Eleventh Hour

I was eagerly anticipating this book's release, because Elin Gregory's [b:On a Lee Shore 16757396 On a Lee Shore Elin Gregory https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355538066s/16757396.jpg 23005302] is one of my all-time favorite novels. I'm glad to say that I enjoyed it as much as I expected to! As in On a Lee Shore, the romance is just one part of a larger story; this is very much a book about a young man coming into his own, with an exciting plot and interesting side characters. I felt very much immersed in the setting of London between the two World Wars. There are alternating viewpoints between the two MCs. Miles is a young linguist who is somewhat inexperienced in the darker sides of spy work. Briers is older, early 30s, and is somewhat jaded. I really liked the fact that Briers' former lover, Falk, plays an important role in this story. Their continuing association feels realistic to me, in a way that most romance novels shy away from, and Falk is an appealing character in his own right. So this very much isn't a book about overwhelming, fairy-tale romance, and it doesn't have a rock-solid HEA. Still, I really like the ending; it has the same realism to it as the rest of the story.A note on the trans representation: At first, Briers thinks that Miles identifies as a woman, because Briers had a past relationship with a trans woman, but Miles identifies as a man who cross-dresses. Briers sees how important Millie is to Miles, how she is both a part of Miles that he can't express in his ordinary life and a separate character that he plays sometimes. It isn't the only thing going on in their relationship, but it is an important aspect of their bond, that Briers understands Miles so well. Overall, I recommend this highly. It's fun, sweet, and exciting - everything I like in historical romance novels.