Game of Spies

By Pamela Mingle. (Spies in Love, #2)

3.5 stars, best enjoyed with mulled wine by firelight.

Isabel Tait has known little of the world outside of her home where she lived with her mother, half brothers, and recently deceased step father, who was not a very nice man, other than the world can be a cruel place. Cloistered all her life, she is both grateful and afraid when her mother tells her that she is getting remarried and her spinster daughter is to be married off or sent elsewhere. Hope comes in the form of Bess Shrewsbury, an acquaintance of her family, who offers Isabel a place amongst the circle of companions for Mary, Queen of Scots. Isabel takes the position and is thrust into a world she has never been a part of, full of plotting, dancing, intrigue, gossip, and secret trysts.

Amongst those at Shrewsbury is the handsome and beguiling Gavin Cade, a reluctant spy sent on behalf of queen and country to look into a suspected plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I, with the Scots queen at the very center. Isabel, who is quickly taken into Mary’s confidence, become a pawn in a game she never wanted to play, and falls prey to Cade’s charms. However, Cade’s own allegiance seems to shift as he gets to know the demure and intelligent ‘Bel’ and finds himself falling for the fiercely loyal young woman. Their love grows even as their lives are thrown into chaos, with an attempted abduction, murder plots, and other unsavory dealings. Apparently, that’s just court life with an imprisoned Queen whose very existence is a threat to the crown.

I’m a sucker for historical spy romances, especially when the romance was one of the slow burn kind. It’s a super niche interest, but Game of Spies satisfies and checks a lot of the boxes. I was pretty hesitant when it came to this because I recently studied this period in history and Queen Elizabeth and Mary’s relationship is hotly contested, and historians are still trying to figure out whether Mary truly was involved in planning the plots in which she was embroiled and also whether Elizabeth meant to put her to death (spoiler alert–not in the book, but historical spoiler if you don’t know anything about this piece of history). However, Mingle showed her hand and expertise on staying as true as possible to the historical subject matter and did an excellent job of straddling that line, allowing her characterization of Mary to still leave the reader to decide if she was, in fact, guilty. It’s always difficult to take on controversial subject matter like this in a novelization and I was left entirely satisfied.

Additionally, Mingle used the actual places that Mary was during that period, which only added to the realism of the story. It’s also pretty fantastic to be able to see pictures of the actual places and get a sense of what it was like. One such example is Tutbury Castle. Although the castle isn’t exactly intact 500 years later, recent pictures nonetheless still lend credence to the events that took place and also allow the reader to visualize what it looked like for these historical players and their fictional counterparts, bringing us further into the story.

Although the book admittedly seems to drag around 75% of the way through, I was invested enough in knowing how it turned out and also enjoyed reading the author’s interpretation of Queen Mary, which helped me keep my pace. Overall, Game of Spies was an enjoyable read, and the only reason I didn’t read it all in one sitting was because I looked up and it was 3am on a ‘school night’ and I’m sure my husband was getting tired of the light from my e-reader.

It’s the perfect season for an escapist read like this one. If you’re into historical romance I recommend you pick up a copy for a summer escape!

Thanks to Netgalley & Entangled Publishing for this advanced copy in exchange for a fair review!