Finally, finally a book that moved me so much that I wanted everyone to know about it....

First of all, I want to let you guys know that I am fine. Just been busy with work and holidays, etc.. I won't bore you with the details because it is a new year and I miss posting on my blog and reading all of yours. I started blogging because I didn't have anyone to talk to about my books and it's still true. So I miss it and miss all of you and I will make some time to blog.

So anyway, my computer is dying and I am thinking about buying a MAC. I figure since it is the only kind of makeup I wear, maybe it should also be the kind of computer I use!! LOL I brought up the subject with my husband by saying "I think I should switch to a MAC....what do you think?..." He looks at me like I am crazy and says "What about those drawers in our bathroom filled with the stuff?" Well, I thought that was funny...

Anyway, I was thinking of MACs, Iphones and so forth and went to the jayne(s) website, dear author, looking for what the newest ebook reader would be and they were raving about The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne. Well, that is all it took, I ran out to get this book. Well, I am so happy I did. It is incredible!!

This is Ms. Bournes first book. Her voice is so vivid, compelling, unique and mature--I find this hard to believe. So many debut authors books are just O.K. If a debut book wasn't totally horrible, I usually will try the author again if I find the story interests me. Sometimes the authors grow with each book. Well, Ms. Bourne is starts out with a huge bang! I ask you, how will she keep this up? Not only is her writing amazing but she is an author who can take criticism. After I finished her book, I immediately went to find her website and she has links to all the reviews for her book she could find, including a bad one. Isn't that refreshing? This is a lady with class! (edited, she has one other book, a regency written in the 80s)

From the back of the book....
She's never met a man she couldn't deceive....She's braved battlefields. She's stolen dispatches from under the noses of heads of state. She's played the worldly courtesan, the naive virgin, the refined British lady, even a Gypsy boy. But Annique Villiers, the elusive spy known as the Fox Cub, has finally me the one man she can't outwit....

I know, I know you're asking yourself, haven't I read this book before? Like maybe 5 times before? I know I have read book after book that this blurb could have been written for. Now, I avoid historical spy romance novels like I avoid the plague, but I took a chance and I am glad I did.

This book is so unique in so many ways, I don't know where to start. Okay, let's start with language. Our heroine, Annique is French. Our hero, Robert Grey is English. Part of the novel takes place in France where they all speak French, then they go to England and speak English. I have never read a book that good at describing this through dialogue. Spy novels I have read before make a passing reference to language and that is all. Some authors even give accents to characters when they are speaking English and that isn't their native language. These authors get the point across but it gets old really quick if there is a lot of dialogue. I took French in Junior High, High School and College and although I am not fluent I can understand French when it is spoken, but I am not an expert. So this book, to me, is a simply stunning in it's dialogue. When Annique is speaking English you can tell she is thinking in French by the words she uses and where she places her nouns, verbs and phrases. And when she is thinking, it's French all the way. What a revelation!!

The depth of her characters is off the charts. Not just Annique and Robert, but also secondary characters that are English spys that work with Robert. In particular, Adrian. Please, please Ms. Bourne right a book for him. Adrain's character development is perfect. You get to know him, want to know what happens to him, but he doesn't overshadow Robert or seem like a plant to plug her next book. Don't you feel like so many authors just have secondary characters just to get you to want to read their next books? The balance between putting these characters in the book and not having the reader feel manipulated it a delicate one. Ms. Bourne walks on that balance beam and scores a 10!

Lastly, I want to talk about the plot twists. There are a few real surprises in this book. The first one, I saw coming. The second, I did not. One reviewer feels that these are not realistic. Maybe, maybe not. I think that the whole world inside the book is made up by the author, so anything they write that happens in that book is in a sense, realistic. I was so swept away by the characters, prose, dialogue that I frankly didn't care. I was on a roller coaster ride that I didn't know where it would end but I was strapped in and ready to go wherever that ride took me. I read romance because it's not realistic--I get enough realism in my everyday life.

If you are not convinced by the buzz about this book, just go to your favorite book store and read the first 10 pages. It is enough to get you hooked! if you want more reviews, click , jenniesbooklog, dear author, or paperbackreader.

So glad that this year started off with a book like this! This book gets an 5 stars.