Undercover in Venice Beach (Love Is a Beach)

Audrey Powell finds running her late mother’s beloved teahouse, Tea and Poetry, to be a daunting task. Her cooking skills are abysmal. She is also still running the family published paper. Her identical twin sister, model Lucia, is also in crisis. The ladies decide to trade places, with Audrey masquerading as Lucia running the teahouse and Lucia running the paper. Liam Archer, undercover as Liam James, is staking out the teahouse because it seems UK secrets are being leaked from this small American business. To get closer to Audrey, Liam pretends to be a poet. When he learns Tea and Poetry needs a cook, Liam lets Audrey know he is a chef. As he helps Audrey, he falls for her finding it impossible to believe she could be a spy.

“Undercover in Venice Beach” is a rollickingly good novel which keeps the reader guessing when disaster will strike as everyones identities are revealed. The poetry at the beginning of each chapter is a beautiful touch keeping the story centered on poets and their works. Too much detail slows the story leaving it difficult to remain engaged. It is not always easy to discern which twin is speaking after they trade places. Many editing errors interrupted the flow of the tale, thus catapulting the reader out of the story. The secrets held by each person makes for interesting and deep characters. This is an entertaining novel for poetry lovers everywhere; with the intrigue adding an extra edge making it not just another pedestrian romance.

Belinda Wilson