For Your Arms Only

The Bow St. Agents: Spies in Love #2

by Caroline Linden

He was once a distinguished army officer, a man of honor and heroism. But that was before Alexander Hayes was wrongly accused of treason. Forced to abandon everything he held dear, Alec became a spy for England in an attempt to clear his name. His latest commission sounds simple: locate a retired soldier gone missing. But it also sends him back home, to a family who'd thought him dead for five years—and a woman who'd like to shoot him.
Everything Cressida Turner's ever heard about Alec tells her that he's a traitor of the worst kind, and yet this enigmatic, infuriating, and utterly captivating man may be the only person she can trust—and the only one who can find her missing father. With nowhere else to turn, she reluctantly joins forces with Alec, unprepared for both the dangerous secrets that threaten them and the relentless passion that drives them into each other's arms.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Regency, Espionage, British Literature

277 pages, ebook

First published November 4, 2009

About the author

Caroline Linden was born a reader, not a writer. She earned a degree in mathematics from Harvard University and worked as a programmer in the financial services industry before realizing writing fiction is much more exciting than writing code. Her books have won the NEC-RWA Readers' Choice Award, the JNRW Golden Leaf, the Daphne du Maurier Award, and RWA's RITA Award, and have been translated into seventeen languages around the world. She lives in New England.

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Reviews

[Joanna Loves Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid four stars. Good characters. Slow build romance. Interesting subplot. It’s Linden so it’s well written and researched but it’s not among my favorites of hers, which just speaks to how good a writer she is.

Buddy read in the HRBC!

[Pam Bereznak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caroline Linden is a fairly new author for me even though this is my 13th book by her. I read 3 of her books in 2021 but didn't pick her up again until June 2023. Although I like her writing and her stories, I hadn't planned on reading many more of her books because as someone that reads over 350 books a year, I found some of her books a bit too expensive. I keep her on my list and check back to see if any books go on sale or I buy with credits. I recently finished her Scandalous Series which was really good. I picked up book 1 of this series thinking it was a standalone but then at the end of book 1, this book appeared on my kindle as a book 2. Both Amazon and Fantasticfiction show this and Book 1 as standalones but if you go to Goodreads it’s a series. Now I see there are actually 3 books in the series.
Book 1 was really good so looking forward to reading Alec’s story.

I loved Alec and Cressida. I loved their chemistry and their story. I also loved the total suspense and thrill and danger in the storyline. Really worth the money spent. Overall really good read.

[willaful]

What’s the female equivalent of the angry boner man -- nervous nipple woman? Whatever you call it, it's one of my least favorite tropes. Add in a Regency spy hero (albeit a more historically accurate depiction than usual) and a missing-persons mystery and you have a recipe to bore me senseless.

[Kat at Book Thingo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book probably more than my rating would suggest. But the romance was underdone and overshadowed by the plot. I wanted the the hero and heroine to circle each other more and revel in the uncertainty and put much more at stake.

[Malin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alexander Hayes fought bravely during the Napoleonic war and achieved the rank of Major. During the battle of Waterloo, he was gravely injured and nearly died. When he, some weeks later, managed to get back to rejoin his fellow soldiers, he discovered that not only had one of his childhood friends died during the battle, but that he was being accused of treason. In absolute disgrace, he lets his family continue to believe that he died, and goes to work as a spy for England, in the hopes of eventually being able to clear his name.

Now, five years later, he is sent to locate a soldier whose gone missing from his former home town. He needs to come clean to his family about having been alive all these years, without being able to tell them the truth about where he's been or why he never contacted them. He also discovers that the soldier's youngest daughter, Miss Cressida Turner, is deeply distrustful of strangers, and just as likely to shoot him as aid him in his search. Once Cressida realises just in what dire straits her missing father left her, her widowed sister and aged grandmother in, she has no choice but to join forces with the mysterious possible traitor, as her family will be destitute and homeless if her father is not located soon.

A View to a Kiss, the first book in this trilogy, was a fairly slow and rather uneventful book, despite having a spy as a main character and several others as part of the supporting cast. As it had the rather unusual premise of a noblewoman falling for a commoner, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and rated it higher than I possibly should have. It does, however, mean that I'm not so generous with my rating of this second book, starring Alex Hayes/Alec Brandon, one of the supporting spies of book one, as this one is if possible even less exciting than the first one, and here there is no creative turning on its head of common tropes.

Our hero is worried about returning to his home town, and the only one who seems truly happy to see him is his mother, who doesn't seem to care why her youngest son is alive but hasn't been in contact for five long years. One of the reasons Alex is told by his superiors that he should return home (in addition to the mission) is that his older brother passed away a while back, so he is now the heir to the estate. His younger sister Julia is deeply hurt (very understandably so) and his cousin, who believed himself to be the heir and who has dutifully taken care of everything since his brother's death, must be some kind of saint, as he doesn't protest even a little bit to have his believed inheritance suddenly snatched away. For a while, I believed he may turn out to be part of whatever villainous plot had made Papa Turner disappear (because there was going to be some sort of plot, right?), but SPOILER - he turns out to be totally legit and just goes back to being a nice person somewhere else.

So the plot of this novel, such as it is, involves Alex trying to locate Turner the elder (I do not remember what military rank he was, and I don't care enough to look it up). The first time he runs into Cressida is when he's snooping in the Turner family's stables, and Cressida shows up and pulls a gun on him. She thinks he's handsome and is impressed that he doesn't seem even vaguely intimidated by her (he's a trained soldier, lady, he fought in the war. A slip of a girl with a gun isn't actually much of a threat to him). Her father has been missing for almost two months, and what little money the womenfolk he left behind had, is rapidly running out. While it seems to be pretty common practise for Papa Turner to go off for weeks or the occasional month, he always returns, flush with cash and expects his mother and two daughters to be pleased. He's never been gone two months without word before, and Cressida is getting worried.

After some joint snooping, Cressida and Alex manage to find Papa Turner's journal, which is written in code. Cressida, it seems, has always had a knack for decrypting things and sets about trying to decode the journal, in the hopes that they will find her father that way. I wish I can say they go on lots of exciting search missions, but nope, that is not the case. There's mainly a whole lot of nothing happening for much of the book.

There's a secondary romance subplot involving Cressida's widowed sister and one of their loyal family retainers, who has apparently loved her faithfully since before she got married to the scumbag she is now widowed from. There's their grandmother, who is clearly going senile, and only sees the good in her clearly disreputable son (who does NOT seem like he was a very good father), convinced he will show up any second now. Alex' sister Julia keeps being surly because he won't tell her anything of importance, and she's worried he did in fact commit treason all those years ago.

After three quarters of a book of really nothing much happening at all, there is suddenly a big, over the top action-packed finale, when they discover the truth behind Papa Turner's disappearance (which coincidentally, and very conveniently) turns out to be related to Alex' being accused of treason after Waterloo. Suddenly there's nefarious villains, and people being manhandled and threatened and there's danger and destruction and in a book which has pretty much been people pottering about the country side asking questions, or trying to figure out a code in a book, it seems very sudden and badly out of place.

I still have the final volume in this series left to read (curse those e-book sales), but considering how dull this book turned out to be, I'm not exactly going to be rushing to finish it.

Judging a book by its cover: If I recall correctly, the hero of this novel has short blond hair, not some dark and flowy mullet. The heroine is described as much younger than the lady on this cover, with nearly black, straight hair and she seems to dress fairly primly. So I'm assuming the publishing department just found a generic historical romance cover and called it a day, not really bothering with any kind of accuracy.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was recommended and I found it pleasant enough except for the irksome issue of the British class system, which the author appears not to understand: the heroine's father had been a Sergeant in the English army and the hero had been an officer. There was no explanation for her gentility (for want of a better word). It could have easily been part of the plot - a mother who had married beneath her, an unexpected time at boarding school when her father was in funds, etc. Given her father's status, it seems very unlikely Cressida could have become friends with Julia Hayes, the daughter of landed gentry and sister of the (disgraced) hero. Even worse, Cressida and her sister Callie share their home with a former soldier who had served with their father. Tom came home with their father (although the two men were far from friends) and stayed on as a man of work. Even after the father disappears, the young ladies' grandmother serves as a chaperon of sorts, but even if it was possible that Julia would invite the Turner family to stay, despite their low birth, it seemed impossible her mother would include them and Tom at a dinner! Surely the neighborhood would be scandalized at such behavior.

These inconsistencies, not to mention the hero and heroine behaving improperly under his mother's roof, lessened my enjoyment of the book and made me question the author's (and editor's) knowledge of the period.

[Kate K. F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite type of romance with heroine and hero who see each other as equals, a mystery and the complications in the aftermath of war. A fascinating story with spies and truth. I love how Linden's characters aren't the prettiest but feel real and talk to each other.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly good spy story with romance at its heart (pun intended). A man named Alec Hayes was thought dead at Waterloo, but when he shows up alive he learns that someone planted materials in his belongings that made him seem like a spy. He is given a second chance to work as a spy for England, but he wishes strongly to clear his name. He is assigned the task of finding a missing soldier near his home estate that he has just inherited, so he returns to his home estate, meets with the man’s remaining family, and falls in love with his younger daughter Cressida. She of course loves him and tries to assist him find her father. There’s a lot of layers to this book with characters and plot. An overall terrific story.

[Purple Galaxy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an early Linden and deserves to be better known. The romance is a slow burn but extremely satisfying. A lot of HR books with a mystery that the protagonists are trying to solve fail to adequately integrate the mystery plot with the development of the romance between the characters. I'm happy to report that is not the case here. Of particular note is the way each character has a specific reason to uncover the mystery and they go about solving it both together and in separate ways until the final reveal. Very well done, imo.

[Margarita Remigio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic read

I love spy novels, the more convoluted the better. This novel is very well written and the characters are believable and you get to care deeply for them. I highly recommend this one.

[Judy]

3.5. Good writing, good characters, excellent plotting. Read it in one swoop.

[MacKenzie Wyatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this last in the series; my library didn’t have it until recently. Loved the interaction between Alec and Cressida.

Side note: I still want Ian Wallace’s book. 😅

[Em · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring leads, awkward mystery, and bizarrely poor writing/editing that was not typical of Linden’s work (ex. repetitiveness).

[A.E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was a grower for sure! It was a compelling and interesting plot and the romance was really sweet.

[Lassarina Aoibhell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the refreshing lack of non-communicative nonsense between the main characters, and the layers of how different people reacted to Alec's history. Surprisingly sweet.

[Lover of Romance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alec has spent the past five years as a spy when he was accused of treason, and found that serving his country once again may be his last hope in finding the evidence to exonerate him. He is therefore sent back to his home and family, to investigate the disappearance of a soldier that has retired for quite some time now. He then comes across a fierce woman who comes close to shooting him on sight. To say he is intrigued is a understatement. He then learns that she is the daughter of the man he is looking for. Cressida knows that something has happened to her father, since he has gone missing longer than previous occasions and they are very low on funds and could be out of a home sooner than they think. She knows that she has her sister and her grandmother to think of. So despite her reservation of joining up with a traitor, she works with Alec to discover where her father has gone. What she doesn't expect is to find that there is something more to Alec, she starts to feel something intense and emotional about a man who may be accused as a traitor but could be the most trustworthy man she has ever known and could take her down a path of desire and even love.This is the first time I have read from this author, and I am glad I finally did. I should have tried her out long before now...but you know what they say better late than never. I just love a good spy romance and this one satisfied me. It took a few chapters before I fully got into it, but once I did, I found it a irresistible read and unable to put it down. I loved seeing how these two interacted with each other. Cressida has a strong personality and at first she resists her attraction to Alec, but doesn't give in to him easily or right away. There isn't strong sexual tension until the latter half of the book, its more gradual, as is their relationship. There isn't a right away attraction that is instantly gratified. I really love it when this happens, it doesn't always occur in historical romances. But I love it when its more of a building up in their love connection and Caroline Linden does it beautifully. The plot had a very mysterious hint to it, and I was always guessing how it turns out, and by the end I was surprised but in a good way. The different twists and turns throughout the story line kept me engaged and the connection that is built between Cressida and Alec is enthralling. A Captivating read that will seize every emotion and keep you on your toes....Caroline Linden doesn't disappoint. Definitely would recommend this author to anyone that enjoys a good historical romance that is fast paced and keeps your guessing. One you don't want to miss out on reading. A Keeper.

[Lynda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good story in the series. This time we have Brandons story only we find out that Brandons real name is Alec Brandon Hayes. He is sent back home for two reasons one his older brother has died and he is the heir and two to investigate the disappearance of a Sargent Tucker. He was accused of being a traitor to England so he has let his family believe he was killed at Waterloo. During his investigation into Sargent Turners disappearance he meets Cressida his daughter and things progress from there.

[Greselley · Rating 3 out of 5]

First 60% of the book : 3 stars
Remaining 40% : 4 stars
So as a whole, I settled for 3.5 stars. I swear the first 60% was too slow-paced, in terms of the romance between the hero and heroine. I was beginning to question if that was all the author can give. It feels like those pages were wasted in not so important things. And at the 40%, it seems like fast forward. I didn't even realize that was coming. 'That' being the intimacy part. It almost looked forced. But well, it ended nicely. The treason part helps elevate its value.

[Aspoon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt absolutely no connection to these two characters. I didn't even feel an emotional connection from Alec with him going through as much as he did in the military and he isn't a good spy. I found love scenes lacking big time. I'm sad to say this about Caroline Linden writing because she wrote the book "Blame It On Bath" which is my favorite historical romance book. But I'm glad this was her earlier writing...I would still read more of her work.

[penelopewanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again confused as to whether this is in a series or not. On fantastic fiction this is listed as a standalone, but here it appears to be part of a series. Ah well, it was not disturbing - sometimes you get the feeling there's a lot of background information you should have, but I didn't get that feeling here. The story is entertaining and not so run of the mill.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story about Cressida and Alex, the second in the Bow St. Spies series. I very much preferred the first book in the series, A View to A Kiss, which was a far better story.
Imo, there was nothing that grabbed me. This was an average story that didn't "float my boat".
I have loved all Caroline Linden books, but only liked this one.

[Karla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I this author is an autobuy for me and I enjoyed this one, just not up to some of her other books. On the one hand the plot is a little slow but the benefit to that is that hero and heroine really get to know each other and their falling in love is believable.

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and enjoyable read. I appreciated how Linden does not resort to mysteries that always end well - and indeed, I liked how the characters were not all good. Of course, since it was about spies, I liked it all the more. :) Definitely fun and I look forward to reading her other book.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judging from the cover, you'd think that this book was strictly historical romance but it's that and more...add some mystery and spy business to the mix and it makes for a good and easy read. Looking forward to future releases.

[Nancy Luebke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fast paced read and I loved it.The characters were great and it felt real as far as family reacting to each other. I loved all the ins and outs. It was hard to put down even while visiting my grandbabies.

[Bree · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the characters and the "mystery," so I'm not sure why I left this book feeling unsatisfied?

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

another spy rom, but not as good. Only last 1/s gets better, weird char decisions

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not good. Took too long to get going. I had to force myself to finish it.

[Bebe Four · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series rating: 3+
I enjoyed the first book much more than the other two. The spying element was a very large part of the stories.

[Foggygirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read but the ending was somewhat generic and not that interesting.