Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Book Review: To Kiss a Spy [2002]

It has been quite some time since I picked up one a Jane Feather romance novel. I started borrowing them from my mother's shelf at quite a young age (*cough*), and still have a sentimental attachment. When I was between books--by which I mean there was a book upstairs that I meant to start, but I was downstairs--I saw one on the paperback shelf, yielded to my old impulses, and picked it up. To Kiss a Spy is, unlike some of the other Feather series I have read, set in the reign of Edward Tudor, and involves a great deal of intrigue about the succession. Lady Penelope "Pen" Bryanston is Mary Tudor's closest confidante, but she is haunted by the loss of her child under mysterious circumstances. Owen D'Arcy is the premier spy for the French in the English court. They strike a bargain: she will give him information about Mary if he helps her find her child. Result: love. (Surprise!)

Apparently this is the second book of a trilogy. It was a quick and pleasant read, although Feather really didn't do much to make her villains anything more than one-dimensional, and the outcome was--of course--never in doubt.

Grade: B

Random Thoughts:

I did learn that Jane Feather's real name is Dzhein Feizer, which is cool. I always assumed it was a pseudonym, but I didn't realize how it was related to her real name.

Someday I will have to look more closely at our culture's absolute fascination with the Tudors. It's really quite amazing.

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