Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!!

What a great book! I really enjoyed this book. I couldn’t put it down. The author has such a good writing style. This was a first for me by this author but will not be my last! I enjoyed the characters. They had good chemistry.

The spy plot and historical research in this story were really interesting. I found it difficult to put the book down during some exciting moments in the plot to take down the Devil’s Sons. I also appreciated the way both main characters felt a sense of purpose and responsibility to help others, and how Penny isn’t always a damsel in distress. In some ways, she is authentic to the time period (e.g., her illiteracy and her initial expressions of “knowing her place” as a servant), but she also knows her power and desires equality. She is a fascinating character.

However, the sexual aspects of the story were so over-the-top it made me cringe. McGuire did well to show Penny’s struggle and guilt over her attraction, and to make it clear that Liam wasn’t just taking advantage of his position as her employer to seduce her. That said, it was unbelievable to me that Penny held Liam responsible for her mother’s imprisonment AND believed he was part of a sex trafficking ring yet was still desperate to have sex with him. (Not to mention she risked losing everything from her reputation, to her job, to her chance at freeing her mother.) Of course I believe women’s sexual desires are just as important and can be just as strong as men’s; they just felt shoe-horned into the story too early on for the sake of spice. It felt out-of-character for Penny and opposed to her motives in the story. In my opinion, the story would have been stronger and Penny’s character more consistent if she had resisted Liam’s advances until she knew the truth about him.

In some places in the book, the writing was quite good. Again, I really enjoyed the spy plot and the way Penny and Liam were both fighting against injustice. The book is filled with a cast of interesting characters, and I appreciated Liam’s redemption arc. I expect others would enjoy the story even more than I did if they like historical romantic suspense with a “forbidden” spicy twist. Maybe those aspects of the story just weren’t my cup of tea, so I’ll round my 3.5 stars up to 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the free eARC! I post this review with my honest opinions.