Lady Wynwood’s Spies 1: Archer Celebration Tour Stop# 11 – Review

Hi Readers! Happy Icy Friday!

Hope you are all staying warm and safe in these frigid and snowy days (it actually just started to snow again!) I’m excited to be a part of another Celebration Tour with Celebrate Lit and this time it’s for a new to me author, Camille Elliot! So, without further ado, let me introduce you to Lady Wynwood’s spies.

The Bookish Details

Book: Lady Wynwood’s Spies 1: Archer

Author: Camille Elliot

Genre: Christian Historical Romantic Suspense

Release date: December 8, 2020

From The Back Cover

A Christian Regency Romantic Adventure serial novel with a supernatural twist

She met him again by shooting him.

Part one in a Christian Regency Romantic Adventure epic serial novel with a supernatural twist. After four seasons and unmarried because she is taller than most of her dance partners, Miss Phoebe Sauber receives the shocking news that she is being callously banished from her father’s estate because he is remarrying. Feeling betrayed by her father and by God, and wanting to escape her family’s presence, she attends an archery tournament with her friends.

But her perfect aim fails her, and her arrow hits a piece of paper held by Mr. Michael Coulton-Jones, whom she hasn’t seen much in society in several years. But strangely, her arrow tears a section of the paper with a partial symbol that looks eerily familiar to her.

He met her again while searching for a killer.

Michael had quit his work as a spy for the Foreign Office when his brother was poisoned. His search for the murderer leads him to Apothecary Jack, a criminal underworld leader with a penchant for poisons, who is gathering a powerful army through an alchemical potion that can give men supernatural strength.

But his path unexpectedly crosses again with Miss Sauber, who saves him from a trap laid by Jack. She and her Aunt Laura, Lady Wynwood, have found a vital connection to Apothecary Jack and the mysterious group he works for.

Now Michael, who had vowed to never again allow civilians to come to harm, must work with a nobleman keeping dangerous secrets, a human lie detector, a chemist, a fellow former spy, and the one woman he’s never allowed himself to get close to.

And it is only this ragtag group that stands against a traitorous organization that could enable Napoleon to conquer the world.

Click here to get your copy!

What Did I Think?

First of all, the cover is gorgeous! I love all of the attention to detail and the model is perfect. Now I know we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but in this case I did. I’ve never read any books by this author, and I barely read the back cover before choosing to read it.Overall, I found her story very different than normal Christian Fiction and let me tell you why.

The story is about Phoebe Sauber who has just been kicked out of the only home she’s ever known. She decides to stay with her Aunt Laura instead of with her Great Aunt in Bath and that was the start of a very unusual adventure. While at an archery tournament,one of her arrows go wild and almost hit someone in the woods. When she finds out that a very old acquaintance was in disguise and was meeting someone, she is beyond curious. She find a piece of paper with an unusual symbol on it, but when she inquires about it, she finds that it belongs to a very dangerous man — a man who is taking over the gangs of the city, but providing men with something that will give them supernatural strength.

As Phoebe works with her friends and family to stop a madman, she finds out that she doesn’t have to change for God to love or use her and that a sense of purpose is better than a heart filled with bitterness and anger. Overall, I liked the story, but felt it dragged a bit in the middle. I also didn’t like Phoebe’s attitude at the beginning, but can totally understand why she acted the way she did. I did LOVE her bravery and how she wasn’t afraid to lay her life down to save a friend. I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars because of the cliffhanger ending and because I didn’t care for parts of the story, but would recommend it for anyone who likes Christian Fiction mixed with a bit of “super hero”.

Warning!! This book is a part one, so it ends with a cliff hanger.

About the Author

Camy writes Christian contemporary romance and romantic suspense as Camy Tang and Regency romance as USA Today bestselling author Camille Elliot. She lives in San Jose, California, with her engineer husband and rambunctious dog. She was a staff worker for her church youth group for over 20 years and she currently plays on one of the Sunday worship teams. Visit her websites at http://www.camytang.com/ and http://www.camilleelliot.com/ to read free short stories and subscribe to her quarterly newsletter.

More from Camy

I love Regency romances! I started reading them when I was 13 years old and haven’t stopped since.

There’s something about the Regency time period and culture that’s glamorous and decadent and the epitome of elegance. The resplendent dresses! The brooding, romantic Lord Byron and the distinguished Beau Brummell! Dashing naval captains and army lieutenants, glittering ballrooms and winsome debutantes!

The flip side of my personality loves romantic suspense and action adventure. I love seeing strong women face danger with courage and smarts, and strong men willing to do anything to protect their loved ones and fight for justice.

So, basically, the Lady Wynwood’s Spies series grew out of my desire to see Mission: Impossible in the Regency era!

My Regency “IMF” team is brought together when my spinster heroine, a botanist and a skilled archer, discovers that her late uncle had ties to a mysterious group. She goes to her aunt’s best friend, a gentleman who has secretly been a spy for decades, and he forms his team of ex-agents and uniquely gifted civilians to battle this group of alchemists who want to ensure that Napoleon wins the war with England. (Cue the Mission: Impossible theme music!)

I’ve also structured the series a little differently. It’s a very long serial novel, similar to a Japanese manga or light novel series, with 12 volumes that each have a completed story arc, but the main plot isn’t resolved until the end.

I hope you’ll join me on this epic Regency romantic adventure!