Lady Spy

Serving Magic, Book 4

A dark fay uprising. A dashing fay wizard. And a growing anti-magic movement. Are Mara’s blades sharp enough to cut through such a tangled web?

By day, Mara runs a clockwork toyshop. By night, she spies for the resistance. The last thing Mara needs is a ridiculously handsome fay to train in customer service and spy craft.

Arnesto is persistent, bedazzling, and a twelfth-level fay wizard. He also casts spells in all the wrong places, talks more than he listens, and manages to get himself arrested. Mara is giving the incompetent fay one more chance to prove himself.

When a fresh threat imperils both the human and fay realms, Mara and Arnesto must fight together. But are swords, magic, and a scrap of prophecy enough to save the kingdom?

If you love warring kingdoms, strong, sassy heroines, and slow-burn clean romance, discover Serving Magic, a complete epic romantic fantasy series for fans of Shari L. Tapscott, Kenley Davidson, and Melanie Cellier.

©2021 Toni Cabell (P)2025 Toni Cabell

Sweet swords and sorcery and saucy heroine novel

Lady Spy is an engaging story told with bravura by narrator Lisa Lynn Sandlin, perhaps the most Steampunk of the Serving Magic series. It is book 4, with a follow-on book called Lady Reaper, but of course can be read on its own without engaging the three previous novels. As one could imagine from the title, the heroine Mara is a spy and her cover is managing a clockwork toyshop. She winds up getting stuck with an incompetent fay as a helper and of course he becomes the love interest and a strong character. The two of them must fight together against a threat to both the human and fay realms. A great listen, and I was sorry to hear it end!

great story

Lady Spy is the first book I have read written by Toni Cabell, and I am excited to read more. This is the fourth book in the Serving Magic series, but it is part of a duology. So, it can be read as a standalone or read as part of the Serving Magic series. I read Lady Spy, then plan on reading Lady Reaper, and then going back to book 1 of the series. It follows the story of Mara and Arnesto. This book was so amazing. I cannot wait to dive into the next book.

I need to take a moment and comment on the narration. I had the privilege of listening to the audiobook version of the book. When I tell you this is better than TV, I am not exaggerating. This story, paired with the narration by Lisa Lynn Sandlin, is phenomenal. Lisa has by far become one of my favorite narrators to listen to. She truly brings any book to life.

The character development was great. Mara works in a clockwork toyshop and is a spy for the resistance behind the scenes. She is working on training her newest spy, Arnesto, who is a fay. Arnesto brings such a fun dynamic to this book. He is still learning how to interact with humans.

The setting was a fun world to uncover, and I look forward to ‘traveling’ back to Valerra and learning some more of her secrets. The storyline was great. I am not the biggest fantasy reader, but this year I have made it my mission to dive into more fantasy books, and this book did not disappoint. This was my first encounter with Fae/Fay’s, so it took me a moment to figure out, and the magical element. We have assignation, fire, griffin, spies, accidental engagement, magic, the undead, and so much more. This had so many great elements to make the perfect fantasy story. A world I will be visiting again soon.

The romance was a sweet, kisses-only, with an accidental engagement due to a misunderstanding.

*I received a complimentary copy from the author and voluntarily chose to review it. All opinions are my own.

Awesome characters! Arnesto is the best.

My favorite character in this book is Arnesto! He is just so odd and peculiar he is hilarious. XD I really loved the scene where Marah is trying to describe to Arnesto how human clothes look so he can glamour himself to look normal XD. He just doesn’t get it! And every one of his attempts are more ridiculous and hilarious than the last. You can tell he’s never been around a single human in his life XD I also love the faes magic! It’s so cool. This is my first book by Toni Cabell, and most every author you find has a different take on what fae are like, so it was fascinating to see Toni’s version of fae. I also adore all the names! I really loved Ephraim’s ending. I don’t know why, but I feel it is the best ending that this character could have.
Negatives: I feel like this book ended too quickly. Like, there was a lot of story that could have been flushed out more but wasn’t.
Narration: Lisa did an amazing job narrating this book! I really enjoyed the listen.
Content:
Romance: Yes, there is kissing and holding
Magic:Yes
Cussing: No
Violence: Yes! People die and are injured regularly.

I have enjoyed getting to know the main characters of this book.

At first this book felt like it had a lot of characters to keep straight but as you start to understand the story the characters all work out. I really enjoyed the differences between the two main characters Mara and Arnesto. They compliment each other very well. I will be reading book 5. You definitely need to read the first three books before this one.

Make sure you have tissues handy!

Mara is such a strong character that has grown on me as the series has continued. I absolutely adore her now, even though I initially loathed her. I really loved watching her find herself more and find love. Life has not been easy for any of them, but Mara is especially struggling with the changes and loneliness but yet she tries to take it in stride and do her best to save her homeland. She also helps others to accept themselves, which is ironic when the issues they have are issues she initially teased her friends for. Who said people can't change?