This was such a run suspenseful caper of a novel! Ronan & Isabel are two thieves trying to stay afloat and unite together to take on their crimes. It had me gripping the edge of my seat. Perfect mix of regency vibes and romance, suspense, and intrigue: highly recommend if your looking for a great escapist novel

Many thanks to Aria and NetGalley for the preview. All opinions are my own.

I am devasted if this is reall the last Katrina Kendrick book in this world. But damn, are we going out with fireworks! Seriously the flames errupt between Ronan and Isabel from the first chapter, and we get hot and heavy fast. But at the same time, it's actually over the course of over 2 years. This book spans the whole timeframe of the series in fact, and we get lots of cameos of previous characters (which was amazing).

This is probably the darkest, most raw, hottest, and most devastating book yet. Isabel has been so terribly abused before, and she has the literal scars to prove it. And we move from the cat and mouse game across continents to a forced proximity fake marriage to catch a dangerous man. The tension, the yearning, the FLAMES, and the banter are all exquisite. Tender moments mixed with punishing intimacy had me both fanning myself and wiping away tears.

These books have been utterly un-put-down-able. I think this one in particular would appeal to fans of Written on Your Skin by Meredith Duran. I'm seriously sad about not having more of these to look forward to, but I will always recommend this series and literally anything Elizabeth May ever writes.

I am a big fan of Elizabeth May so when I learned of her historical romance pen name, I knew that I had to read every single one!

A Lady's Handbook of Espionage is the fifth Katrina Kendrick book I have picked up and it had all the elements that I have come to love about her books. It was fast paced, suspenseful and full of sizzling romance that had me entranced.

Ronan and Isabel were such a joy to read about and I thought they were such well written characters. The romance was absolutely incredible and was definitely my favourite element of the book. The author does such a splendid job of detailing certain struggles and emotions during the era and you can tell that a lot of passion and research has gone into this story. The romance was absolutely incredible and was definitely my favourite element of the book.

A Lady's Handbook of Espionage is definitely in my top five favourite historical romance books!

I had such a good time with this book.
While it is historical, the story is more focused on the action / adventure and romance aspects of the story, which I really enjoyed. The pace is fast and I was hooked. I couldn’t put this book down and finished reading in less than 24 hours. It gave me so many tropes I love to see - fake relationship, one bed, touch her and I’ll kill you, hurt/comfort to name but a few!
I hadn’t read any Katrina Kendrick books prior to this, but I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series. I didn’t feel like I was missing out coming in to this one blind, I’m sure I’ve missed some aspects of the cameos without the relevant background stories, but nothing felt jarring or confusing.

5 stars

Great book, quite dark in places. Isabel is the sister of an earlier heroine from the series, Emma, book 0.5. Isabel was inviegled into the world of crime by a handsome villain. There are some amusing scenes with the hero, who is a bit James Bond ish, in that he's working for the government as a spy. There a quite a few encounters over a few years until Emma seeks to find Isabel.

Isabel is a thief with murderous skills which she uses to her advantage. There is some aspects which I think almost needs a warning of self harm but generally I loved this book and this series. Lots of passionate encounters. I'm sad to see it ending....what about the spymaster general did I miss his book?

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I’m not really a fan of historical fiction books but this one blew me away
It follows Spectre the female spy Callaghan..(the British spy) is searching high and low worldwide for
They meet in various places and the sexual chemistry is off the page!! Katrina leaves nothing to to your imagination it’s all in there !!
The two are supposed to go looking for a sadistic killer named Faveraux he tortured her and beat her raped her and stabbed/.crossed her body with knife wounds and scars. Every inch of her body had a wound or scar on it from him she hated it
But Callaghan had kissed every bit of them and told her how beautiful they were and his body could almost match hers wit( all scars on his body
So they were a perfect match for each other
And the British government hired them to find Faveraux one way or another they wanted him dead or alive
But Faveraux wanted spectre alias Isabella Dunbaton desperately he wanted to destroy her one last time but Isabel wasn’t going to let this happen no way, he tied her up but this was under her control not his !!
Faveraux made his biggest mistake ever !
But did he realise ??.

Thank you NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This was different and a very fun read! Witty, funny, great setting of different countries in the 1800s, but mostly England.
Both main characters were great, so were the side characters, written using my kind of humour, greatly paced. When I first started this I did not expect to enjoy it this much. Would very gladly read a whole series of books about Isabel and Ronan.

Abuse, theft and violent murder.
The title of this book sounds lighthearted but in places it is gritty and violently dark. The head of The Syndicate is a monster and Isabel has been caught in his web for years. Known as Spectre, Isabel is an accomplished thief and assassin, a wanted woman on three continents. Tracked by Ronan Callaghan, an agent of the Crown, with a murky past, she taunts and evades him. However her attempt to leave her abuser sees her fighting for her life and eventually she has no choice but to turn herself in and exchange The Syndicate’s secrets for protection. But Favreau has plans to get his pet back,can he be foiled?
This reads a bit like a James Bond story rather than a historical but I found it an absorbing read.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.