Early Review: While You Were Spying by Stina Lindenblatt

While You Were Spying
(Love Undercover #1)
Stina Lindenblatt
Release: February 20, 2020
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ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

She needs a fake husband. He needs to protect his best friend...

Ever since I caught my boyfriend getting hot and steamy with another woman, I’ve thrown myself into my career. But now I’m ready to move from being the super-efficient office manager to an operative with Quade Security and Investigation.

Just as soon as I prove to my boss that I’m kick-ass enough to do the job.

So when my grandmother asks for my help, there’s no way I can say no. Her former love has a mission for Jayden—my hot colleague and best friend—and me. What more could I want?

***
The last thing I want is for Isabelle to be is an operative. She’s my best friend, and I hate the idea of her being in danger. Unfortunately, our boss has other plans.

Isabelle and I go undercover at a resort for happily married couples. But forget moonlight walks and hanging out by the pool. To maintain our cover, we have to participate in activities that would make a nun blush.

Clothes come flying off, and we agree to temporarily be friends-with-benefits while there. No strings attached. No complications. Nothing could be simpler. Right?

Wrong—because there’s another reason we’ve been lured to the resort. A reason that will put our hearts to the test…and our lives on the line. 

Review:

While You Were Spying is quite light in tone for a series about former special ops soldiers turned private contractors. It's kind of a RomCom/Romantic Suspense hybrid. It's full of tropey goodness - friends to lovers, fake relationship, only one bed, workplace romance. I found it a fun, quick read even though it didn't blow me away.

I enjoyed the chemistry between Jayden and Isabelle and the way that everyone around them knew how they felt before they figured it out for themselves. I loved Isabelle's meddling grandmother and her friends, as well as the other Quade Security operatives.

I just felt like the mystery plot could have wrapped up more efficiently. Some of the connections could be cleaner and there's a character that didn't need to be tied in. I also didn't like the way one of the villains was handled. Still, I liked the characters and look forward to reading about the rest of the guys on the team.

Love Undercover is a spinoff from another of Lindenblatt's series. Jayden and Isabelle and Liam, the head of their agency, all appeared in previous books. This is my first book from her though and I didn't have any trouble reading it as a standalone. It was more that I kept thinking, "I bet they had their own book already" when Liam and his wife were mentioned. I may have to check out their story while I wait for the next in this series.

    1/2

3.5  stars