Royal Blood

Rhys Bowen upped her game with the 4th installment in the Royal Spyness series. Lady Georgiana is sent to Romania (Transylvania to be exact!) to represent their Majesties at a wedding between the Royal houses of Bulgaria and Romania.

This book is full of delightful characters, from the ship-in-full-sail Lady Middlesex to her companion to Count Dragomir. My favorite is Georgie's new “maid,” whose sills include scorching dinner gowns with irons, spilling red wine on furniture (and ruing it), and generally not acting like a maid. She is absolutely hilarious and it sounds like we'll see her in future installments.

My major criticism of this book is the love interest, Darcy. who I don't feel is as well-fleshed out as do many of the other characters.

Full review on The Bent Bookworm!

I like the time period of these little novels, and the fact that they're set in England (Anglophile much, maybe?). Georgie is an amusing, endearing heroine and the rest of the cast of characters surrounding her is original and quirky enough to keep me reading. I like that the family storyline moves along just a little in each book so far, not hitting you with it all of once. It continues the line of being very tame with lots of dropped hints and some innuendo, but nothing a 13 year old couldn't read. It's definitely written for adults, it's just very mild and nothing at all racy even though there are repeated allusions to people's sexual activity or preferences. I felt like Georgia's relationship with Darcy progressed a little in this book, and more than just the heart-fluttering romance of it – I feel like they are getting closer as people, not just as a crush or an obsession.

This one moved slower than the other 3 that I've read. The actual crime event didn't take place until page 142 (out of 305). The mystery part was, I thought, very far-fetched. The ending was rushed and contrived, just way too convenient. I did some serious eye-rolling. I did like the way all the creepy, “Transylvania” vibes everyone was so jumpy about, were explained logically. Given the setting, I was a little afraid that this one was going to descend into the paranormal. Nothing wrong with paranormal, but in a historical mystery...please spare me. So yay, that was good.

Overall, 3/5 stars. It needed more mystery, less build-up. Also a more satisfactory ending rather than just a sudden explanation, which was what it felt like. I'm definitely going to continue on with the series, but that's because of how much I enjoyed the previous books, not this one.

Short Review: Georgie goes to Transylvania for a wedding, and surprise, people end up dead and Georgie needs to solve the murder. I thought this was better than the third book in the series. Darcy (like book 5) was hardly in the book, which I think was good, it established Georgie as a detective in her own right. I continue to enjoy the series.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/royal-blood/

If you've liked the rest of the series, you'll enjoy this installment.