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Nia – :
It’s an undercover agent story but also romance.
Admittedly a difficult romance, between two very different women.
This is a story with very complex characters!
Life as a spy is a difficult one anyway.
It’s even more difficult, when you try to leave it all behind and start over.
However, Annie’s employer doesn’t allow this. She’s just too good to just quit and she has no choice!
Her past catches up with her and becomes a means of pressure.
Her new goal in life is L.A., where she wants to go back to school again to get another master’s degree.
At least she tries and in all the uncertainty she meets Helen. Professor Helen Everton.
Helen becomes her home.
This relationship is a little unusual.
It starts slowly and harmlessly and turns into something neither of them expected.
Annie’s story made me hate the CIA and FBI a little. It’s probably intentional…it made me angry so often that Annies wasn’t given any choice. However, the development of her relationship with Helen is the highlight of the book and totally captivated me!
Helen and her three sweet kids are just so warm and feel safe, but Helen also has a lot that lies hidden. Just like Annie!
An exciting story and definitely worth reading!
Thanks to Ylva Publishing and the Author Emily Waters for the ARC!!
listener15 – :
Stars: 5 Stars
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Anastasia Watley
Series: Stand Alone
Steam Level: Steamy
I read this for the 2025 Sapphic Book Bingo reading challenge for the prompt Suspenseful Book.
CW: death (past), death of a child (past), violence
I adore Emily Waters and want a billion more books written by her.
Quick Thoughts:
– This started as an AU for a The Closer/Major Crimes fanfic and is crafted so well that you don’t need to know anything about the shows but those of us who are fans catch the Easter Eggs
– Single mother and age gap in this book. I’m noticing a trend in what I read
– Like in her other book, this is only told through one POV which is Annie’s
– It took me a minute to realize it’s set in 1992. Talk about giving me all kinds of flashbacks
– It was fun watching Annie slip so easily into Helen’s family life
– More I learned about Annie’s past, the more I wanted to cover her in bubble wrap and guard her with a baseball bat
– The title doesn’t make sense until the last third of the book and I thought it was pretty darn clever
– Hey Mallory! (from Honey in the Marrow)
– Frank Clifton should have been boiled in a vat of acid
– That ending from when she’s planting the bug to the last page, wow. Just wow. Perfect (though I’m hoping for either a short story or book that continues this book)
– Anastasia Watley is amazing. She does a fantastic job at infusing her voice with amusement, concern, confusion, and all sorts of emotions, on top of that, she simply has a soothing voice
Overall I adored this book. Emily Waters did a superb job in drenching the setting in the early 90s and told a fantastic story to boot. On one hand I’m so very happy I read this, on the other hand I’m sad I did because now I have to wait for the next Emily Waters book. Dang.