My Lord and Spymaster

Spymaster

By: Joanna Bourne

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Sebastian Kennett is a self-made man - passionate, adventurous, and powerful; a master trader and international shipper; a man who'll risk everything for a profit.

Jess Whitby grew up on the mean streets of the East End. Her father's a fine rogue and sometime smuggler. His canny trading and her brilliant management have built them a fortune.

Then one of Sebastian's ships goes down and a traitor is to blame. All the Whitbys' money won't protect Jess's father from an accusation of treason. What happens when they fall in love - the man hungry for vengeance and the woman who's going to save her father at all costs?

©2008 Joanna Watkins Bourne (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Brimming with adventure, intrigue, wit, sensuality and colorful historical details, this is an adventure reader's dream come true." ( RT Book Reviews)

Superior Performance of an Excellent Story.

Joanna Bourne is one of my favorite authors. This amazing performance enhanced my enjoyment of the story.

Couldn’t be better

The characters are well drawn & the story is not only entertaining but plausible. Ms Bourne has an amazing way with dialogue, descriptive &not contrived or stilted.
Ms Potter can do just about any character & accent, both male & female, each one with it’s own distinct sound & personality. She keeps these voices throughout all of Ms Bourne’s books.
I enjoy listening to these books over & over they never get old.

Good book, great narration

Any additional comments?

Another engaging, can't put it down, story from Joanna Bourne. The story is well written and the characters are engaging. The narrator is the icing on the cake: Kirsten Potter is excellent with dialects and voices.

I struggled with this one.

I loved the previous book of this series so much I immediately got this title. I was disappointed. This book shouldn't really be categorized as a romance. The story revolves more around the intrigue and betrayal of one of the spies and the romance felt more like a secondary story. The narrator is excellent but not even her could save the book. It you like historical fiction with a Pirates of the Caribbean flair then you may enjoy this book. If you are looking for a historical romance and sweet as the first book of this series, then skip this title.

Beautiful word-smithing, but drags a little

Narration is great. Male/female leads are damaged but not beyond hope. Revelation of personal backstories is a little dragged out. Child prostitution references are something I could have done without, but understand the effort toward an unflinching portrayal of street life. Delayed physical relationship lends substance to the emotional connection between lovers. Rich in historical detail. Engaging!

Terrific book

Characters you liked immediately, a plot that kept me coming back for the next chapter. Wonderful narration, good writing, just enough steamy sensuousness, off to find the next in the series.

Nice..

Any additional comments?

This was a really good read. It got a little boring for a minute but came back soon enough. I liked Jess and Sabastian a lot. Could barely stand Claudia or Quintin. And loved Aunt Eunice. I was surprised at one of the bad guys, and disappointed but they both really got what was coming to them. An entertaining book with sexual tension and great sex.

As to the narrator: As always, Ms. Potter did a wonderful job. I never get tired of listening to her..

Intense!

This one was a more intense than the first two books in this awesome series, but still very entertaining. If you're up for something deeper and more gritty than the usual, you might enjoy this.

Jess Whitby's father, the owner of a shipping company, is accused of selling secrets to Napoleon, but she is determined to discover the real traitor and save her father from the gallows. Having spent her early life on the dangerous streets of London as a thief, she has skills that most young ladies do not. She sets about using those skills, and her network of old connections, to ferret out the truth.

Capt. Sebastian Kennett has his reasons for wanting to see Josiah Whitby hang. But when he meets Jess, he finds himself falling hard for her.

The British intelligence gang is all here, and I loved seeing those characters again.

The players in this one felt more real and the stakes were higher than the first two. I'm very glad to have experienced it, but it wasn't an easy romance. This is a novel of complexity, and there were times when it got so intense I wanted to put it down, but I couldn't.

Joanna Bourne continues to impress me with her creativity. I'm a big fan.

Fantastic Heroine

This was a great second book in the series. I wish the happy ending was a little longer, but as we all like in these things, it doesn’t happy. The one sex scene was good and the build up was nice. Not as intense as the first book in my opinion, but definitely worth the wait. As they say in my title, Jess is a really awesome heroine. She’s very direct and intelligent. I think Sebastian was a great character as well and as always I love Adrian. I cannot wait for his book.

Started good. Lost sizzle

It was not a bad story but the heroine who was supposed to be very clever and smart sure made some stupid decisions. I enjoyed the twist at the end of the story which I did not expect but that's only because the villein's character was so poorly developed that at the end it could have been anyone. The story was a bit stretched and a little unbelievable but overall I'd say it ended up being a solid 3.