Ok, I LOVED this. Our female main character is a famed spy for the Union (known as "The Butterfly") and she's been thrown back into duty after the war as a fake madame for New Orleans' newest gentleman's club. She's reluctant to return to spying, but is pressured by the current administration and her good friend Harriet Tubman in a trade-off that will hopefully help protect her parents' right to land. She's from the swamps of South Carolina and knows how to defend herself (which she demonstrates, repeatedly, much to my delight), and has to navigate what her future holds post-war and what kind of life she wants to build for herself. Our male main character is another fairly spoiled Le Veq brother (Archer, this time), and our prologue introduction is pitch-perfect (who doesn't love a man who needs rescued by a woman undercover). Years after their initial encounter, he is wandering through life, well-intentioned but aimless, and his reunion with the spy who saved him is a chance for him to find both purpose and partnership. We have a high-stakes mix of hidden identity and class difference, with original twists on familiar tropes (like sex lessons), and a plot that paces well with the romance from start to finish.

My ONLY gripe is that we have a truly bizarre set of twins in the secondary cast, and I did NOT need their scenes in my brain box. Check content warnings, but holy heck I could have done without their characterization and their role at the sex club.