The Girl Who Came In From The Cold

Licensed to Love: The Agency Files #1

by J.P. Birmingham

When travel blogger Sophie West flees London and her toxic ex for a fresh start in Santorini, the last thing she expects is to be mugged at the port—or rescued by a mysterious artist whose eyes hold secrets deeper than the Aegean Sea.
Ethan Carter sketches tourists for pocket change, but Sophie glimpses the dangerous man hidden beneath his easy smile. When she stumbles into a high-stakes art auction involving Russian criminals and a lost Leonardo da Vinci, Ethan's carefully constructed new life comes apart. Because he's not just an artist—he's a former operative with blood on his hands and ghosts in his past.
Now Sophie is in the crosshairs of killers who don't hesitate to eliminate loose ends. The only thing standing between her and a bullet is a man trained to disappear—except he refuses to leave her behind.
As bullets fly across paradise and billion-dollar secrets surface, Sophie must decide: can she trust her heart to a man whose every kiss might be his last?
The Girl Who Came in from the Cold delivers scorching chemistry, heart-stopping action, and a love worth dying for against the stunning backdrop of the Greek islands. Perfect for readers who love their romance with an edge.
Tropes: Protector Hero • Strong Heroine • Forced Proximity • International Intrigue • Steamy Romance

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2025

About the author

aka John Birmingham

Reviews

[Frank Mikes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Birmingham is a fantastic author, but I have learned and now learned again that I'm not that much of a fan of everything he writes. This book isn't bad and if you are in the mood for romance novel with some spy hi-jinks, it' definitely for you. I, however, was looking for more of a spy novel with maybe a little romance as a B story.

The characters are well drawn and fairly believable. Ethan, the ex-spy knows his tradecraft but isn't a superhero by any means and his love interest, pretty much the main character is Sophie, who is trying to find herself after ending a bad relationship. The setting is the gorgeous island of Santorini and clearly Birmingham really enjoyed writing it. Indeed I hope he's been there.

The plot meanders a bit, but I put that down to it mostly being a love story which I'm sorry, I just wasn't that invested in. Granted, for me romance is a little like fire. I small fire is nice, a bushfire is very very bad. The villains were bad, but not particularly bright or clever, they mainly seemed to be rich and entitled, which certainly makes them easy to hate but not particularly dangerous.

As I said, this is probably a very good book for someone who is looking for a nice romance.

[Sharondblk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three and a half, rounded up.
This is good silly fun. The plot doesn't make a lick of sense, the main male character keeps describing the absolutely useless main female character as resourceful and the epilogue is ... well, I'm not a fan of epilogues and this one was almost a parody of what I don't like. Despite all this, it was fun, and sometimes a couple of days of fun reading is exactly what I need. I'm definitely reading the next in this series - hopefully the main character will be less useless.

[Lemony Bean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel bad rating this one lower than the average - I usually think Birmingham’s work is the bee’s knees. It’s a good read, but not a great one. Perhaps it’s all being up for a sequel (that was telegraphed about halfway through!), but sections were clunky or rushed, the deus ex machina was too present, and whole sections were just unbelievable.

It’s been a while since I read the source material (the spy who came in from the cold), I don’t remember enough of the story to say whether this is a pastiche of the story or a pun of the name.

[Jim KABLE · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the Island

This is a second action-packed romantic thriller from writer John Birmingham - a new side road to his usual books - but one he writes so well that his name could well be a nom-de-plume (maybe it is really Jasmine Bellingham.) Santorini is the island and there is a mix of crime gangs, secret service and of course the essence holding it all together - romance.

[Alison Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not amazing. Something flat about this writing and I can’t quite put my finger on it. The characters maybe aren’t quite real? Despite having all the ingredients I found I didn’t care enough about the characters to care too much for this book.

[Stephen S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous potboiler

I loved this book. The plot, while a bit predictable has characters who come to life and make you want to care for them. Birmingham has proved once again that he’s a terrific writer.

[Tim Hanton]

Just like all John Birmingham’s books, this one is utterly ridiculous. Lots of fun.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Birmingham's added a heretofore hidden penchant for romance to his traditional high tech spec ops shenanigans.

The man loves his shenanigans.