Released June 30, 2009, by Avon books
MWM is the first book in Foley’s new series—her first non-Knight-family book in 10 publications. I consider Foley one of the better historical romance writers working right now, if for no other reason than the fact that she is a good writer. Her novels over the years have been hit or miss with me; more hits than misses, but there have been a few I haven’t liked at all, and of her 13 published novels, only 5 are in my permanent collection.
I was definitely excited to pick up her new book. MWM was a pleasant read, but not one of her best. If it was the first Foley book I had picked up, I would definitely seek out more of her books after reading it, so it was not a fail by any stretch of the imagination. It’s better than 90% of the Regency historicals on the shelf right now; it was just…not one of her best.
The story picks up in the wake of Waterloo, when a war-exhausted secret agent comes home to find a bride. He falls in love with a young lady of good family, and has to make the choice between betraying his job or betraying his new wife—he can either keep his secrets or push her away.
The characters were relatable but somehow failed to evoke a strong emotional reaction for me. I appreciated that the girl could stand up to him while still keeping the attitude/perspective of a woman of the time (too many “spunky” historical heroines have a too modern view of the world and relationships, in my opinion), and I liked them together…I just didn’t really find either of them compelling apart.
The other problem was that once they fell in love, there was almost no conflict left to their story. The compelling conflicts that remained in the last 150 or so pages of the book were about the larger situation of the enemy agents infiltrating England and the mystery surrounding the reappearance of one of their own who had been taken for dead. Not all of these conflicts were resolved; they are obviously to be a continuing storyline into the next book in the series or perhaps across them all (no word yet on how many books this series will encompass, if that’s even been decided yet).
In all, it was a good opening gambit in a new series, but one that I will probably revisit only to remind myself of details about the continuing plotlines.
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