Victoria Roberts

Spy Ravenna Walsingham is sent to the Scottish Highlands to impersonate a governess for a laird who is under suspicion for conspiring against the crown, but she soon finds that the only threat the Scotsman poses is to her heart.

My Highland Spy

Angela Guilherme

*I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This is the first of Victoria Roberts' books that I read and I hope it's not the last! I really liked the story and the characters of this book and I liked the author's writing even more as well as her options for the protagonists.

Lady Ravenna Walsingham was trained to become a spy at His Majesty's service just like her father and uncle before her. But the deceptions and the lies are starting to weight in on her, especially because her sister Grace is getting more and more suspicious that Ravenna is leading a double life, and she's not necessarily suspecting it's espionage...

Her most recent mission involves getting infiltrated in a Scottish Highlander's castle as his son's tutor since he has successively denied to send his son to be educated in the English language and costumes, with the excuse that his wife is too sick and he doesn't want to deprive her of her son's company. Besides that, the Laird himself has refused to participate in the mandatory meetings in Edinburgh for the same reason, which generates the feeling that he's refusing the King's authority and may be involved in a conspiracy against the kingdom. It's up to Ravenna to ascertain the accuracy of the facts and report them to her uncle.

Laird Ruairi Sutherland is not pleased to have an English woman snooping around on his businesses but he has no choice. Which doesn't mean he's going to make things easy for her... He starts by pretending he doesn't speak nor understand English, which originates a particularly funny scene since the attraction between them is intense and immediate and Ravenna ends up saying too much because she thinks he doesn't understand her...

I really liked the way the romance between them developed since, luckily, there's no love at first sight. What there is is immediate attraction and they both decide to act on it, without guilt or prejudices and conscious that their time together is limited. Ravenna feels more at ease and relaxed in Scotland than she has felt in London for a long time, even knowing she's pretending to be someone she's not. And Ruairi finds in Ravenna the companion he never found in his first wife. But they both hide a secret that can keep them apart forever...

The secondary characters are great also, especially Ruari's son, Torquil, an adorable kid, and Fagan, Sutherland's guard captain, the only one who isn't afraid to tell Ruairi what he thinks and that is going to be the protagonist of the next book.

Another thing I'd like to stand out is that the protagonist is not a virgin and the hero not only doesn't slut-shame her when she tells him, he really doesn't care...

My Highland Spy

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