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?”