Judith’s review of Surrender (The Spymaster’s Men #3) by Brenda Joyce

A DESPERATE WIDOW . . .Once a penniless orphan, Evelyn D’Orsay became a countess and a bride at the tender age of sixteen. But the flames of revolution forced her to flee France, with the aid of a notorious smuggler. Recently widowed and without any means, Evelyn knows she must retrieve the family fortune from France so she can raise her daughter in Cornwall—but only one man can help her… the smuggler she cannot forget.

A DANGEROUS SPY . . . Jack Greystone has been smuggling since he was a small boy—and he has been spying since the wars began. An outlaw with a bounty on his head, he is in hiding when he becomes aware of the Countess’s inquiries about him. He is reluctant to come to her aid yet again, for he has never been able to forget her and he wants to avoid her intrigues. But he soon realizes he’ll surrender anything to be with the woman he loves.
Being together is dangerous—being apart is impossible.

It is my personal point of view that almost any story that grows out of a time of war has to have multi-dimensions and characters that are both honest to a fault and those who inhabit the shadows of the spy world.  In this third story in a series, the author has also delved more deeply into the world of illegal smuggling that was so much a part of the 18th and 19th centuries and the ways it sustained the economy and lifestyle of those who lived in the coastal areas of Great Britain.  Added to the aspect of smuggling is the fact that the British government took advantage of those who were deeply involved in this illegal endeavor to recruit spies for England against Napoleon and the French Revolutionary government.  It was a Catch-22 for men like Jack Greystone, a man who had been raised in a gentleman’s family but who lived, breathed, ate, and slept for the adrenaline rush of danger, of using his wits and sailing skills to outwit those in the British government who were set on catching and punishing him a criminal with no regard to the use the Brits were making of his contacts in France.

 With all this as a backdrop, a quiet but pursistent love relationship begins and slowly grows between Jack and the Countess Evelyn D’Orsay, a British woman who has married a French aristocrat, partly to get away from an abusive and unkind aunt and cousins, and partly because she had come to love this man who was 25 years older than she.  Now the French Revolution had robbed them of everything and the only thing they had left was their lives, and it is to Jack Greystone the Countess appeals.  It could accurately be said that this story begins slowly and grows in intensity over time with that sense of always being undercover, just as Jack’s life is hidden from the authorities.  Yet no matter how he tried to push Evelyn away there is a raw and unyielding determination in the core of this young woman, driven in part by her absolute need to spare her child from the humiliation she suffered as the “poor relation” of her aunt and uncle, and partly because she finally came face to face with the authentic nature of a deep and genuine love, no matter how often or strenuously Jack denied the nature of his feelings.  I often use the analogy of a roller coaster to describe the emotional content of a novel, but this particular story is more so that way than most.  Just when it appears that the situation between Evelyn and Jack is being resolved, mayhem again occurs and they are driven apart.

Suffice it to say, there is an unrelenting intensity in this novel that is, in part, due to the context of war and the nature of espionage.  It is just as gripping in history as it is in contemporary times.  That intensity of context adds an exponential intensity to the love story as well.  It is a riveting and compelling tale and one that is more than suited to this series and by no means takes a back seat to the first two stories.  If anything it is filled with even more nail-biting action and that sense that the characters are headed toward total destruction through circumstances beyond their control.  Brenda Joyce is a writer of proven skill and her stories seldom disappoint.  This is one that will educate and entertain.  It is one that is well worth the time to enjoy.  I don’t think you will want to miss this one, especially if you are a reader who is drawn to novels with that edgy spy content.

I give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5.

The series:

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Harlequin HQN. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

Judith’s review of Persuasion (The Spymaster’s Men #2) by Brenda Joyce

Betrayal Tore Them Apart Amelia Greystone was deeply in love when the earl of St. Just abruptly ended his courtship and left Cornwall ten years earlier. So she is stunned when Simon returns, recently widowed. Now she must forget the past they shared and his betrayal and console him as any neighbor would. Simon has changed-he is dark and haunted now-but he can still make her reel with a single look. When he offers her the position of housekeeper, Amelia knows she must refuse. But for the sake of his children,she throws all caution to the wind…. Passion Will Reunite Them A British spy, Simon Grenville is now playing both sidesin a time of war, his goal to keep his sons safe. Yet when he is brought face-to-face with the woman he once loved, he realizes nothing about his feelings for Amelia has changed-if anything, they are even stronger. Still, Simon knows he must stay away from Amelia; his life is too dangerous now. But sometimes passion is too strong to be denied.

This is the second in a series of novels entitled the “Spymasters” and set against the backdrop of the war in France just after the French Revolution.  Featuring the older of the Greystone sisters, this novel tells the story of a woman who gave her heart totally and without reserve to the younger brother of Earl of St.Just only to have it disregarded and thrown away by the occasion of the earl’s death and her suitor’s taking over the title.  Two years later he wed an aristocratic young lady of great beauty.  Now she has died in childbirth and the earl returns to Cornwall after ten years, and Amelia is struck once again with the knowledge that she has probably never stopped loving him.  He, on the other hand, appears to have changed greatly–inward and uncommunicative, treating her as a friend who he needs to help him with his three children.

This novel is really quite different in tone from the first one in this series in that there is the over arching awareness that these two people have now been walking different paths in life and there seems little likelihood that their future is together.  Yet Amelia is one of those women who gives her all, and while Simon has to own up to the fact that his marriage was loveless and that his feelings for Amelia are as strong as ever, he cannot offer her any hope for the future due to his involvement in the dark world of espionage.

I thought this was a very well-written story and found the historical content to be very close to the history of the time and beautifully woven in with the fictional tale.  Takes some real skill to do that!  However, I got a bit weary of Simon and his deep distress over the part he had to play in the spy game, and that may be just more about me than about the story.  I know that it was not an easy time and that people caught in the web of politicians who choose to use them without remorse or consideration for anything but their political objectives were without recourse in many instances.  There is no doubt that Simon’s situation as told here was almost impossible, but there was that sense that he refused to allow those who really cared about him to help him, to understand, to share the burdens.  Now maybe that is unrealistic on my part because I know that even in our own times, there are those involved in anti-terrorist under cover work who bear heavy burdens.  I really loved Amelia and her strength, her determination to do right by Simon’s children, but indeed–she was a person whose curiosity was almost out of control.  I guess the wonder of this novel is that these two found a way to even communicate, much less consider the remote possibility of having a future together.

So I enjoyed this book because I really like historical romance, and I really like stories set in this particular time period.  I found that Ms Joyce was very direct in dealing with the negatives of the underbelly of political intrigue and I appreciated that a lot.  So I think there was a lot here to pique my interest and I certainly didn’t get bored.  So I hope that historical romance fans will give this book a try.

I give it a rating of 4 out of 5

The Series:

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from HQN Books. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Judith’s review of Seduction by Brenda Joyce.

Dominic Paget, the earl of Bedford, will do anything to resume spying upon Britain’s enemies. Badly wounded, he is put will do anything in the care of a beautiful gentlewoman, Julianne Greystone, only to discover that her sympathies lie with his enemies. Yet he can’t help but seduce the woman who saved his life—hoping she never learns of his betrayal.Julianne is captivated by the wounded stranger she believes is a revolutionary hero. Until she discovers the truth: …her “hero” is the privileged earl of Bedford. Devastated and determined to forget him, Julianne travels to London. But when she finds herself in danger, it is Bedford who comes to the rescue. Now Julianne must navigate the intrigues of a perilous city, the wild yearnings of her own heart and the explosion of their passion….


He’s wealthy and titled and powerful, but he is lying nearly dead on Julianne’s guest bed in Cornwall, spouting French and hysterical over the blood and savagery of war that has overtaken France in the wake of the Revolution. Now Dominic wakens to find out that Julianne has Jacobin sympathies–she believes in the Revolution and the Equality, Brotherhood, and Liberty that the Revolution appears to stand for but has never made a reality. Yet Julianne is terribly naive, and even though she is warm hearted and generous, willing to nurse anyone back to health, the fact that this man appears to be a French army officer engages her interest even more. When he then professes to be just that–Charles Maurice–and a man who is determined to return to his country’s battlefields, their attraction and subsequent affair appears to be doomed.

Julianne is a foolish and inexperienced woman, one whose ideology has no basis in fact and whose loyalties to her beliefs leads her to engage in harmful activities, some of which put her life in danger and endangers those who she loves. This novel is set in the times just after the French Revolution and a time when Britain’s responses to the war were rooted in espionage as well as supplying money, men, and armaments. It is a love story between two people whose beliefs stand in the way of genuine connection but their attraction and their physical involvement keep them connected, even when it appears that they are working at cross purposes. It is also a book that deals with the use of power, both noble and illegitimate, as the aristocracy of Britain parties merrily on while hundreds of soldiers are dying for lack of food and the necessities of doing battle. Those supplies are controlled by political expediency, and this novel does not back away from the deep injury to men and nations that occurs when politics determines actions rather than justice and humane concerns.

Yet under it all this is a love story, one that is intense and full of deep emotion. The cast of characters tell their own story–those who flee from the destruction and evil suspicion of war, those who car little for what is going on just across the Channel, and those who have deep family roots in France and watch with dread and grief as the cherished places of youth and family are destroyed without a backward glance. As always, Brenda Joyce writes with passion and clarity, bringing in the realities of history and weaving her fictional tale within those happenings with skill. I really appreciated the efforts the author made to keep the story true to history as much as possible, thereby making the stories of her characters leap from the pages wrapped in the coverings of reality. It’s a terrific book and is a first in a new series set in this time frame. I enjoyed it very much.

I give it a rating of 4 out of 5

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from HQN Books. You can buy it here or here in e-format.