Book Review: Maid of Wonder by Jennifer McGowan

Maid of Wonder by Jennifer McGowan
Pages: 336
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Released: September 15, 2015
Received: ARC from publisher, via Edelweiss
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The first two books in this series, Maid of Secrets and Maid of Deception, were much better than this book. But, I expected that. 

The first book follows Meg. I like Meg. She's feisty, theatrical, dramatic, and a super spy. The second book follows Beatrice. I like Beatrice. She's a mean girl with heart, and all the sass and sympathy that goes along with that. Both of their romances were swoony with great guys.

This third book follows Sophia. Sophia is a dishrag. She's meek, weak, and oh so boring. Her romance was weird and I still don't get it. Though, for a brief time there in the paranormal beyond world (that I also still don't understand) it was smoldering with potential.

The plot also felt like it wandered all over the place with no purpose. I know things happened, and if I try to recite events I can do it, and some events are actually even great, but I still can't shake this overwhelming feeling of nothing is happening, even though that isn't even true. I think it's just that I didn't care because whatever was happening was happening to Sophia and Sophia is boring.

Bottom line: Chalk this one up to me just disliking Sophia. I'm still excited to read the next book in the series (especially if it's Jane's book, because Jane is badass). 


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Mini Review: Maid of Deception by Jennifer McGowan

Library
Rating: 4 out of 5
Goodreads

I guess you'd call this a sequel to Maid of Secrets, but I'd say it's more of a companion novel and either can be read first. Each book in this series focuses on a different maid of honor in Elizabeth I's court, and Maid of Deception follows Beatrice.

Beatrice is, on the surface, the pretty mean girl of the group who uses her good looks and charms to ferret out secrets for the queen. Meg (the main character in Maid of Secrets) didn't get along with Beatrice very much, but I liked her a whole lot. Jennifer McGowan develops Beatrice's personality well and makes her a character that stands out from the more stereotypical Meg and, for me, made her even more likable.

There's a lot less action in this book as compared to the first (torture! intrigue!) so as far as plot goes the first is stronger. But, I liked Beatrice more and her romance was much more up my alley. So, character girl that I am, I had no trouble staying engaged and I liked this book just as much and possibly even more than the first.

Jennifer McGowan's Maids of Honor series is exactly the type of series I like. It's almost like a comfort read series for me and it's twice now gotten me out of reading slumps. Historical lite, with romance, intrigues, mysteries, political balancing, a tiny touch of paranormal, and likable characters. It's a light series, and despite the high page counts of the books, they're still super fast reads. I can see myself re-reading these books and I'm definitely going to read all of the books as they come out. I just really wish they had different covers.

While this is a series that isn't completely published yet, the nature of the stories (each following a new maid of honor and wrapping up her story) makes it so you can easily read the books as standalones as they are published with no fear of cliffhangers or fading memory.

Looking for another book like this? You might like: 

Click on the covers to go to my reviews

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Tiny Reviews: Maid of Secrets and A Darkness Strange & Lovely

Maid of Secrets by Jennifer McGowan
#1 in the Maids of Honor series

This is the book I wanted the Palace of Spies series to be. Both series follow a maid of honor/ladies in waiting type of group and involves courtly mysteries and an interesting historical backdrop (with minor appearances by real people). However, of the two, I much prefer the Maids of Honor series.

While the series isn't amazing, it does have likable characters (and nice camaraderie between them) and a mystery that did keep me engaged. It's fun. The stakes felt higher, and I was definitely considering nail-biting during the torture scene. Best endorsement? It grabbed me quickly and got me out of a reading slump.

This is the first in a series, but it ended well enough as a standalone. I didn't feel the need to immediately read the sequel (I read Maid of Secrets in May 2014), but I do intend to read Maid of Deception soon (I actually took it out of the library the day before I was approved for Dangerous Deceptions, the sequel to Palace of Spies, but they were just too similar to read so close together).

Recommended, especially to readers who like light historical mysteries.

Library
4 out of 5 stars

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A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard
#2 in the Something Strange and Deadly series

I put off reading this book for a while, because while I liked Something Strange and Deadly well enough, I didn't love it. It was fluffy and fun enough and it moved pretty quickly (which is always a plus), but it lacked pretty hard on the character front.

Those characters only got worse in the sequel, which is why I ultimately DNF-ed. The story of A Darkness Strange and Lovely was good-ish, if kind of slow (halfway through the book and NOTHING  has happened). Still, I was having a pleasant enough time.

But then Eleanor meets this guy Oliver who seems to be a pretty nice guy (if suffering from the same "gosh you're young" personality as Eleanor's love interest). And she proceeds to treat him like absolute, total crap. What gives, Eleanor??

Then she met up with her Spirit Hunter friends (I can't help but inwardly groan every time that cutesy-quirky stereotypical band of do-nothing, lame slayer wannabes come on the page. Harsh, I know, I'm sorry!) and she decides to LIE TO HER FRIENDS. For no good reason (except dragging out contrived drama).

Aaaand, DNF.

Library
DNF on page 150 of 295 (e-book pages. The print book has 400ish pages)

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