Her Royal Spyness (Royal Spyness Mystery, 1) by Rhys Bowen

Title: Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen (2008)
Author Status: new author
Series Status: new series
Rating: 4 stars
Would I read this author again: I've already placed the second book in the series on hold...
Personal Reading Challenge(s): 1st in a Series, 100+

My ridiculously long name is Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie. Thirty-fourth in line for the throne, I am, as they say, flat broke. When my brother, Binky, cut off my meager allowance, I bolted from Scotland - and my engagement to Fishface (I mean, Prince Siegfried) - for London, where I have:

a) built a fire in the hearth - entirely on my own, thank you very much

b) fallen for an absolutely unsuitable Irish peer

c) made a few quid housekeeping incognita, and

d) been summoned by the Queen herself to spy on her playboy son

Less than thrilled with this last bit, I'm wondering what to do when an arrogant Frenchman - who was trying to swipe our family estate! - winds up dead in my bathtub. Now, my new job is to clear my very long family name...

My Thoughts:  Loved it! Funny, slightly romantic, lots of character development, historical (but certainly not stuffy!), very cozy. Figured out the "bad guy" half way through, though my reasoning was slightly off... ;) I do have an issue with the cover - Georgie has reddish-blonde hair! Can't wait to read the rest of the series!

Till Death Do Us Bark (43 Old Cemetery Road, 3) by Kate Klise

Title: Till Death Do Us Bark by Kate Klise and illustrated by M. Sarah Klise (2011)
Author Status: favourite author
Series Status: returning
Rating: 4.5 stars
Would I read this author again: definitely!
Challenge(s): Support Your Local Library

When a shaggy dog arrives at Spence Mansion, Seymour is overjoyed. His adoptive parents, Ignatius B. Grumply and Olive C. Spence, are less enthusiastic - especially when Secret, the dog, begins barking all night long.

Is it possible Secret just misses his old companion, the late Noah Breth, whose children are fighting like cats and dogs over their father's money? Or does Secret have a secret that, in the end, will make the entire town of ghastly howl with delight?

Books, Blogging and a New Game Plan...

Not "The Journal", but a journal...

After a loooong hiatus from book blogging, I've come back with a new plan in mind.  And the push came from something very simple:

I found a journal.

It's an honest-to-goodness, leather-like-bound, black journal with lovely cream-coloured, soft-to-the-touch pages. While I've scribbled in journals for most of my life, I'm devoting this one exclusively to books read. I'll always have a pen in hand, but have to a share a computer (so I'm more likely to write, rather than type!).

Thus, my plan is this: simplify and read.

I'm focusing less on blogging (and reviewing) and more on reading (which is the point, really - at least for me).  The journal will be used as my review space (entries which, I hope, will make it onto the blog, but that's still in the future), while the blog will be my "database" (for the most part - there are always exceptions).  It will house my lists (I do like me some lists ;) as well as containing the briefest "review" entries (basic details, synopsis and a personal rating) and "author pages" (for favourite authors, containing links and book lists).  I was inspired, in part, by A Girl and Her Books, as well as the number of books I having piling up - begging to be read!

Thanks for reading!
Jenn