babotus's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
erinarkin20's review against another edition
4.0
The minute I read the summary and saw the cover to Love, Lies and Spies by Cindy Anstey I immediately wanted to read it. I love historical romance - add in the spy aspect and I am totally on board.
Juliana Telford is the main character and there is more to her than meets the eye. As a girl growing up in the nineteenth century, she should be interested in attending parties and finding a husband but really, none of that is important to her. Instead, she would prefer to continue to study the bugs she and her father have researched for so long. Unfortunately in order to try to get a publisher to consider publishing their research, she has to jump through some hoops and that includes pretending she is interested in parties and a husband.
Our hero is Spencer Northam and like Juliana, he is hiding something about himself. As a spy for the War Office, he is on a mission to find the truth about the traitors he has been directed to watch. As he and his good friend, Lord Randolph Bobbington spend some time outside of London, conveniently near the home of the supposed traitors, they cross paths with Juliana and things become super interesting.
I have to admit, I love the way Juliana and Spencer met. It was one of my favorite parts and you don’t have to wait long for it as it is the first chapter of the book. With that said, the book is written well and the rest of the book provides fantastic interactions between these characters. As Juliana continues to investigate her publishing options and Spencer continues to investigate the traitors, they cross paths quite a bit. To make it easier for both of them to avoid potential matchmaking – since neither of them are looking for a spouse – they pretend they are interested in each other and the development of their friendship and eventually a romance was well done. Please note, the romance is very PG but I loved seeing how their relationship evolved. The banter between these two and getting to peek into the development of their relationship was fantastic.
In addition to the above, there is an added layer to the story. Someone (nope, I’m not saying who) has decided they want to compromise Juliana in order to be able to marry her and have access to her money. I won’t go into much detail on this aspect of the story only because I don’t want to give it away but he has a connection to the family that Juliana is traveling to London with and when things start to fall apart for him things become more dangerous for Juliana. Other secondary characters include Juliana’s aunt, uncle, and cousin. All of them add something to the story and help keep the story moving forward.
Overall I thought this was a fantastic YA historical romance. It was exactly what I was looking for and I can’t wait to read more by Anstey. If you are looking for something light with a historical feel and well-written characters, consider checking this book out. There really is something for everyone in this book – romance, intrigue, and a bit of adventure to keep you turning the pages.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
Juliana Telford is the main character and there is more to her than meets the eye. As a girl growing up in the nineteenth century, she should be interested in attending parties and finding a husband but really, none of that is important to her. Instead, she would prefer to continue to study the bugs she and her father have researched for so long. Unfortunately in order to try to get a publisher to consider publishing their research, she has to jump through some hoops and that includes pretending she is interested in parties and a husband.
Our hero is Spencer Northam and like Juliana, he is hiding something about himself. As a spy for the War Office, he is on a mission to find the truth about the traitors he has been directed to watch. As he and his good friend, Lord Randolph Bobbington spend some time outside of London, conveniently near the home of the supposed traitors, they cross paths with Juliana and things become super interesting.
I have to admit, I love the way Juliana and Spencer met. It was one of my favorite parts and you don’t have to wait long for it as it is the first chapter of the book. With that said, the book is written well and the rest of the book provides fantastic interactions between these characters. As Juliana continues to investigate her publishing options and Spencer continues to investigate the traitors, they cross paths quite a bit. To make it easier for both of them to avoid potential matchmaking – since neither of them are looking for a spouse – they pretend they are interested in each other and the development of their friendship and eventually a romance was well done. Please note, the romance is very PG but I loved seeing how their relationship evolved. The banter between these two and getting to peek into the development of their relationship was fantastic.
In addition to the above, there is an added layer to the story. Someone (nope, I’m not saying who) has decided they want to compromise Juliana in order to be able to marry her and have access to her money. I won’t go into much detail on this aspect of the story only because I don’t want to give it away but he has a connection to the family that Juliana is traveling to London with and when things start to fall apart for him things become more dangerous for Juliana. Other secondary characters include Juliana’s aunt, uncle, and cousin. All of them add something to the story and help keep the story moving forward.
Overall I thought this was a fantastic YA historical romance. It was exactly what I was looking for and I can’t wait to read more by Anstey. If you are looking for something light with a historical feel and well-written characters, consider checking this book out. There really is something for everyone in this book – romance, intrigue, and a bit of adventure to keep you turning the pages.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
madlymusing's review against another edition
3.0
This book was good fun, but the plot moved a lot slower than I would have thought, and seemed to get waylaid in smaller details so that the bigger developments lost their punch. It is light, frothy and entertaining, just not as gripping as I had hoped.
kerrisbooks13's review against another edition
3.0
3.75 stars! A fun jaunt through London high society, though it did tend to drag in places. I’ve read better set in this time period but it was still fun
bak8382's review against another edition
3.0
Juliana, like many historical heroines written by modern day writers, is not a typical lady of the 1800s. She has no use for the season in London, and has only gone in an effort to have her research published. As she is about to embark on that journey she meets Spencer Northam, a spy from the War Office, who is investigating a smuggling ring that may involve Juliana's houseguests. Romantic antics ensue.
I stopped reading this in the middle to finish books for my two book clubs. By the time I picked it back up again the details on the smuggling were pretty sketchy, and still didn't make a lot of sense by the end. That being said this is Jane Austenish and fun for a light, quick read.
I stopped reading this in the middle to finish books for my two book clubs. By the time I picked it back up again the details on the smuggling were pretty sketchy, and still didn't make a lot of sense by the end. That being said this is Jane Austenish and fun for a light, quick read.
powersthatbe's review against another edition
4.0
More like 4.5 stars! The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because it does get a little shaky near the end when things start to unfold. But otherwise I loved this book. I loved the slow burn romance and I loved the main character. I slowed down reading it near the end because I didn't want it to end!
marci7's review
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
lenalovesbooks's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kendre's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I absolutely loved the cleverness and sweetness of the characters while they found themselves in such a tense situation of espionage and secrets! I found the leads to be very charming and for the setting to be appealing. Most of the book had me entirely invested, until the final 30 some pages where Julianna was kidnapped; it felt very ridiculous and unnecessary to me after most of the book had no outlandish drama of the such — Spencer Northam already deeply expressed his interest in Julianna, their bond was amazingly deepened through the entire story, and Mr. Pyebald was already depicted as one hell of an asshole. So in my mind, it didn’t add anything to the story and it even totally mismatch the tone of everything that preceded it and it definitely lowered the enjoyment of a rather good book for me. It could had been a 4.5 without the kidnapping, but with it, I can only allow myself to rate it a 4, since the rest of it was especially lovely.