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Title: The Black Hawk
Author: Joanna Bourne
Genre: Historical romance (Napoleonic Wars, fourth in series)
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: Rival spies Hawker and Justine may work for mortal enemies, but somehow they keep finding themselves drawn together.
Thoughts: This is less the stereotypical romance plot than a spy novel with a strong romantic element. It's a fairly common subgenre at the moment (I blame The Scarlet Pimpernel), but Bourne's series is one of the better executed.
The main plot involves a plot against Justine's life that just may be an attack on Hawker, too. But the majority of the novel is actually flashbacks to various missions they have run together, and how their affair began and reached its current stage.
One of the big problems in many romance novels is creating a good enough reason why the heroes can't be together until the end, despite the fact they obviously belong together. Here, the reason is fairly compelling--she works for Bonaparte, he works for the English. They're both loyal to their respective causes, and thwart each other from time to time, but Bourne manages to also come up with several plausible reasons for them to work together as well. Their romance feels natural, as does the reasons it cannot be.
The ending is also fairly satisfying. I'm glad that there's a justification for why Justine's past had to include time in a brothel, rather than just being a salacious detail. It gives her not only continuing motivation for her actions, but turns out to give her some crucial insight at the last moment. The two work very well together, with good chemistry and a lack of silly "love at first sight" nonsense--this is a pair who know each other over years, and when they get their predicted Happily Ever After, it feels believable and earned.
Author: Joanna Bourne
Genre: Historical romance (Napoleonic Wars, fourth in series)
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: Rival spies Hawker and Justine may work for mortal enemies, but somehow they keep finding themselves drawn together.
Thoughts: This is less the stereotypical romance plot than a spy novel with a strong romantic element. It's a fairly common subgenre at the moment (I blame The Scarlet Pimpernel), but Bourne's series is one of the better executed.
The main plot involves a plot against Justine's life that just may be an attack on Hawker, too. But the majority of the novel is actually flashbacks to various missions they have run together, and how their affair began and reached its current stage.
One of the big problems in many romance novels is creating a good enough reason why the heroes can't be together until the end, despite the fact they obviously belong together. Here, the reason is fairly compelling--she works for Bonaparte, he works for the English. They're both loyal to their respective causes, and thwart each other from time to time, but Bourne manages to also come up with several plausible reasons for them to work together as well. Their romance feels natural, as does the reasons it cannot be.
The ending is also fairly satisfying. I'm glad that there's a justification for why Justine's past had to include time in a brothel, rather than just being a salacious detail. It gives her not only continuing motivation for her actions, but turns out to give her some crucial insight at the last moment. The two work very well together, with good chemistry and a lack of silly "love at first sight" nonsense--this is a pair who know each other over years, and when they get their predicted Happily Ever After, it feels believable and earned.
