4.5 stars-- THE DEATHBREW AFFAIR is the first instalment in Nancy Northcott's contemporary, adult THE LETHAL WEBS romantic, suspense series focusing on American Operative Casey Billings, and MI5 agent Jack, Lord Bainbridge.

Told from first person point of view (Casey Billings) THE DEATHBREW AFFAIR follows the contemptuous relationship between American operative Casey Billings, and MI5 agent Jack aka Lord Bainbridge as they are paired together in a multi-national undercover operation battling time, a potential pandemic, biological terrorism, and one another. Lord Bainbridge comes from royalty and represents everything Casey Billings hates and loathes but pretending to be a married couple throws Casey into the deep end of a family embattled in their own quagmire with several questionable business proposals including a possible connection to Jack and Casey's current investigation. What ensues is the fake marriage to lovers trope that focuses on the take down and recovery of a biological weapon; the slow building love relationship between Casey and Jack, and the potential fall out as the players in a game of international bioterrorism begin releasing their product a little at a time.

THE DEATHBREW AFFAIR is an intriguing, engaging and exciting story line of family, partnership, power and greed. Lord Bainbridge is a take charge kinda of man; a MI5 agent who requires order and control, and Casey Billings' impulsive and carefree behavior wreaks havoc in our hero's well ordered plans. While Casey struggles with the memories of a mission gone wrong; Jack is desperate to convince Casey that what happened remains in the past. The premise intense and moving; the characters are colorful, sassy and passionate; the romance is a slow build to a potential partnership in the future. Nancy Northcott's THE DEATHBREW AFFAIR is an energetic, action packed, and thrilling introduction to the author's THE LETHAL WEBS series.

Copy supplied by Netgalley.

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I may have mentioned this before, but I’ve been a fan of Nancy Northcott since I read her first book, Renegade, in which she created an amazing world filled with intrigue, magic and romance. She didn’t have to twist my arm to give her new romantic suspense series a try. Especially since I had already gotten a taste of her contemporary writing in her novella, Danger’s Edge, which was included in the Capitol Danger anthology – which has a loose tie-in to The Deathbrew Affair.

Let me just start off by saying that The Deathbrew Affair is the beginning of what promises to be an amazing series. The story is told entirely from Casey’s POV. There are times that I really enjoy getting into each character’s head and I admit, I would have liked to know exactly what was going on inside Jack’s more than once. In this case though, not knowing was a part of the suspense. It actually provided an additional layer to the mystery.

Although The Deathbrew Affair was a great romantic suspense, it wasn’t necessarily a ‘who-done-it’ because from the very beginning, the ‘who’ was pretty obvious. The real challenge for Jack and Casey was to prove that the bad guy was the mastermind – but his possible accomplices came a little too close to home.

I absolutely loved how Jack and Casey were ‘thrown’ together. The attraction was immediate for Casey, but she knew better than to get involved. Sometimes the head and the heart don’t cooperate and that was definitely the case between these two. They were so much fun, plus they worked well together. Their personalities meshed even though on the surface they seemed worlds apart.

I absolutely can’t wait for the next book in this series. The Deathbrew Affair came to a satisfying close, but there is definitely (and thankfully) much more to come.

5/5 Stars
This was the first book I've read by this author and it was amazing! The suspense and romance were really fast-paced and was really well written. Cassey and Jack had great passion and chemistry. I can't wait for the next book in the series.

LOVED this book! It's fast paced romantic suspense at its best - with plenty of humor woven throughout it. Casey is a tough secret agent used to doing things on her own and on the fly - her main plan is to improvise. Then circumstances force her to partner with Jack, a MI5 agent who is leading the investigation that Casey's work instigated. To say she's a bit miffed is an understatement. To have her be subservient to a stuffy English Lord is almost more than she can handle, but she refuses to give him a reason to remove her from the investigation. Posing as his wife, she takes every opportunity to poke fun at him, including a series of nicknames guaranteed to make you laugh.

This is a must read for fans of the genre. While this is the first book I've read by this author, but it won't be the last. Not only am I adding her to my must read authors' list, I'm going to work my way through her back list.

I found The Deathbrew Affair, to be full of suspense but also very funny humorous. Casey has so many lovey dovey names for Jack. Some were to annoy him and his family, while some she truly meant. Then there's Jack, a man who has back up plans for his back up plans. He kept asking Casey if she wanted to see the list. Just once I wish she would have said yes.
They were constantly getting into tight spots where luckily for them, a passionate kiss was what was needed to get out of them.