maisyreads1817's review against another edition
4.0
✨3.75✨
Another fast paced adventure in this series. I don’t normally like Spy books but Kate Bateman seems to write ones that work for me.
However there were similar problems to the last book of wanting more time with them as a happy couple. I understand having the MMC have his big epiphany at the end but I’d have preferred to see that slowly have happened with in the story. This would have made it feel more like a permanent change, that he does want to settle down that he will forgive his grandfather etc. the end epiphany while angsty does have a habit of feeling too sudden. Several times in the book I just wanted to yell at him for all his “I’m not good enough for her” crap. I get it, going through what he did impacted him but it just got to be a repetitive cycle that I wish could have at least been chipped away at. I don’t know, I see what the story was going for but to me it just came off as frustrating at times.
Can’t wait to get to Richard’s book as it sounds interesting and it was only slightly hinted at. I’m glad Kit also has a book but I’m sad it’s just a novella as his story feels like it might be a difficult one to tell in such a short format.
Another fast paced adventure in this series. I don’t normally like Spy books but Kate Bateman seems to write ones that work for me.
However there were similar problems to the last book of wanting more time with them as a happy couple. I understand having the MMC have his big epiphany at the end but I’d have preferred to see that slowly have happened with in the story. This would have made it feel more like a permanent change, that he does want to settle down that he will forgive his grandfather etc. the end epiphany while angsty does have a habit of feeling too sudden. Several times in the book I just wanted to yell at him for all his “I’m not good enough for her” crap. I get it, going through what he did impacted him but it just got to be a repetitive cycle that I wish could have at least been chipped away at. I don’t know, I see what the story was going for but to me it just came off as frustrating at times.
Can’t wait to get to Richard’s book as it sounds interesting and it was only slightly hinted at. I’m glad Kit also has a book but I’m sad it’s just a novella as his story feels like it might be a difficult one to tell in such a short format.
iggyebab's review against another edition
3.0
Best friends little sister & excellent codebreaker Heloise finds herself in danger. Those who do not wish for the code to be broken need to eliminate this woman.
Raven has always had a thing for Heloise but he knows that he’s not good enough for her. Heloise has wanted Raven forever and now they are thrown together.
Raven has always had a thing for Heloise but he knows that he’s not good enough for her. Heloise has wanted Raven forever and now they are thrown together.
julia_myendlesslibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
gonturans's review against another edition
Made it 35 pages in and they’ve already kissed despite his entire internal monologue being “but I can’t have herrrrrr I must resist wahhhhh”. Like my god, man, I want to see you SUFFER a little more.
Also lmao the heroine has a thin line of a scar across her forehead and it’s somehow utterly deforming? Excuse me? THAT is what wrecked her beauty to the point only men desperate for her money will court her? And she’s the only person at this costume party who would know who Bastet was in absolutely mad for ancient egypt regency Britain? I have to laugh.
The writing is average and annoyingly modern-feeling. Joanna Bourne, this is not.
Also lmao the heroine has a thin line of a scar across her forehead and it’s somehow utterly deforming? Excuse me? THAT is what wrecked her beauty to the point only men desperate for her money will court her? And she’s the only person at this costume party who would know who Bastet was in absolutely mad for ancient egypt regency Britain? I have to laugh.
The writing is average and annoyingly modern-feeling. Joanna Bourne, this is not.
ccgwalt's review against another edition
5.0
I pretty much liked everything about this book. The characters were likable and fun, the road-trip setting was exciting, and the chemistry was hot, hot, hot! Without being high angst, there was a lot of action, adventure, and excitement. And the banter between the leads was clever and funny.
alexis58's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars, but only because I can appreciate some decent dialogue.
I’m starting to think historical romances just aren’t for me. They’re always so predictable, and, while I acknowledge this and appreciate it when they are done well, I can’t stand how boring they are when they’re not.
This book has two characters. Heloise and Raven. Nobody else gets counted as a character because none of them really had anything worthwhile to do, say of any influence.
Heloise is a genius codebreaker extraordinaire. She knows her shit. This is not something she, or anyone else, really cares about. Because, you see, Heloise had a terrible accident one day and her beautiful face was scarred. The scar mentioned is a very thin line along her temple. Heloise believes herself to be horribly disfigured because of this. Despite every guy around her falling hopelessly in love with her. Despite having a special “inner light” because she is just so damn perfect.
The main guy in this has no real personality. Everything about him revolves around the fact that he feels unworthy. He doesn’t deserve to even look at Heloise. She is this bright shining goodness that he must never taint. He is there to worship her. And to torture himself over her. It was pointless.
Also, we were never told exactly what the tragic accident that Heloise received her scar from entailed and I find that annoying as hell.
I’m starting to think historical romances just aren’t for me. They’re always so predictable, and, while I acknowledge this and appreciate it when they are done well, I can’t stand how boring they are when they’re not.
This book has two characters. Heloise and Raven. Nobody else gets counted as a character because none of them really had anything worthwhile to do, say of any influence.
Heloise is a genius codebreaker extraordinaire. She knows her shit. This is not something she, or anyone else, really cares about. Because, you see, Heloise had a terrible accident one day and her beautiful face was scarred. The scar mentioned is a very thin line along her temple. Heloise believes herself to be horribly disfigured because of this. Despite every guy around her falling hopelessly in love with her. Despite having a special “inner light” because she is just so damn perfect.
The main guy in this has no real personality. Everything about him revolves around the fact that he feels unworthy. He doesn’t deserve to even look at Heloise. She is this bright shining goodness that he must never taint. He is there to worship her. And to torture himself over her. It was pointless.
Also, we were never told exactly what the tragic accident that Heloise received her scar from entailed and I find that annoying as hell.
anwoodward's review against another edition
3.0
Not a very thorough review, suffice it to say that what I loved in the first book in this series did not carry over into the second. Maybe my mistake was reading it on the heels of a Loretta Chase re-read, who is an absolute master of the genre, but the end result is the same — this could have been any one of the thousands I have read over the years and forgotten immediately after. It's not bad, it's just not exceptional. Maybe the 3rd will bring some of the magic back.
anabelsbrother's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
I enjoyed this one a lot!
Love the sniping between Raven and Heloise--no really they kept sniping at each other and it was glorious to watch. I also love how much of a rogue Raven is (and he can be such an asshole too but tbh I enjoyed it all), and how he could be in control of everything but Heloise.
Can't wait to read Richard's book! But I have Nic's book atm so probably going to read that one first.
I enjoyed this one a lot!
Love the sniping between Raven and Heloise--no really they kept sniping at each other and it was glorious to watch. I also love how much of a rogue Raven is (and he can be such an asshole too but tbh I enjoyed it all), and how he could be in control of everything but Heloise.
Can't wait to read Richard's book! But I have Nic's book atm so probably going to read that one first.
sm_almon's review against another edition
4.0
Just plain fun! Spy romances are definitely becoming a favourite sub-genre of mine.
whiskeyinthejar's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Heloise and William have danced around each other for a long time. As his bestfriend's little sister, William has tried to distance himself from Heloise while she has decided after once being rejected by him to protect her heart. They both have their share of scars, both internally and physically, but staying apart might be hurting them more than helping.
With Heloise in danger, William can't let her out of his sight. As they are forced together and their walls start coming down, it starts to become clear that the only way they can truly heal is with the love of the other.
"thou shalt not covet thy best friend's little sister."
Second in the Secrets and Spies series, A Raven's Heart can be read as a standalone. It's obvious that there is a continuous story thread involving the spy aspect but I never felt lost or confused, in fact it only made me curious about the first book in the series and future ones. I thought this started off very strong with the tension between our two leads. I will show up every time for the brother's friend, little sister trope and I thought that dynamic was portrayed very well here; a little less involvement with her brother's approval/disapproval and more shared history and emotional ties. As the story went on though, I thought the hero had disconnect between him continuously spouting (this was brought up a bit too much) about how he wasn't good enough for Heloise but still engaging physically with her. It was disorientating because I'm supposedly supposed to buy into his torment over not feeling good enough for her but at the same time he's constantly kissing on her and pushing their physicality. His reasoning for not feeling good enough for her was already a little murky, we are told he was kidnapped when he was younger and had to fight his way free but not given a clear enough picture to understand why he would demonize himself because of his actions. As the story goes on we learn he is a spy where he has to kill people occasionally, which fits better into the not feeling good enough narrative. If their intimate situations hadn't been ramped up so quickly in the beginning, I would have been able to follow along and connect with William's gradual breaking down and inability to stay away from Heloise.
"You want to pretend this scar isn't there, but it's what makes you you."
I was quite fond of Heloise as she was the little too smart for her own good, word loving, and scared bluestocking. Her personality quirk of etymology spouting was cute but I have read a heroine or two who could be her twin sister. Which is the main problem I had with this story, I've read it before. Again, I've read a ton of books from this sub-genre, which could maybe the problem in itself, but there was nothing new here. The writing is good and there are many crowd pleaser moments and lines, but maybe too many. It almost felt like the writer wrote what she thought a romance should be by taking good tropes, scenes, and lines and creating a story around that instead of having characters and story emerge from her. There was a kissing in the rain scene that should have felt emotionally powerful but all I could do was think about other scenes like that I have already read and compare them; this story was full of moments like that for me. Someone newer to the genre would probably not have the same problem I did. I've read Joanna Bourne's Spymasters series, which utilizes the same tropes and ideas as this but adds enough intrigue and emotion to distance itself from the similarities and be completely compelling.
She gave a watery laugh, "I might want to kill you, Ravenwood, but I'd never want you dead."
Heloise and William have a very back and forth relationship with them challenging each other that was fun to read. I just ran into the problem of having read it done better, I can read the same tropes over and over but I need fresh spins and/or deep emotional connections to the characters that I just couldn't seem to get here; there was a lack of "it" factor. Secondary characters stayed fairly close to the sides but there were a couple that I wouldn't mind knowing more about. This is also true for the spy ring the author has set up, there's enough there to grab your attention. I will say there were some comments made by Heloise regarding other women, former mistresses/courtesans and generally beautiful women, which felt mean spirited. There was a little bit of all those women are man hungry airheads; I could do without women on women hate and more female friendships. (Not suggesting Heloise would be friends with these women but less generalized superiority comments)
K.C. Bateman looks to be a newer author and I definitely see some promise in her writing, I would just like to hear more of her individual voice. There was good story plot progression and natural flowing interaction between the characters. I'll be going back and reading the first in the series and be on the lookout for the next in the series. If you're looking for a sweet "I'm not good enough for you but I can't stay away" with some road adventure, you might want to try this new author.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Heloise and William have danced around each other for a long time. As his bestfriend's little sister, William has tried to distance himself from Heloise while she has decided after once being rejected by him to protect her heart. They both have their share of scars, both internally and physically, but staying apart might be hurting them more than helping.
With Heloise in danger, William can't let her out of his sight. As they are forced together and their walls start coming down, it starts to become clear that the only way they can truly heal is with the love of the other.
"thou shalt not covet thy best friend's little sister."
Second in the Secrets and Spies series, A Raven's Heart can be read as a standalone. It's obvious that there is a continuous story thread involving the spy aspect but I never felt lost or confused, in fact it only made me curious about the first book in the series and future ones. I thought this started off very strong with the tension between our two leads. I will show up every time for the brother's friend, little sister trope and I thought that dynamic was portrayed very well here; a little less involvement with her brother's approval/disapproval and more shared history and emotional ties. As the story went on though, I thought the hero had disconnect between him continuously spouting (this was brought up a bit too much) about how he wasn't good enough for Heloise but still engaging physically with her. It was disorientating because I'm supposedly supposed to buy into his torment over not feeling good enough for her but at the same time he's constantly kissing on her and pushing their physicality. His reasoning for not feeling good enough for her was already a little murky, we are told he was kidnapped when he was younger and had to fight his way free but not given a clear enough picture to understand why he would demonize himself because of his actions. As the story goes on we learn he is a spy where he has to kill people occasionally, which fits better into the not feeling good enough narrative. If their intimate situations hadn't been ramped up so quickly in the beginning, I would have been able to follow along and connect with William's gradual breaking down and inability to stay away from Heloise.
"You want to pretend this scar isn't there, but it's what makes you you."
I was quite fond of Heloise as she was the little too smart for her own good, word loving, and scared bluestocking. Her personality quirk of etymology spouting was cute but I have read a heroine or two who could be her twin sister. Which is the main problem I had with this story, I've read it before. Again, I've read a ton of books from this sub-genre, which could maybe the problem in itself, but there was nothing new here. The writing is good and there are many crowd pleaser moments and lines, but maybe too many. It almost felt like the writer wrote what she thought a romance should be by taking good tropes, scenes, and lines and creating a story around that instead of having characters and story emerge from her. There was a kissing in the rain scene that should have felt emotionally powerful but all I could do was think about other scenes like that I have already read and compare them; this story was full of moments like that for me. Someone newer to the genre would probably not have the same problem I did. I've read Joanna Bourne's Spymasters series, which utilizes the same tropes and ideas as this but adds enough intrigue and emotion to distance itself from the similarities and be completely compelling.
She gave a watery laugh, "I might want to kill you, Ravenwood, but I'd never want you dead."
Heloise and William have a very back and forth relationship with them challenging each other that was fun to read. I just ran into the problem of having read it done better, I can read the same tropes over and over but I need fresh spins and/or deep emotional connections to the characters that I just couldn't seem to get here; there was a lack of "it" factor. Secondary characters stayed fairly close to the sides but there were a couple that I wouldn't mind knowing more about. This is also true for the spy ring the author has set up, there's enough there to grab your attention. I will say there were some comments made by Heloise regarding other women, former mistresses/courtesans and generally beautiful women, which felt mean spirited. There was a little bit of all those women are man hungry airheads; I could do without women on women hate and more female friendships. (Not suggesting Heloise would be friends with these women but less generalized superiority comments)
K.C. Bateman looks to be a newer author and I definitely see some promise in her writing, I would just like to hear more of her individual voice. There was good story plot progression and natural flowing interaction between the characters. I'll be going back and reading the first in the series and be on the lookout for the next in the series. If you're looking for a sweet "I'm not good enough for you but I can't stay away" with some road adventure, you might want to try this new author.