This well-paced, excellently-written story is filled with wonderful characters you’ll want to meet and sit down to tea with. Not only are our main characters outstanding, but so are our secondary characters – especially Belle’s father – George. You’ll love him and how he deals with Hew.

Isabelle (Belle) Howard isn’t a big fan of the male gender – other than her father and perhaps (only perhaps) her brother-in-law). As a very young girl Belle survived smallpox and that left her with one side of her face severely scarred with pock marks. She’s always been self-conscious about it – mostly because of the teasing and unkind remarks made by everyone who meets her – even those who believe they are being kind. The worst of it has been the boys – and then young men – who pretended to like her and then scorned her. No, she’d never marry – not that she wouldn’t like it – she is just aware that none of them could get past her scars to see the real her. Marriage just won’t be for her, but she has the best nose for teas anyone has ever seen – and she seems to have a magic ability to choose the exact right tea for everyone she meets. Yes, her future will be in managing Howard’s Teas and Treats.

Hew Arundel is an agent for the Crown as a member of the elite Royal Saboteurs. He has spent a very long time at their secret training camp called The Farm. He trained in every possible discipline and has finally just completed his first mission – successfully too! Now, he’s in London taking a bit of a rest and catching up with some friends before he heads back to The Farm to wrap up all of the paperwork on his mission. Hew has just finished a lovely meal with his good friend Randall and his lovely wife and is taking his leave when two things happen. First, Hew was struck down in an attack that may prove fatal and second, Randall’s wife appears on the steps to announce she’s gone into labor. Poor Hew, he can’t even die in peace.

Randall panics and doesn’t know what to do first. Of course, his first loyalty is to his wife – but, Hew is probably dying. He cannot handle it all and asks the Howards to whom he is related by marriage, to care for Hew at their place. The Howards agree to take Hew in and nurse him, but their rooms above the tea shop are very small. Belle doesn’t want to take in the stranger, she doesn’t want him to die above their tea shop because that would upset customers. She doesn’t have a tender bone in her body and certainly not one for nursing a stranger the physician is going to die anyway.

I loved watching Hew and Belle tumble down each other’s barriers. Hew is at death’s door, delirious with fever, but he has enough of his facilities to know that his attack must have something to do with his previous mission – and that he has brought danger to the Howard’s door. He’ll do all he can to protect them from harm – but he absolutely cannot fall in love with Belle. He was hurt once and will not be hurt again.

One of the things I loved about both Hew and Bell is their maturity. Both were very intelligent, both were confident in themselves and their abilities, and they were both willing to listen and discuss things. She wasn’t someone who had to have everything her own way at the expense of everyone else. However, the best thing I loved about either of them was that Hew could ‘see’ Belle. He really hadn’t noticed her scars – just the way she always turned that side away, or dipped her head.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read and now I can’t wait for the next one. While this book is part of a series, and there is an overarching ‘group’ in the series, the individual books can be read as standalones. Of course, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to read the whole series, but you honestly don’t have to. This author’s books are witty, romantic, exciting, and filled with wonderful characters you’d want to call a friend. I hope you will give this book a read and enjoy it as much as I did.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )