Review of The Secret Service of Tea and Treason by India Holton

I went into this book with expectations/wants that ultimately set me up for failure with this book. I watched The Artful Dodger and wanted a cute Regency fake dating book, but I was very disappointed with my choice.

I am not usually one for romance books, but I wanted to take my chance. I know I started on the third book in the series, although I was told this could be a standalone. The world to me was confusing, and I blame that on my jumping into this series.

The main character came out of the door with an annoying personality. She is supposed to be a strong female lead who is at the top of her league in her spy job. Although she comes across as illiterate at times, carrying a dictionary around with her and taking everything I mean everything literally. This ruined a lot of the dialogue because she would stop the flow of conversation by not getting simple analogies and innuendos. She is supposed to be book smart, yet she doesn't know basic dialogue??

To me, this relationship had no chemistry until the very end, when I started to actually picture this couple being together. There was only sexual tension which if that is want you want then you would love this book. Me on the other hand I wanted some build up with this rivals to lovers. Instead all these people wanted to do was have sex.

The plot of this book was lost to me halfway through. I forgot that they were supposed to be on a mission, which I feel was the actual plot of this book. The ending of this book was the best part to me, although getting engaged after a week of knowing each other... I don't know.

I learned not to buy a book based on a trope, and maybe this type of romance is just not my thing.