This book felt sort of dumbed down, every single thing was spelled out in case anyone might not be following along. There's no need to assess the characters for yourself, Callen will tell you what you should be thinking... Just lots of telling when she should be showing really. No subtlety, no nuance, nothing especially interesting or creative. Lots of awfully convenient but highly unlikely events. I thought perhaps it was her first attempt at writing a historical romance, but no, she's written many of them, this is just how she chooses to write I guess. I really expected to give this book two stars for all the above reasons, (and at the start I was definitely just slogging through), but it ended up in a sort of simple entertainment by the end that I enjoyed more than I was bothered by the problems, so I'm rounding up to three stars. ( )

This is the first story I've read by Gayle Callen and I love the action and surprising plot twists. The train scene especially was loads of fun. A great start to a new trilogy and I cannot wait to devour the other two! ( )