So, again, I am jumping into a series midway. This is my first Collette Cameron. This story was great as a standalone. The heroine's guardian and wife, Keane and Marjorie, have their own story (book 6, To Defy a Highland Duke) and they are in this story, but not in a way that is confusing being read out of order. It might better establish how the heroine, Bethea, knows the hero, Camden, though. I'm not sure if her books are usually shorter, but this one was. Goodreads says about 150 pages.

Bethea finally is getting to enjoy the high society life in Edinburgh. Wanting to dance, flirt, and shop she is endlessly frustrated that her time instead seems to spent avoiding a smelly, pushy earl that keeps trying to force marriage on her. Trying to find a back way out of a social gathering leads her to instead be caught by conspirators and traitors to the crown.

Camden has been attracted to Bethea but has kept his distance. She is his cousin's ward after all. Being a spy also has him wanting his distance to protect his family. But when he unexpectedly finds Bethea completely caught in the middle of his mission, he will do anything to save her.

Give this story a try if you are in the mood for
-marriage of convenience
-ruined heroine
-a novella that feels perfectly developed
-story involving a spy organization
-more of a beta hero – he is not pushy or aggressive but wonderfully caring and conscious of his heroine's feelings.

I really enjoyed this story. I think it can be hard for a story to feel well done sometimes when they are shorter but I didn't feel like I was missing anything with this one. The writing really sucked me in and I felt enveloped in the story. I really liked Bethea's character development. Something I do wish was more was done from Camden's perspective. I felt I didn't know him quite as well because of this.

Just enough balance of action, tension, danger, and kisses. The steam is medium with a few kisses and 1 full scene. For some reason I thought Cameron was a clean or fade to black author and I was happy to find that wasn't the case. She did a great job building the tension and feelings though as well.

The epilogue did kind of throw me for a loop because it has characters from this story finding a happily ever after. I'm not sure if they will have a book coming out too. It was told from Bethea and Camden's perspective but I still felt like it took the focus a bit off them and their HEA.

Definitely going to be getting my hands on more Collette Cameron in the future.

4.5 rounded to 5

Thank you netgalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own regarding this story.