Hero: Alex Hepburn
Heroine: Mahri Scot
Grade: 2.75 out of 5
After a mysterious woman foils an assassination attempt on the Queen’s life, Alex Hepburn, a psychic agent for Her Majesty’s Secret Service, recognizes the bold beauty as a conspirator he’s been hunting for years.
Ever since we started Book Binge, I’ve been trying authors that I probably wouldn’t have tried unless Holly forced me to do so and Elizabeth Thornton was another one.
I don’t know what I was expecting when I first started this book but what I got was a story about two people from opposite sides of the fight working together to stay alive and while I enjoyed the story as a whole, there were times when the romance took a backseat to everything else going on. I spent a good portion of this book trying to piece together what was going on with Mahri and then with the attempted assassination of the Queen and everything else.
Alex was a solid hero, a hero that I thought I’d like a whole lot more than I actually did. He was a strong hero but he just reminded me of many heroes that I’ve read before. Give me a few months and I’ll probably forget all about Alex. There wasn’t anything about Alex that really set him apart from any other hero that I’ve read abotu and I guess I just wished for something more from him. Something that would give me just cause to get all excited about him. He was good and he had his moments but for the most part, he was just blah to me.
Mahri was one of those heroines that drove me bat shit crazy throughout the book but I didn’t hate her because I understood why she had to keep her secrets. She was loyal to those she kept close and her loyalty to them was what caused her to keep all of her secrets for as long as she did and I couldn’t be mad at her for that but it still drove me up the wall that she wouldn’t tell Alex who she was trying to protect and what her main reason for being in the middle of all of these things were. She trusted him but not enough to help her through all of this. I think it was one of those lose-lose situations because I probably would have done the same thing in her situation because of who she would have been betraying. I saw and got her reasons for doing what she did but it was still a bit frustrating because I wanted her to give Alex a shot at helping her and she waited so long before she finally caved and let him in.
And then there was their romance. Their romance was practicially non-existant in the beginning and then toward the middle of the book, you just saw the makings of a crush (although how you could develop a crush on someone you weren’t even supposed to like, I’ll never know) coming from Mahri for Alex and then you saw Alex pissed off at himself that he was attracted to someone that works for the very people he considers his enemies, people that he has sworn to bring down. So they go from this crush like stand in the beginning and then toward the middle and then they’re suddenly in love and for me, it didn’t feel as if it all came together naturally.
I was however, intrigued by Alex’s brother Gavin and the little hint of a story between him and Juliette so I’d be interested in reading their story since I liked both of their characters and I thought Dougal was a great character as well. I loved how Dougal was extremely loyal to Mahri, even though he came to like and respect Alex, he didn’t let his respect for him make him disloyal to Mahri and I really admired that about his character. Funny how his loyalty to Mahri I loved but Mahri’s loyalty drove me a little crazy. Oh well.
Overall, the story kept me interested in finding out what happened but it didn’t exactly wow me. I liked the story but it was also kind of forgetable.
This book is available from Penguin. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
I thought the book was good, but I agree that something was missing. After the backstory on her brother, I had hoped for a better resolution between Mahri and her father. The first book in this series was also a bit of a miss.
If you get the chance, try some of Elizabeth Thornton’s backlist. She is a very good writer.
Thanks for the comment Anonmymous. What titles from ET’s backlist should I check out?
The title immediately caught my eye. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a Scottish or Irish hero. But after reading the review, I’m not sure it would be worth picking up. I’m thinking a little less intrigue and a lot more romance would be needed for me to enjoy it. Thank you for the excellent review! I may keep this on my list, just not as high up as I initially would have put it.