William Ravenwood has worked as a spy during the war with France. Even though Napoleon himself is no longer a threat, there is still a need for spies and code breakers. This means there is still a lot of danger for those who do the necessary work.

Heloise Hampden knows her brothers and their neighbour are involved in the spy trade. She herself is a very good code breaker.

The French have sent there own spies over to England to terminate those that threaten them.

This historical romance is full of adventure, excitement and great characters. It is part of a series but easily read on it's own.

It's nice to meet a heroine who is not the perfect picture of beauty. Her brains are much more important.

This is not a new release but if you haven't read it, you should.

Great fun.

This is a 3.5 rounded up to a 4. The writing was good. The story was good. I just have a HUGE problem with hero’s that are in love with the heroine from afar but can’t have her for whatever reason so they sleep with every other woman they come across. That 👏 is 👏 not 👏 romantic👏. These are supposed to be ROMANCE novels. I want my hero to pine and languish for want of the heroine. I want a hero that knows he will never want another woman like he wants her. That knows no woman will ever compare.

I loved Raven and Kit's story! The attraction, that they both tried to deny, was palpable. Their bantering had my laughing throughout the story. This was a great addition to the Secrets and Spies series!

Do yourself a favor. Read anything written by K.C. Bateman. This is a lovely story, and I won't give away a thing about it. Just read it!

I enjoyed Ms. Bateman's character development and writing style. I love a good friends to lovers story or a sibling's best friend who is in love with or falls in love with the sister/brother but I did feel anxious at the stubbornness they displayed when they should have already known where they were in their relationship. I did like the plot line that forced them to be together so much though and overall this was an enjoyable read.

As always a thanks goes first to NetGalley and Random House Loveswept for providing us with a copy of these books so that we could bring you this review.

I really enjoyed these books, the best part of them is that the woman are strong no nonsense kind of women. They aren't going to let these men tell them what to do. They are going to do what needs to be done and get there safely one way or another. Marianne has had life throw her curveballs at every turn and still manages to find way that will keep her sister safe. Im sure she never planned for Nicolas to come into her life and turn it upside down though. Heloise is not only strong in conviction but in intelligence as well. Her intelligence is what makes her a target though. Though Raven fights it every second of the time they are together he can't deny that he isn't head over heals for her. But by far my favorite of them all is Sabine. She learns to take care of herself but she is sneaky, conniving, and determined. All that is what throws Richard for a loop that is for sure. The other thing about these books is that they are based on things that happened in the past so it was interesting to go back and learn a little bit of Persian history while I read them.

I give these books a combined 4.75 kisses.

Happy Reading... Adri

I will be happy to recommend this romance of spies and intrigue to a die hard romance reader. For me i didn't care for the plot but I know several customers who will enjoy this page turner.

Heloise is William’s /Raven best friends little sister. Raven grew up with Heloise’s brothers Richard and Nicolas and they were still friends and all spies. Heloise has always loved Raven and had told him when she was sixteen but he rejected her. Heloise has a scar on her face from a accident and feels unattractive because of it. Raven is a spy and has to kill on occasion and doesn't feel he is good enough for Heloise. William had changed when he had been kidnapped at nineteen - six years earlier. Raven had been kidnapped to try to blackmail his grandfather the Duke had refused to pay for his grandson to be freed. Eventually raven freed himself but he has nothing to do with his grandfather since he had freed himself. Raven makes a good spy as he is ruthless, cunning and fearless. Since he had faced death daily before he freed himself. He accepts he is now different then he was before the kidnapping and his grandfather not helping him. Heloise has a talent for code breaking and she is being used for her talent. As a result she is in danger now. Raven has now been assigned to protect Heloise. Heloise and Raven are attracted to each other. Then Raven’s friend Kit has been missing for two years and Heloise decoded a message and Kit is still alive and being held by the French. Raven feels he must try to rescue his friend Kit but he also has to protect Heloise so she has to go with him when he goes to try to rescue Kit. Raven is known as a smuggler, an agent who rescues hostages and prisoners of war. French agents are going after all English code breakers to kill them which includes Heloise and why Raven was ordered to take care of her.
I loved this story. It held my attention right away and kept it all through this story. I was glad when Raven got over feeling not good enough and opened himself to Heloise. I loved that Raven was determined to free Kit even when he had to take Heloise with him. But it was brought up to often how Raven felt he wasn’t good enough for Heloise we got that. I liked the plot of this story and also felt it was well written. It made me mad for Raven that his grandfather left him to suffer with the kidnappers and was glad he cut all ties with his grandfather obviously he didn’t really care about Raven. I loved this story and enjoyed reading it. I liked Heloise and was sad she thought less of herself because of a facial scar. I felt she was brave and trying to help even though it endangered her life but still being a code breaker. I loved the characters in this story and the ins and outs and I highly recommend.