This story balances the thrill of the spy genre with second chance romance to the tune of a comedic Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Many thanks to Natalie Walters, Thomas Nelson Fiction, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in advance in exchange for an honest review. This book’s out now for purchase!
What do you do when you cross paths with your childhood crush during a high stakes mission and they’re working for the baddies (the criminal kind, not to be mistaken for the attractive kind)? Not resign from the mission due to a conflict of interest, apparently. To be fair, when you’re neck deep in the mission, you’ll want to see things through to the end—even though the butterflies in your stomach become very active when your childhood crush is around. The premise of Spies, Lies, and Alibis can be easily summarized as that. This character driven story balances the thrill of the spy genre with second chance romance to the tune of a comedic Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Add in a cast of distinct background characters and a dash of comedic antics to keep from making the story too serious and you’ve got an enjoyable easy summer read.
This is an easy read for the most part. I found the first few chapters slow but as soon as the plot was starting to get established, my interest was then piqued and it was smooth sailing from there. It has a balanced pacing with some chapters focusing on driving the scene forward to the next plot point and others coloring the background as needed to make the reader feel compelled to cheer for Cybil and Ben.
The way that Cybil is portrayed works for her backstory. She’s not some hyper competent super spy, she’s a hard working person who just so happens to work for a private organization. Her pitfalls as a spy is understandable, she might be trained a bit but she’s not MI6. Ben on the other hand checks off the boxes for the classic spy trope—he’s charming, he’s quick on his feet, and he always references his experience which emphasizes that he’s just a cog in the bigger picture of the organization. The romantic chemistry between Cybil and Ben hinge on their familiarity with each other and the author does a fair job at portraying this through simple acts rather than anything exaggerated.
“She’s impossible. And I like it. Way too much”
It’s also cheesy for the most part. The author uses plenty of the classic spy tropes and setups to drive the story forward. They were done in a way that doesn’t feel out of place for the characters and the general plot flow. Speaking of cheesy, James Bond was frequently mentioned by name or alluded to and there were quite a few parts that I could recognize were heavily inspired by iconic Bond scenes. There’s one scene that comes to mind, and you’ll clock it instantly but I’m trying to limit spoilers so you’ll just have to read it yourself. It was done very well and the author really made it hers all while moving the plot forward.
Overall, this was a fun, light read. It’s the kind of book that should be shared among friends without any judgment. Or something that you borrow from the library more than once. I heard it also has an audiobook so I’ll be seeking that out in the future to see how it well it translates in a different form of media.
& babbling 