The daughter of a famous spy helps train a new agents. Lucy and her sister charm 2 brothers who are planning to work undercover for the king. The girls are accomplished at various skills most young ladies don't have. They can open a lock, cheat at cards, develop codes, and defend themselves. While also charming they are not accepted into society because their mother is a notorious Italian countess who has affairs and inspires duels. The countess also sends them books of art with lovemaking. Malcolm is illegitimate as are the sisters. All are smitten with each other and Lucy decides besides the lessons her father teaches, she will ensure her love returns.There is some skipping around with time which can be annoying but this is a cute story. There are issues of DV, and Lucy's past - usually an issue becomes helpful. I wanted to like this book far more than I did. I enjoyed the flashback (which took up most of the book) quite a bit, but I really hated the framing story. I know, I know - she had to fit this book into a series rather than just allow a good stand-alone to hit the shelves - but it was so distracting and unnecessary. I read romances to follow a love story, not to read some ridiculousness about pet dogs and multiple entitled women who are dowagers of the same title. I could not have cared less about all of that business. I want to shake this author - she can clearly write, but she feels the need to follow these stupid conventions. Elizabeth Boyle, feel free to break from the mold! We'll follow you into the future of romance novels!
What do You think about How I Met My Countess (2009)?
Solid. After reading this book I added all her other books to my TBR pile.
—ElisBlack
it's not that it was bad. It was just blah...lukewarm? :/
—ashi
Mostly skimmed the book...nothing special here
—Obi
