A Vintage Reads Review: Betrayal

Betrayal (Lady Grace Mysteries, 2) by Grace Cavendish, September 28, 2005. 208 pages. Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers. Source: Library.

Now that Lady Grace is the Queen’s secret “Lady Pursuivant”—a title normally reserved for those who pursue wrongdoers of the Crown—she can hardly believe that a new mystery has fallen in her lap. But what else can it be when Lady Sarah, a fellow lady-in-waiting known for her fancy clothes and hoity-toity attitude, is missing and feared kidnapped by the dashing Captain Drake. Despite her hard feelings, Grace must help rescue Sarah . . . or Sarah’s sullied reputation will ruin her life. But was Sarah really kidnapped? It’s up to Lady Pursuivant to find out!

First Sentence:

Now I am beginning my daybooke the second-the other is quite filled up.

I may have been extremely impatient waiting for the second Lady Grace Mysteries book to come in at the library. Thus far, I have found this series to be quite the charming diversion from both my TBR and review pile; I've enjoyed reading about the adventures of Grace- Queen Elizabeth's secret "Lady Pursuivant" and Maid of Honour.

Well, Betrayal was well worth waiting such a long time for (a week). I guess you could say that I loved the fact that Grace, in order to attempt to rescue Lady Sarah, decided to dress as a boy and board a ship in order to track down the villain that had kidnapped her fellow Maid of Honour from a tarnished reputation. Come on, how is one to resist the hilarity that you know will happen with a girl pretending to be a boy...on ship. Yeah, let's just say there are some secrets that will be kept between her and her friend of things she did.
Minus the awkwardness and hilarity of Lady Grace trying to swagger like a boy, this was a great read for many reasons. I enjoyed seeing her quick wit, although, she was a little wrong in her guessing whne it came to who the true villain was (so it from the beginning). The author did an excellent job bringing to life Grace's latest adventure as the Queen's seeker of the truth and justice.

Definitely, the best part of Betrayal would have to be the friendship between Lady Grace, Ellie, and Masou. I loved how different they were-Ellie works in the laundry and Masou's a tumbler-yet how well they got along. But seriously, the best thing when it came to reading about their friendship is the way the help each other out. While I do wish poor Ellie were able to find a different position with better care, her humor is what makes her such a great companion to the story; and Masou just steals the show when he's around.

The only thing that is a drawback, for me, would have to be that I was easily able to crack the mystery. I cannot help that I am quick to see behind the webs meant to obscure the culprit from teh reader and deduce the what and why of the mystery. While the mystery, in my opinion, is really easy to decipher, I really enjoyed this one because of the characters and writing.

Final Verdict: Betrayal- another excellent adventure staring Lady Grace, Maid of Honour and Pursuivant to the Queen.

Betrayal earns 4 out of 5 griffins