** spoiler alert ** At first glance, I thought that this book had everything:

-Victorian England
-court intrigue
-a rogue who is also a spy!

But the court intrigue never fully develops (if you could really call it that), the Victorian elements seem tacked on at best (as if the author hadn't figured out where to set her novel until the very end and then just settled), and the hero isn't a very good spy (or a rogue).

I think the part that irritated me most, though, was where the heroine is marrying the hero (aboard a boat over the Channel!) even as she is saying that she doesn't want to. She wasn't truly being forced, but even so, I just can't countenance it.