Love, Lies and Spies By Cindy Anstey [Review]

RELEASE DATE:  April 19, 2016
AUTHOR: Cindy Anstey
GENRE: Young-Adult, Historical, Mystery, Romance.
PUBLISHER: Swoon Reads
SUMMARY: Juliana Telford is not your average nineteenth-century young lady. She’s much more interested in researching ladybugs than marriage, fashionable dresses, or dances. So when her father sends her to London for a season, she’s determined not to form any attachments. Instead, she plans to secretly publish her research.

Spencer Northam is not the average young gentleman of leisure he appears. He is actually a spy for the War Office, and is more focused on acing his first mission than meeting eligible ladies. Fortunately, Juliana feels the same, and they agree to pretend to fall for each other. Spencer can finally focus, until he is tasked with observing Juliana’s traveling companions . . . and Juliana herself.

Love, Lies and Spies is definitely an interesting historical read set in a regency England. This book does have a Jane Austen vibe to it and I really enjoyed the regency setting and  the main characters. Although I did enjoyed this book, I had some minor issues with it. Firstly I didn’t liked the writing style because I  was a bit struggled with it and secondly the plot heavily lacked in building tension and I think it’s a most important aspect in a spy novel when you need to engage readers to the story. Nonetheless, it was a great book and many Jane Austen lovers will definitely devour this book.

Juliana Telford is an eighteenth century young lady who isn’t interested in marriage , gowns or balls but instead she’s interested in lady bugs. She arrives in London to attend for a season but actually she’s there to secretly publish her father’s research on lady beetles. When her paths crosses with the dashing  Spencer Northam, she gets intrigued by him and It seems neither of them is looking for a marriage and both of them have their own secret agendas to stay in London. Spencer Northam is a spy for a war office who is on a mission to find the spy working for the Napoleon and have ties with the french but when he meets the alluring Juliana he knows that he can’t jeopardize his mission by getting distracted. When certain circumstances bring them to have a pretend relationship neither of them expected to fall for each other.

I really liked Juliana! She’s clumsy, witty, brave and stubborn. She definitely reminded me of Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice. She’s quite an adventurous person who always ends up in trouble. Spencer is kinda like Mr.Darcy but he isn’t really arrogant instead he is witty, clever and quite a gentleman. The book begins with an interesting start in which we find Juliana dangling off the side of a cliff shouting for help and it’s where she meets Mr. Spencer for the first time and it’s really a great start for piquing readers interest. The relationship between Juliana and Mr. Spencer is not bad but it could’ve been much better. I did enjoyed their witty conversations but I felt the chemistry lacking and sadly, there isn’t much romance in it. The supporting characters are okay but they aren’t memorable enough to describe.

The plot was mysterious and quite interesting. Despite it lacked in building tension, the story somehow held my attention through out. The story moved in a slow pace so it might won’t work out for everyone and it’s quite surprising that I had no trouble with it cause I really hate slow paced books. The writing is great but honestly I’m not a great fan of this writing style. I’m glad this book was written in dual pov otherwise I would’ve lose my interest in it. The story was set in 1813 England and the author has done a marvelous job in creating this world that felt very realistic.

Overall, I liked it but I can’t say that I love it! The characters, the setting and the slow burn romance are definitely the best aspects of this book. Even though I had some issues with this book, I would highly recommend it to all the readers who love regency novels.

MY RATING:  [3.5/5 Stars]

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