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A review by beckymmoe
Blamed by Edie Harris
5.0
Reviewed on my blog, Becky on Books on 12/1/14.
"Scarecrow" from TV's Scarecrow and Mrs. King was my first love. All that top secret, for your eyes only, I'd-tell-you-but-then-I'd-have-to-kill-you stuff has been total catnip for me ever since, as have sexy, oh-so-capable alpha spies.
I. Freaking. Love. Them.
So it was pretty much a forgone conclusion I was going to request a review copy of this book. First in a five-book series about a family of spies? Bring it on!
Then when the author thanked her dad for making her watch The Fugitive (Harrison Ford's movie version) and the Christmas classic Die Hard? I knew I'd made the right choice.
And oh, did I! I loved this book.
It grabbed me from the prologue and didn't let go until the author's note at the end. Beth and Vick are currently my new favorite spies--at least until Ms. Harris writes the next book in the series. It's going to be Beth's oldest brother Tobias's, and oh my goodness, he has such a presence in this book. I can't wait to find out his story...
But I digress. :)
Beth has been killing people for a living since the tender age of sixteen, and she's darn good at it. Though joining the family business (which goes all the way back to an ancestor who was a driving force in the Sons of Liberty; how totally cool is that?) of serving their country as a card-carrying member of "America's first warmongering family" is expected of any and all Faradays, it's not what Beth truly longs to do. Then a mess of an assassination in Kabul prompts her to quit cold turkey. She's always longed for a so-called "normal" life, and as an art curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, she thinks she might have found it.
But "normal" people don't have a routine they go through every time they leave and return to their apartment that involves baby powder dusted on window sills and sideboards, clear fishing line strung between the handles of their French doors, and disguising their exact location in the apartment with stocking feet and loud music as they go about setting and checking their myriad of safety precautions. So...maybe saying she has a "normal" life is a bit of a stretch after all.
And then finding out that a hit's been ordered on her anyway? It's the icing on a pretty crappy cake, thank you.
But what Beth really isn't expecting is to find out that the neighbor across the street who keeps bumping into her at odd times is the guy ordered to carry out the hit. Oh, and he's also the man she's thought of as "her spy" for the past ten years--though a near-death episode (in Kabul--yep, during that disastrous assassination) has made him unrecognizable, at least on the surface. He's MI-6, and he's just quit his job rather than carry out the hit.
Or...has he?
Vick's been in love with Beth since she was sixteen. He's almost a decade her senior, though, and he knew at the time it was more than a little pervy of him. So he waited for her to grow up, and kept an eye on her.
But he can't...or can he?
There's so much angst in this book--the good kind (for the reader, not for the characters, obvs)--with the two spies who desperately want to trust each other but know that they shouldn't--or can't. There's edge-of-your-seat international spy drama, and some really delicious sexual tension. There's broken ribs, GSWs, and some oh-my-goodness long-anticipated hot, hot sexy times. And then, to balance it out, there's some really funny banter from our hero and heroine, like this conversation that had me laughing out loud:
Count me in for books two through five--can't wait!
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
"Scarecrow" from TV's Scarecrow and Mrs. King was my first love. All that top secret, for your eyes only, I'd-tell-you-but-then-I'd-have-to-kill-you stuff has been total catnip for me ever since, as have sexy, oh-so-capable alpha spies.
I. Freaking. Love. Them.
So it was pretty much a forgone conclusion I was going to request a review copy of this book. First in a five-book series about a family of spies? Bring it on!
Then when the author thanked her dad for making her watch The Fugitive (Harrison Ford's movie version) and the Christmas classic Die Hard? I knew I'd made the right choice.
And oh, did I! I loved this book.
It grabbed me from the prologue and didn't let go until the author's note at the end. Beth and Vick are currently my new favorite spies--at least until Ms. Harris writes the next book in the series. It's going to be Beth's oldest brother Tobias's, and oh my goodness, he has such a presence in this book. I can't wait to find out his story...
But I digress. :)
Beth has been killing people for a living since the tender age of sixteen, and she's darn good at it. Though joining the family business (which goes all the way back to an ancestor who was a driving force in the Sons of Liberty; how totally cool is that?) of serving their country as a card-carrying member of "America's first warmongering family" is expected of any and all Faradays, it's not what Beth truly longs to do. Then a mess of an assassination in Kabul prompts her to quit cold turkey. She's always longed for a so-called "normal" life, and as an art curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, she thinks she might have found it.
But "normal" people don't have a routine they go through every time they leave and return to their apartment that involves baby powder dusted on window sills and sideboards, clear fishing line strung between the handles of their French doors, and disguising their exact location in the apartment with stocking feet and loud music as they go about setting and checking their myriad of safety precautions. So...maybe saying she has a "normal" life is a bit of a stretch after all.
And then finding out that a hit's been ordered on her anyway? It's the icing on a pretty crappy cake, thank you.
But what Beth really isn't expecting is to find out that the neighbor across the street who keeps bumping into her at odd times is the guy ordered to carry out the hit. Oh, and he's also the man she's thought of as "her spy" for the past ten years--though a near-death episode (in Kabul--yep, during that disastrous assassination) has made him unrecognizable, at least on the surface. He's MI-6, and he's just quit his job rather than carry out the hit.
Or...has he?
Vick's been in love with Beth since she was sixteen. He's almost a decade her senior, though, and he knew at the time it was more than a little pervy of him. So he waited for her to grow up, and kept an eye on her.
Whenever the bad guys lurked, young Elizabeth Faraday had a tendency to shine her light--though, usually, her light was the little red dot attached to the scope of her sniper rifle. A trifling detail, if you asked him.In his job, he lies to absolutely everyone he knows--and all he wants is to be the real him, if only just to Beth.
But he can't...or can he?
There's so much angst in this book--the good kind (for the reader, not for the characters, obvs)--with the two spies who desperately want to trust each other but know that they shouldn't--or can't. There's edge-of-your-seat international spy drama, and some really delicious sexual tension. There's broken ribs, GSWs, and some oh-my-goodness long-anticipated hot, hot sexy times. And then, to balance it out, there's some really funny banter from our hero and heroine, like this conversation that had me laughing out loud:
"How long have you had these?"(Am I the only one who flashed to that scene in Lethal Weapon 3 when Mel Gibson and Rene Russo are comparing their scars and how they got them when reading that?)
He squirmed a bit in his seat before taking the next exit into downtown. "A while."
Her lips curled upward, almost unwillingly. "A while, huh? Your attention to detail here is so sexy."
"If you're talking about the documentation, yes, the quality of work is pretty damn sexy." His mouth twitched with subdued humor. "If you're referring to my vague answer, your sarcasm is noted."
"Noted, but not appreciated." She tapped the passports against her leg, aiming for a casual tone. "You should answer, anyway."
"No."
"Come on, man. I was shot today."
"I was shot yesterday. Worse than you."
"It's not a contest," she huffed.
"It is when you're trying to use it as leverage."
Count me in for books two through five--can't wait!
Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.