The Secret Service of Tea and Treason by India Holton

genre: fantasy romance

Alice is a fearsome secret agent for A.U.N.T., the secret government organization dedicated to protecting the land and keeping things tidy. She has spent her life keeping everything in place and ruthlessly doing her job - emotions are meaningless twaddle that only divert one from one's purpose.  However, when she is partnered with Agent B for a mission to save the queen from a dastardly plot, Alice is going to be stretched to the end of her last nerve.  Hopefully she can at least find a good book somewhere to help her calm down.

Oh my goodness, the only word to describe this book is a ROMP.  A whimsical and witty story full of tipsy pirate ladies with a tendency to mastermind devious plots and undercover secret agents who are determined to keep the peace.  This sort of book isn't going to be for everyone.  It's almost constant mayhem interspersed with some steamy scenes and sprinkled with a tiny bit of actual trauma that makes falling in love for someone like Alice to be a challenge indeed.  I have never read books that comedically play with language in the way this and it's two previous iterations do and I DELIGHT in it.  If you haven't already read The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels and The League of Gentlewomen Witches, I do recommend doing so first because you'll see some delightfully familiar characters here, which only adds to the fun.  If you like your romance to be witty and your wordplay to be top notch, please try this.