Mistress Spy

Madeleine Vernon’s dreams should be filled with elegant gowns and marriageable men. Instead, she dreams of avenging her brother’s death. Then she’s captured by the queen’s men & forced to become a spy by her mysterious yet undeniably attractive captor. After years of working for his father in Queen Elizabeth’s service, Nicholas Ryder is close to going his own way. But now he’s got a feisty beauty he must protect or risk her execution as a traitor to the crown. It is Nicholas’s job to foil plots against Elizabeth, and he sends Maddy into a household of suspected traitors to garner what information she can. I’ve read the author’s regency novels & didn't realise when I received this book from NetGalley that it was an Elizabethan novel – which isn't my favourite period. That said I sat down to read & five hours later I'd finished it, it totally captivated me the story was fast paced, the characters had depth & were likeable but the icing on the cake was it was set in Northumberland around Carlisle & as I often travel to Brampton I could actually visualise the locations which brought the book alive to me. There are twists, turns, secrets & surprises along the way to Maddy & Nicholas' HEA. There’s also Useless & especially Daniel who steal the book My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Mistress Spy by Pamela Mingle In 1569 a young woman and her friends go to join a fight on the losing side. Madeleine Vernon wants revenge for the hanging of her brother. He fought against the queen and was considered a traitor but she found him only misguided and worthy of life. Anyway, she is captured and given the opportunity of saving her traitorous life IF she is willing to go undercover to try to expose plots against the English Queen. Not wanting to hang as her brother did, Madeleine accepts, is cleaned up a bit, given clothing and sent to the Dacre home to spy by her handler, Nicholas Ryder…well…at the behest of his father who is much more into spy-craft and keeping the queen safe at all costs. So, off Madeleine goes with spying to do, information to get back to Ryder, a guest in the home Madeleine knows is not who he says he is and a lot of tension to endure. Then, a woman goes missing, reivers (or are they?) come visiting, Madeleine’s life is at risk and eventually a plot with an evil killer is exposed and he is done away with. Throw in a cute nephew of Nicholas, a bit of romance and the potential for a HEA and you have a historical romance that I found myself skimming at times as it seemed a wee bit predictable and the characters not different enough to hold my attention fully. Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled-Amara for the ARC - This is my honest review. 3 Stars

1569 the fight for the rightful Queen of England. In reading this story, I felt like I was in the middle of the rebellion because the descriptions and emotions were so real! Filled with suspense, intrigue, spies and traitors combined with betrayal and danger, I was kept on the edge wondering what would happen next. She lost her brother in the fight and she was determined to avenge him by joining a group of rebels. Even dressing like a lad did not help her when she was captured by the enemy and thrown in a dank cell. He was working as a spy for the Queen and used her to gather information in return for her freedom. So much emotion and twists and turns that me talking to the characters to help them! I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more by this author!!!