The Charming Spy

De: Cheri Champagne

Narrado por: Joel L Froomkin

Miss Rose Wilkinson has a secret. One she daren’t allow anyone to uncover.

She and her twin sister are trapped living with their malevolent relations, forced into a life of perpetual mourning. Finally, one ray of hope enters her ill-fated existence in the form of a handsome footman.

Sir Bramwell Stevens is a Crown spy for the Home Office, on assignment as a footman to find evidence of Lord Hale’s treachery. The mission, while failing to produce results, grew rather more intriguing by the day. One of the villain’s nieces increasingly roused his curiosity and desire with each passing moment.Tired of the abused lives they lead, the Wilkinson sisters perpetrate a plan to escape. To lessen their chances of discovery they go their separate ways; Violet to the north and Rose to London…with her charming footman.

Will Bram’s act of gallantry earn him Rose’s heart, or will their secrets create a rift that is too large to mend?

*Trigger Warning: Abusive family members, violence

©2021 Cheri Champagne (P)2022 Cheri Champagne

Great listen

I enjoyed the first book in this series and so was thrilled to see the second released. I’ll start by saying Joel Froomkin is one of my very favorite narrators. He brought this story to life with his amazing vocal talent. The story was well-done, but Froomkin’s performance added a whole new layer to it that just gave me hours of listening pleasure.

This story is very much about a young woman who is in a bad situation. Well, two young women, but Rose is the focus while I suspect Violet’s book might be coming in the future (fingers crossed). The women are being abused terribly by relatives (see trigger warning) and it’s truly vile. Some of the violence I found disturbing – even more so because I know situations like this happen in real life. Sometimes humans do truly unforgivable things.

Anyway, Rose and Violet need to get away – most especially because their uncle is looking to marry them off and the ‘gentlemen’ he’s interviewing (trying to see how much money he can get from) are all as horrible as him. Violet escapes north while Rose, with the help of the footman, escapes to London.

Only this isn’t any ordinary footman. Bramwell’s a spy and he’ll do anything for King and Country. Anything to thwart Napoleon and the traitors living on British soil who support the despot. When Bram brings Rose to London, things get complicated because she has no idea who he is. But they’re attracted to each other and Bram is easily able to look past Rose’s ‘flaws’. Still, will she be able to look past his treachery in not telling her the truth sooner?

I loved this book, enjoyed the ending, and hope for more!