Do you suppose “geh” goes between good and meh? Probably not, but that’s where this book lies.

Lady Louisa Brooke has almost ten years in the ton under her belt, but she loves and is loved by one man only: Marcus, the Marquis of Jardine. Despite years of frustratingly brief encounters, they keep their relationship a secret from everyone, and she contents herself with that. Then, on the night of her twenty-ninth birthday, he doesn’t come to her bed as usual and the next day he throws her over. Grief-stricken, but suspecting there is more to his rejection than appearances suggest, Louisa grabs an opportunity to delve into Jardine’s second life – the life of a spy.

Jardine, of course, has been keeping his relationship to Louisa secret because his enemies would harm her to get to him, but he has never resisted her until recent events convince him to finish his current job before approaching Louisa again. Unfortunately, his superior decides Louisa will make an admirable spy, and she is drawn into the world of espionage.

There’s some stuff that’s tiresome and unbelievable in this story. Under the tiresome category goes the old staying-away-to-protect-her chestnut and Jardine is a classic case of having his cake and eating it too, while he plays fast and loose with Louisa’s reputation. That part goes under the unbelievable – I do not for a minute believe that a well-known spy and peer of the realm would carry on an eight-year affair with the gently-bred (albeit impoverished) sister of a fellow spy. Not one minute. Maybe I’d understand the circumstances better if the beginning of their love affair was detailed, but they’re not. Either Ms. Wells included it in other books or skipped it altogether, but I definitely felt rather lost.

But on the plus side, this book shows enough strengths to garner a marginal recommendation. Despite feeling like I only caught the second half of the movie, that second half is enjoyable enough. On the positive side, Louisa does not approach espionage like a silly twat, and both she and Jardine think with their brains as well as their hearts. The story is well paced and I bought their romance, insofar as it was a given. One secondary character is a touch melodramatic, but the others are decent enough. For the most part Ms. Wells treats the clichés with sensitivity, if not originality.

Sweetest Little Sin is a decent way to pass a few hours. My reaction was certainly not meh. But did I think it was good? No.

So I suppose it is geh.