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The Nobleman and the Spy

by Bonnie Dee (Goodreads Author), Summer Devon (Goodreads Author)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 185 ratings · 39 reviews

They once faced each other on a battlefield. Now soldier-turned-spy Jonathan Reese must keep watch over the man he’s never forgotten. A close encounter reveals Karl von Binder, the count’s son, also recalls the day he spared Jonathan’s life.

Sparks fly between the former enemies and Jonathan begins to lose perspective on his mission. He knows he must maintain distance becau...more

ebook, 195 pages

Published November 2nd 2010 by Loose Id

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The Gentleman and the Rogue by Bonnie Dee

Best Gay Historical Romance

105th out of 273 books — 454 voters

M/M Romance With (Mostly) Blue Covers

29th out of 156 books — 23 voters

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Mar 22, 2012 BarkLessWagMore rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

This was a nicely written historical romance featuring two men who fall in love during a time of danger and intrigue and manage to make it all work. Reese is a spy who has been hired to tail the count's son Karl and make sure he isn't murdered. Karl realizes he's being followed right off the bat and instantly recognizes Reese. They met on a bloody battlefield years earlier and had a "moment". When Karl realizes he and Reese share an attraction he quickly gets things moving with the quiet, reserv...more

11 likes · like · see review

Jan 07, 2013 Matthew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

Not a badly written story. The sex was written in a somewhat cliche manner. It was hot, but it did not entirely seem to fit with the rest of the story. The relationship developed quite quickly. The author sometimes switched perspectives between the two members of the couple. I did not really find anything remarkable about this book. I guess the action elements were relatively well-integrated with the romance elements.

There was a couple of times where the heroes were too dense and did not realize...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 08, 2012 Steelwhisper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: erotic-lit-erotica, london, victorian-era, victorian-wars

This left me laughing and scowling in a way, but definitely very moved and it had patches of such brilliance, that it was the best I read last week.

I loved the description on the battlefield, in fact I loved both characters, each very much himself and special, and both very different from each other, but then also sharing traits. Very well drawn and continuously throughout the story added upon. I also loved the secondary characters like Cohen or the uncle, or Gilley.

There were niggles though:

Fo...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 28, 2012 Matimate rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, m-m

The book was not typical bad gay historical romance. Altrough it was little bit too modern for end of the 19th century, it made it to be pageturner and authors made splendid job to captivate readers attention whole the time. Only bad thing was that book was too short and the main villian was dispossed little bit too quickly and in a way that showed that authors were given limited space to run the plot further.

The spy was typicald hardcore soldier who had enough brains to find occupation in secre...more

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Apr 13, 2012 GymGuy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m-mystery

I enjoyed parts of this book, but I still can't rave about it. It was a "nice" historical novel, but nothing really special. Here are my issues.

-- I Do speak German. There were a few errors. But what really irritated me was that "Neuenschwanderwold" is kind of a misspelling. It would have made sense as a name if it were "Neuenschwanderwald." Wold is not a word. Wald means woods or forest.

-- While the sex was hot, I thought there was far too much. I just got tired of page after page of sexual re...more

5 likes · like · see review

Mar 02, 2012 Elisa Ramblings added it

Bonnie Dee has an odd record, she is probably one of the last authors of heterosexual romance I read some years ago and one of the first authors of gay romance I read more or less soon after that. I still remember when I was perusing Loose Id backlist for their gay romance titles (at the time very few) and I found some novels by Bonnie Dee, one of them, a fantasy, was one of the best read in a long time. The strange coincidence is that, the collaboration with Summer Devon was still far in the fu...more Bonnie Dee has an odd record, she is probably one of the last authors of heterosexual romance I read some years ago and one of the first authors of gay romance I read more or less soon after that. I still remember when I was perusing Loose Id backlist for their gay romance titles (at the time very few) and I found some novels by Bonnie Dee, one of them, a fantasy, was one of the best read in a long time. The strange coincidence is that, the collaboration with Summer Devon was still far in the future, but I also knew Summer Devon, with her other pen-name, and I had even interviewed her for my now closed romance blog: with the pen-name she uses to write heterosexual historical romances, Summer Devon was among the few authors to be translated into Italian, and she was so nice to give me an interview when one of her romances was released in Italy (and if you consider that the average of releases at the time was less than 5 per month you can understand she was really among few selected authors).

Long introduction to say that both Bonnie Dee than Summer Devon come from a long, and good, experience writing historical or fantasy romance and you can well understand that reading their today Gay Historical Romance. They are always well plotted, and well developed, with the right amount of sex to make it an “interesting” reading if you are a romantic reader, but never forgetting this is also a Gay Historical Romance, and so the heroes are not a replica in breeches of a the heroine; they can have some faults, they can like rough sex, but that doesn’t mean they are not fully men.

Like Jonathan, he has many disadvantages in comparison to Karl, Karl is noble, wealthy, with a big ego and an even bigger self-esteem, while instead I felt in Jonathan a need of a stronger hand, someone to lead him. Despite this, during their first encounter, I was almost expecting for Jonathan to take the lead, to be the dominant lover, after all he was there to protect Karl. While Jonathan was a middle class man used to work with his hands, Karl was a spoiled aristocrat. It’s a fine play of balance the one between Jonathan and Karl, but in the end, my assumption on Jonathan is correct, even if he doesn’t need protection, he is well capable of taking care of himself, he likes to have a dominant lover, in life and bed.

Karl and Jonathan likes sex, Karl maybe it’s more experienced than Jonathan, but both of them are willing to admit where their true interest lies and to take up when the chance comes. One of the point I probably liked more than everything is that, despite the fact Karl and Jonathan have a common past together which saw them fighting on opposite side of the field, they don’t let this influence their first encounter and the following relationship. That episode is something that is bonding them more than making them enemies forever.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1611183669/?...(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 20, 2011 Erastes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: gay-historical

Having enjoyed hugely Dee and Devon’s Gentleman and the Rogue I was eager to read this one—although a little trepidatious about the title and it seemed a bit similar, and I wondered if they weren’t just resting on their laurels and writing the same book twice.

However I shouldn’t have doubted them, because this is a very different book in time, flavour and feel.

The eponymous spy, Reese is introduced to us from the start and he sets the scene quite wonderfully, following on from an excellent first...more

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 03, 2012 Tʀɪsʜᴀ Hᴀʀʀɪɴɢᴛᴏɴ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, loved

I loved this book so much. A great historical mm romance book. I would have to say I think this is one of the best I have read so far. The story itself was very good and well thought out. I found myself wondering who was good and who was bad. The pace of the book was good too, I loved the way we caught a glimpse of how they knew each other.

Both characters were strong, and both had something that I loved. Karl was interesting to me, he was very flamboyant and not afraid to show it either. Even th...more

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Nov 30, 2010 Jenre rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historicals, m-m, romance

I’ve really been enjoying these historical novels from Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon and this one was no exception. Having said that, the way that the strong start gave way a little to a weaker ending, coupled with a nondescript hero in Reese, made this my least favourite of their books so far.

Reese is a government spy, working on various assignments since the Crimean War. He’s charged with following a German nobleman, who may or may not be in danger. Reese knows the charismatic Karl, who once spa...more I’ve really been enjoying these historical novels from Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon and this one was no exception. Having said that, the way that the strong start gave way a little to a weaker ending, coupled with a nondescript hero in Reese, made this my least favourite of their books so far.

Reese is a government spy, working on various assignments since the Crimean War. He’s charged with following a German nobleman, who may or may not be in danger. Reese knows the charismatic Karl, who once spared Reese’s life on the battlefield, and he can’t help but be drawn to Karl, making it very difficult for Reese to retain his professional distance.

The book begins well as we are first introduced to the shady dealings of Reese. The murky atmosphere of the public house where he is given his assignment perfectly matches the mood of the story which involves Reese skulking around in shadows in an attempt to spy on Karl. At first I liked Reese, and thought his guarded personality fit well the job he had to do. Unfortunately, Reese doesn’t really change very much as the story progresses, and whilst he tells the reader how his feelings for Karl are developing, he still has a very closed in personality to the extent that he never reveals his thoughts to Karl. This made him a little dull at times and I found that as the book progressed I lost interest in him as a character. The opposite of this is Karl whose naturally gregarious nature, willingness to be open and his charisma, more than compensated for Reese’s mousey personality. I liked Karl a great deal. He’s a man of action, unafraid and yet also sensible with it. He inspires loyalty in his men, and particularly Reese, who is bowled over by the force that is Karl. I also liked that he’s a sensual man too, and not afraid to demand what he wants from Reese. One of the most interesting hints to their relationship was in the way that Reese responded to Karl’s demands in bed, with Reese almost showing a submissive nature. Sadly this was only ever hinted at and I would have liked to have seen more development perhaps in that part of their relationship.

As I said, the story began well with the two men quickly forming a bond of friendship and lust – the scene in the cupboard being particularly thrilling. Once the story moves into the suspense plot involving threats on Karl’s life I felt that the plotting lost a little cohesion. There’s a sudden incident followed by a slow moving section followed then by another attack which made the plot seem disjointed with too many shifts in place and pacing. When the culprit is revealed I found it a little puzzling, as the personality of the villain did not fit with the ways that Karl’s life is put in danger. I know I’m being a bit vague, but I don’t want to give away spoilers!

Despite some of the problems I had with the story and the character of Reese, this book is still well written and engaging. The historical setting, especially in relation to the Crimea War and the aftermath, was unusual and the character of Karl more than made up for a few deficiencies in Reese. Overall, if you like historicals then I think you’ll enjoy this book.(less)

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Jul 04, 2012 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical

I found this novel to be as well written and as historically believable as Bonnie Dee & Summer Devon's House of Mirrors.
The main characters are nice chaps, LOL, and their interactions are pleasantly hot. These authors write very good sexual interactions, something not all authors get right.
I found this one more believable than House of Mirrors, as although we have nobility involved again - this time a European noble - we know this from the start as it's even in the title. I find this more...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Tamela rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, adventure, club-challenge-reads, historical, mid-size, my-favorites, mm-or-mmm, my-6-star-favs, military-soldier-spy, mystery-who-done-it, royalty-nobles, recommended, love-romance

Great book. Suspenseful and with a good ending. This story ranges from murder plots and assassination attempts, bombs to bullets to poisons, everything including the kitchen knife. And through it all begins a love story between two very different men. I highly recommend this story, especially since I've added it to My Favorites list.

1st read - Oct 26, 2011
2nd read - Dec 2, 2012 (BOM selection re-read)

1 like · like · see review

Apr 06, 2013 Annelise L'Estrange rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, m-m, reviewed

Bonnie and Summer just won't stop surprising me.

I thought this time I knew the end. (view spoiler)

Again I was also amazed by the reality in the characters personalities. Reese and Karl just completed each oth...more

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Nov 30, 2010 Wren rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, m-m

I loved loved loved the first two books by these authors, but this one left me flat. I just couldn't like the characters as I had in the other books. I found Reese, the spy, to be sort of bland. Karl, the nobleman, didn't grab me, either. The sex was great, though. But I would've liked to see more exploration of Reese's submissiveness. There was a Big Misunderstanding - well, not so big, as the party involved came to his senses rather quickly, but a Misunderstanding nonetheless - and it didn't f...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 21, 2011 Rane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: victorian-romance, yaoi-m-m-romance, keeper

I first read the author duo of Dee and Devon with their amazing book A Gentleman and a Rouge. Much like their other work, I was captive by The Nobleman and the Spy, with it’s flowing style and characters that are attractive inside and out.

Like many of the romances, I enjoy the “romance”. Books with just sex are alright and all, but for me as a reader, I enjoy watching engaging characters fall in love with one another.
More so with the Nobleman - Karl von Binder heir to a great Count, and trie...more I first read the author duo of Dee and Devon with their amazing book A Gentleman and a Rouge. Much like their other work, I was captive by The Nobleman and the Spy, with it’s flowing style and characters that are attractive inside and out.

Like many of the romances, I enjoy the “romance”. Books with just sex are alright and all, but for me as a reader, I enjoy watching engaging characters fall in love with one another.
More so with the Nobleman - Karl von Binder heir to a great Count, and tried of being played as a pawn in his father’s gain to power. Now with someone out to want him dead, he puts his trust in an attractive Spy Jonathan Resse whom he doesn’t know if he can trust him not to shoot him when his back is turn or pull him in for another kiss.
Resse job is to make sure Karl stay in England is a smooth one, one where Karl doesn’t end up dead, but the attractive nobleman knows Resse from once long ago bloodbath battle, and both men never forgot the other, and the attractive and each other maybe the only thing that can count on when their both faced in a game of death.

Added to the great steam attractive between Resse and Karl, the story revolves around who wants Karl dead. Karl and Resse both once soldiers on the battlefield, met once and when they meet again, sparks fly again. Both are as different as day and night but have sides they share. Karl is fun loving, whom loves life and is tried of the darkness. On the other side Resse is quiet, reserved man, who has a hard time dealing with living out of the shadows. Being around Karl is like being around a bright light, you have a great balance between the two, as the relationship between the two grows slowly as the mystery builds.

Resse and Karl are always center stage with the story revolving around them and not the other way. The steam factor was delicious between the two, but the focus was the relationship not the sexual relationship. The change between the two was wonderful to develop and just enjoyed the story and every element and aspect that I ate up this book and quickly looked into the authors backlist.

Dee and Devon are an great team and each book they write is like a delightful and enjoyable and not to mention yummy surprise!
(less)

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Jan 31, 2012 Antonella rated it 3 of 5 stars

Overall a good book, but it didn't grasp my attention as some others of these authors. My problems:
- too much sex, and especially the first encounter was a bit difficult to believe. Both of them letting down the guard in front of a potential enemy met 5 minutes before? Ok, the spy had spied some two days, still....
- the bad is too bad and a bit stupid, and the good is too good and clever
- the German bits now and then (and please notice, I do speak German, in fact also noticed some little typos)...more

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Dec 14, 2012 Eli Easton rated it 5 of 5 stars

An excellent m/m historical romance. I loved the opening scene where the two characters met on the battlefield. Karl and Jonathan were both very appealing and avoided cliche. I appreciated that they were both BAMF in their own way and neither was feminine or weak. The romance had its bumps in the road, but it never felt like the angst was deliberately manufactured to make a story. There was a mystery/conspiracy plotline that was quite good and had a surprise villain at the end. The sex was expli...more

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Aug 31, 2012 Kaje Harper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, m-m

This historical romance introduces two interesting men. Karl, the nobleman, is outgoing, and a bit of a chameleon, changing his style to fit his situation. He's experienced, seductive, and everything the spy, Johnathan, can't resist. Johnathan has a past marked by pain and betrayal on both a personal and a professional level. His only previous lover was clearly unskilled and uninterested in intimacy, and being with Karl is a revelation to him. Their transition from wary once-adversaries to lover...more

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Mar 12, 2011 Tam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historicals, m-m, police-crime-mysteries

Jonathan is a spy and former assassin who is tasked to keep an eye on a German nobleman. By chance he ran into Karl on opposite sides of the battle field years ago. Once Jonathan's cover is blown, there is instant chemistry between the two, despite Jonathan's reticence after being betrayed by his Captain and lover. However part of his job was to keep Karl safe if necessary and when a bomb goes off at a party nearly doing Karl in, they start to work together to solve the mystery of who wants him...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Aredhel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, glbt, historical, romance, mystery, read-in-2011

The two things that killed this book for me were the first sexual encounter and a very fast wrapping up of the story in the end.
First thing was the encounter - hmm - too early in the story, I guess. Sex for the sake of sex - nah, not my cup of tea. It was really well done and somehow was to the point, but I just couldn't understand why I had a feeling, that the scene was used just to get the reader's attention? Just to ensure them, that, "yeah, there will be sex scenes in the book! It was just t...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Plainbrownwrapper rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm

Not as good as either Seducing Stephen or The Gentleman and the Rogue -- this one seems more awkward and unconvincing, as though it was written before the others (although I think they were all published in the same year).

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Nov 07, 2010 Karin Wollina rated it 4 of 5 stars

That was a great book, and I really liked the german connection (hey I am living there). As far as I remeber reading about this time period it was very well researched. I am not so sure if "blödes Arschloch" (quite right translated from "bloody arsehole") was really a common swearword in this time and socially circles. But that didn`t reduce my enjoyment.

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Nov 29, 2010 ElaineY rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm, historicals-regencies

2 stars is for the few chapters I read only.

This book was nowhere near as engaging as The Gentleman & The Rogue. In fact, I was very surprised by how much better the latter was compared to Bonnie Dee & Summer Devon's (don't anyone dare miss Ms Devon out:P) latest. Neither of the characters were interesting even though they had all the potential. I didn't get very far, to be fair, so my 2-star rating is merely for the few chapters I read and struggled through to stay interested so the boo...more

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Nov 16, 2010 Meggie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this story. The plot is interesting and it pulls you into the main characters lives. You get the attraction between main couple and you can even feel it. So all in all you get excellent enjoyable read.

RECOMMENDED READ.

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Jul 04, 2011 Daanquai rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

The fantastic duo of Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon never fail to amaze me with their historical m/m novels. This was a great book - I will undoubtedly be reading it again, I loved it that much!

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Nov 23, 2010 J.P. Bowie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Top notch story - beautifully researched without endless detail - the two men are endearing, so different from one another both in class and philosophy, yet wonderful together. Thoroughly enjoyed this, like The Gentleman and the Rogue, it's a keeper.

1 like · like · see review

Apr 14, 2013 Xandra rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, mm-romance, reviewed

Interesting, hot book turns into farce due to ludicrous intrigue, ridiculous mystery resolution and implausible character reactions. Okay overall, but it doesn't shine.

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Jul 31, 2011 Lily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, historical, m-m, what-i-read-in-2011, free-arc-gifts-contest-wins, shelf-a-thon-2011-to-12, royalty, challenge-books-2011

I really enjoyed The Gentleman and the Rogue and Seducing Stephen but this story just didn't grab me as those did. My initial reaction was... "It's 1866, you're a secret agent/spy and within minutes of meeting your target you're rolling around the floor in a cleaning closet. Really??" and it didn't get much better for me. Although the writing was good and the sex scenes undeniably hot neither protag really appealed to me.

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Jun 02, 2012 Eyre rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, romance, gay-glbt-mm-mmf

I really enjoyed this story and this couple. It was a bit easy to figure out who was targeting Karl, but it was still a good read.

1 like · like · see review

Dec 14, 2012 Drianne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, m-m

Very cute. Definitely written in competent English. Nice romance. A little too much sex for my tastes, but nice.

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Mar 07, 2013 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the second book I've read by Bonnie Dee. I hope she writes more. I really like her style.

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About Bonnie Dee

I began telling stories as a child. Whenever there was a sleepover, I was the designated ghost tale teller. I still have a story printed on yellow legal paper in second grade about a ghost, a witch and a talking cat.

Writing childish stories for my own pleasure led to majoring in English at college. Like most English majors, I dreamed of writing a novel, but at that time in my life didn't have the...more

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“It was a simple lesson, really. He could never, ever allow misplaced ideals to seduce him. He would not employ death as a tool.” — 1 person liked it

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