caché orphans Devoir and Vérité, harshly trained to be assassins, hidden spies for the Revolution.
After Pax and Cami confess infiltrating the British Secret Service for a decade, they plan to ambush the evil "Merchant of Shadows" p, Must they go rogue to stay together, overcome secrets of the past
No question that Doyle and Hawk, Pax's pals, stick by him, follow his plans to save Cami, destroy Merchant, see "resemblance is unmistakeable" pbefore answer.
Cami "could see the likeness of blood" p,
"The Moreau's son barely cried while he worked, . None of them have seen my face , except the young boy, Dead men begin to smell" p, Shows how Merchant is cold, practical,
Pax to Cami is "a friend as a stone castle is a house" p, Their passion is longstanding, not fleeting, He finds her hiding in a bookstore because he knows her better than herself "she knew London chiefly by its bookshops" p, Her family finally approves. "It was strangely heartening to be approved by a dog" p,
Even their lovemaking has humor, She babbles. He is nervous. "I can get this right, I speak six languages like a native, I know how to fight, How to kill. How to march ten men across a mountain range in winter, Twentyfour years old and I don't know where I can put my hands, I'm supposed to know what to do next, None of the books he'd read said anything useful" p, "Thank God there weren't two virgins in this bed" p, Why she'd want to "taste his hair, damp with sweat" pis beyond me, ick, "I'm glad one of us wasn't a virgin" p,
Typos:
q pWhy go from Hawker to Hawk on same page
q pthen back again Hawk to Hawker
q pand reverse.