Romancing the Inventor

Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one is for everyone who loved the character of Genevieve Lefoux in the Parasol Protectorate (or Vieve in the Finishing School series) and wanted to see her find love.

A character-driven novella wherein Imogene Hale takes a job as a parlourmaid for Countess Nadasdy's vampire hive in an effort to help feed her mother and siblings whilst simultaneously avoiding matrimony. Imogene never imagined she'd meet the love of her life: the eccentric inventor busily creating things in the hive's potting shed. The course of true love never did run smooth, though, and this love must navigate hurdles both external and internal--from a vindictive footman and vicious vampires to Genevieve's disastrous relationship history.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, setting secondary. Plenty of sexual tension, but only a couple of not-explicit lesbian sex scenes. Some physical abuse from the footman and vampire queen. Alexia and the Woolsey pack make several delightful appearances, and the wicker chicken has a cameo. A couple of mild historical swear words. It's best to have read at least the Parasol Protectorate series first to understand the nuances of the setting and characters.

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Blameless

Blameless by Gail Carriger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely love this series! Book #3 continues with Alexia fleeing London to escape the vampires determined to kill her unborn child. However, it's not just the London hives that are out to get her--she must also deal with French and Italian vampires, as well as the fanatical Templars & a scientist who wants to study her...via dissection. Meanwhile, back in London, Lord Maccon comes to his senses and realizes that a great deal of grovelling will be required before his wife will let him out of the "wolfhouse," so to speak. But first he must put a halt to the machinations of the potentate and attempt to make it safe enough for her to return.

This book/series has it all: great characters, fast-paced action, humor, and great world-building. The violence isn't graphic--battles occur regularly but without gory details. Since Conall and Alexia are apart for nearly the entire book, sex scenes aren't an issue. Only a "damn" or two and a "merde," so I'll label it a "clean read" for everyone except the most sensitive.

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Curtsies & Conspiracies

Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book #2 in the series kicks off with the girls in Sophronia's class at the floating Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality undergoing their six-month evaluations, the results of which put everyone out of sorts. Sophronia is grateful for the friendship of Vieve and the sooties in the boiler room, and visits them even more frequently. It's with their assistance that she begins to work out the threads of the complicated machinations afoot regarding a new guidance valve and a test of aether travel. Many factions seem to have a stake in the outcome, from Picklemen to flyway men, vampires to government agents, and it's up to Sophronia to figure out who is trying to kidnap her friends Dimity and Pillover, and for heaven's sake, why?

Although I still haven't managed to work out exactly who the Picklemen are and what their agenda is, I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced romp through an alternate 19th century England where werewolves and vampires live side by side with ordinary humans, and most of the servants are mechanical. It was interesting to watch Sophronia grow and learn the hard way that sometimes her actions have unexpected consequences--a lesson all teenagers need, even the exceptionally mature ones.

For readers' advisors: setting and story doorways are primary. No sex or bad language. Sophronia is in a bit of a love triangle, but so far everyone is very formal and respectful.

I received a free ebook copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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The Woman Who Died a Lot

The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just sit back and enjoy the wacky ride. Thursday Next is back, a bit more battered than before but still just as determined to save the world from the Goliath Corporation. This time around she's also battling to save the library budget from elimination, find a missing criminal who can manipulate memories, prevent an imminent scheduled smiting of the Swindon business district by the Global Standard Deity, discover the purpose of the illegal body doubles, find out what Jack Schitt is plotting and stop him, keep a genius daughter with bad taste in boyfriends on track to get her Anti-Smite Shield invention working, and figure out why her son is going to murder someone on Friday at 14:02. Among other things. It's a whirlwind of complicated and crazy subplots.

Favorite moments: the reference to Nancy Pearl on page 100!  Thursday's desk has a dedicated red phone with a single button labeled "NP."  It's the emergency hotline to Nancy at the World League of Librarians, and if you summon her, she'll be on the first gravitube from Seattle.  HA!  Also, page 108 and the "Shush Law" that OK'ed violence by librarians against thieves and vandals.

What I love most about Fforde's novels is that they are so very chaotic and zany. They are nonstop action and nonsense that somehow come together in the end to make perfect sense in their own unique way. This series is pure fun , and I love escaping into Fforde's crazy reality.

For reader's advisors: setting and story doorways. Some mild swearing.

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Dark Destiny

Dark Destiny by Mary Jo Putney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The final book in the Dark Mirror trilogy opens where book two left off: Tory's 17th birthday party. Allarde and Mrs. Rainford get a vision of Napoleon invading England, so the Lackland students return to 1804 to stop this from coming to pass. They successfully thwart one major incursion, but soon Britain's magical defenses are stretched to the breaking point, and the Irregulars realize they will need help from their twentieth century friends if they are to prevent the French from landing on British soil.

There are romantic subplots, as everyone but Elspeth has a romantic interest that grows and develops over the course of the trilogy. Putney hints that Elspeth's love will appear later--perhaps another book? However, the various romances are not the focus of the story, which means a refreshing lack of angst. All the couples will face uphill battles in their relationships: Cynthia and Jack are from different classes, Nick and Rebecca are from different faiths, and Tory and Allarde face disinheritance. Should Putney choose to continue the series, I would be very interested in reading how they all overcome their various obstacles.

The second book is still my favorite of the three, but this one is very enjoyable as well, albeit less exciting. (Things move along slightly too easily somehow.)

For readers' advisors: character, story, and setting doorways. No sex, just a fair amount of kissing and heavy petting. I don't recall any swearing.

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The Far West

The Far West by Patricia C. Wrede
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the third book of the Frontier Magic series, Eff joins an exploratory expedition headed west to map uncharted wilderness and discover what is pushing the dangerous medusa lizards ever closer to the settlement lands. No one has ever gone quite so far and lived to tell about it--certainly not the ill-fated Lewis & Clark explorers many years ago. What they find threatens to destroy everyone and everything they know and love if they can't come up with a plan to prevent a massive magical cataclysm.

I love Patricia Wrede's books! Only 2 things keep me from giving this one a 5-star rating: 1) It's obvious from the start that Eff will go on the journey but it takes her a ridiculously long time to see that. 2) Marriage proposals without so much as holding hands or kissing or anything first?! Wrede does a great job with characterization and is a master of using a tiny phrase, gesture, or pause to speak volumes, and I'm not saying there should be some big romantic subplot, but it's just not believable even in the cultural environment of this story that anyone would leap from friendship to proposing marriage without so much as a kiss!

For readers' advisors: character, story, and setting doorways. Squeaky clean read. Written for teens but great for adults, too.

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Dark Passage

Dark Passage by Mary Jo Putney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After successfully using their magical talents to help thousands of British soldiers escape from Dunkirk in 1940, Tory and the rest of her friends return through Merlin's mirror to 1803, ready to resume their regular lives and vowing to never make that journey again. The best laid plans oft go awry, however, and when Nick comes through the mirror seeking their help to rescue a scientist imprisoned by the Germans in a French castle, it's not long before they are dodging searchlights and bullets.

I do not know why I am finding it so difficult to write this review--it's been "in process" for 4 days now. I loved the book! I especially loved how the first half contained so much character development, and the second half was so exciting I resented having to put the book down. Even though I wasn't wild about the first in this trilogy, this one more than makes up for it.  Why do I not know what to say about it? Grrr. OK, I'll post this as-is and then come back to it if/when inspiration strikes.

For readers' advisors: character & story doorways primarily, setting was secondary. It's a young adult novel, so Putney dialed down the steaminess to just a few make-out sessions.



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Shift

Shift by Kim Curran
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have you ever wished you could go back and make a different decision? Turn left instead of right? Answer the phone instead of letting it go to voicemail? Sixteen-year-old Scott Tyler can--he's a Shifter, with the power to change his reality by deciding to change decisions he's already made. Sometimes that saves his life. Sometimes it kills his sister. And then there are the decisions that lead to meeting a girl named Aubrey...and being hunted by a brain-eating psychopath.

I read an advance copy of Shift, courtesy of NetGalley, and I loved it! A very fast-paced read from a new British young adult author (so new, she's not even on Fantastic Fiction yet). The story is set in modern-day London, but with a few tweaks: some children are born with the ability to "shift," to change their minds and thus their realities. These children are recruited to join a special school that trains them to control their abilities, and the teenage "graduates" go on to work for a variety of departments, including mapping likely outcomes of Shifts and "fixing" timelines gone wrong. At the onset of adulthood, entropy sets in, and Shifters lose their abilities. At least, that's what everyone believes until Scott and Aubrey stumble over some evidence that reality is not what it seems.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, setting secondary. There are a few swear words and some violence, but not much.  The ending could have benefited from a slightly longer explanation of what happened to Scott.

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The Last Dragonslayer

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange is a foundling, raised by the Sisterhood (officially "The Blessed Ladies of the Lobster") and serving out her indentured servitude as the acting manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management, an organization of kooky wizards who do magic for hire. Magic has been steadily fading lately, however, and business is bad. And then one day there is a widespread premonition that Maltcassion, the last dragon, will be killed by the last Dragonslayer on Sunday at noon. Big Magic is coming, war is imminent...and Jennifer is right at the center of it.

Fans of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series will recognize his wacky sense of humor--just dive right in and go with it! The setting is again an alternate reality Britain, albeit a different version this time. Great fun for both teens and adults.

For readers' advisors: Setting and story doorways



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Across the Great Barrier

Across the Great Barrier by Patricia C. Wrede

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In the late 1850s, Eff takes a job as an assistant to the two professors at the college menagerie in Mill City. Her twin brother, Lan, wants her to go to college, but she doesn't think that is the right path for her. Instead, she accompanies Professor Torgeson and their guide Wash Morris on a survey of wildlife west of the Mammoth River, where they make some very interesting discoveries, including stone animal sculptures that are not sculptures at all.

I very much enjoyed book two in this series, although it's definitely leading up to book three, since some major plot threads are left hanging. But I liked watching Eff mature and learn more about her magic and how to use it.

For readers' advisory: story and character doorways, with setting also due to the alternative history aspect



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One of Our Thursdays Is Missing

One of Our Thursdays Is Missing by Jasper Fforde

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Thursday Next is back! Or no, wait, Thursday Next is missing! It's up to the written Thursday, with the assistance of her trusty butler, Sprockett, to figure out what happened to her. What was she working on when she vanished, why did a book with its ISBN number scrubbed off suddenly dissolve and scatter a long swath of debris across numerous genres, and what is up with the murderous Men in Plaid?

The latest installment in the Thursday Next series takes place almost entirely within BookWorld. Fforde keeps readers on their toes with his literary humor, complicated plot twists, and off-the-wall imagination. I can't wait for the next one--there are lots of loose ends just waiting to be tied up. Or not. It is Jasper Fforde, after all. :)

For readers' advisors: setting and story doorways



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