Book Review: A Study in Ashes

A Study in Ashes (The Baskerville Affair #3)
Emma Jane Holloway

Release Date: December 31, 2013

Book Description:
As part of her devil’s bargain with the industrial steam barons, Evelina Cooper is finally enrolled in the Ladies’ College of London. However, she’s attending as the Gold King’s pet magician, in handcuffs and forbidden contact with even her closest relation, the detective Sherlock Holmes.

Not even Niccolo, the dashing pirate captain, and his sentient airship can save her. But Evelina’s problems are only part of a larger war. The Baskerville Affair is finally coming to light, and the rebels are making their move to wrest power from the barons and restore it to Queen Victoria. Missing heirs and nightmare hounds are the order of the day—or at least that’s what Dr. Watson is telling the press.

But their plans are doomed unless Evelina escapes to unite her magic with the rebels’ machines—and even then her powers aren’t what they used to be. A sorcerer has awakened a dark hunger in Evelina’s soul, and only he can keep her from endangering them all. The only problem is…he’s dead.

Amazon US | Goodreads

Review:
Egalley courtesy of Random House Publishing Group - Del Rey Spectra via NetGalley in exchange for fair and honest review.

What a great end to a wonderful series! I must admit, at over 600 pages long this book took me awhile to finish but it was well worth it. There is magic, gadgetry, intrigues and treachery, love, bravery, and much more. This beautiful dark magical world, so vividly drawn throughout the series serves as a perfect backdrop to the multiple storylines explored here, each having their own unique arc and purpose. And the fabulous cast of characters does not stop to impress. At the end, A Study in Ashes serves as a perfect conclusion with a hopeful glimpse into future possibility of more stories to come.

Book Review: Chasing the Star Garden

Chasing the Star Garden (The Airship Racing Chronicles #1)
Melanie Karsak

Release Date: December 4, 2013

Book Description:
An opium-addicted beauty.
An infamous poet living in self-imposed exile.
An ancient treasure about to fall into the wrong hands.

Melanie Karsak's Chasing the Star Garden takes readers on a thrilling adventure from the gritty opium dens of gaslamp London to the gem-colored waters of the ancient world. Lily Stargazer, a loveable but reckless airship racer with a famous lover and shattered past, reluctantly plunges into a centuries-old mystery in a romantic adventure best described as Dan Brown meets Mary Shelley.

It all begins on one of the worst days of Lily’s life. She just lost the London leg of the 1823 Airship Grand Prix. To top it off, a harlequin fleeing from constables shoved a kaleidoscope down her pants, told her to fly to Venice, then threw himself from her airship tower. What’s a girl to do? For Lily, the answer is easy: drink absinthe and smoke opium.

Lily’s lover, Lord Byron, encourages her to make the trip to Venice. Lily soon finds herself at the heart of an ancient mystery which has her running from her past and chasing true love and the stars along the way.

Amazon US | Goodreads

Review:
I must apologize it took me so long to write my review because Chasing the Star Garden is an absolutely wonderful, steampunk adventure novel that I can’t wait to share with you! Part romance, part mystery, with a fabulous cast of characters and beautiful world-building, a sprinkle of history and mythology – it is a charming and a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Author Spotlight: Lara Nance

As you know I’m quite fond of steampunk literature and so I’m pleased to welcome Lara Nance to the blog today, author of the steampunk adventure novel, Revenge of the Mad Scientist. And to further pique your interest check out an excerpt from the book, then don’t forget to add it to your to-read list.

Happy reading!

Revenge of the Mad Scientist (Airship Adventure Chronicles #1)
Lara Nance

Release Date: August 13, 2012

Book Description:
When Lady Arabella Trunkett’s father, the High Lord Minister of Urbannia is kidnapped, all clues point to the mysterious country of Gandiss and the world is thrown into political upheaval.

Arabella is convinced the more sinister nation of Carabarras is to blame., urged on by a mad scientist seeking revenge. So, she sets out on a perilous airship journey across a variety of exotic locales to save him, and halt the potential world war.

But airship pirates, secret assassins and slave traders aren’t her only trials. The fickle hand of fate has made the captain of the only airship available for charter, the man that left her at the altar. For eight years she's wished him dead. Now he's her only hope.

Amazon US | Goodreads

Excerpt:

Belle couldn’t believe her eyes. As they rounded the peak, they entered a sort of air valley among a circle of towering mountains. In its midst, two airships fired at each other through puffs of clouds with their deck cannons, and both flew pirate flags. It was the cannon shots they heard, not thunder.

The two ships circled each other creating a swirl of white mist and clouds in their wake. Gambit arrived on the scene above them, unnoticed for the moment. Belle pulled out her distance viewer and held it to her eyes. She adjusted a couple wheels and flipped down a pair of lenses.

“One is from Catika,” she said, noticing the small flag that flew beneath the black pirate pennant and the dark brown skins of the crew. She trained her viewer on the pilot station. To her surprise, the captain was a woman, her black skin shining and long black braids flipping around her as she shouted orders to her crew. She held a bronze shooter in one hand and gripped the wheel with the other.

“Damn,” Rett said, his face grim. “Where’s the other from?”

Book Review: 12.21.12

12.21.12
Killian McRae

Release Date: December 19, 2010

Book Description:
The only way to save the future is to decode the past. The only way to decode the past is to save the future.

Archaeologist Sheppard Smyth has staked his career and the honorable memory of his wife and partner on proving his widely panned theory: Cleopatra VII, the last sovereign pharaoh of Egypt, was not a victim of suicide as history suggests, but of a well-concealed murder. When a statue of the doomed Queen is unearthed in a pre-Columbian excavation site in Mexico, Shep rushes to investigate and, hopefully, find the proof that has evaded him for so long. The statue, however, is only the first clue suggesting a mysterious connection between Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica, and possibly - beyond. Suddenly thrust into the heated rivalry between sexy and enigmatic antiquities thief Victoria Kent and the infamous Russian mafioso Dmitri Kronastia, Shep finds himself a common pawn played by forces working to see out a quest older than the pyramids and cloaked in the Mayan Doomsday prophecy of 12.21.12.

Amazon US | Goodreads

Review:
This egalley was generously provided by the author, Killian McRae. Below is my fair and honest review.

Mild spoilers ahead!

Such a great, fast-paced read! And, I’m not saying it lightly as I don’t find too many books that are able to get my attention from the start. Instead, I often find myself needing to ease into the book, but Killian McRae had me hooked from the get-go. It was such a whirlwind of a story, that I don’t even know where to start, but if Stargate and Lara Croft had a love child; it would be called 12.21.12. I rushed through the pages only to find myself saddened by the fact it was already over. But even good things must come to an end… or do they?

“’ Beware the end of the world,’” she returned without pause as she turned from the scene. “It’s silly really. The people in these parts of Mexico are still close to their traditions. And this whole Mayan calendar thing. Maybe you’ve heard of it, 12.21.12?” 12.21.12 (Kindle Locations 288-290).

Book Review: Fall of Sky City

Fall of Sky City (Devices of War #1)
S.M. Blooding

Release Date: March 8, 2013

Book Description:
In a world governed by the opposing forces of the mystical House of Tarot and the tribal Great Families, Synn is caught in the crossfire. He witnesses the slaughter of innocent people, and the devastating murder of his father. This act awakens his Mark of power, a Mark greater than any the world has seen in a very long time.

Queen Nix thought she won a great prize when she destroyed Synn’s father, the leader of the strongest Great Families. She had no idea she’d be doubly blessed by capturing his son. However, before Synn can become her treasured weapon, before she can use him to bring the rest of the world to its knees, she must break him and bind his soul to hers.

She does her job with brutal brilliance. Synn’s mind is broken and his soul is seared to hers in an unbreakable bond.

That doesn’t stop him from wanting to be free. She may have broken his mind and claimed his soul, but he will find a way to destroy her.

Experience a world of ships that sail the clouds and cites buried beneath the ocean, and survive the fiery battle brought forth by those who control the forces of nature!

Amazon US | Goodreads

Review:
I received this book compliment of the author in exchange for fair and honest review. Thank you!

"Killer Queen" by Queen

She's a Killer Queen
Gunpowder, guillotine
Dynamite with a laser beam
Guaranteed to blow your mind
Anytime

Welcome aboard! You are about to immerse yourself into the world of steampunk adventures and unique fantasy world building; sail the ships through expanse of cool, windy skies, and dive deep into the blue oceans where whole cities have flourished. We follow Synn and his friends on their adventures as they learn to navigate the world amidst a war with an evil Queen Nix, who will stop at nothing to claim Synn as her own.

Book Review: Voyager

Voyager (Outlander #3)
Diana Gabaldon

Release Date: December 1, 1993

Book Review:
From the author of the breathtaking bestsellers Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, the extraordinary saga continues.

Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her... and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.

Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her...the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland... and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite or forever doom her timeless love.

Amazon US | Goodreads

Review:
Finally finished, and what a book it is!

Only a third installment in the Outlander series, but I feel it must have been at least ten books since I first started the series. I think Ms. Gabaldon certainly doesn’t take her writing lightly – if anything, her books are full of little details from everyday life occurrences to unexpected plot twists and more.