The Smuggler Wore Silk by Alyssa Alexander (Spy in the Ton #1)
Released: January 7, 2014
Historical Romance
Berkley
Reviewed by Mandi
Blurb: After he is betrayed by one of his own, British spy Julian Travers, Earl of Langford, refuses to retire without a fight, vowing to find the traitor. But when the trail leads to his childhood home, Julian is forced to return to a place he swore he’d never see again, and meet a woman who may be his quarry—in more ways than one.
Though she may appear a poor young woman dependant on charity, Grace Hannah’s private life is far more interesting. By night, she finds friendship and freedom as a member of a smuggling ring. But when the handsome Julian arrives, she finds her façade slipping, and she is soon compromised, as well as intrigued.
As she and Julian continue the hunt, Grace finds herself falling in love with the man behind the spy. Yet Julian’s past holds a dark secret. And when he must make a choice between love and espionage, that secret may tear them apart.
The premise of this book sounds exciting – Julian, being forced to retire from the spy business goes on one last mission to prove he can still be useful. He falls for a female smuggler who has a bad reputation with the ton and likes dangerous activities. Except, it really wasn’t all that exciting.
For one, there is a lot of time spent away from being a spy and a smuggler. We see the every day life of Grace – how she keeps her uncle’s home and how she is a healer of sorts for her village and we see her meeting with smugglers. But I wanted a little more from the smuggling business. As for Julian, he sneaks into rooms and places and do what spies do – but we aren’t privy to those scenes. We are just told about them after they happen. I wanted to see how he got into these rooms and left without being found out.
But what really didn’t sit well with me is how Julian and Grace’s relationship unfolds. Julian thinks Grace is a traitor, which obviously carries great punishment. He decides to seduce her to see if she will open up and start talking. But for most of the first half of the book, it feels like he forgets she could be a traitor, as he falls for her. Then he so nonchalantly tells her he is a spy and he thinks she is a traitor. It kind of comes out of nowhere. And then nothing really comes of this big reveal. They continue to be in love and it just didn’t leave an impact. I felt as though Julian should have been a little more wary of Grace and that he was careless. And as for Grace – I often found myself asking, why is she falling in love with Julian? I found their eventual friendship to be believable but I needed to see or read her thoughts more on falling in love.
The merging of the ‘spy falls for possible traitor’ just wasn’t executed well for me. I enjoyed both characters of Julian and Grace individually. I think had they fallen in love with a different setting, I would have enjoyed them much more.
I can’t help but compare every spy romance I read to Joanna Bourne, who I think masters this trope. This one didn’t hold up for me.
Rating: C
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