My Lord and Spymaster is a compelling read with great characters who have real chemistry, as well as a solid reason for all the conflict. While it isn't anything that is going to redefine historical romance, it absolutely delivers on all the promises that it makes.

Sometimes, I get anxious about reading a book and will refuse to read it. This usually happens with a series that I really like. I tell myself that I don't feel like reading it, but my biggest fear is disappointment. I did that with this book. I don't know if it was the title or what. I had ambiguous feelings about the previous book, even though I said in my review that I enjoyed it. Did I forget that I liked it? I have no idea what was going on with me, but this book was definitely not worth all that angst.

I think one thing I forgot about was the characters. There are a couple of side characters who stuck around from the first book, who I absolutely love. One of them is single, and I am just dying to get to the book where he is _finally_ the love interest (book 4). The new characters, as well, were enjoyable to read about, had fleshed out backgrounds, and motivations that really made sense with their backstories. There were some really touching (non-romantic) moments between the characters that I especially appreciated.

The setting is well-developed, although pretty standard with some liberties taken for modern audiences, I think. Some things happen that I think would be not done in public at the time.

The plot, like the characters, really works. In romance novels, there is the tendency to have contrived attraction and conflict. The contrived conflict usually makes the female lead look like a psycho, as she freaks out and breaks off the relationship for no good reason. In this book, like the previous one in the series, there is a clear and totally reasonable cause of the conflict. The author does a great job of really pushing that conflict as far as it will go, not letting anyone off the hook with an easy answer.

I will obviously be reading the next book in the series. If book 4 with that character who I really love ends up being amazing, I may reread the series, but right now, I'm not planning on it.

Should you read this book? If you like historical romance, then yes. You can probably get away with starting with this book, but having read the first book will give you that thrill when you realize which characters you are seeing again.