Maid of Secrets--Book Review

Maid of Secrets - Jennifer McGowan

Three Stars

Summary: Meg Fellowes, a thief and actress, has been swept up into the world of spies and gossip in Queen Elizabeth's court. In her attempts to protect her Queen and country, her life and her love are at the greatest risk.

This book reminded me of running the mile in high school.

There were sprints, there was walking, there was cutting corners when the teacher wasn't looking. The fast, breathless scenes were fantastic, but unfortunately, the slow parts were sloooowww.

Writing about court intrigue is as tangled a web as the court itself. McGowan's villain has a delicious plot against the Queen of England, full of betrayal, death, and spying--and a lot of talking and passing notes. Too much, maybe, considering that the majority of Meg's training seemed to consist of books and deadly weapons--two things she doesn't use much, because she can pass them off to the archetypal scholar and thug, Anne and Jane. The ending is also as easily predicted as the outcome of Meg and her love interest, Rafe's, first meeting.

My biggest problem with this book was that the whole thing was just a teaser. There's a wonderful love triangle set up between Meg, Rafe(the charming visiting Spaniard) and Master James(the leader of Meg's old acting troupe). Key word "set up".

Everything about this book was like an intro or a pilot episode, but the worst part by far is that in the next book, we won't even get to see the rest of Meg's story, because it follows Beatrice, another member of the Queen's little spy ring. Sure, we'll probably see how things turn out for her, but it's really not the same as experiencing Rafe's sigh-inducing neck kisses and listening in on Meg's improvised couplets through her own narrative.

I enjoyed the scenes that were, quite literally, breath taking--anything to do with Rafe and shadowy castle corridors and sneaking through the castle's hidden tunnels. But the majority of this book was a lot of explaining, a lot of gasping and betrayals that I just wasn't following, and way too many letters changing hands. If this were the beginning of a series following Meg, the undeveloped romances wouldn't be quite as annoying. But since the series will most likely follow each of the five maids in different books, I have the sinking feeling that the resolution to their stories will be told through a perspective other than their own.

Conclusion: Swarthy Spaniards, deceptive maids, and cruel spymasters gave this book a ton of interesting things ideas to play with--and unfortunately, it does not use them to their full potential.