Prudence

Prudence by Gail Carriger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alexia and Conall Maccon's daughter Prudence is (mostly) grown up now. So what better way to demonstrate her independence than to be tasked by her adoptive father to travel by dirigible to India to set up a new tea business that circumvents the East India Company? The need for secrecy regarding the tea causes no little confusion when the trip takes a decidedly more political...and supernatural...turn. Suddenly Rue and her friends are in the middle of a pitched battle, trying to prevent a war.

Although I enjoyed this first book in the Custard Protocol series, it didn't quite grab me the way the Parasol Protectorate did. I connected more with Alexia than I did with Rue, perhaps in part due to Rue's tendency toward heedlessness. The other characters never fully gelled for me either. Still, I liked the book well enough to read the next one in the series and thought the story picked up at the end. (The plot prior to that was pretty thin.)

Other reviewers have mentioned issues with cultural insensitivity, and I have to agree with them, for the most part. I do think that authors get a great deal of creative license when it comes to creating alternate universes, such as a Victorian England & India with vampires, werewolves, Rakshasas, weremonkeys, and even a werecat. However, I wish Ms. Carriger had written larger roles for Indian characters and not included the part where a dirty, nearly-naked Rue was mistaken for a goddess, for example.

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A Lady Never Lies

A Lady Never Lies by Juliana Gray
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I came across this title on a list of best romance novels of 2012 (and have since then seen it on a second list), and it sounded interesting, so I put it on hold and forgot about it. Once it arrived, I discovered it's the first in a trilogy that has a slight paranormal/magical overtone--i.e. there is some sort of mysterious curse on the Italian castle the main characters rent for the year. I am hoping the author lets us in on exactly what this curse is in later books, because she doesn't say much in this one.

I enjoyed reading this story over my Christmas vacation week, but I can't say that I would have put it on any Top Books of 2012 list. It's good; it's not outstanding.

The premise of this series is that in 1890, three British ladies in financial distress (and who've fled one's abusive husband) discover they have rented the same decrepit castle in Italy as three British gentlemen who have pledged to swear off women for the year. The focus of book one is Lady Morely, a young widow, and Mr. Phineas Burke, wealthy inventor who is working on designing an electric motorcar. Despite betting that whoever succumbs to temptation/seduction must leave the castle permanently, electricity is in the air. Literally. Alexandra decides to help Finn with his automobile to see if she can glean any information that might revive her fortune which was unwisely invested for her in a failing motorworks company.

For readers' advisors: story and character doorways. Some fairly explicit sex scenes. Mild swearing (i.e. such as "...the damned tea...").

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