4,5 stars
When her friends tell Olivia Bevelstoke that her new neighbour is rumoured to have murdered his fiancee, she doesn’t believe it for a second. But she can’t help but be curious, and as is office window is clearly visible from her bedroom, she starts to spy on him from behind her curtains. She’s convinced he can’t see her, and becomes more and more puzzled at the things she observes.
Sir Harry Valentine works for the war office, but not with anything exciting like spying. Fluent in Russian and French, he mainly translates documents necessary for national security. He has, however, been trained to observe, and only a blind man would fail to notice the pretty young lady constantly spying on him from the house next door. It’s quite clear that she’s trying to hide her activities, but she’s oh so very bad at it. Why in the world would Miss Olivia Bevelstoke be so interested in his day to day life? And how can he resist doing making the experience more entertaining for her by doing some truly baffling things now and then?
When Harry is told to keep a careful eye on Olivia because she is being courted by a Russian prince who may or may not be plotting against England, he’s none too happy, as their first encounters have been less than promising. The more time he spends with his pretty neighbour, the more he discovers that he doesn’t mind at all, and he’d rather she didn’t accept the attentions of the handsome Russian prince, actually.
More here.
This sounds really cute!
It is! That’s actually one of the words I would use to describe a lot of Julia Quinn’s romances. Cute. Or sweet. There’s always a little streak of seriousness in her books, but mostly they are frothy, light, fun entertainment. It’s one of the things I like so much about her writing.
I remember this as light, pleasant, and having a realistic loss of virginity, but with Quinn’s usual challenge that she does all of the sweet and funny things well, but falters when the tone shifts to bring drama into the story.
…just like you said.
Ha! You should finish reading my reviews before making comments, my dear.
I did and then I realised it sounded like I hadn’t finished it or wasn’t really paying attention and went to edit it but the damn thing wouldn’t let me.