The Miss Mirren Mission (Regency Reformers)

by Jenny Holiday

[Amanda]

This was pitched to me as "perfect for Julia Quinn fans" and if you know me at all, you know how inevitable it was for me to pick up The Miss Mirren Mission. Completely inevitable.

That said, I'm not completely sure why this is marketed for Julia Quinn fans, other than both are historical romances. If there's any JQ comparison I can make, The Miss Mirren Mission had some similarities to JQ's earlier books (specifically the Agents of the Crown ones, since this had to do with spies and such).

Some of the writing style reminded me of earlier JQ books too, with things happening easily (Miss Mirren seemed to understand what Blackstone was up to without him explaining, and I never quite believed it was because she was that smart) and parts of the narrative where what had just happened were summed up from the other character's POV.

Still, The Miss Mirren Mission was an enjoyable book, even if I did see the ending coming before it was revealed. (But then again, I can just pretend that's my amazing logical deducing skillz hard at work.) The characters weren't quite as remarkable as they could have been -- Emily (Miss Mirren) was an abolitionist (planning to speak to a crowd, too! which never happened for reasons) and a bluestocking. Blackstone didn't have his right arm from a war injury and a tragic past... but I never fully connected with the characters as well as I wanted to.

Considering this was the first historical romance by Jenny Holiday, though, I'd be willing to pick up another by her. It's always fun to watch authors grow.