The Black Hawk is one of my most anticipated reads this year because the hero, Hawker, aka Adrian Hawkhurst, former thief, master pickpocket from the rookies of St. Giles, Head of the British Intelligence Service in 1818 Post-Napoleonic War England, has made a lasting impression based on the past three books from Joanna Bourne. The one before this, The Forbidden Rose, was a prequel set during the French Revolution, which featured Hawker as a thirteen year old grubby street boy, but one who becom More...

Sweet utter perfection.

My crystal ball tells me.....Nothing will live up to this for many many months.

3.5 stars.Very enjoyable book! I couldn't wait to read Hawk's story after getting to know him in The Spymaster's Lady. This book came very close to living up to the expectation, but didn't quite reach my 4-5 stars quota. It wasn't as good as The Spymaster's Lady IMO, but it was entertaining nonetheless. Espionage storyline isn't my favorite theme (and there were lots of it) and I kind of felt like Hawk was a little more in love with Justine than she was with him. When your woman threathens to ki More...

3.5 stars. I have a hard time articulating my thoughts on this one, because it's not really romance novel shaped. Most of the relationship drama occurs in flashback, and the bits in the present of the novel are what would normally be a crisis and denouement. However, there's a mystery in the present that has a whole arc, with roots in some of the flashback bits but mostly taking place in the present. If that makes any sense whatsoever. So this book didn't read like the typical romance novel, whi More...

This is less the stereotypical romance plot than a spy novel with a strong romantic element. It's a fairly common subgenre at the moment (I blame The Scarlet Pimpernel), but Bourne's series is one of the better executed.

The main plot involves a plot against Justine's life that just may be an attack on Hawker, too. But the majority of the novel is actually flashbacks to various missions they have run together, and how their affair began and reached its current stage.

One of the big problems in ma More...

The story is set during the French Revolution and the time of Napoleon Bonaparte and afterwards. Justine is a spy working for France against the British. Hawker is a British spy working in France. On rare occasions, they worked together. Usually though, they were on opposite sides of the fight. Still, over the years, they managed to fall in love - although it's a distant kind of love.
As the story begins, Napoleon is in exile. Justine has 'retired' is is a shopkeeper in England. Hawker is now Adr More...

This is the first romance novel I've given a 5. Everything else aside, I feel comfortable rating it that on pure enjoyment. If you want to read it, do yourself a favor and read the rest of the series first. No, they aren't quite as good as this one, but they're worth it. All else fails, think of them like foreplay - by the time your finished reading them you'll basically be begging for this one to play out. I recommend The Forbidden Rose first, or at least reading that one before you start the B More...

While I enjoyed this book, especially the author's fantastic prose and writing style, it didn't resonate with me. I thought that there were great elements in place for a spy story, with a bit of romance on the side, James Bond style. However, this book is advertised as a romance and I feel that the romance often took second place to the setting. I feel that the author spent so much time shaping her characters, the scene and creating a back story, that the plot of the novel itself lost flavour. M More...

Joanna Bourne is hands down one of my absolute favorite authors. This is a wonderful, exciting, smart read-- I love how strong her female characters are and how both main characters save eachother throughout. Spy novels are often silly, poorly researched, and waver between 007 and Ocean's 11, but Bourne writes solid books with strong attention to detail and history, without making it feel like a civics lesson or a deviation from the story.

While I enjoy some of Bourne's other works more than thi More...

This is the fourth book in the series, and it's the first I had to wait for. The other three I read without much wait time in between. And it's made me wish I'd kept the other three, to read them all through again as a quartet because there was so much I just couldn't remember. (I'll probably get them again from the library anyways.) I don't know that it would matter for any of the other books, but Hawker has been such an important thread through them all that it was disappointing to know I was More...

30yo shopkeeper & former French spy gets stabbed. English spy Hero (who’s also her former lover) helps her rehabilitate & find the culprit. Memories of when they met, became lovers later, & events that caused their various separations are remembered. They gradually piece together clues that lead them to the persons involved in her stabbing.

I was frankly bored with this book. I actually read the whole thing &, boy, did it feel long! It was basically a historical portrayal of the t More...

Joanna Bourne, unfortunately, seems to be one of those well-loved romance novelists who, for whatever reason, leaves me cold. Since "The Black Hawk" won best Romance at AAR, I figured I'd give her another shot (having read the first in this series and not being taken enough to keep up with it). While I enjoyed "The Black Hawk," and would give it a four star rating based on technical writing skill, the romance failed to capture me which meant I could not in good conscience give it a higher rating More...

Adrian is one of those delicious heroes you can’t get enough of and, as is so rare in romance novels featuring a truly memorable hero, Justine is worthy of him.

They share an epic romance that spans decades, a love forged in war but defeated by peace. Their sentimental moments are believable and heart-wrenching. Their cold, pragmatic separations are also believable and heart-wrenching.

Basically, Joanna Bourne is reliably excellent author. She writes beautifully. She creates complex characters a More...

I have been a big fan of Joanne Bourne since the superb Spymaster's Lady. But I had a bit of a struggle to give the fourth book in this series five stars. In the end, I decided that my low-level disappointment in the book should not detract from the fact that it's a fine piece of work, as always, from Ms. Bourne. The love story is beautifully done, and Justine is a first rate heroine, if not quite up to the incredibly high standard set with Annique and Jess.

Two things caused me to find this book More...

Redonk Nutshell: The story of two rival spies and how they went from enemies, to friends to lovers

The long awaited book in Joanna Bourne's Spymaster series has finally arrived! I rejoiced at getting my hands on Adrian Hawker's story. I've read three of four of Bourne's series, and I've been somewhat enamored of Adrian from the start. I was really, really excited to read this and get more quality time with Adrian.

The book starts out with Justine DeCabrillan, a former French spy, being attacked wh More...

You think I loved "The Forbidden Rose"?! I love this book so much that I want to start a family with this book. I want to get married and live happily ever after with this book. This book and I are meant for each other. I love this book so much it's depressing. HOW am I going to read other books?!

The story, the plot and writing - fantastic. The characterizations: spot on. Like I said in the Forbidden Rose review, these characters are SPIES. Their emotions are HIDDEN. They don't go around expres More...

This is a truly wonderful book. As soon as I finished it I went back to the beginning and started it all over again. The characters have taken up residence in my brain and I think will be there for a long time to come.

Readers have been demanding Adrian's book ever since we met him in Bourne's first book, Spymaster's Lady, and this truly is his book. A lot of it is written from his point of view, for one thing. But more importantly, Bourne manages to have us watch Adrian grow up from 12 to 19 to More...

I really enjoyed the book. To me, it was a spy novel with romantic elements. The fact that Justine and Hawker were older characters helped to minimize the amount of irrational behavior that occurred.

I liked the flashbacks. I thought they were effective in showing how Justine and Hawker's relationship evolved over the years. I was somewhat confused by why the big event was so big - considering all she had to was explain it was an accident.

I liked the author's style. It was memorable. She made t More...

A really fun read with strong, distinctive characters and a plot that actually hangs together. Spies! Historical turmoil! True lovers parted by politics! Lovely prose and witty dialog! What else can you ask for?

Hawker, aka Adrian Hawkhurst, the no-nonsense, reformed-criminal, swoon-worthy hero here, has always been the most compelling recurring character of this series. You'll enjoy The Black Hawk much more if you've read The Forbidden Rose and The Spymaster's Lady, in which Hawker is an importa More...

A book worth reading. I have wanted to read Adrian's story from the first time I met him in the 1st book, The Spymaster's Lady. He is a fascinating character, one you can't predict what he'll do next.


Quotes I love:
“Join us. Cummings is about to reveal why he’s graced me with his presence today. I’m . . . what’s the word I want?”
“Intrigued.”
“Exactly. I knew you would have the mot juste in your pocket. I am intrigued.”



He drank again. “Last time you gave me brandy was outside Zurich.”
“When you came More...

Maybe if I had had Wikipedia open on my laptop while I read The Black Hawk, I would have enjoyed it a bit more. That's the kind of historical romance it was - far more historical than romance. Oh, it was plenty steamy, don't get me wrong, and I loved Adrian and Justine, both as individual characters and as a couple. The particular issue I have stems from the fact that it is just simply hard to wade through at times. You'd think after the amount of books I've read taking place in this particular More...

The Black Hawk: by Joanna Bourne
Anyone who knows me knows I love spy novels, and mysteries, Joanna Bourne writes a good spy novel and she really knows her time period. This one in particular was well done.

What happens when two young spies, and when I mean young I mean early teens, on opposite sides of the conflict come together for a time to work together, knowing that they will soon be enemies once again. We have met these two in previous novels and so it was only time until their story would More...

Adrian's both mysterious and alluring. It's exciting to watch him and Justine at odds, through no fault of their own; they're both sharp and quick-witted, intense and dedicated, yet find themselves on opposite sides of The Game of spying.

Everything I want to say about this book gives away spoilers for what happens between Adrian and Justine. If I say the scene in the storm was sweet and exciting, you won't know what I mean unless I tell you just what they got up to under the rain - and why. If I More...

I mean, I really like this author's writing style in everything she does. It's vaguely flowery and antiquated, so be warned I like that and it makes some people furious, so it might not be for you. It makes the book feel more "significant" than others in the genre, more Outlander light than frothy stuff. ANYWAY I enjoyed this book, but I think there was some tension lost in the plot construction. I mean, there was no tension because you pretty much knew the two were DEFINITELY gonna get together More...

I'll preface this by acknowledging that Joanna Bourne is obviously a well-loved author, and I don't want to necessarily detract from that. I don't think that the book itself was objectively bad; it just wasn't for me. I rarely don't finish a book, but this was a rare DNF. While both Justine and Hawker were dark and dangerous and full of angsty pasts, I had trouble discerning any personality in either of them beyond that. I couldn't get absorbed in the mystery because the constant flashbacks kept More...

If you’ve read the previous three books in Bourne’s Spymaster series, you’ve already met Adrian Hawkhurst (Hawker), spy extraordinaire for the English Intelligence Service. And probably like me, you’ve been intrigued by his past, charmed by his sardonic wit, and anxiously awaiting his own story.

The narrative is written in Bourne’s typical whimsical style. Not everything about Bourne’s style works for me. Though a bit over-the-top, the first book still managed to feel refreshingly light and frot More...

This book can be read as a stand-alone, but will read much better if you've read some of Joanna Bourne's previous novels in the Spymaster series, especially last year's The Forbidden Rose, where several of the novel's characters are introduced, and you get valuable backstory about this novel's main characters.

Sir Adrian Hawkhurst, head of the British Intelligence Service, opens the door his headquarters to find Justine DeCabrillac, former French spy, (who happens to be one of his childhood frie More...

Finally we get Hawker’s book and it has been a long time in the making. Adrian Hawker, former thief, now mastermind spy, having trained under William Doyle. At the start of The Black Hawk, we see Adrian in his mid-30’s, and Head of the British Intelligence Service. And as goes his life, he gets drama on his doorstep. His former lover, (always his love) Justine, shows up stabbed and bleeding. Justine is a french spy, and although meeting when they were very young and cementing their union, they h More...