"The Spy and I" turned out to be a delightful surprise! Dove Barkley, a self-professed non-spy, gets unwittingly tangled up in a high-stakes mission when she's mistaken for her sister, who happens to be a super-spy. Alongside Mendez, her sister's partner with a distracting physique, Dove finds herself navigating a world of espionage to prevent a national catastrophe.

While the premise feels familiar, the story takes unexpected twists and turns that kept me eagerly turning the pages. It's a perfect blend of action, suspense, and romance that had me thoroughly entertained.

If you're in the mood for a romantic comedy with a thrilling edge, "The Spy and I" is definitely worth adding to your reading list!

Thank you Tiana Smith and Berkley Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own!

I absolutely loved this one! I thought it was such a unique romance. I enjoyed the characters and plot. I thought Smith did a great job of balancing character development with plot pacing. I feel like there was no focus on one or the other. They were both important to this story which I really liked. These characters made me believe in love again! The chemistry was steamy but clean and fun.

Anyone want to plays spies with me now?
Did anyone play that growing up?
It was one of my favorites!

Read if you enjoy:
Romance
Spies
Character development
Sisters
Disability Rep.

I enjoyed this one but it was slower than I thought it would be. The story was fun and I liked the characters but I wanted more romance.

I liked this book but it was hard to stay interested in it. I liked the idea but it just fell flat for me. The characters were easy to like but felt one-dimensional. It was just too predictable and didn’t hold my attention enough.

Dove Barkley, a white hat hacker who helps companies beef up their cybersecurity, leads an unexciting life until she gets mistaken for her sister at a restaurant by a mysterious man who gives her a briefcase with a bogus identity just before he’s killed. Now a CIA agent named Mendez needs her to go on a mission in place of her sister, who’s apparently an agent and is off the grid. Mendez is skilled and sexy, and Dove is catching feelings for him as he protects her from catching bullets.

The Spy and I is a breath of fresh air, somehow light-hearted and flirty and exciting, with some great suspense and action scenes. Dove and Mendez have great chemistry and their interactions are scintillating but also endearing. Dove has had very bad luck with relationships, one more thing adding to her insecurities. Dove’s always been so close to her sister, despite feeling like she doesn’t measure up to her sister’s excellence in all arenas. The way that Mendez validates, treasures, and makes her feel special is absolutely swoon-worthy. Mendez is such a sweet guy but he is also a lethal and extremely capable operative. Who would have thought a covert operative would be such great boyfriend material? Readers who love good spy stories and romances will have their cake and eat it with this book

Four and 1/2 Star Rating.

What a whirlwind book! I loved the characters and fell madly in love with Mendez from the beginning! The pace was great and Dove played the heroine role well! I am excited to read book 2? Maybe we will see her sister again! Hopefully!

I received this book from the author via NetGalley! All opinions are my own!

I really enjoy these action-romance books. It is a new sub-genre I am exploring. The Spy & I was fast-paced even though not a lot happened. I enjoyed all of the characters, but I did think Dove was dumbed down sometimes. She's a computer hacker, so she is super smart and I feel like she should have asked more questions sometimes lol.

This is not a super spicy book, at most there are kisses on the neck and shoulders. I wish there was a bit more tension between Dove & Mendez. I would say that the mistaken identity is small and it isn't affecting the romantic relationship.

It's a good comparison to The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter, so if you enjoyed that book I think you'll like this one too. Overall I enjoyed this book. I am giving it a 3 because although it is not an overall favourite, it was still enjoyable and there was nothing that I was turned off by.

The Spy and I is an action, spy rom-com, starring the dorky penetration tester Dove who gets thrown into the middle of an international crisis when mistaken for her sister in a bar. She escapes narrowly with the help of Mendez, an agent who claims to be partners with her sister. Dove works to help save her sister and help Mendez but everything is not what it seems, with twists and turns and betrayals around every corner. And her attraction to Mendez isn't helping matters in the slightest.

The Spy and I was... okay! It wasn't bad but it isn't a book I think I'll remember much of the details from in a few weeks. My main gripe with this new wave of action rom-coms is that they don't feel action-y enough! I want action and high stakes and sexual tension! This book lacked those for me. I felt that the lack of urgency made the book fall flat. Additionally, the book leans heavy on the insta lust. Dove finds Mendez hot immediately and vice versa. So the lack of action and urgency and the lack of building tension between the characters leaves this with very poor pacing. Lastly I wanted more character here! The characters were suuuuper one-dimensional, lacking any sort of vibrancy on page.

Overall, nothing egregious but nothing outstanding to me.

I don’t usually like mistake identity but this works perfectly in this one. Dove somehow gets mistaken for her spy sister. Also, surprise she had no clue her sister was a spy. Not only was she in the dark but she must work with her handsome partner. This was a super fun ride!

Huge thank you to @berkleypub @berittalksbooks @thephdivabooks @dg_reads and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
.

There was so much about this that I wanted to work! The premise, the mistaken identity, the computer whizz caught up in SPY affairs with a hottie! Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be and I found The Spy and I to be quite lackluster. The writing grated on my nerves with Smith constantly telling rather than showing, and I found myself wanting to shake Dove multiple times because she IS objectively smart but acts like her brain has just decided to leave her body whenever Mendez simply ~exists. I wish their romance had been drawn out OR that they leaned more into the plot. Doing both unsuccessfully did not serve the overall story well...

Appreciate Berkley for sending this e-arc and physical copy in exchange for my review!!

Sorry but not sorry. I didn't enjoy this book at all. I read half way, and stop reading any further. I just wasn't vibeing with it. I found the pacing weird while I was reading it. And it didn't felt like a romance story. It's more of a thriller mystery than romance.

'The Spy and I' by Tiana Smith offers readers a delightful blend of mistaken identity, espionage, and romantic comedy. Dove Barkley, a cyber security analyst, finds herself unwittingly embroiled in a dangerous government mission when mistaken for her super-spy sister. Teaming up with her sister's partner, Mendez, Dove navigates a thrilling adventure filled with twists and turns.

While the plot is engaging and kept me guessing until the end, I felt that the romance took a backseat at times. Dove and Mendez's chemistry sizzles on the page, but I wished for more development in their relationship. Additionally, I wished for more depth in the character development, as some moments felt like stereotypical caricatures.

Despite these minor drawbacks, 'The Spy and I' is a fun and engaging read that will appeal to fans of spy thrillers and rom-coms alike! Definitely pick this one up if you're looking for a quick adventure in the world of secret agents.

What to Expect:
▫️mistaken identity
▫️instalove
▫️female rep in STEM

This was a light hearted read about an ethical hacker/homebody mistaken for her twin who turns out to be a spy. It did remind me of The Blonde Identity.

🤷🏻‍♀️What didn’t work for me
This book was heavy on instalove, which isn’t my cup of tea. Their first real bonding moment didn’t happen until 41% in, and most of the book consists of Dove’s inner monologue as she gushes over Mendez and worries about her sister. There were some very sweetly written scenes where I could feel the tenderness of their budding relationship, it just didn’t make sense to me in context given how little time/interactions they had together.

If you’re a fan of instalove, enjoy seeing women in coding, and are up for spy games, then this book is for you.

🎧Audio Review
Jaime Lamchick narrated and was pleasant. Pacing was good, I had no trouble distinguishing voices and there was no cringe factor.

I will update this review to include a link to my Instagram page after I post my review.

This a cross between a thriller and a romance that I enjoyed very much. Dove Barkley is a computer securities analyst, a white hat hacker. Her twin sister Madison is supposedly a travel blogger. Dove is supposed to meet Madison for lunch but instead a man approaches her with some papers and is shot dead.

Dove is shocked. A guy gets her away from the restaurant and says his name is Mendez and that he’s her sister’s CIA partner. Dove is told she needs to stand in for her twin, Madison, during an overseas meet because the information they’ll get is of lifesaving importance. Eventually Mendez admits that Madison is missing and they must find her because there’s evidence that she might be a traitor.

Dove and Madison are very close and Dove can’t believe her sister has been a CIA agent for years. She’s not sure how much she can trust Mendez even though they’ve got serious chemistry and are beginning a relationship. All Dove wants to do is find her sister, prove her innocence, and get back to her life.

This is fun escapist fiction with an interesting premise. I hope there’s a sequel in the works, 4 stars.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

This was such a fun and different read for me - may be my first spy romance? I enjoyed the banter between the main characters and the light suspense that gave this book a bit of a cozy vibe. Yes, there was violence given the spy aspect, since they were trying to catch a group of criminals who had offed people and planned to do it some more. But regardless, it felt at times like a little spy slice of life. Exactly the type of read I needed where I was trying to climb out of a book slump and needed something completely out of the realm of reality for me. Because let's be honest, most of us are never going to be rescued by a hot guy on the back of a motorcycle, spirited off to Europe in a private jet, and in close proximity with a spy who can't keep wooing you to within an inch of your life. The only thing that could have been the cherry on top was some spice. There was only kissing, y'all, so don't go into this expecting under the covers action. There was none of that. Even though my libido was begging for it.

Dove Barkley had the best internal dialogue with herself, especially when it came to Mendez. Girl was having a rough time keeping her hands and eyes to herself. And who can blame her when the hero is described as a man who was so beautiful that "simply looking at him was enough to bring a dead woman back to life." Talk about giving the reader some high expectations of this man. My brain immediately started picturing a Greek god or something, with gleaming black hair and a devil-may-care smirk on his sculpted-by-the-heavens face. So naturally, I was head over heels right alongside Dove. Mendez was a mysterious character, made more so because this was a single POV book, and the reader only gets Dove's perspective on everything. And since she was chaos incarnate sometimes, it was an entertaining read to say the least. She and Mendez were very push and pull throughout the book, partially because Dove wasn't sure if she could trust him and partially because Mendez initially made it clear he didn't do commitment. As they spent more time together, it was very clear that he would do commitment real soon. They had SO MUCH CHEMISTRY, there were several moments where I felt like the room I was in was getting hotter by the minute. It was insta-lust with a side of pining and slow burn, which just hit the spot for me. I loved how they grew to trust each other, support their strengths and recognize their weaknesses, and the ending was just the cutest. I look forward to reading more, and hopefully Tiana has some spy romances in our future.

Okay spies are HOT! This was such a quick read for me because I just had to know what would happen next and the author did not disappoint. Dove and Mendez had chemistry right off the bat but because he's a spy there's always that question of whether or not his feelings are real. And although Dove is very much not a spy or really capable of lying, she's a badass in her own right with her hacking skills. The CIA could definitely use someone like her. I love that they both feel protective of each other and are both coming off single stints due to their previous relationships. It makes their interest in each other feel more potent and undeniable. While it was definitely a little insta-love, I think that's okay in a fast-paced spy book. The story flowed quickly and it was just an enjoyable comfort read, with a little bit of anxiety towards the end. I'm very much hoping there will be another book about Dove's sister because I'd love to get in her head more and also to see more of Dove and Mendez. If you like quick, twisty spy stories with romance, mistaken identities, adventure and lovable characters then check this might be a good fit for you!

I read an advanced reader's copy of this book from Berkley via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If seen this marketed as a romcom and while there are comedic moments this felt more like a romantic suspense than anything else.

High tension.
High suspense.
Fast Paced
Insta lovey
Spy Games
No open door spice

The romance between Dove and Mende was *chefs kiss* This was such a fun read and I can imagine everyone sitting by the pool with a nice cold drink in one hand, this book in the other, and being throughly entertained this summer.

Oh my word I loved this book from the very start. Dove is spunky and smart and a homebody (of which I can relate) and I loved her inner thoughts. This has the perfect romcom/page-turning action vibes all in one. Spy themed books are some of my favorite. And there are some pretty sizzling kisses.

After an interview from a reporter and a mix up at a restaurant, the action beings and never lets up. It’s mistaken identity at its absolute best. And Dove quickly became a favorite.
Interview
Princess Bride
The bike chase
Mendez
Secrets
Convincing
Clarity
Prague
Safe houses
Oreos
Chan
Hacking
The van
Last option
Confessions
Help
Data transfer (oh wow that was so awesome)
Aftermath
😱
😱
😱
Wow! This book has everything! And there is another book coming which I will be eagerly awaiting.
I received a Netgalley link from the author/publisher. All views and opinions expressed are my own.

What is it with spy books always having an FMC with a twin sister who’s a spy and she didn’t know😭

This story felt more like a mystery romance, which I usually love but unfortunately this one didn't do it for me. There were too many plot holes for me to fully connect with the story and the characters were very surface level. We didn't know much about them other than their jobs and a little background info.

The romance was just not enjoyable for me. Everything was happening way too fast. It felt like insta lust than love. Dove describing Mendez's appearance got so repetitive I just wanted her to stop. Like girl, I get it, you like his arms but damn😭

Dove is a cybersecurity analyst and basically loves hacking into systems. But omg she was stupid. I didn't expect her to have the brains of a spy but where was her common sense? When she attempted to escape from a man who works for the CIA, I lost it. Like how was that a smart decision...& it's mentioned that she's a hacker but does literally zero hacking the entirety of the book expect once at the end. which left me feeling unsatisfied. I feel like I was led on and wasn’t given what I was looking for. I kept waiting to see some badass girl who loves hacking but no. A lot happened but at the same time nothing happened at all?

Their relationship felt very forced. They literally fell for each other after 5 conversations. Everything happened between a few days, which was unrealistic. Towards the end, I was so bored, everything they did frustrated me. Her sister was possibly kidnapped and is being tortured somewhere and here they are making out on the counter like bffr 💀

I'm not even gonna start with the number of plot holes. Overall, I thought this story was very under-devolved. So many things could've been explained more. For that reason, I think this would've been better as a YA novel. There also wasn't any steamy scenes.

Anyways, I'm glad I'm finally done with this. At one point my annoyance was the only thing keeping me entertained. (I'm sorry to everyone who had to hear me yell at this book❤️)

Thank you Berkley for sending me a free copy!💖

Adorable, quirky, and full of so much tension you could eat it and be full for a week!

Dove is a mix of confident and insecure that is relatable - when it's a thing she knows she's got this, but thrust into an uncertain world her mix of fear and bravado reads as very real. Mendez is frustrating and delicious, and the reveal of him, his backstory, and his work is paced so well. They are fun together, and even though there's no spice on page you just know that it would be a good time.

The "case" they go through is a little bit intense, but I still had a good time working through the intrigue and mystery right alongside them. I am thrilled this is going to be a series of interconnected standalones and I am really excited for the next book.