A Spy's Devotion By Melanie Dickerson

Julia Grey really doesn't need this spy business on her hands right now.

She's already quite busy with fending off her unkind aunt and uncle, making her cousin Phoebe feel and look good, and trying to match up said cousin with a man she secretly admires.

No, Julia Grey doesn't need Nicholas Langdon complicating matters with his secret diary and spying nonsense.

A Spy's Devotion is the first book in the Regency Spies of London series. Despite its name, little of the plot actually has to do with spying at all. The spying is actually a side plot, with Julia and Nicholas' attraction taking front and center stage.

The beginning of the book is a bit prose-y, very heavy on description and very little on character development or action. We're told things in explanatory paragraphs that we could have been told through action or dialogue. Scenes that would have been helpful to the plot are also summed up in descriptive paragraphs as well. As a result, many of the characters are rather flat or just stereotypical.

I found Julia to be a bit bland, most especially at the beginning of the story. I couldn't get a handle on what was making her react the way she was. Sometimes, she'd be cool and collected, and other times she'd completely blow her top. Later, we discover her mildness was a way of earning the approval she so desperately craves. As she overcomes this thought pattern, she becomes both a better person and a better character.

Nicholas's point of view, on the other hand, seems awkward and forced at some points. The story really could have been told just from Julia's point of view. We learn nothing from Nicholas's point of view that we don't learn elsewhere.

The book does have a very fairy tale feel, and fans of Cinderella stories will probably enjoy it. The message of the story is a little murky and seems a bit tacked on, once again, through descriptive paragraphs, instead of having the character's journey illustrate it.

To sum up? A Spy's Devotion isn't a bad read by any stretch. It's just not one I would turn to for a thought-provoking read or one that will draw me into its world.