Review: Dragons & Dirigibles by Cindy Spencer Pape

Posted on May 27, 2014May 26, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook
Genre: steampunk romance
Series: Gaslight Chronicles #7
Length: 125 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: May 19, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

When airship engineer Melody McKay’s dirigible explodes and plunges her into the yard of a gothic manor, she suspects foul play. With her ankle injured–an indignity far too feminine for her taste–she resolves to crack the mystery while in the care of Victor Arrington, the stuffy-yet-disarming Earl of Blackwell.

Ex-Royal Navy Captain Victor runs a tight house and is on a mission to protect his niece and foil a ring of smugglers using fire-breathing metal dragons. He has no time for romantic attachments. Particularly not with women who fall from the sky wearing trousers and pilot’s goggles.

As he and Melody navigate a treachery so deep it threatens the lives of everyone in Black Heath, the earl becomes unexpectedly attached to his fiery houseguest, and Melody discovers a softness in her heart for him. But when the smugglers strike, there’s more at risk than just their future together.

My Review:

I’ve enjoyed the entire Gaslight Chronicles series, but it feels like the pinnacle of the series was Moonlight & Mechanicals (reviewed here). The plot was dastardly and far-reaching, and the hero and heroine were both up to the challenge. And the love story really sang.

Dragons & Dirigibles is fun, but doesn’t work quite as well, and I’m still trying to figure out why.

The plot definitely puts it into the middle of the long-running story of how the Knights of the Round Table continued through the centuries to reach this alternate Victorian era where Ada Lovelace really did manage to program Babbage’s engine. But by this point in the tale, we’ve not just met, but watched the adult children of the Hadrians, the Lakes and the Mackays find their intended match.

There’s one story left untold, but we’re teased about it at the end of Dragons & Dirigibles. Instead this is the story of engineer/pilot Melody Mackay, and her nearly-disastrous trip to Black Heath in a new stealth airship.

Melody and her ship accidentally run afoul of smugglers on the north coast, and she’s shot down–straight into the arms of the Earl of Blackwell. That’s where the story gets interesting. He’s hunting the smugglers, and thinks she might be one of them. He’s also incredibly conventional, and believes that women should be wives and mothers and nothing else. Certainly not pilots or engineers.

Melody thinks he has a stick up his arse the size of a ship’s mainmast, a totally appropriate simile because until just a few months previously, Victor Arrington was a naval captain. He inherited the title, the estate and his niece on the sudden death of his brother and sister-in-law. Melody is a complication that Victor doesn’t need, because his little niece is refusing to settle down and learn ladylike skills, and Melody’s presence is catnip to the child.

Also because he’s been trying to find where the smugglers are hiding, and not having much luck. Melody is either a conspirator or another target in the house. It takes him a while to figure out which. And even then, he still thinks she’s a bad influence on his niece.

Meanwhile, the village rumor mill is grinding on. The locals think that the new Earl is the smuggler, and that his niece is a feral child who caused the death of her parents. And that Melody is no better than she ought to be for staying in the house of a bachelor without a chaperone.

When she requests help from her family, and from the Order of the Knights of the Round Table, the situation goes even crazier.The smugglers have more secrets than just the location of their base. And their plans are much more dastardly than either the Earl, the Order, or the revenue agents off the coast could ever have imagined.

Escape Rating B: Melody is not a conventional woman, and she knows she isn’t going to be. What kept her from striking Victor with a blunt instrument in the first part of the book I’ll never know. It’s not just that he’s a prig and holds the views of his time, but that he’s frequently insulting about it into the bargain.

It’s not just that he doesn’t have a clue about what his niece wants and needs, but that he doesn’t have a clue that there is a clue to be had. It takes a lot of evidence for him to finally see the light, that women may not desire, or need the strictures that society places on them. And that the world changed quite a bit during the 10 years he was at sea.

Melody seems to fall in love with his niece long before she does him. Which makes sense, the little girl is a LOT nicer to her.

He does change, and figure things out, but the love story seemed a bit too pat, too formulaic, to really sing.

But the smuggling plot turned out to be quite ingenious, with quite the scary twist at the end. That part of the story had more layers to it than it seemed at the beginning. I figured out who one of the baddies was, but the other was a complete surprise.

I like the world that the author has created, and I’m looking forward to more stories. There’s been a simmering relationship for years, and I want to see that couple finally have their chance.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Ladder to the Red Star by Jael Wye

Posted on May 2, 2014May 1, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook
Genre: science fiction romance
Series: Once Upon a Red World #2
Length: 242 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: April 28, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

Once upon a ruined Earth 300 years in the future…

Jacques Tallinn, biotech smuggler and thief, is after the cure for a brain disorder he’s suffered since childhood—a disorder inflicted by a powerful tyrant. To get the cure, Jacques will need to climb the space elevator to the new Zenith space station hovering above Earth and go undercover in the lab where it’s produced.

Martian head tech Devi Chandra is immediately intrigued by her sexy new lab assistant. Though she insists on keeping things professional, she finds herself charmed by Jacques. Until he betrays her trust, kidnapping her and spiriting her off to Earth.

All Jacques needed to do was steal the biotech and get back home. But when things go wrong, he can’t bring himself to leave Devi behind. Now she’s injured and a simple caper has become an intergalactic cause, endangering his life and the lives of millions of others. But the hardest part? Winning back Devi’s trust.

My Review:

The concept of space elevators has always been one of the classics for a reason. Not only does it produce the high-tech/high-tension adventure of building the elevator itself, but the creation or existence of the elevator provides endless opportunities for comparing life at the two opposite ends of the vehicle.

In the universe of Jael Wye’s Ladder to the Red Star, even more so than in the first fascinating book, Ice Red (see last week’s review) there’s the contrast between the necessarily advanced technology world of the space station Zenith where the elevator terminates, and a post-Global Warming Earth, where people are weighed down not just by gravity, but also by grinding poverty and quickly diminishing resources.

Max Ross may be a great engineer, but he’s an absolutely lousy dad. The action/adventure in Ice Red is kicked off because he’s such a neglectful father that he married a murdering, thieving sociopathic bitch after his first wife died. His daughter Bianca spends the whole story dodging from her stepmother’s killer thugs while he’s off on Earth finalizing the building of his space elevator.

Devi Chandra is the daughter he doesn’t even know he has, which is a good trick considering that Mars inhabitants generally can’t conceive a child the good old-fashioned way. Devi got herself attached to the medical complex on Zenith Station just so she would have a chance to interact with her old man.

It all goes horribly wrong. Just as in the first book with stepmother Victoria, in Ladder to the Red Star Devi finds herself trying to stay one step out of the evil clutches (much too literally) of Enrique Kurtz, her bio-dad’s partner in the space elevator.

Kurtz wants to use Devi to blackmail her dad into continuing the slaving contracts that he had with the evil stepmother. Oh, and he wants to completely break her will and spirit with physical and sexual abuse. He’s a complete psychopath, but a successful one.

But instead of being trapped, Devi makes common cause with someone who is out to get her for less nefarious reasons, even if Jacques Tallin is using nefarious means.

Jacques lied and stole in order to get on the space station and into Devi’s lab. She is not merely a doctor, but a genius at the gene therapy called “Correction” that keeps the Mars inhabitants from dying of cosmic radiation, and cures just about everything from the common cold to old age.

Jacques needs it to cure deathly illnesses. Both his own and his mother’s. And for that, he has to keep Devi free and away from Kurtz. At least until he kidnaps her.

The question is whether Jacques is really saving her from Kurtz’ evil clutches, or whether he just wants to keep her in his own grasp.

Escape Rating B: Ladder to the Red Star is a love story that uses a science fictional setting to play out its romance. But this one is definitely all about the romance. The worldbuilding is just enough to tease the reader with the good (and bad) consequences of life in the future.

It also helps that this is an extension of the world in the previous book. There’s less heavy lifting involved (space elevator notwithstanding).

In some ways, this is a “kidnapped by a pirate” romance. It’s not just that Jacques is a smuggler, but that he takes her to his remote tropical island, and she falls for him anyway. Or maybe because.

One of the things that makes Ladder to the Red Star different from the typical pirate romance is Jacques. He was experimented on as a young teen in a prison owned and operated by Kurtz. The medical and psychological experiments removed his ability to feel anything; pain, pleasure or even touch. It makes him a formidable fighter, completely fearless, but he’s also losing his ability to fake being human. Nothing affects him.

Then Devi works her medical magic on him, and he’s suddenly alive. (Maybe there’s some Pinocchio in here too!) He falls for Devi, the first person who gave him back his life. There is mutual trust and the beginnings of a relationship. Then he kidnaps her and has to start the trust-building all over again.

There are two villains in this story; the sadistic Kurtz and the fanatical Eschaton cult. Kurtz looms like a giant monster over the entire story, but then barely figures in the climax. His economic motives made some sense, but he was more than a bit bwahaha crazy, more than necessary. It’s the anti-science, anti-medicine Eschatons who turn out to be the real enemy.

Max Ross’ relationships, or lack thereof, with his daughters almost makes him the true villain, depending on how you look at things. But his daughters, both Bianca and Devi, are terrific.

I hope we see more stories set in this world; the dichotomy between the spacers and the earthers definitely has more tales to tell.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Sing for the Dead by P J Schnyder

Posted on April 25, 2014April 23, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: paranormal romance, urban fantasy
Series: London Undead #2
Length: 95 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: November 4, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

Kayden, a lone were-leopard allied with the London werewolf pack to keep the zombie infestation in check, is used to working solo—until he discovers a beautiful fae woman surrounded by the aftermath of battle. He’s immediately drawn to Sorcha, but quickly discovers she’s much more than a pretty face.

Half Bean Sidhe and half berserker, Sorcha trained over centuries to become the perfect warrior. She agrees to work with local weres to investigate a new type of zombie capable of coordinated attacks—and is partnered with Kayden. He’s strong, darkly handsome and completely unafraid of her. And his kiss fills her with insatiable desire instead of bloodlust.

As Kayden and Sorcha work together, their attraction grows and their deepest scars are bared to each other. But with the force behind the deadly new zombies poised to overwhelm the city, Sorcha can only pray that the next time her bloodlust strikes, Kayden isn’t among the fallen…

My Review:

Sing for the Dead is the second book in PJ Schnyder’s London Undead trilogy, and reading it right after I finished Bite Me (see review) was terrific! I feel like I’m getting more answers to how this world got so messed up, wrapped inside a very interesting love story and edge of the seat action/adventure

London is going to hell in a handcart. The zombies roaming the city looking for food and fresh “converts” continue to grow in numbers, but even worse, there seems to be a new breed that is less brainless.

I’m not sure whether smart zombies are scarier than totally mindless zombies, but I wouldn’t want to find out. Organized zombies, run for your life!

We’ve met hero Kayden before; he is a were-leopard who is helping to patrol the post-zombie London with the werewolf pack we met in Bite Me. Leopards and were-leopards don’t normally make packs of their own, but the human part of Kayden understands the value of having people at your back that you can trust; while his were-side appreciates the value of banding together to fight the common enemy.

Even the best warrior in the world has to let down his guard sometimes.

Speaking of warriors, the heroine of Sing for the Dead is something different, Sorcha is half baen-sidhe and half berserker, which makes her all warrior almost all the time. Except when she collapses after her berserker side comes out to play.

Bean-sidhe, or banshees as they are more commonly known, have been considered omens of death. They keen for the recently deceased. But in this mythology, it’s only one part of what they do; they also comfort the injured and ease the soul’s passage to the next life. It’s a healing magic that Sorcha can’t share, because of her berserker side.

(For another take on banshees, or a particular half-banshee, try the terrifically fun Banshee Charmer by Tiffany Allee.)

Sorcha has come to London to investigate reports of fae deaths at the hands of the zombies. Not that everyone isn’t dying, but the deaths of the immortal fae are particularly ominous, especially when it is discovered that feeding the zombies fae blood makes the damn things intelligent.

Just what this post-apocalypse doesn’t need, smart running dead, instead of stupid walking dead!

But Kayden and Sorcha discover that they need each other; both as warrior allies and to light each other’s way in this very dark world. They both face demons from their pasts, but it takes a long while before they figure out that they are stronger standing together than they each are alone.

Escape Rating B+: It was great to find out more about the world that Schnyder has created; the deeper we get into it the more interesting it is. I hope that we find out how things got started, but the glimpses into the origin of the plague really make the overall story deeper.

Based on events in this story, it doesn’t seem like things have been bad a terribly long time. But the road to hell in the handcart has obviously gone downhill fast. It also seems like there is a wider world outside the London hellzone, and not just among the fae. The idea that there are human idiots coming to “big game hunt” the zombies is all too realistic, but I wonder about the conditions in the part of the world they are coming from.

Sorcha and Kayden’s romance starts out hotter than the romance in Bite Me, and it works. They are both experienced warriors who are used to fighting on their own and don’t expect any sweetness or softness in their lives. So their relationship starts out as sexual release, and moves slowly into love. Neither of them is used to relying on anyone else, and trust takes a while to build. This is a story where insta-lust morphs over time into love, and it’s the right thing for this pair.

Sing for the Dead is an action-packed adventure with a love story about two fighters who fight each other first, and for each other second. If you want to check out the third book in the series, Survive to Dawn, take a look at today’s review at The Book Pushers.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Ice Red by Jael Wye

Posted on April 22, 2014April 21, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: science fiction romance
Series: Once Upon a Red World #1
Length: 230 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: September 30, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

Mirror, mirror, full of stars,
Who will claim the throne of Mars?

The princess: Engineer Bianca Ross, heir to a megacorporation and the Mars elevator, needs to acquire a mine on the surface to secure her place in the company. All that stands in her way is the mine’s charming owner, Cesare Chan.

The evil stepmother: Victoria Ross is plotting to gain control of Mars. She plans to assassinate Bianca and seduce Cesare to further her goals, and Bianca’s trip is the perfect opportunity.

The charming prince: Cesare shouldn’t get involved. Bianca’s visit could reveal the escaped slaves he’s hiding at his mine, but he can’t ignore a damsel in distress—especially one as beautiful as Bianca.

Alone, neither would stand a chance against Victoria. But together, they could rewrite a tale that’s meant to end with Bianca’s blood.

My Review:

Mars, Cinderella, and for one brief hilarious moment, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. While this sounds like a fairy tale, it’s actually surprisingly entertaining science fiction romance. I say surprising because those original three things shouldn’t go together in the first place. But somehow they do.

There may be a tiny bit of Romeo and Juliet mixed in too. Bianca and Cesare certainly start out on opposite sides of the corporate fence: her company is staging a hostile takeover of his company. But it’s not really them; his father sold out to her stepmother. The question is why.

The Space Elevator is a tried and true SF device, perhaps even more venerable than the use of faster-than-light travel. In Ice Red, Bianca’s father invented the space elevator. He’s a self-absorbed genius who lets other people run his company while he continues to invent more cool stuff.

Unfortunately for both Max and Bianca, the “other people” who are running his company is Victoria and her goon squad. And back to the Cinderella trope, Victoria is the classic evil stepmother, complete with her own sick version of “mirror, mirror”.

Bianca has been trying to prove that she is a capable manager and administrator, worthy of being given real responsibility in the company that her parents created before her mother’s death. Unfortunately for her, she keeps trying to prove herself to one person who sees her as the ultimate rival, and another who stopped paying attention to anything years ago.

Cesare is just trying to keep the mining company that his father built. It’s not about the money, it’s about the people. Cesare has been investing corporate profits in rescuing all the Earth colonists who were lured to Mars with promises of good jobs, and found themselves on the cargo end of human trafficking operations. Trafficking where stepmother Victoria operated the shipping.

So Bianca wants real responsibility and Cesare wants to save his company, and all the people he’s rescued. Victoria wants to eliminate Bianca and takeover RedIce Mining. It’s really (and very disgustingly) clear why Victoria wants to eliminate Bianca, but her reasons for going after RedIce are hidden until the very end.

Just like the feelings that Bianca and Cesare develop for each other as they try to stay one step ahead of everyone who is out to get them.

Escape Rating B+: Ice Red is rock solid science fiction romance entertainment! It’s set in a not-too-distant future where Mars has been developed through the construction of a space elevator, but these are all familiar concepts. Mars, Earth and the space station that controls the elevator, Eris, are easily imagined places.

Considering the actions of Bianca’s stepmother, Victoria, I find the name of the space station to be particularly appropriate. Eris was the Greek goddess of chaos, strife and discord; all things that Victoria creates as a matter of business. And pleasure.

We get to know both Bianca and Cesare pretty well as the story progresses; it’s just long enough for good character development without letting up the break-neck pace. It was particularly easy for me to identify with Bianca’s desire to carve a place for herself in her father’s company, and her continued frustration with the way that Victoria and her father Max kept pushing her away. But she’s also been lonely and protected from the hard knocks of the world, and she needs to get out of the cocoon she’s been swaddled in.

Cesare has been hiding his heroism under the cover of being a wild cowboy. He needs to step into the light, and she needs someone to shake her up. They have terrific chemistry.

The villainy of Victoria was just a bit over the top. It reminded me of B Movie space operas, in a very fun way. She would have made a great cartoon baddie.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this series goes next. Ladder to the Red Star, here I come!

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Bite Me by P J Schnyder

Posted on April 18, 2014April 20, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: paranormal romance, urban fantasy
Series: London Undead #1
Length: 89 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: June 24, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

Few people walk the streets of London since the zombie outbreak, but that’s not an issue for Seth. As a werewolf, he can handle himself and save humans reckless enough to take a nighttime stroll. While on patrol he comes across a group of people under attack. The one woman brave enough to take a stand against the zombies catches his eye—and not just because of her way with a gun. Learning the beautiful woman is homeless and fends for herself only intensifies his urge to protect and care for her.

Maisie can’t help but admit that she’s attracted to her werewolf rescuer. She’s drawn to Seth’s strength and ferocity, and finds herself opening up to him in ways she never imagined, even though she’s determined to not rely on Seth or anyone else. She doesn’t want another person to get hurt—or die—for her sake. She has enough scars, physical and emotional, from the last time…

But when Seth realizes something is drawing the zombies to Maisie, there may be nothing he can do to save her…

My Review:

Bite Me is a very cool little novella, with some neat worldbuilding and a sweet/hot romance at its center.

It’s also gritty, post-apocalyptic and absolutely a tease for the next books in the series.

There are lots of stories where the vampires come out of the coffin or the werewolves stop hiding behind the full moon, but this is the first one I’ve seen where it feels like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies got thrown into the mix, and I mean that in a totally good way (I loved the first one, but the joke went on too long).

In Schnyder’s dangerous new world, an absolute pandemic of zombies is hunting London in mindless, flesh-eating packs. No one knows how the plague started, but now there seem to be only two options; you run or you fight.

What little law and order is left to hunt the zombies has been augmented by the London werewolf pack. Weres are immune to the zombie virus. So are fae and vampires, but those supernatural creatures have yet to expose their existence in the light of day (or night, as the case may be).

So the werewolves are attempting to protect what’s left of the city’s inhabitants, along with the help of the police. Most of society’s infrastructure is pretty much gone. The people who remain inside the quarantine zone hang onto life by their bloody fingernails.

Maisie operates a veterinary clinic. A surprising number of insane idiots come from America and other less-infected places to go “big game hunting” for zombies in London, bringing their pets and their hunting dogs.

Seth is the alpha of the London werewolf pack. Their worlds shouldn’t connect. But when Seth finds Maisie calmly shooting down a zombie horde in Hyde Park with pistols in both hands, he’s intrigued. He likes her practicality, and he’s appreciative of the excellence of her aim.

He intervenes, not because she needs help as because he can’t resist her blend of death and moxie. He thinks he has all the time in the world to court her the way she should be.

Then he discovers that the zombies have not only evolved, but that they are targeting her.

Escape Rating B: I always want more worldbuilding. This novella is both short and the first book in the series, so as much as I enjoyed it, I kept wondering how the zombie plague manifested, when, and what happened in the first few years of reactions. Also what was the reaction when the werewolves pitched in to patrol.

I didn’t say “how the zombie plague started” because people don’t see to know that. I can accept that it might not be known, and that part of the longer story arc is the hunt for both cause and cure.

The London that is being overrun by the zombies feels like it is dying. It almost felt like the story was steampunk or alternate Victorian, not because there is steam technology but because life is reverting back to historic patterns as the standard of living falls precipitously.

There isn’t a lot of time for character development, but there are hints. Both Seth and Maisie carry deep emotional scars, and neither of them is used to relying on others for assistance. They wake something up in each other, mostly because neither of them wants to need another being, ever again, and yet they are both achingly lonely. Two practical minded, independent people who are perfect made to face danger together.

I’m glad I started this series after three books are out; it means that I can dive into the next one (Sing for the Dead) right away!

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Dual Review: Dancing with Dragons by Lorenda Christensen

Posted on March 19, 2014March 18, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | book reviews> C Reviews> Draconismoi

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook
Genre: paranormal romance, urban fantasy
Series: DRACIM #2
Length: 184 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: March 17, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

If Carol Jenski knows anything, it’s fashion—and it’s not in fashion to consort with dragons, even though they’ve coexisted with humans since World War III. Still, she would never have agreed to take part in a plot against them. Now a dragon lord has called for her head, her boyfriend is MIA and she’s been abandoned in a foreign country.

Only reporter Daniel Wallent is on Carol’s side…sort of. He offers his assistance if she helps him investigate his latest story. He’ll need Carol’s language skills to infiltrate in the organization run by one of the most dangerous and secretive dragons in the world.

Escaping one sociopathic dragon’s claws only to walk into another’s is an insane risk—and so is falling for Daniel. Posing as his blushing—and very affectionate—new bride as cover soon leads to an all-too-real attraction. But fighting off dragons and her desire for Daniel may be more of a challenge than Carol can handle…

Our Review:

Cass: I deeply – and unexpectedly – loved the everloving shit out of Never Deal with Dragons. (Though I still maintain it was inappropriately classified as PNR, and was really UF. Because I must justify this to myself in some way.)

Marlene: Whatever you want to call it, I read Never Deal with Dragons just because you liked it. I was flabbergasted that you liked anything with even a smidgen of romance!

Cass: That’s entirely fair. I read it because I was having a bad week, and I “knew” she’d ruin my dragons. I wanted to hate it and write and ALL CAPS RAGE REVIEW.

Then it turned out to be awesome. The romance wasn’t love-at-first-sight. It wasn’t the driving plot of the book. Myrna was brilliant and capable. Trian acknowledged his douchebaggery, and made appropriate amends. (And he continued to do so as a bit player here in Dancing with Dragons.)

Anyways. With all this in mind, I was actually quite excited to jump into Dancing with Dragons. Though I struggled with the realization that this would make THREE goddamn PNR series that I enjoy (see also: The Edge by Ilona Andrews and The Iron Seas by MelJean Brook).

Marlene: Never Deal with Dragons was terrific (see review)! Myrna was a great heroine who used her brains rather than her brawn to be absolutely kick-ass awesome. And there was none of the dreaded insta-love. I don’t mind in the least following another PNR series (well, duh) but it has to be good. This one got off to a great start, but then, we get Dancing with Dragons, and let’s just say the sophmore book does not live up to the promise of the first one.

Cass: I am absolutely devastated to agree. The opening chapter was riveting – a dragon car chase! BAM AMAZING. GIVE ME MORE. I was practically squealing with excitement (much to the consternation of the family trapped on the plane with me.)

Then Carol wakes up in the hospital (post-head trauma), and the whole thing went careening downhill. I actually stopped to re-read the end of Never Deal with Dragons, because I recalled that Carol knew what Richard had done, and chose to go with him anyways. Also that Richard was deeply and obsessively in love with her blah blah blah dragon killing terrorists need love too. I was correct. Although the author seems to have forgotten.

Carol went from dragonscript expert with shitass taste in men to every possible blonde stereotype in the book (never mind that she’s a ginger.) She threw a goddamn public hissy fit in the hospital when she discovered the surgeons had to cut her hair in order to deal with the head trauma and possible bleeding her her brain. You are alive. WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR HAIR?! It didn’t help that this was a recurring bitch for her throughout the rest of the book. Woe is me, people think I’m a terrorist, I’m a fugitive from the law, and my boyfriend ditched me….but MY HAIR IS GONE!

Basically, I couldn’t stand her. She was TSTL.

Marlene: I’m sitting here watching the rant appear on my screen and just nodding. Or chortling.

Carol was such a poor choice for a heroine, even if it was set up in the first book. I don’t care. It wasn’t just her repeated bad taste in men (it happens) but that she seemed to have regressed from the first book, possibly back to the teenage hormonal-drama stage.

The repeated hair-fits–either screeching or bewailing her short-haired fate, seemed stupid and short-sighted considering that she was on the run for her life through the entire story. WTF?

Repeating her awful judgment of the male of the species by continuing to believe Richard the douche after he abandons her in the hospital in Budapest, leaving her with nothing but the hospital gown on her front. I’d be sending a dragon after his ass, not continuing to justify his assholishness.

Cass: Now, I’ll admit I was willing to give Carol a wee bit of a temporary pass due to the traumatic brain injury. But when you find out that you are wanted for questioning in connection with a terrorist attack that took place while you were in a coma, you TURN YOURSELF IN. Why? Because you have IRREFUTABLE PROOF YOU ARE INNOCENT. A hospital full of people who can document your coma is what we call an airtight alibi.

Or you can take the Carol route, and climb onto the back of a reporter’s motorcycle while wearing nothing but your hospital gown and go on the lam with him in a foreign country.

I guess I should take a moment to lay off Carol, and point out that my usually brilliant and competent Myrna failed to take the requisite 5 minutes on the phone to explain to Carol just what the bloody hell was going on – and instead said, “Oh hey, glad that coma’s over! I suggest you get lost. Bye! Call me. Love you.”

Regardless of Myrna’s temporary failure as a friend, Carol really should have started making logical decisions at some point in the book. But she never did. She repeatedly refused to take advantage of possible routes to immediately clear her name, did not even consider that Richard was guilty, and instead felt SUPER BAD about giving Mr. Sexy Reporter blue balls that one time. Which was like, totally, the worst thing ever! Because how could he cope with such pain?! (Clearly, she’s never heard of masturbation.)

Marlene: If he didn’t go into the shower and take care of business, then they are absolutely perfect for each other, because that would make him equally TSTL. Which would have been the end of the story, because he’s clearly the brains of the outfit, such as they are.

After all, he keeps manipulating Carol (not that that’s not a piece of cake!) and everyone else he comes into contact with. I could sort of understand why she believed him in the first place, but that she kept on believing as his cover got more elaborate, not so much. If his paper could supposedly afford her new designer wardrobe, why didn’t the budget run to a dragonspeaker?

Not to mention, the simple idea that she accepted that it was better to go deceive a second dragon lord rather than finding a straightforward way to get out of her problems with the first one was just bizarre.

If this was intended as screwball comedy, it falls heavily on the screwball side.

Cass: Carol’s stupidity was clearly a plot contrivance. In Never Deal with Dragons, she was put forth as an incomparable language expert, contract genius, and diplomat extraordinaire. Getting that Carol to engage in wee bit of international espionage while under investigation for bioterrorism would have been such a pain in the ass. Ergo, moronic Carol.

By the time we got to the James Bond portion of the book, I was sorely tempted to just stop reading. Carol clearly wasn’t going to get eaten by a dragon, which she richly deserved, and I was done. However, in this respect, her stupidity finally paid off, and we got an actual interesting and engaging dragon plot! Much like the first book, I was fascinated with dragon society, dragon laws, dragon customs, and dragon-human interactions.

Why couldn’t Carol have turned herself in at the beginning of the book, cleared her name (with ease), and been sweet-talked by whatever sexy piece of mancake they had on hand to go undercover for Lord Relobu in India and help avert another international dragon incident?! We could have gotten to the actual plot that much faster, and had a plausible reason for it, while capitalizing on Carol’s overactive hormones and shit judgement all in one go. She still could have hooked up with Mr. Sexy Reporter for their extremely tepid love scenes. And I could have spent more time actually caring about the book.

Marlene: Just in case anyone has missed the point, we don’t like the version of Carol that comes out of her trauma-induced coma in Dancing with Dragons!

Cass: We loved the actual dragon parts of the book! Especially the interlude in India.

Marlene: The Indian dragon lord and the whole story of the plots and counterplots to take over/save/protect the ex-Chinese dragon lord’s former territory was awesome. (Carol did finally get a clue once the entire compound was captured by the rapacious would-be dragon lord and his cronies.

Cass: Trian made a bloody brilliant entrance at this point! The suffering we endured at the beginning was largely worth his hilarious machinations and manipulation of the siege-laying dragonfolk.

Marlene: And just as Trian is resolving everything, Carol of course loses faith in the rescue that she set up and asks him to cart her back to the U.S. This is the point where she should have stuck it out, but Carol continues her pattern of making the worst decisions possible every time.

ARRGGHH!

Cass: I can’t spoil the ending for you, but let’s just make it known that the lawyer has OPINIONS about the Trial of the Century. I believe there is a military term appropriate to this situation: FUBAR.

Escape Rating: Carol gets a D for dumbfuck, but all the other parts (dragons!!!!) are pushing A material (except Lord Relobu. He’s clearly infected with Carol’s stupidity by association). I’ll split the difference and go with a C+. The + is dragon-induced.

Marlene: Carol is way too TSTL to make a half-way decent heroine. Adding the insta-love trope between her and Mr. Sexy Reporter as an attempt to justify why she goes on the lam with him does not make things better. (And some of his behavior does border on TSTL, it doesn’t take much brains to seem smarter than this version of Carol)

Escape Rating C: The dragon politics and backstabbing (or is that front-clawing) were generally awesome, but the choice of Carol as point-of-view character made the non-dragon parts very rough going. If she screeched one more time about her hair or her post-coma lack of muscle tone I was seriously tempted to hope a dragon would eat her. Maybe there’s hope for the next book?

Cass: Note: Stunningly for a PNR, there was no obvious set-up for the next protagonist. Maybe Myrna’s new assistant back in Tulsa? Or one of the bit players in India?

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Slam Dance with the Devil by Nico Rosso

Posted on March 10, 2014March 9, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook
Genre: paranormal romance
Series: Demon Rock #2
Length: 203 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: March 10, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

All those wild rock stars you hear about? Some of them really are demons, sustained by the energy pouring off the audience…

Wild, destructive and immortal, rocker Kent Gaol has given up the search for his Muse—a demon’s one true source of inspiration, his forever partner. After losing the one woman he thought might be his, he’s convinced she doesn’t exist.

Hard-as-nails private investigator Nona Harris has been hired by a mysterious client to track Kent. She knows nothing of his truths, until one night when Kent tricks her on stage during one of his concerts. Amazingly, she not only senses the energy around the demons, she feeds from it…and it turns her on.

Kent never expected Nona’s response to be so intense, nor that she could enter his world and so thoroughly rock it. This is beyond a tumultuous love affair—this is a sexual and emotional bond that will change them both forever. A bond strong enough that now Nona’s shady client wants them both dead…

My Review:

How many demons does it take to make a rock and roll band? In Slam Dance with the Devil, the hit band Arc Map has three, Kent on bass, Isis on guitar and Unger playing the drums. They go from concert to concert, playing gig after gig so they can soak up the energy from the audience.

Literally. They are demons who feed on that energy, and they’ve been feeding on their audiences since humankind made music by beating on rocks.

It’s a nomadic life, and has been for millennia. They’ve played every kind of music that has ever been. The demons that don’t manage to reinvent themselves and change with the audiences, die of hunger.

Every demon is supposed to have one Muse that changes everything. Once they find their Muse, they can only feed from that one person. They live together, or they die apart.

In Heavy Metal Heart (see review), Trevor Sands finds his Muse. His music gets better, but the revelation that Muses are real and not just myth strikes ripples through all of the other demons, and their enemies, the Philosophers.

That’s where private investigator Nona Harris comes in. She’s been sent by a client she’s never met to follow Arc Map and particularly Kent Gaol. She’s been told that a family wants to make sure he is paid back for the heartbreak he dealt to their child Lorena. Nona figures that if she follows the band, eventually Kent will trip up and do something illegal, and she’ll be there to nab him.

She’s had cases like that before, where someone thinks they are too rich and famous to be held accountable. Nona usually proves otherwise.

But when she catches up with Kent, she discovers that he’s not like her other cases, and not just because she finds him intensely sexy. Even as he challenges her, something about the darkness she sees in him makes her think that her case isn’t what she thought it was.

She sees grief and not guilt, and finds herself filled with doubt as well as distraction.

Then she is lured onstage during one of Arc Map’s concerts, and she sees the energy of the audience raining down on the band; and on herself. Her world is not what she thought it was.

And she discovers that she’s been searching for Kent all her life. She just never knew what he was–until now.

Escape Rating B: Like Heavy Metal Heart, Slam Dance with the Devil is a very erotic love story. If you’ve read any of Olivia Cunning’s Sinners on Tour series, it’s that hot, without the threesomes. This is totally Kent and Nona’s story.

Both of them resist the almost gravimetric pull they have towards each other. Nona because she starts out believing that Kent is scum, and Kent because he believes that the woman who should have been his Muse is already dead–murdered by the Philosophers.

The war between the Philosophers and the demons is all about order vs chaos. While that may sound like good vs evil, it’s actually not. Order can be so rigid as to suppress life, and chaos, in the right dose, is more about change and growth.

Because Nona’s life is all about delivering justice, she starts out being all about order and rules. The Philosophers use that to get to her, and it almost works. They lose in the end because Nona is all about truth, and they lied to her to get her to do what they wanted.

Kent’s always told her the truth, even when it was one that she couldn’t believe. Even when it was one she didn’t want to believe. The truth that they belonged together saved them both.

This world of demon rockers and their muses puts a whole new spin on rock and roll. As an alternate version of history, let’s just say it gives a whole different beat, and a compelling one, to alt-rock.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Never Deal with Dragons by Lorenda Christensen

Posted on March 4, 2014March 1, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | A Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: Urban fantasy, paranormal romance
Series: DRACIM #1
Length: 209 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: July 22, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

Consoling a sobbing dragon and serving pig buffets are just part of the job for Myrna Banks. Working for a mediation firm, it’s her job to get humans compensated for damages caused by the dragons who now rule. But her “typical” day is interrupted by Trian Chobardan, an old flame who sneaked out of her bed two years ago, taking her heart and a handful of classified documents with him.

Myrna would love to show Trian the door, but he’s been sent by North America’s reigning dragon lord for help negotiating a truce with a powerful rival to avert war. Myrna agrees to help, even though she’ll be stuck with Trian as a partner.

As the two work together, Myrna finds Trian to be surprisingly supportive—and still irresistibly attractive. Though her brain tells her not to forget his betrayal, her body feels differently. When they learn the enemy dragon lord is planning something no one could have imagined, Myrna has to learn who she can trust before she loses not only her heart, but her life.

My Review:

I picked this one up because Cass liked it. The idea that Cass liked anything with even a smidgen of romance made this one too tempting to resist.

Never Deal with Dragons turned out to be way too much fun for a story that starts after World War III, but then, the causes (and effects) of that war are all part of what makes this story such a blast.

Somebody really screwed up genetic manipulation, and instead of curing cancer, they created dragons by accident. That’s one heck of an accident, especially since those brand new dragons got such an interesting mix of genes that they are pretty much indestructible, at least by anything that humans can cook up.

Mankind is no longer the apex predator on Earth. The societal consequences are enormous. If it weren’t for the fact that dragons find us useful (we farm, they don’t), the dragons would probably have wiped us out in a heartbeat.

Especially since the results of that war include global cooling and a nearly complete breakdown of telecommunications due to too much EMP radiation. We’ve lost a lot of history and communication, and everyone wants to live in the new temperate zones, which have shrunk and moved towards the equator.

This is only the beginning of the worldbuilding, which is fantastic as well as incredibly well thought out.

Our heroine is a dragon mediator. She speaks dragon. The lord dragon of North America prefers to negotiate rather than fight or enslave when there’s a dispute between dragons and humans, such as when a dragon eats a bunch of cows without asking permission first. Smoothing over everyone’s feathers and scales is definitely required.

But Myrna Banks is stuck in a dead end secretarial job (to an asshat boss) because even though she is one of the few dragonspeakers, she lost some confidential documents a couple of years ago. She says she lost them, but her ex-lover actually stole them, on his way out the door in the middle of the night.

Trian Chobardan is back, and with a job offer. It turns out he works for that reigning dragon lord, and Lord Relobu wants a dragonspeaker to mediate between himself and the crazy-but-powerful Dragon Lord of China.

Myrna sees the mission as her chance to get out of her dead-end job and back onto the fast-track. She just has to ignore her still-definitely-simmering attraction to Trian–and all the dragons who suddenly want to kill her.

Escape Rating A: This one is all about the dragons, and the new society that is created in their wake. And it’s awesome.

The reactions of the people involved in this thing are just so much fun, even when the people are dragons.

Myrna is in such an interesting position, because even though her talents are needed, there are a lot of humans who don’t want to admit that the world has changed. They hate dragons, and therefore undervalue anyone who can communicate with them. There’s an element of human society that thinks they can go back to the “good old days” if they just manage to eliminate the dragons. This is so short-sighted, because they don’t have a way to get rid of all the dragons, and because things never go back to the way they used to be. That genie is long past out of the bottle. (Yes, I see it as a commentary on current society, as always, your mileage may vary)

I liked Myrna a lot. She’s a great point of view character because she understands both sides. And because she’s a mediator and negotiator rather than a warrior. It’s marvelous to see someone who fights with their brains first as the heroine.

I also liked that, as much as she’s still attracted to Trian, they don’t get back together until he comes clean about his betrayal, his disappearance from her life, and his true identity. He has to rebuild her trust, and it takes the entire story for that to happen. And so it should.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Blade to the Keep by Lauren Dane

Posted on February 18, 2014February 16, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | A Reviews> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: paranormal romance, urban fantasy
Series: Rowan Summerwaite #2
Length: 192 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: December 9, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

Rowan Summerwaite is no ordinary woman. She’s smart and strong and with the power of an ancient goddess in her belly, she’s the perfect candidate to re-negotiate the fragile Treaty keeping the peace between the Vampire Nation and the last line of defense for humanity, The Hunter Corporation. A meeting of the Joint Tribunal, and Rowan’s new status as Liaison sends her straight to the last place on earth she wants to be—The Keep.

Raised at the knee of The First, honed into a weapon by the Hunter Corporation, wielding ancient knowledge from the Goddess within, Rowan must navigate around bloodthirsty opposition among Vampires and Hunters alike to avoid an all out war that puts humanity in the crosshairs.

And she’s got to do it as she attempts to manage a politically awkward romantic relationship with Scion Clive Stewart during a trip back to a place she escaped nearly fifteen years before. No pressure.

Walking the path between her two lives has already made Rowan a pariah. If she leaves it to become something even more Other, she may lose even the shreds of home she has left.

My Review:

Goddess With a Blade was one of the first books I reviewed for NetGalley, but that’s not the only reason I remember it so well.

It is an absolutely awesome urban fantasy with truly amazing world building, and an utterly kick-ass heroine who manages to be down-to-earth human in her emotions while being more-than-human in actuality.

Rowan Summerwaite is a mass of contradictions. She was raised by the leader of the Vampire Nation, using methods that were totally beyond abusive–and she has the physical and emotional scars to prove it.

And yet, he did the best he knew how to prepare her for the role that she would have to play; she is the vessel of the goddess Brighid, and she is a licensed vampire slayer of the Hunter Corporation.

Her job is to enforce the treaty between the Vampire Nation and the Hunters, a treaty that keeps us regular humans from discovering that the things that go bump in the night have always walked beside us, and have generally preyed on us.

Goddess With a Blade was our introduction to Rowan and her world, and it is awesome. She has to investigate a vampire serial killer, while dealing with a tension fraught reunion with her foster father and an incredibly hot frenemy she’s not sure whether she wants to stake or mate.

Blade to the Keep is a direct sequel to Goddess With a Blade. If you love urban fantasy with a romantic subplot, and you haven’t read Goddess, start.

Blade takes us back to where Rowan grew up. She goes home to The First’s castle/palace/headquarters, but this isn’t a family visit. She is the official Liaison between the Vampire Nation and Hunter Corporation, and her job is to get an amendment to the peace accords passed the inevitable nasty politicking that will hopefully prevent some of the damage done by the serial killer to occur again.

There’s a story here of political infighting at its nasty best (or worst) with both sides having an “Old Guard” that wants to return to the good old days. Of course, each side’s version of what those good old days really were is rather different. And all the people on both sides who want to go back to war are not the ones who would fight said war.

The commentary on how willing the button pushers always are to send other people out to fight is particularly pointed. Possibly also fanged.

Rowan is uniquely qualified to get the accords passed. She just has to survive everything that is being sliced at her from both sides of the negotiating table.

Escape Rating A+: Goddess With a Blade was on my best ebook romances of 2011 list because it was just so fantastic. Blade to the Keep is a more-than-worthy successor.

The worldbuilding just keeps getting better. By taking the story back to Rowan’s childhood home, we learn much more about the people and forces that shaped her in the heroine we see.

There’s not a question that Rowan has a version of Stockholm Syndrome, in that she loves the father who certainly abused her, there’s also a recognition that he loves her as much as she can’t stop herself from loving him.

He knew what her future was going to be and made her strong enough to bear it.

But he’s still “The First”, the oldest and strongest Vampire in the Vampire Nation, and he is the leader of his people in the treaty negotiations. Even when they don’t want to be led, and even when they challenge his leadership by threatening Rowan.

While Rowan’s past comes back to both haunt and enfold her during this visit to her former home, The First’s past literally comes back to bite him. And through that conflict we learn even more about the early history of vampires in this alternate universe and the Vampire Nation.

Rowan’s relationship with the Vampire Scion of Las Vegas, Clive Stewart, continues to gain depth. Even though they are on opposite sides of the negotiating table, and even though their relationship is considered unwise in some quarters and anathema in others, they both maintain their roles as opposing negotiators and assist each other in rooting out malefactors. All while coming closer to figuring out what they can be to each other.

When Goddess came out in 2011, it looked like a one-off, but I so wanted more. This time, there is an announcement that book 3, Blade to the Hunt, will be released in November 2014. I can hardly wait.

*Reviewer’s note: To my utter delight, there are ads for Goddess with a Blade and Blade to the Keep on Seattle Metro Buses. Seeing “Reading Reality” on the ad as the source for the quote was beyond awesome.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Ashes & Alchemy by Cindy Spencer Pape

Posted on January 14, 2014January 8, 2014 by Marlene Harris | Author : Marlene Harris | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews

Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genre: steampunk romance
Series: Gaslight Chronicles #6
Length: 82 pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Date Released: January 6, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, All Romance

Police inspector Sebastian Brown served Queen and country in India before returning to England to investigate supernatural crimes alongside the Order of the Round Table. If his wifeless, childless life feels a little empty sometimes, that’s not too great a price to pay in the name of duty.

Minerva Shaw is desperately seeking a doctor when she mistakenly lands on Sebastian’s doorstep. Her daughter Ivy has fallen gravely ill with a mysterious illness–the same illness, it seems, that’s responsible for taking the lives of many of Ivy’s classmates.

Seb sniffs a case, and taking in Minnie and Ivy seems the only way to protect them while he solves it. But as mother and daughter work their way into his heart and Seb uses every magickal and technological resource he can muster to uncover the source of the deadly plague, it’s he who will need protecting–from emotions he’d thought buried long ago.

My Review:

Cindy Spencer Pape’s Gaslight Chronicles are a delicious alchemical mixture of steampunk and sorcery, and I’m not just saying that because it echoes the title of the first book in the series (Steam & Sorcery).

If you love steampunk, read this series from the very beginning. The worldbuilding just gets better and more detailed as the series goes on, and the stories are always just plain fun! What makes the series shine is the author’s invention of an alternate Victorian age where Charles Babbage’s analytical engine was actually invented, as opposed to merely theoretical, in the 1830s, and Ada Lovelace was the first coder. Computers in the 1830s and 1840s changed history, bringing the analytical sciences to bear on the age of steam.

And, since Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer, women attend university in this alternate era.

But alongside these scientific developments, vampires and werewolves walk, or stalk among the populace. Werewolves are mostly the good guys, but vampires are rotting corpses that feed on anyone they catch. To fight them, and other supernatural creatures, the Order of the Knights of the Round Table has continued into the “modern” era. They fight the supernatural with magic.

Magic and science coexist to make fantastic stories.

In Ashes & Alchemy we see something that hasn’t previously been dealt with much in the Gaslight Chronicles world–what about the people who are part of the families but don’t have the gift?

Sebastian Brown knows all about the Order because his father is a Knight. He has a smidgen of the talent, but not enough to qualify for the Order himself. He still serves Queen and Country–Seb is a Police Inspector, and his talent is a handy one–he can sense when someone is telling the truth.

Minerva Shaw spends nearly her last strength dropping against his door late one night, mistaking his house for the doctor next door. It’s fortuitous for them both. Her daughter is burning up with fever in the tenement they share, and his neighbor is a doctor known for his willingness to make house calls in chancy neighborhoods.

But the doctor is overwhelmed by patients from an accident, and Seb volunteers to bring the child to his own house. This is where the case deepens from a simple act of charity into another fiendishly clever plot like the one in Moonlight & Mechanicals, although this time the motives are closer to hearth and home.

When Seb takes in Minerva and her daughter Ivy, he finds that the presence of this little family in his formerly empty house awakens feelings that he thought he buried in India along with his own wife and child.

But he knows that Minerva has secrets chasing after her that she is afraid to reveal. And the doctor discovers that Ivy’s illness has a far from natural origin; an origin so unnatural that it requires investigation by the Order.

Escape Rating B+: Steampunk, magic and the Knights of the Round Table are still an irresistible combination. But it is terrific to see this story explore what happens with someone who is not a Knight. Just because your family has magic powers does not mean that your parents are any better at the job. Seb’s father is a piece of work. Still.

Seb using the case as an excuse to keep Minerva and Ivy around is such a classic excuse for him to disturb his empty household for a reason. It works excellently! He can keep pretending that he’s only taking care of them during the investigation, and Minerva can pretend that she doesn’t actually want to stay.

Minerva’s past, particularly her relationship with her daughter Ivy, is extremely touching. She puts Ivy first, always, even at her own expense. She’s aware that she’s doing it but has decided that it is worth the cost to herself.

It was great to see the rest of the gang. Wink and Liam in particular, the couple from Moonlight & Mechanicals, are very necessary side characters in this one.

Ashes & Alchemy is a marvelous love story that continues a theme throughout this series, about the importance of the family-you-make. And it has a terrifically convoluted scientific steampunk plot and a sparking hot romance, too!

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

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