I'm still up in the air about this book, although I admit it's certainly not run-of-the-mill for this genre!

Positives include an amazing plot line that has enough twists and turns to leave you delightfully dizzy.

Not-so-positives (there are no true negatives to this worthy first attempt): the heroines short, clipped sentences of dialogue became tiresome rather quickly. The style served it's purpose a bit too well. I was hearing Annique's French accent in my mind to absolute *distraction*!

The secondary characters overshadowed the primary. I would love to hear the story of Doyle and Maggie ... and Adrian goes without saying.

Grey remains an enigma, and yet, it was marvelously refreshing to have a solid male lead that we didn't have dissected before our eyes. Grey was neither haunted nor jaded nor a handsome rake. He just was. Solid, steadfast, and as such, more appealing to me than any previous hero graced with dark, brooding, angst-filled handsomeness.

And yet, there's no real spark. Something is missing but I can't lay my finger on what it is. Perhaps the author just needs a bit more experience and polish? Ah well, in the end it was a VERY interesting story and I do look forward to her next attempt!

I absolutely LOVED this book. The hero and heroine are lovely characters as are the supporting cast. There are a few surprises in this book that just add to the story. I love that the heroine is such an accomplished and respected spy - and I love that the hero is impressed by that part of her character. This author MUST write a sequel but I need to find out more about one of the secondary characters Adrian. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!! A keeper for me.

Whoever decided to put this awful cover on this excellent book should be ashamed. The book is so much better than the cover could ever lead you to believe. The author deserved so much better and I look forward to reading more by her.

I was interested in reading this after I read a review of it over at Smart Bitches Trashy Books in which the reviewer couldn't stop raving about it. She was so right. The plot is full of surprises to the point that I am reluctant to give even a brief summary. The author has a way of writing so that it is always clear when the characters are not speaking English (which they are not for most of the book), even though that is the language we're reading. As a stylistic device this could have been incredibly annoying and yet I thought it worked very well.

The heroine was interesting, smart, and funny. I cared what happened to her as opposed to her just being a place marker to move the plot forward to the Happily Ever After. The hero was heroic, and yet he made mistakes. I am extremely curious about the back story of several of the supporting characters and I hope we'll hear more from them. Even if we don't, I am really looking forward to Bourne's next book.

Without a doubt one of the best books I have read this year. Tightly woven plot with twists and turns and the characters leap out at you. This definitely is not your average romance nor is it a mystery/spy story. You must read it to find out all of its secrets!!!

Interesting book. I loved the plot twists, but the heroine's French accent got on my nerves. Big time.

What a wonderfully complicated plot. Loved the twists and turns.

This book starts with Annique Villiers, French spy caught in a French prison by treasonous French authorities with Robert Grey a British spymaster and quickly goes on from there! Great book!

This is the first book I've read by this author and I must admit "the jury is still out". I thought the storyline was great but underdeveloped. The dialogue was hard to follow so it was difficult to stay focused on the story. The potential for a great story is there but it left me wanting more.

Probably one of the best historical romances I have read in the last year. The characters are amazing, the romance is interesting if not the central point of the entire world, the heroine is flawed and talented and weak and strong and awesome, and the plot is just out of this world. I devoured this book in less than one night. It was amazing.

I know some people found the french "accent" annoying, but I though her dialog was masterfully executed. Her conversations said so much more than just the words, and she clued you in and then didn't insult you with constant references back to verbal clues.

I can't rave enough about this book. Truly awesome.

It took me several chapters to really get into the story. I almost put it down and changed books during the first few chapters but it did not take long for the story to grab my attention. Many twist and turns in the plot kept me reading until 3 am becuase I just had to read one more chapter to find out what would happen. The next thing I knew it was morning and I had read the entire book.

Great characters! I can't wait to read the next one.

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Spies, romance and France what's not to like. Annique Villiers is a wonderful main character, although I don't think they really would have let woman do stuff like that in the 1800's. I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would.

The book wasn't as good as I had expected after all the glowing reviews, but it was still a decent read.

The author does have a good writing style, albeit a little tedious, that was nice to read because it wasn't full of redundancy and retarded grammar. But, even though the grammar is good, the emotions conveyed felt rather dry. The majority of the story has short, clipped sentences which felt like little annoying roadblocks to the reading.

There were a couple of plot holes that left me shaking my head at the actions of Annique. I had to wonder why she would tell a complete stranger that men were trying to kill her and where she was heading if she were supposed to be a well-trained spy. If she was supposed to be so intelligent, I really felt she would have seen through any subterfuge a bit earlier. Of course, if she didn't, the story wouldn't have lasted as long, so I suppose all the mistakes made in the name of plot can be forgiven.

Overall, it was not a bad story. I'm not really sure if I'll look for more by this author right away, but I wouldn't be adverse to reading her again.

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