Accidentally His
Grade : C

Accidentally His is Sabrina Jeffries’ latest title and the third in her Designing Debutantes series about three sisters who begin a party planning business after their mother causes a great scandal. Lady Verity is the only unwed sister of the trio and Rafe Wolfford is a spy who must find the perfect woman to be his wife. Unfortunately, despite their sizzling attraction, Lady Verity does not seem to be that woman. While I liked the heroine, the action takes too long to get going and I was not impressed with the hero.

Colonel Raphael Wolfford is an agent attempting to discover the identity of the French spy who shot and nearly killed his uncle. He believes Verity’s father might be the person he is looking for and attends one of Verity’s parties in order to uncover the truth. Verity, meanwhile, looks for a man she has dubbed “the Phantom” at every society event she attends. She has seen him at many of them, even though he is always in a new disguise. Upon seeing Rafe as himself, she immediately pegs him as the Phantom and sets her sights on discovering what he is up to. Rafe decides to insert himself into Verity’s life so that he may more easily investigate her father’s possible involvement in spying, and to that end, purchases a special meal Verity auctions off every year, a meal she devises that is considered to be the best in all of England. The pair begin spending time together in the guise of Verity learning what Rafe enjoys so she can pick the perfect menu for him. During a break from this, Rafe travels to visit his gravely ill uncle who keeps speaking in riddles, imploring Rafe to save a boy from the “old bitch”. Shortly after, Verity and a few of her friends spy on Rafe and some of his friends as they bathe naked in the sea. He catches her and they have a sexy interlude. From there, a former suitor nearly kidnaps Verity before she helps Rafe finally solve his mystery.

Once upon a time, I absolutely devoured everything Sabrina Jeffries wrote. She was my first historical romance author and I read through her backlist within one month. Sadly, that was years ago, and this book was just not my cup of tea. First, for a supposed spy romance, it takes a long time to get going. Most of the first half is spent with Rafe and Verity discussing the meal she is going to have prepared for him. Eventually, everything begins falling into place and the action picks up, but it’s too little, too late. Rafe is not a great spy, either, as Verity has recognized him through several of his disguises and figures out the riddle his uncle has given him – which Rafe has been pondering for some time. The villain also seems a little ridiculously easy to guess, and stops being villainous the moment they are caught. I miss baddies who followed through instead of ones who “never would have actually hurt anyone.”

I liked Verity well enough, but Rafe is lacking in personality. After reading this, the only things I can tell you about him are that he is a spy and he was raised primarily by his uncle, but that’s it. Verity is a lively heroine, though. She is outspoken and knows what she wants out of life and is also not afraid to go after what she wants.

Two things drove me absolutely crazy reading this. First - Rafe calling Verity “his Venus” and second, characters saying “or something” multiple times. The overuse of nicknames always gets under my skin, I understand that occasionally a character might say or think “or something”, but it's used so often that it was distracting.

With its plodding plot and forgettable hero, even the heroine cannot make Accidentally His worth the read. The parts pertaining to the mystery are interesting, but are too few and far between to balance out the rest.

Reviewed by Jessica Grogan
Grade : C

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : March 3, 2024

Publication Date: 03/202

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Jessica Grogan

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