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 And here they are:

The Detective's Assistant by Kate Hannigan.   Just plain fun!  Cornelia Warne is dumped with her uncle's widow, Aunt Kitty Warne, after everyone else in her family has died.  Aunt Kitty blames Cornelia's father for the death of his brother Matthew, her husband and does not want a 12-year-old hanging around.  Kate - as Aunt Kitty prefers to be called - is Pinkerton's first woman agent.  Based on the real Kate Warne, this book is a romp!  Traveling around the eastern US in the days right before Abe Lincoln's inauguration,  Nell, as Aunt Kitty decides to call Cornelia, ends up helping the Pinkerton's in several cases.  Nell's letters to and from her best friend, Jemma, who fled to Canada to escape slavers, add background painlessly.  American history delivered up with a lot of fun and some suspense and sadness, too.

Waistcoats and Weaponry by Gail Carriger.  Sophronia Temminick has a new weapon, the steel bladed fan - so fashionable!.  She also has a dilemma of the heart.  Should she choose Shoe, the sootie of entirely the wrong social class and race?  Or go with Lord Felix Mersey - he of the influential Papa and Pickleman leanings?  When Sidheag, one of Sophronia's closest friends at Madame Geraldine's, runs off to Scotland because of a huge family crisis (involving the death of a Beta werewolf and a renegade pack), Sophronia, Dimity, Soap AND Felix steal a steam train to help Sidheag's journey.  Things get drastic and deadly serious toward the end. 

Boys Don't Knit by T. S. Easton.  Through no fault of his own - well, hardly - Ben Fletcher is on probation.  He has to "keep a journal" - which he already does! - learn a craft or trade, and do community service.  The craft class offerings at community college are a bit slim.  He chooses knitting since the teacher is the hottest single female teacher at the high school.  And he finds that he is a natural at knitting.  It's so calming.  What Ben needs is calming.
Ben's parents, extremely messy home and daft friends, stress Ben out in a major way.  Add to that his tendency to take AS courses in math and science and his OCD leanings and you have one anxious teen.  And then there is Megan!  Does she like him or not??  He likes HER!  He has to keep his growing knitting mania a secret from his dad and everyone else.  But he's just sooooo good at it.
After you get past the corny behavior of Ben's dad and mom, this book is laugh out loud funny.

From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess by Meg Cabot.  Olivia Grace Clarice Mignonette Harrison is about as normal as a 12 year old girl can be - except for the dead mom and invisible Dad and incredibly long name.  Dad writes every month but Olivia has never met him.  Ever.  When the sixth grade queen bee, Annabelle, challenges Olivia to a fight after school and accuses Olivia of being a princess, Olivia is stunned.  But, yeah, she is a princess and half-sister to Princess Mia of Genovia.  And, there are some allegations of serious wrongdoing on the part of Olivia's aunt and guardian.
       The premise of this series is every bit as awkward and unbelievable as the premise of the Princess Diaries but, you know what?  The audience for these books will not care. In. The. Least.  Cabot's writing is effortless; the pages turn themselves.  If you want to escape from middle school worries, girls, here's the book for you.
 

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Gail Carriger introduced readers to her alternate Victorian London — chock-full of steampunk technology and supernatural characters — in 2009 with Soulless, the first volume of her five-book adult series The Parasol Protectorate. The Finishing School series, a YA prequel series set in the same world, soon followed, beginning with Curtsies & Conspiracies. Espionage lessons, a dirigible boarding school, a girl inventor, vampires and werewolves, witty banter: what more could a steampunk fantasy fan ask for? Gail is currently working on another companion YA series, The Custard Protocol, which will kick off with Prudence in spring 2015.

My beloved local Brookline Public Library (hi Robin!) hosted Gail on November 10th for a lovely evening tea party — cucumber sandwiches and all! — and Q&A event to celebrate the release of Waistcoats & Weaponry, the third book in the Finishing School series. I spoke with her over tea just before the event. In addition to being a prolific and (ahem) fantastic author, Gail is also an archaeologist by training, Elissa’s college roomie (Oberlin represent!), and a very stylish lady — she told me she had a different Waistcoats & Weaponry–cover coordinated ensemble for each stop on the book tour.

The Parasol Protectorate books are adult books and The Finishing School series is YA — although there’s been a lot of crossover, with the YA books being read by adults and the adult books being read by teens. Have you found that there are things you can do in adult books that you can’t do in YA, or vice versa?

For me, YA has to be — and this is what I like about it — it has to be very clean and sharp. As a writer, it requires me to do a lot more editing because it needs to be very sparse. You don’t sacrifice details, but you sacrifice a certain amount of waffling. In adult books you’re allowed to put in extra little bits and distract the readers with pretty description for a while. In young adult, you just can’t do that. You have to be very structured and paced. Pacing is always really important to me, but I think in YA it’s even more important. That’s one of the biggest differences. And I allow myself to be a little more racy when I’m writing the adult stuff.

Your Finishing School protagonist Sophoronia Temminnick has quite the name. Do you have other favorite Victorian-era names that you’ve come across in your research (or that you’ve come up with yourself)?

I tend to use them if I come across them. I love the name “Euphrenia”; I don’t know if I’ve leaked it into the books yet, but it’s one of my favorite ultra-Victorian names. I really like first names that are traditionally Victorian but are not used anymore. That’s one of the reasons I chose “Sophronia.” It’s still a pretty name, and sort of like “Sophia,” but just old-fashioned enough for you to know immediately, the minute that you read her name, that she’s not of our time. “Dimity” was another actual name from the time period. Alexia [from the Parasol Protectorate books] only got named “Alexia” because she was one of those characters that announced herself as being named that. Sometimes characters just enter your head and they’re like, “This is my name!” “Soap” is one of those as well. “Pillover” is another one — it’s not a real name; I just made that one up completely. But “Sophronia” and “Dimity” I picked.

Is there a mythological creature that you’ve been wanting to introduce into this world that you haven’t gotten to yet?

I’m pretty strict with myself with world-building. I’m sticking to motifs of vampires, shape-shifters, and ghosts, probably because almost every ancient culture has some version of them, like the kitsune in Japan. But I excavated in Peru for a while and there is a legend in the Peruvian highlands of a creature called a pishtaco (which is fantastically ridiculous-sounding, first of all). It’s essentially a fat-sucking vampire rather than a blood-sucking vampire — which is comedy gold. I’m dying to get [Custard Protocol protagonist] Prudence to the New World at some point so that she can meet one of these creatures and I can write all about them.

Are we going to see more mechanimals like Bumbersnoot in the Finishing School books? (Or do you say “mech-animals”?)

I say “mechanimals,” like “mechanicals” but with an “animal” at the end. You will see more of them, but you’re not going to see a named little friend like Bumbersnoot. There’s quite a few in the last book but that’s all I’m going to say.

If you were going to have a mechanimal pet yourself, what kind of animal would you pick?

Probably something like a hedgehog. I would like a round, roly-poly, friendly sort of critter. I have a very demanding cat who’s svelte and overdramatic, so I think I’d like a calm, rodentia-style, chubby little creature. Something in the porcupine, hedgehog arena. The cat would probably be very upset with it.

What would your dream teatime guest list and menu look like?

Oh, goodness. Do I get to pick fantastic characters? Or historical people?

Sure. Living, dead, fictional — anyone you want.

There’s part of me that has to be true to my archaeological roots and pick Nefertiti, Hatshepsut, Boadicea… I’m attracted to super-powerful female historical figures, the queens and mistresses, so I’d probably concoct a party that was all these fantastic women from history. The problem, of course, would be interpretation, but it’s my fantasy so everyone would speak English. I’m an adventurous eater, and I’d like to cater to the guests, so I’d have foods from all of the different places and times they came from. One of my favorite things is cooking ancient food, sourcing the ingredients and re-creating it myself. I think if you can taste the flavor of the past, you can get a better impression of it. I’d try to do that so everybody got to try everybody else’s dishes.

What’s your specialty, your pet era as an archaeologist?

I’m not an area specialist; I’m a materials specialist. My focus was on ceramics. To this day I have a propensity to pick up a piece of pottery and flip it over to look at the back side — which can be terribly embarrassing if I’ve forgotten that there’s food on the front side — to look for the maker’s mark.

Are there other historical eras that you’d like to write about?

The series I’m writing now [The Custard Protocol] is set in the 1890s, which is basically the dawn of female emancipation. Mostly because of trousers — women gained a great deal of autonomy due to education and to the bicycle. The two combined started the New Woman movement, these educated young ladies with self-motivation and autonomy. I’m excited to move closer to the turn of the twentieth century and to have a bit more realism behind my super-strong female characters, because they’re not quite realistic to their time. There’s certainly other time periods I’d love to write in. I’d love to set an ancient story in some of the places I’ve visited.

What would be the most useful gadget for a Finishing School student to have on her person in the case of an espionage emergency? (This is a very difficultly worded question!)

It sounds like something I’ve written! The voice-acting talent [for my audiobooks] is always calling and complaining because I love tongue-twisters. I don’t even realize I’ve written them until somebody’s like, “Why did you write that?!” “I didn’t think about you guys reading it out loud.”

“Handiest gadget?” is the short version!

I love Sophronia’s fan, but I think it’s really handy for her. She becomes comfortable with it and adapts to it, but it’s not necessarily something that would be useful for everybody. In the final book, the chatelaine really comes to the fore. The girls keep going to balls, and they keep having to have chatelaines on them. A chatelaine is like the base for a Swiss Army Knife; it hangs off your belt and there’s a bunch of little chains and clips so you can hang multiple little things off it. Customarily you’d have a bit of perfume and a dance card, maybe keys or a little sewing kit. But of course Geraldine’s girls have a whole different set of things dangling! I love the idea that you could just attach something that has everything useful hanging off of it. Why can’t we still do that?

More fabulous photos at the Brookline Public Library Teen Room Tumblr.

The post Steampunk queen: an interview with Gail Carriger appeared first on The Horn Book.

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I remember when I first heard about  steampunk. It was a new and emerging subgenre that was getting a lot of press due to the release of Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan. I checked it out and fell it love with the look and feel of the period. The Victoria era wardrobe juxtaposed with the metals and innovation of the steam era.

This past week-end I attended DogCon2 at the Thurber Center. There were writing workshops, readings, Tarot Card readings, and kid's activities. I attended a workshop on Steampunk so I could learn more about it.

The speakers were from a local Columbus group called Airship Archon. They discussed the clothing and accessories of which the majority are handmade or hand sewn. They named estate sales, vintage shops, and Etsy as great places to find materials. If you live in Columbus, they recommended, The Alley Store.

They also discussed the literature that inspired them. From the classics, you have Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Verne wrote novels such as Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days, and The Carpathian Castle. H.G. Wells is probably best known for The Time Machine, but also wrote The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau.

For more contemporary literature they mentioned Gail Carriger's novels. They also noted that it's hard to find good steampunk literature that is true to spirit they embody at Airship Archon. Most of it seems artificial with all things steampunk thrown in haphazardly.

They are an amazing group of people. They hold monthly events which are open to the public. They get together to create costumes or other steampunk related items. They also speak at numerous conventions. The list of topics is listed on their website.

There were two surprising facts for me:

One is that steampunk is considered a subgenre of science fiction. For some reason, I never put that together.
Two is that there are subgenres of steampunk such as clockpunk, meatpunk, dieselpunk, and cyberpunk. Each inspired by an era of invention.

I also learned how to make a pair of steampunk goggles from welder's goggles. Each speaker was so creative and a pleasure to listen to. I came away with an idea for an art piece so we'll have to see if that works out.

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Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger.

In her mother's eyes, Sophronia is a failure. She's way too interested in mechanics, spying, and climbing and things just happen around her that tend to end with flying desserts landing on honored house guests. She's particularly dismayed when she discovers that a rather meddlesome honored houseguest has recommended her to attend Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Mademoiselle Geraldine's is not what one would expect-- first of all, it's a flying school, so it's harder to find. Second of all dance lessons also include lessons on how to pass messages back and forth without being noticed. Then there are the classes in fighting. And poisons. In the middle of this educational intrigue, there is real intrigue-- flying highway men are attacking the school, after something the school has, and hidden. What is it? And where? Secret late-night trips to the boiler room, mechanical dogs and more...

This is the first book in Carriger's new YA series, set in the same world as Parasol Protectorate. It's set several years earlier, but there is a bit of character overlap-- most noticeably one of Sophronia's classmates is Sidhaeg and the little boy running around helping Sophronia--you'll recognize that one, too.

This is a fun series, with fewer vampires and werewolves and more steampunk technology than Parasol Protectorate. There is no romance in this one, which on one hand-- YAY! A YA book with girls and no romance! On the other hand, BOO! Carriger writes romance so well!

I missed the paranormal politics of the first series, but enjoyed the quick adventure of this one and want to delve more into this part of this world and see how it develops.

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Describe your latest work: My new young adult Finishing School series, set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate only 25 years earlier, features a lady's seminary located in a giant caterpillar-like dirigible floating over Dartmoor in which young ladies are taught to finish everything — and everyone — as needed. There will be [...]

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Heartless Gail Carriger

No one's entirely sure what Alexia's about to give birth to, but the supernatural set fear it. The only solution to stop the vampires from killing it (and as it hasn't been born yet, Alexia) is for Lord Akeldama to adopt it. Meanwhile, a threat has been made against the Queen. Alexia's investigating (despite her enormous size) but the clues keep pointing to a dark time in pack history and the werewolves aren't happy about where she's headed. Meanwhile, something odd is going on with Madame Lefoux and something even odder is happening with Alexia's sister-- she's wearing knitwear.

This one started a bit slowly for me. I had a hard time getting into it, but about halfway though something turned for me and it ended up being my favorite in the series (so far). I really enjoy the backstory of Woolsey pack history and things that have only been hinted at are finally explained. There wasn't a lot of Ivy in this one, but when she was around, she had more than a few surprises up her sleeve, not just for the reader but for Alexia as well. I continue to enjoy her more and more. This one's a bit different in that we also occasionally get first person narration by a ghost. Lots of little things come together in this one to solve the mystery, and lots of twists and turns kept me on my toes. Like I said, it started a bit rough-- I was actually rather disappointed and bored (!) with it, but it drew me in and held me-- I never saw where it was going. Like I said, it's my favorite so far.

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Publisher: Orbit (July 1, 2011)
Mass Market Paperback: 374 Pages
Series: The Parasol Protectorate #4 (My Reviews of Soulless, Changeless, Blameless)
Genre: Adult Fantasy/Supernatural
Gail Carriger's Website | Blog | Twitter

From Goodreads. Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband's past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux's latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barely has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant.

Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama's second best closet?

Review by Kate
HEARTLESS, by Gail Carriger, is the wonderfully written fourth book in The Parasol Protectorate Series. Alexia is well into her pregnancy and the supernaturals in the area are all a twitter trying to figure out what the baby will be, soulless or not. But as always, Alexia finds herself in the midst of a mystery surrounding the Queen and heaps of trouble along with it.

I am still so in love with this series! Alexia always seems to find herself in some sort of trouble and this book was no different. Well the main difference is that she is precariously waddling all over London with her infant-inconvenience. For as much as I cracked up reading about Alexia having a hard time moving around as she used to and how much more she needed to be eating, I was anxious for the baby to be born to find out its soul-status. And by the end I was completely shocked and upset that I didn't have Timeless in my hands at that moment!

There is so much more to this book but I'm afraid of spoiling it so with the inclusion of favorite characters, an annoying sister character, an octomaton, and plenty of action this book is sure to please fans of the series!

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Blameless (The Parasol Protectorate) Gail Carigger

This is the third installment of the Parasol Protectorate series. The second one ended on rather a large cliffhanger. Seriously, do NOT read this review if you intend to read the series but haven't yet. If you haven't read book 3 yet, proceed, if you haven't read book 2 yet, ABORT!

So, Alexia has found herself in a family way and Lord Maccon says there is no way it can be his, due to his supernatural status (ah, werewolves).  The Queen won't deal with such immorality and has dismissed Alexia from the shadow council. Her family is suitably scandalized. Lord Akeldama has very quickly left town (without even saying goodbye!) and it's clear that the rest of vampire society is trying to kill Alexia.

There's only one thing to do-- go to Italy and get to the bottom of all of this. So Alexia is off to the heart of Italy, where they despise all things supernatural (and, it turns out, preteranatural as well) but, they do manage to introduce Alexia to the glories of pesto. (Of course, it turns out that pesto is a vampire AND werewolf deterant, because vampires don't like garlic and werewolves are allergic to basil. WHO KNEW?!)

Lord Maccon is dealing with all of this by drinking himself silly leaving poor Lyall to try to keep the pack together, keep BUR together, find/rescue Alexia, and figure out WHAT exactly is going on with the vampires.

I do love this series. I love the world and the characters and the wittiness. Alexia is great with the dead-pan one-liners. It strikes the right balance between serious and zany (I mean, really-- ticking ladybugs?) As this one involved travel outside of England, we got to see how different countries react to supernaturals and different cultural attitudes on vampires, werewolves, and the Order of the Octopus.

Overall, and excellent addition to the series.

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Publisher: Orbit (March 30, 2010)
Mass Market Paperback: 374 Pages
Genre: YA Paranormal/Fantasy
Series: The Parasol Protectorate #2

From Goodreads. Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

From Goodreads. Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.

Review by Kate
The next two installments in The Parasol Protectorate series were just as magnificent as the first. Lady Maccon still finds herself in dangerous situations that revolve around her Soulless status. With the introduction of new characters and digging deeper into the ones you already know and love, fans of the series will not be disappointed!

Changeless was an adventure that captivated me from the beginning. Starting with the sudden and unexplained disappearance of her new husband, Alexia is once again thrown into a mystery of supernatural proportions. Alexia and her dearest friend Ivy are introduced to a one Madame Lefoux who is an inventor and a sharp dresser with a taste for men's wear. They travel up to Scotland, following Lord Macoon, on a dirigible where it is quite obvious that Alexia's life is in danger. In Scotland, Lord Maccon's previous pack is without an Alpha and has lost th

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Publisher: Recorded Books (June 22, 2010)
Format: Audiobook
Narrated by Emily Gray
Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
Genre: Adult Fantasy/Supernatural
Series: The Parasol Protectorate #1

From Goodreads. Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

Review by Kate
SOULLESS, by Gail Carriger, is fantastic, hilarious, romantic, and all together phenomenal book. I absolutely adored it and if you have not checked it out yet, please do!

Carriger throws you right into the middle of action when the book begins. We learn Alexia is a preternatural (a person without a soul, hence Soulless) who 'turns off' supernatural abilities when she touches a supernatural creature (vampire, werewolf, ghost, etc.). She accidentally kills a vampire and she is thrust into an investigation of missing supernaturals. The world that Carriger created was fantastic. I love the time period she chose and the inclusion of the supernatural within the society.

The characters in this book were equally fantastic. Alexia reminded me of Elizabeth Bennett (Pride and Prejudice) with her intelligence, her ability to stand up for what she believes in, her wonderful sarcasm, but definitely open to having love in her life. Carriger wrote Alexia so well, I was literally laughing out loud with her thought process about her family, Lord Maccon, and general society issues. Speaking of Lord Maccon (swoon), I knew from the get-go these two would be a match made in heaven. But both are stubborn in their ways (Lord Maccon being a werewolf) and they succeeded at misinterpreting each others feelings over and over, keeping other characters and myself in suspense at the outcome of the relationship.

I loved the development of the mystery surrounding the missing supernaturals. There were moments that I gasped aloud when I figured out what was going on. Carriger truly has a talent for creating a good mystery. Overall, this was an awesome book full of hilarity, romance, and a darn good mystery, this is not one to be missed!

A note on the audiobook. Emily Gray was a pleasure to listen to. She made Alexia come to life and I felt at times she was the character. Also, her narrations of other characters, Lord Maccon in particular, were precise and fit the characters well. Gray has a new fan!

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Changeless Gail Carriger

SPOILERS! There are SPOILERS for Soulless in this review! It can't be helped!

There seems to be a plague of... humanity infecting London's supernatural. The Shadow Council can't figure it out, and to top it all off, Lord Maccon has some urgent family business crop up in Scotland and has gone to deal with it. As the plague spreads, Alexia follows it, along with Ivy, her sister, and a most intriguing French woman who makes the most marvelous parasols. The answer seems to lie at Maccon's ancestral home, where there is a pack of werewolves sorely lacking and alpha and feeling abandoned by the one they used to have.

Did you like the first? You'll like this one, too. The back is a bit misleading, as it makes it seem that Maccon and Alexia are having relationship issues when they're not. The same humor and manners and romance as the first, but takes the story further with the mystery of the humanity plague. Plus, some great new characters.

BUT HOLY COW THE ENDING! You might want to wait and read this at the end of August, so you can pick up Blameless right away and not fret over such a cliffhanger!

Book Provided by... my local library, then my wallet

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Soulless Gail Carriger

My friend Dana read this during my blog birthday party. It looked good and she confirmed that I would like it. It then went on to win an Alex this year. So, I checked it out from the library and LOVED LOVED LOVED it. I got the sequel right away and then when I finished it, ran to the bookstore and bought both of them and pre-ordered the third (which comes out this fall.)

Basic premise is this-- Victorian London. Ghosts, vampires, and werewolves exist and are upstanding members of society. Not everyone can be a supernatural. It has to do with an excess of soul. If you have too much soul, then you'll survive being changed into a vampire or werewolf, or can stick around as a ghost after you die.

To balance this, there's Alexia Tarabotti. She's a spinster, half-Italian, larger with a big nose, and has horrible Bluestocking tendencies. As if that weren't bad enough she has no soul. This comes rather in handy when she's attacked by a hungry vampire in the middle of a ball. Preternaturals like her cancel out the supernatural elements when they come in contact. As soon as the vampire touches her, his teeth turn back into teeth.

Of course, then she accidentally kills him. And gets herself involved in the detestable Lord Maccon's (alpha werewolf) investigation, which discovers that there are vampires and werewolves going missing. And new ones turning up with no idea about the rules of such things...

SO MUCH FUN!!! Victorian manners + steam punk + urban fantasy + good food + horribly awful hats + a great romance? YES PLEASE.

It's just fun and funny. Many of the characters are outrageous and over the top. Alexia's mother and half-sisters are picture-perfect pretty and unbelievably shallow. Lord Akeldama is a mincing vampire whose fashion sense is much more Regency dandy than Victorian aristocrat, which a bevy of young men looking after him. And Alexia's best friend, Ivy Hisselpenny (Hisselpenny?!) has Empire's worst taste in hats.

It was also a lot... steamier... than I was expecting, but I'm not complaining about that, especially as it was really well done. ;)

Book Provided by... my local library, and then my wallet.

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

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