The Tale of Mally Biddle by M.L. LeGette

I received a copy of the book from the publisher.  This did not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

 

Summary

Goodreads:  When Mally Biddle agreed to spy upon the King of Lenzar and his overbearing knights she knew she was heading into danger. She didn’t know she’d find a family unlike any other.

Posing as a servant in Bosc Castle, Mally serves tea and restocks the fires for the most dangerous men in the kingdom. Her goal is to learn the truth of what happened sixteen years ago, when the infant princess met her death … a death that has more questions than answers.

Along her search for the truth, Mally meets the energized Lita Stump, the strict and matriarchal Meriyal Boyd, and the opinionated Archibald Diggleby. Then of course there are the knights: Sir Leon Gibbs who is slicker than a greased hog, Adrian Bayard, hot tempered and violent, and the worst of the lot: Sir Illius Molick, Captain of the Knights. And then there is Maud, a mysterious woman who just might know everything…

This is a republication of FOR THE KINGDOM by M.L. LeGette.

Thoughts

First of all can I say how beautiful I think this cover is?  I'm really not much of a cover enthusiast, but I honestly could not love this cover any more. (Although I have noticed since I started blogging that book covers DO matter to me more than they used, or more than I thought they did before.  I'm guessing it's in part every one else's cover love and that when you start reading in bulk judging by a cover starts becoming a survival technique).  It's just...perfect really.

But we're not here to talk about the cover, we're here to talk about the book itself.  Honestly this book was just such a delight to experience.  The writing was beautiful and had the level of description and finesse that I find common in the fantasy genre and have been missing as I've been reading more contemporary and sci-fi at the moment.  I will say that the passage of time in the beginning was quite confusing.  It's not really clear how much time has passed - I for some reason thought it was 5 years...but it's 16.  Once you get past the first couple chapters and realize this, it's smooth sailing for the rest of the book. I especially loved how the romance was handled.  I won't give spoilers, but it was subtly done and surprising, and definitely takes a backseat to the big parts of the story (which in my book is a good thing).  So if you are looking for swoons, you probably won't find many here.  There may have been a few things I wish more time had been spent on, like fleshing out the villain a bit more (why does he act the way he does??), and I would have liked more time on how she was going to figure out ruling the kingdom, but honestly the book was such a fun read that I just don't care that much. 

Overall

It was absolutely charming, fun, and addicting!  This is a good book to go for if you just want a really fun light read to get you through your day.