I adored this book from beginning to end. I can't believe I've waited until Stefanie's fourth book to pick her up. Believe me, I will definitely be reading the rest of Stefanie's books and quite soon. I loved her characters and the world she has created. I admit that I have a fondness for spy story-lines and Stefanie executed to perfection.
Dashiell Matthews, Viscount Carrington is an important member of the Young Corinthians, a spy league that he works for. He is brilliant at breaking codes and solving puzzles. Since Dash is an extremely attractive man, he uses his looks as a facade to hide his brilliance. Only the people closest to him know he is truly intelligent, thus allowing him to keep of his facade. For the last several years he has been on the hunt for The Bishop, a murder who was responsible for the death of his closest friends mother years before. Ever since Lady Afton's death, he and his friends have thought of nothing but the revenge that they would one day have against Bishop.
Elena Barnes lives a quiet life at home in the country with her father. She is very intelligent and very well read. She believes anything can be learned from a book and when a missive from London arrives informing her and her father that he has been left a rare collection of books from the late Viscount Carrington she immediately though reluctantly, sets off for London to retrieve them. Elena has been to London before and had a rather unsuccessful season and she is not looking forward to encountering the vipers of the ton again. She plans to quickly pack up the books and return home. What she doesn't expect to find is Dash Matthews.
When Elena first sees Dash, she can hardly believe her eyes. She has never seen a man so beautiful in her life. The image is quickly ruined when he opens his mouth and begins to act like the addled-brained Adonis that he is known for. But the more and more time that begin to spend together, Elena starts to see whats beneath the facade, a truly intelligent man.
I loved both Dash and Elena. I loved their characters and I especially loved they way they both interacted with one another. There were instant sparks between them and I love the way everything progressed with them. It felt just right and not rushed at all.
As soon as Dash appeared I was instantly transfixed. He is everything I love in a hero. Not only is he sexy but he is very witty and extremely intelligent. I love me a smart hero! I truly loved him and Nicholas together. I found myself giggling a quite a few of their scenes together. I did enjoy watching Dash struggle with his feelings with Elena. On the one hand he wanted to push her away because he wants nothing more than to keep her safe from Bishop, but on the other hand he can't let her go.
I also had a great fondness for Elena. Not only is she smart, but she is also brave and willing to help others. I also liked that she is willing to ask for help if she needed it. Sometimes when authors are writing bluestocking heroines, they tend to be very stubborn and won't rely on anyone else's help. That was definitely not the case with Elena. I also enjoyed her relationship with Bessie.
My only complaint with this book and honestly it's not really a complaint is that towards the second half of the book things seem to slow down relationship wise between Dash and Elena. But honestly, it didn't really bug me. I was so caught up with everything else that was going on I didn't even miss it.
I highly recommend this book. I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of this series, including Stefanie Sloane's next book The Scoundrel Takes a Bride. After reading this book I honestly can't wait to get my hands on that one. I just know it's going to be good.
**ARC copy provided by
NetGalley**
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