How to Plan a Wedding for a Royal Spy
By Vanessa Kelly
Publisher: Zebra
Release Date: June 6, 2015
The plot Will and Alec are expected to
uncover involves a group of Irish radicals who may be using the Hiberian
Benevolent Association sponsored by St. Margaret’s, a small church in St. Giles,
as a front for their activities. The association’s ostensible purpose is to
help Irish immigrants, and its patron is Michael Beaumont, youngest son of the
Earl of Leger, a Catholic and a vocal advocate of Catholic emancipation.
Beaumont, who is suspected of being involved in the assassination plot, is
expected to announce his engagement to Evelyn Whitney, the love of Will’s
youth. Will can’t believe that sweet, shy Evie is involved in a treasonous
plot.
Evelyn Whitney can’t believe her eyes
when Will Endicott joins a house party her parents are hosting at their
Hampshire estate. At sixteen, Evie was fathoms deep in love with Will and
certain that they would be married and live happily ever after. Although she
would have been happy to marry Will even over her mother’s objections because
of his scandalous birth and poor prospects, Will left her. Evie wants a
different kind of life now, one without the passion or the risks she knew with
Will. She is looking forward to a life of quiet contentment with Michael, a
life based on their mutual interests and charity work. She knows she should
keep her distance from Will, but that’s difficult when she suspects there is
more to his appearance than he is revealing—and when her mother, impressed that
Will has the favor of his royal father and the promise of a successful military
or diplomatic career, insists on seeing Will as a potential husband for Evie.
As Evie and Will are forced into one
another’s company, the feelings they have repressed awaken, gaining in strength
as they discover each other anew as the adults they have become. But neither
fully trusts the other, and danger from an unexpected source poses a bigger
threat than either one of them imagines.
From my first reading of Lost in a Royal Kiss, the wonderful
Georgian novella that introduced Vanessa Kelly’s Renegade Royals, I have been
hooked on this series. I find fascinating the idea of a group of royal bastards
struggling to forge an identity and make a place for themselves in the world
that disdains them. I have eagerly awaited each new story, and each one has
rewarded my anticipation. How to Plan a Wedding for a Royal Spy is
no exception. Will is brave and loyal, stubborn and vulnerable—just the kind of
hero to win a reader’s heart, and socially awkward, be-spectacled wallflower
Evie with her exceptional capacity for courage and love is totally endearing.
I also enjoy the way Kelly weaves
history into her plots. From the prologue where Will confronts the brutality
and layered losses of war to the Irish problem and the Catholic oppression that
are at the heart of the book’s action, Kelly gives the reader enough historical
detail to make the story real without overpowering her with information. Kelly’s
balanced presentation makes the reader aware of the different perspectives,
each one “right” from the view of the person who holds it. In this respect, I
was reminded of another Kelly (Carla) who has given me some of my most
cherished historical romances.
This book can be read as a standalone,
but to read it alone is to cheat yourself out of the rich reading experience of
experiencing the full world of the series and appreciating all the ways the
stories are intertwined. Only someone who has read the other books could
understand why one of my favorite moments in this one occurs when Will thinks
that it is “hard to imagine how someone like Dominic could exchange his place
at the center of power for a life of quiet domesticity.” (I’m smiling even as I
type these words.) So, I enthusiastically recommend How to Plan a Wedding for a Royal Spy, but I recommend even more
highly the full Renegade Royals series. (The two novellas are particular
favorites of mine.) And I’m already impatient to read How to Marry a Royal Highlander (June
30, 2015), the story of Will’s friend Alec, a high-spirited, deceptively
complicated man, and the delightful Eden, Evie’s twin sister.
~Janga
