The Royal Rabbits of London by Santa Montefiore and Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2018

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Life is an adventure. Anything in the world is possible – by will and by luck, with a moist carrot, a wet nose and a slice of mad courage!

Shylo has always been the runt of the litter, the weakest and quietest of all of his family, his siblings spend their days making fun of him for not being like the rest of them. But when Shylo stumbles across a band of ratzis and overhears their evil plan to take a photo of the Queen in her nightie, it's up to this unlikely hero to travel to London and inform the Royal Rabbits of London about the diabolical plot! The Royal Rabbits of London have a proud history of protecting the royal family and now the secret society need to leap into action to stop the ratzis... But can a rabbit as feeble and shy as Shylo convince them that Queen is in danger?

The Hobbit meets Fantastic Mr Fox meets Watership Down in this charming novel from bestselling authors Santa and Sebag Montefiore, which proves even the smallest rabbit can be the biggest hero.
(368 pages)

When I was briefly home at the start of the summer my younger brother pressed a copy of this book on me and told me to read it on the road. I, with a million books on my TBR list, thanked him hurriedly and shoved it in my suitcase, and it wasn't until after he'd asked me a couple times if I'd read it yet that I finally got around to picking it up. We have a really similar taste in books, so I should have listened to him sooner.

Because this is such a cute book, and so fun. The central premise is super fun and quirky, with its secret agent rabbits that protect the queen of England from attacks by the evil rats that try to steal a piece of her soul by exposing a piece of her private life to the world.

The social commentary is not exactly subtle, with its pretty overt criticism of the people who walk around staring at their phones instead of noticing the world around them and the soul-sucking power of social media and the paparazzi that invades people's privacy. It's a message I largely agree with, and delivered in such a cute format that it's not too painful to swallow. I thought it was actually an interesting angle for a book about bunny espionage to take.

All in all, it was a fun little book that didn't take long to get through but was super entertaining and fun to read while I was in it. I'm glad my younger brother foisted it on me, and if anything this has taught me to pay attention to his recommendations more.