Read & Review: The Queen's Conundrum by Maude Winters

One of my favorite things about reading a book series is being able to maintain a relationship with characters you came to know and love. The Queen's Conundrum is a pleasing continuation of Maude Winters' Regency and Rivalry series. It adds depth to the characters, making them ever more human and relatable.

The Queen and family cope with cancer. Vanora and Robbie consider marriage. Prince Duncan falls in love with nurse and young mother Rebecca Mayhew...and the reader falls in love with her too. Winters adds drama just when the characters and the reader begin to get too comfortable (just like life, huh? Don't get too comfy...). There is a disastrous and unexpected fire. The paparazzi are released. Characters make life changing decisions about staying together. Winters does a good job making the characters human (flawed, in other words) while also showing how important it is for them to rely on each other.

Winters also addresses some big topics relevant to ongoing political dialogue (in a British context, of course), including racism and the sacrifices women often make for their families. The sacrifices of women in fact is probably a major underlying theme of the whole book and perhaps the series as a whole.

I have to share a few of my favorite quotes this time around. First, as an example of the book's relatability, as I, like Rita, am a heavily pregnant woman:

'Who exactly are we waiting for?' Rita asked, grumbling. 'I’m hungry. Oh god, I need to piss again.'

Me too, Rita. Me too. *Grumble grumble*

Here is an example of the romance/swoon factor:

Robbie loved the way she smelled. The way she looked at him when she was doubtful that he was right about something but was trying to avoid saying 'I told you so'. He loved the way she lay in bed in the mornings and how tightly she held onto him when she was having a dreadful sort of day. He loved the sound of her voice and how she laughed. He loved everything about her. She would never know. Robbie had tried to express this before in words, but it never came across—clearly.

And finally, a statement regarding the work and sacrifices women make, perhaps my favorite quote in the whole book (explicit language warning!):

Don’t be a fucking martyr. Don’t do it. Women do that. And it doesn’t make the world a happier or better place.

The next book, A House Divided, will be released on May 1 and the fourth book will come out this summer. This series is the perfect, relaxing comfort read for the summer. I look forward to seeing how the relationships between these characters will develop and evolve. I'm daydreaming of reading these on a beach somewhere (not sure my toddler and soon-to-arrive infant will be amiable to that though!).