Title: The Secret Service of Tea and Treason (Dangerous Damsels #3)
Author: India Holton
Publisher: Berkley Books 2023
Genre: Historical romance Fantasy
Pages: 368
Rating: 5/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Romanceopoly - Post Office (Set in a different country)
Spice Rating: 4
Known as Agent A, Alice is the top operative within the Agency of Undercover Note Takers, a secret government intelligence group that is fortunately better at espionage than at naming itself. From managing deceptive witches to bored aristocratic ladies, nothing is beyond Alice’s capabilities. She has a steely composure and a plan always up her sleeve (alongside a dagger and an embroidered handkerchief). So when rumors of an assassination plot begin to circulate, she’s immediately assigned to the case.
But she’s not working alone. Daniel Bixby, otherwise known as Agent B and Alice's greatest rival, is given the most challenging undercover assignment of his life— pretending to be Alice’s husband. Together they will assume the identity of a married couple, infiltrate a pirate house party, and foil their unpatriotic plans.
Determined to remain consummate professionals, Alice and Daniel must ignore the growing attraction between them, especially since acting on it might prove more dangerous than their target.
The third in this delightful witty series snuck under the radar for me. I didn’t even realize that there was another in the series until another blogger randomly posted about it. I jumped on adding the book to my library holds. In this volume, we revisit two characters that previously appeared in other volumes. Alice and Daniel were intriguing small side characters in those books and I was excited to see them get their own romance story. The romance itself is very stilted at times, but only because we get to see two very different types of people than th usual romance leads. At many times, I really felt for Alice’s inability to understand the people around her. I loved getting the glimpse into her own thought patterns as we see her wrestle with the case and her complicated feelings toward Agent B. I sped through the volume loving every single page of it. I only wish that we had a bit more spice and maybe some more banter.
Dangerous Damsels
#3 The Secret Service of Tea and Treason
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