Her Royal Spyness & Relentless: A little sweet, a little sexy

In my typical schizophrenic fashion, I’m reading — and enjoying immensely — 2 really different books. (I have 3 books on the sidebar, but I haven’t been reading much from my Palm lately, which means I’ve stalled on Hell Cop. I’ll get back to it eventually. And, of course, this isn’t to mention the YA Spec Fiction Specials that I’m finishing up, in audiobook format.)

First off, is Rhys Bowen’s Her Royal Spyness. It’s the first in the Lady Georgiana mystery series.

Here’s the description:

Georgie, aka Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, cousin of King George V of England, is penniless and trying to survive on her own as an ordinary person in London in 1932. So far she has managed to light a fire and boil an egg . . . She’s gate-crashed a wedding . . . She’s making money by secretly cleaning houses . . . And she’s been asked to spy for Her Majesty the Queen. Everything seems to be going swimmingly until she finds a body in her bathtub and someone is definitely trying to kill her.

I love stories about this location and time period—England, between the World Wars, like the early books of the Hercule Poirot series (though Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence and Mr Quinn stories were my favorites) and the Bertie Wooster series.

Georgie is a free-spirit, utterly charming, and very aware of the fact that there is a lot about life she needs to learn.  I wish the mystery part of the story started a little earlier in the book, but aside from that, I’m really enjoying Her Royal Spyness.

It’s funny, because a lot of the world that Georgie is a part of is not that different from the historical romances I read. There’s the social seasons, coming out, being presented to the Queen, and life among the ton, just like a regency. I always imagine this time period between the wars, in a lot of ways, to be the last hurrah of this kind of life, which seems to change so greatly as a result of WWII.

Anyway, I’m having a great time reading about Georgie’s adventures in London and ready to read about her solving the murder.

I really like that this is part of a series, and I just wish there were more than 3 in the series backlist. (Book 3 just came out this month.)

The other book I’m reading is Relentless by Lauren Dane. I’m blaming Lori, from Let’s Gab, for making this one jump to the front of the TBR list. After reading her review, I couldn’t not pick it up.

Here’s the description:

Fifteen Families rule the Federated Universes – and Abbie Haws has spent her life battling the system. She’s always been too driven to pay much attention to love. But when she meets Roman Lyons, Head of House Lyons, who stands for everything she hates, Abbie’s attraction catches her off-guard. Their world, Ravena, revolves around born leader Roman, who dreads meeting this defiant – if stunning – rabble-rouser. But sometimes headstrong personalities that collide in public become hot-and-heavy, guilty trysts in private.

Lori was so right! It has just enough world building to be interesting, but not get bogged down with any info dumps. I was worried that I might feel like I was missing something since Relentless is book 2 of a series, but I haven’t felt that way at all. However, if this book continues as good as it starts (I’m on p 70) I will probably pick up book 1, Undercover, as soon as I get a chance.

The connection between Abbie and Roman is immediate and intense. As I’m reading it, I can really feel how they are completely knocked for a loop by what they are feeling for the other person. They are struggling to hold on to their professionalism and do the right thing for their respective position in society. I like that they don’t just throw that all out the window because they are (at this point) in total lust.

So, things are really smoking with them. Really. Smoking. Hot. I can’t wait to read more. And, really, it isn’t just the love scenes, but their world and their situation that I find so interesting. Can’t wait to read more!

Are you reading any good books this week?