The Husband Mission (The Spy Matchmaker ...

The Husband Mission by Regina Scott is a fabulous historical romance.  Ms. Scott has delivered a well-written book.  Alexander, Viscount Borin, thinks he'd make a fine spy.  Katherine and her helpers have targeted Alexander to become her sister's husband before her birthday so she doesn't lose her inheritance.  Alexander and Katherine's story is full of drama, secrets, humor, spice and outstanding characters.  I enjoyed reading The Husband Mission and look forward to reading more from Regina Scott soon.  The Husband Mission is book 1 of The Spy Matchmaker Series but can be read as a standalone.  This is a complete story, not a cliff-hanger.

COYER continues and I'm doing the 24in48 read-a-thon this month. RB Bingo squares being filled by COYER books and library finds. Pop Sugar is on hold until the autumn, when I can give it the attention it deserves. COYER read-a-thon this month is physical books only, so I have some COYER reading list books on reserve for that.

1. Rock Courtship: A Rock Kiss Novella by Nalini Singh (COYER) (RB Bingo) (Library Love Challenge)- reading this one for the "heroine is taller than the hero" square. Not really feeling Singh's writing TBH, but it is only a novella and I have read much worse in the rock star niche.

2. The Rake's Redemption by Regina Scott (COYER) (RB Bingo) (Library Love Challenge) - reading this one for the "rake/rogue in the title" square....funny, read a lot of rakes/rogues in my historical reading, yet very few have those words in the title.

3. Licensed for Trouble (PJ Sugar #3) by Susan May Warren (COYER) (Library Love Challenge) - whenever the person who currently has it borrowed from OverDrive returns it, I am next in line for it. This is the last book in the series. Hurry up fellow library patron!!!

4. A Dance with Danger by Jeannie Lin (COYER) (possible RB Bingo) - time to work on completing the Tang Dynasty series. I have four books left to read.

5. Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin (COYER) (possible RB Bingo) - another Tang Dynasty book.

6. The Doctor's Undoing by Allie Pleiter (COYER) (possible RB Bingo) - sequel to Homefront Hero, which I loved. I'm so glad I picked up Ida's story as well during the sale. WWI era romance set in South Carolina.

7. The Bootlegger's Daughter by Lauri Robinson (COYER) (possible RB Bingo)

 - not a war time romance HUZZAH! Love in the time of speakeasies!

8. The Soldier's Dark Secrets by Marguerite Kaye (COYER) (possible RB Bingo) - back to Regency and the war with Napoleon. But I love the author's writing, so it should be a stand out.

Not exactly a terrible book, but unfortunately it wasn't the gem I was hoping for. And it is extremely overrated in GR. The story was very predictable, full of cliche moments, but the worst of all were the two main characters. Usually I feel a sort of bond with any heroine named Anne (I love that name) but I couldn't with this one... she should have been named something else. She is very proper, calm, etc, meaning, she is so boring! The author keeps telling us how the characters were, the book is full of adjectives, and not necessarily with the background, but with his eyes, her eyes, his hair, her hair... I hate this kind of writing, it is one of my pet peeves in romance.

Other pet peeve? She is supposed to be plain, the hero thinks so at the beginning (except for her "big, lovely, innocent, gray" eyes) but she has plenty of suitors and many men are charmed by her, making the hero jealous **eyeroll**

The hero is no better... he is supposed to be a rake, blah blah, who falls in love for the first time, blah blah. He doesn't have any nice quality that makes the reader fall for him. In fact, I wasn't even invested in their love story at all, not at the beginning, not in the middle, not at the end. They are supposed to be likeable, but how could I like them, when they were playing victim all the time? He with his older brother ("oh he is mean, he hates me, I am just the 2nd son, a bastard") and she with her aunt ("oh she hates me, I sacrifice my happiness because of her"), when in reality, both "mean characters" were only looking after them, after having a hard lives on their own. But no! both MC are the ones that are suffering **eye-roll**

The misunderstandings were insufferable, so stupid and only because of lack of communication/assumptions. Honestly, both MC were so lame I had a hard time to finish this!

I really enjoyed this western Historical Romance. I've given it a 5* rating for this clean inspired historical. It had a bit of action and was pretty fast paced. It touched on how hard doctoring was in those days. It had a lot of things that I found interesting. Makes me enjoy our modern comforts even more. I just enjoyed these characters so much, could have kept reading about them a lot more. Want to read more of this author's work.

I only recently started reading books from Harlequin's Love Inspired Historical line, and this might just be my favorite so far. It was a quick read, the storyline was interesting and the characters were engaging. The setting was believable (I'm a native of the Seattle area) and this was, overall, a nice, well balanced and enjoyable story.

Just ignore the title choice and that the cover looks like it is set off in the woods, instead of on an early Seattle street. If you are looking for a shorter inspirational historical fiction romance novel, a light read with a relationship that grows first as a friendship and blossoms into more against the wills of two not too stubborn Irish Americans, then I would recommend you give this novel a go. Still not sure? Two words: chicken races.

This review refers to a review ebook read courtesy of the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. My full review can be read at http://wp.me/p5Tcfi-6k