Book Review: MAID OF SECRETS

MAID of  SECRETS
416 Pages
May 2013
Simon and Schuster Publishing

Summary Taken from Goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old Meg Fellowes is a wry, resourceful thief forced to join an elite group of female spies in Queen Elizabeth’s Court. There she must solve a murder, save the Crown, and resist the one thing that will become her greatest freedom–and her deadliest peril.
For Meg and her fellow spies are not alone in their pursuit of the murderer who stalks Windsor Castle.
A young, mysterious Spanish courtier, Count Rafe de Martine, appears at every turn in the dark and scandal-filled corridors of the Queen’s summer palace. And though secrets and danger are Meg’s stock-in-trade, she’s never bargained on falling in love…
My Thoughts:
I've been reading alot of debut novels lately and I have to say that these new writers are blowing me away!
Maid of Secrets is Jennifer McGowen's first novel and it's the first book in the series-Maids of Honor.
It's a combination of historical fiction and mystery, set in London, England 1559.
Meg, a seventeen year old orphan is the main character of this tale. She is a feisty thief with a talent for pick pocketing. She makes her living being part of The Golden Rose acting Troupe. As spectators are watching the show on stage Meg makes her way around the crowd lifting wallets and jewelry.
One fateful day she is caught and arrested. But here's the spin. Instead of being thrown in a dungeon to rot she has actually been kidnapped and forced to work for the crown as a spy-Meg is put in the service of Queen Elizabeth to watch, memorize, and report for the queen and her master spies.
Against her will Meg is forced to train and learn the ways of the court as well as how to serve and protect the queen at all costs. Meg is not the only spy working for the queen. There are actually five ladies in waiting-watching the queen as well as the court. Sophia- who is a seer, with a gift for seeing the future. Jane-the blade, she has the ability to blend and the courage to kill. Beatrice is the beauty and the charmer of men, and lastly there is Anna, she is the puzzle solver and master linguist. I look forward to finding out more about Meg's fellow spies as the series continues.
With Queen Elizabeth's  royal court filled with opportunists all looking for the Queen's favor, and enemies who want to see her dead these spies very kept busy.
Meg is ordered to spy on a handsome Spanish courtier who may possibly be connected to the murder of a fellow spy. With traitors and conspirators at every turn Meg struggles to know who she should trust and who will betray her.
There are plenty of twists and turns that kept this reader guessing and the pages turning.
I LOVED Maid of Secrets and I can't wait to see what what this author has in store next.
Rumor has it that the sequel is in the works and is called Maid of Deception. YEAH!
To learn more about the Maids of Honor go to Jennifer McGowan web page for all kinds of fun extras and information. Seriously, go there.
A big thank you to Simon and Schuster for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. I will be donating this book to my local middle school library.