Review : Maid of Wonder by Jennifer McGowan

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Maid of Wonder (Maids of Honor #3)
Author : Jennifer McGowan
Publication Date : August 25th 2015
Publisher : Simon & Schuster for Young Readers
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

“Death comes to Windsor.”

Sophia Dee, the most unusual spy of Queen Elizabeth’s Maids of Honor, has run out of time for her psychic skills to fully manifest. A terrible new prophecy now haunts Windsor Castle, and the Queen demands answers before the next doomed soul dies.

Thrust into a dangerous and horrifying competition to solve the deadly prediction, Sophia finds herself pitted against the most celebrated mystics of Europe: John Dee, her devious uncle and the Queen’s personal astrologer. . . and Nostradamus, the renowned prophet-seer of France.

In a court where whispers of witchcraft, poisonous plots, and grim assassins threaten her at every turn, Sophia needs answers fast. But does she dare trust Marcus Quinn, her uncle’s striking and over-ambitious assistant? Or, instead, should she turn to the tortured dark angel of the spirit realm, who whispers to her only of sorrow and death?

As new dangers surface and dire prophecy sweeps toward its final victim, the five Maids of Honor prepare to do battle. Only then will the girl who so often sees the future finally discover if she can save the Crown—and herself. 

Personal Thoughts

Jennifer McGowan's Maid of Honor series is an underrated series that I think deserves more love. Each book features a different protagonist, but the main storyline is connected. I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, but I was especially looking forward to Sophia's story in Maid of Wonder. While I found this installment to be lacking in certain areas, I still thought it was a decent addition to the series.

Sophia has always been the most intriguing character out of all of Queen Elizabeth's maids of honor in this series. She was quiet and battling with strange visions. Her intriguing personality is what really drew me in and I was anticipating learning more about her and her psychic abilities in Maid of Wonder. Sophia underwent quite the growth in the book, while at the same time becoming comfortable with her powers and using them in the right way. By the end of the book, she was no longer the reserved and quiet girl that she was in the first two books. Her love interest, Marcus, who also shared similar abilities as her, was also interesting. He was a sweet fellow, often shrouded in secrets and mysteries that at times made it hard for me to understand his intentions. I did think he was a good match for Sophia, however, because they seemed to be cut of the same cloth. All that being said about Marcus, I still felt that I didn't really get to know him as much as I would have liked. I needed him to be a bit more fleshed out than he was. I had similar feelings towards the romance. It was certainly sweet, but I found myself not really caring for it as I did with the previous romances. Like Marcus, the romance too needed more meat for me to sink my teeth into and completely enjoy. Parts of me felt like it developed too hastily and I wanted to see more of Sophia and Marcus together.

The main plot in Maid of Wonder involved a prophesied attempt at Queen Elizabeth's life. Elizabeth herself has been a hugely riveting character in the Maid of Honor series, her manipulative nature often leading readers to not knowing exactly what she was up to. Her devious mind made her the most interesting character in this series for me and I'm curious as to how she's going to fare in the next books. The plot, I felt, was a bit slow and dragged a little bit - it didn't hold my attention as well as the first two books did because there wasn't as many revelations and twists as the previous books had. This installment also had more of a supernatural feel to it as compared to the previous books because of Sophia's visions and readers being transported to them alongside her. It was a different experience than the first two books for sure. I also liked being reunited with the other maids of honor. Their camaraderie is one of my favorite things about this series.

Maid of Wonder, while not as strong a book as the first two books in the Maid of Wonder series, was still an enjoyable story that furthered the world building. This series, overall, is one that I highly recommend if you enjoy historical fiction with a dash of romance and feisty characters.

Rating 

Cover : 3/5
Plot : 3/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 4/5

Thank you to Edelweiss and Simon Teen for the e-ARC of Maid of Wonder.

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