Review: An Affair with a Spare

An Affair with a Spare by Shana Galen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, Sourcebooks Casablanca and Shana Galen for receiving an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my Lordie Lord Lord. Whatever shall I do? (Swoon). I just can’t for the life of me decide how to rate this!! I mean, it is what it is (a historical romance) and it doesn’t pretend to be anything but. For that, I give it credit. It wasn’t nearly as annoying as some of these romance novels can be. It follows the trope, the writing is light but the characters were not cardboard. I was really glad that Collette didn’t play the completely helpless damsel in distress. I have a hard time stomaching it when the girl is useless and the relies on the man to do everything. Realistically that would never happen, even back then. Also, why would the man fall in love with her when he has usually rejected a million other females that behave that way. The point is supposed to be that she is different and that’s what entices him. There also wasn’t a lot of time spent on them fighting and hating each other before falling in love. There was the logical reason of them both being spies that puts them in each other’s path. They develop a relationship by getting to know each other. I enjoyed that. Rafe, the main male character, was also painted a little different. Yes, he was gorgeous and had abs to die for, but his job as a spy was as a seducer of women. He was really rather inept at the physical confrontations. His soldier buddies laugh at him and don’t take him that seriously because he never fought on the battle front. I though that made him endearing. He wasn’t the he-man, overly macho man that can do everything with ease. Having to seduce women for information did make him a rather good lover, so there was that perk! Thank goodness Claire wasn’t the virgin sacrifice. So happy that she had some experience, even though she was still virginal in behaviour. These are the little differences that for me made this more of an enjoyable read. So, I used to enjoy these romance novels much more when I was younger. I loved the whole experience from the first meeting to the happily ever after. I was excited to revisit this genre.

“An Affair With A Spare” is book 3 in a series called “The Survivors”. You do not have to have read the other novels in the series and can enjoy this book as a stand alone. The story is about a French woman, Claire, who is trying to free her father, a former assassin for Napoleon, from his jailers. She is sent to England to spy and bring back the codes needed to decipher the British communications. Rafe, a son of an earl, fought in an elite unit and has just returned home to England. His commander learns about Claire and sends Rafe in to seduce her, get all the information he can from her and then kill Claire and her father. As they both spy on each other, they fall in love. I have to say, neither one of them was convincing as a spy. I know Claire’s character wasn’t supposed to be a professional but still they weren’t even the least bit good, which was actually kind of funny. Can Claire trust Rafe to help her or will he turn her in to the authorities. The story was enjoyable, the premise believable and the sex scenes were exciting, tasteful and plentiful.

I’m not sure what happened but I was reading along nicely and then boom. Something hit me. I sort of lost my taste for it and I’m not sure why. This was maybe about a third of the way through. A romance novel is like dessert. Decadent, sweet, light and fluffy, sometimes sinful. But you know when you bite into that piece of chocolate cake and it is sickly sweet, almost turns you off. That’s what happened to me. Then, it sort of went away and I enjoyed the rest of the book. Maybe I enjoy the paranormal romance books better because of the world building? I’m not sure. But I think it is more of a me problem than the book’s problem. When I try to put my finger on it I can’t. The writing was good, the characters likeable. I didn’t find the action particularly exciting. I didn’t feel a build up of suspense. For some reason I stayed a little detached from it and that was a weak spot for me. I did find it amusing, especially Claire’s penchant for the mating habits of hedgehogs. So, I think that in the end I will rate it 3.5 stars. If this is a genre you love then I think you will enjoy this book.

Can anyone explain the title to me? I don't get it. Leave your thoughts in the comment section!

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