GAH - I love these books sooooo much.

The Virgin’s Spy is book 2 of The Tudor Legacy series and if you know me, you know that I love Laura Andersen’s books. I’m not ashamed to admit that I did a bit of begging to get a copy of this book and immediately had to restrain myself from reading it too soon. With that said, as soon as I was able to dive into this book (based on my reading schedule) I did and I was not disappointed!

There are a lot of moving parts with this series and this book is no different. This book picks up with Lucette’s wedding which is really a continuation of her story from book one. Some of the other key events in this book revolve around the fact that Mary Stuart is pregnant, Elizabeth is looking for a husband for Anabel, and Stephen is headed to Ireland. On top of all of that, there is the continued friendship between the Courtenay family and the royal family which only complicates a lot of these storylines.

The Courtenay family are all together at the start of the book and one of the things I love about this series is how close they are with each other. They are all there for each other when needed and it definitely shows throughout this book. Whether it is Lucie counseling and helping Stephen or it is Pippa supporting Kit or it is Kit getting Stephen out of a spot of trouble (for once), they are always looking out for each other and when you add in Minuette and Dominic, I only adore them more.

This book focuses a lot on Stephen and the things he goes through in Ireland. I don’t want to say a lot about it but he absolutely goes through a big shift when things occur in Ireland. Is that vague enough for you?? There were points of his storyline that made me want to crawl into my book and just hug him. I love that Andersen gave us a better view of who he is and more of his personality in this book.

Spoiler

I am hopeful that he will get a happily ever after…I need him to have that after everything he has gone through.

We also get to see Kit go through a bit of a change. He is growing up and one of my favorite parts was when he was with Dominic visiting King Philip. I won’t say a lot about it but the scene paints a picture of someone who is not only growing up but learning and showing his father he has been paying attention. It will be interesting to see where Andersen steers his story considering the feelings he and Anabel have for each other.

One of the things Andersen does well in all of her books is how she mixes in the real historical events with a fictional story. We get to read about real people from history and real events and alongside of those things is a story that keeps me captivated and turning the pages. If you are interested in historical fiction but don’t really enjoy the straight historical books, consider checking out Andersen’s books. I love them all and always recommend them to everyone. Laura Andersen is definitely on my autobuy list and if you haven’t yet read anything by her (WHAT??) you should probably fix that right now.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!