You may have noticed that a week on the beach means that I’ve read a lot of books and whilst I have been bingeing a little on Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St Mary’s series (and Margery Allingham to a lesser extent) my favourite book last week was Dave Sinclair’s The Barista’s Guide to Espionage.
I’ve said elsewhere that this book is what would happen if Stephanie Plum had James Bond’s baby – and according to the publisher that was what the author was going for, so big success there.
And to be honest, what more could you want. Eva Destruction’s mistake – and this isn’t a spoiler because it’s in the blurb on Goodreads – is that her ex-boyfriend is a billionaire super villain who is trying to take over the world. So far Harry’s masterplan appears to be working – but there’s a dashing spy trying to thwart his plan – and if he can get Eva into bed at the same time as bringing Harry down so much the better. This all unfolds slightly out of order, just to keep you in even more suspense as Eva tries to work out which side is the right side to be one – after all Harry did buy her a castle of her very own…
This is so, so, so much fun. I mean, Eva blazes through this book, living up to her name with the trail of wreckage in her wake. And Harry the Billionaire is really well done – he has enough moments of being really human that you can see why Eva struggles to side against him at time – he’s not like a Bond villain were you know the only reason he’s attracted his female hangers-on is because he’s rich*. This unravels like an action movie – with set pieces scattered across the world and bluffs and double bluffs galore. I can’t wait for the sequel – and hopefully the movie.
This was another book which came to me via my Fahrenheit Press subscription – which has already given me previous BotW’s Murder Quadrille, Black Rubber Dress and Death of a Nobody as well as a bunch of other excellent books which have been in the running. Fahrenheit Press are starting to bring out physical copies of their books, but as yet, the only place you can get this is on Kindle but it’s definitely worth £2.95 of your hard-earned money.
Happy reading!
*Except May Day. I think she likes Zorin because he’s mad and lets her be violent (and he’s rich, and younger than most Bond villains).
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 
That cover is beautiful. And I really need to get a copy because it sounds exactly like what I want! =) {also: read Katie Fforde based on one of your reviews-Bidding For Love was the book I chose, and while I loved it some of the references were confusing. Pulling a Trinny and Susannah?}
Hope you like it @passmethatbook if you do get it. V. glad you liked the Katie Fforde – Trinny and Susannah were a TV make-over duo who had a programme called “What Not to Wear” in the early 2000s where they stood you in a 3D mirror, critiqued you and then made you look “better” – usually by including a better bra, a better haircut, updating their makeup and by giving them rules about necklines, hemlines etc based on their body shapes.
Ah! That makes more sense! And yes I enjoyed it rather a lot! =)
If you love escapist adventure have you tried any books by Madeline Brent? She is the pseudonym of Peter O’Donnell who wrote the fabulous Modesty Blaize books. Mostly set in Victorian times all include a feisty heroine who is intelligent and independent turning their lives around. With a good mix of mystery, a touch of old fashioned romance, lots of adventure and some exotic locations they are my “go to” books for a pick me up.
Ooooh. I haven’t come across those before – I’ll add them to the list. Thank you!