A Flash Of Fiction 1 (September) Steam and Sorcery by Cindy Spencer Pape

Book: STEAM AND SORCERY (GASLIGHT CHRONICLES)
Author: CINDY SPENCER PAPE
Genre: FANTASY/STEAMPUNK
Published: March 2011, CARINA PRESS

Series: GASLIGHT CHRONICLES #1
Photographs and Phantoms (Gaslight Chronicles #1.5)
Source: Publisher via NetGalley, no other compensation given for an honest review

From Good Reads:
Sir Merrick Hadrian hunts monsters, both human and supernatural. A Knight of the Order of the Round Table, his use of magick and the technologies of steam power have made him both respected and feared. But his considerable skills are useless in the face of his greatest challenge, guardianship of five unusual children. At a loss, Merrick enlists the aid of a governess.

Miss Caroline Bristol is reluctant to work for a bachelor but she needs a position, and these former street children touch her heart. While she tends to break any mechanical device she touches, it never occurs to her that she might be something more than human...

I Liked -- Plot: Steampunk is growing into a popular sub-genre, and I have wholeheartedly embraced it. While I like the machinery and the airships and the danger that can go along with steampunk stories, Pape's novel had more of the historical aspect included in the plot, and I always enjoy reading about Regency/Victorian England, so it was just the right thing to capture my attention. There was a great balance between the heat between the hero and heroine and the steampunk element. As an equal opportunity science-fiction, fantasy and romance lover, all of the right spots for me, were hit with STEAM AND SORCERY.

I Liked -- Character: There wasn't any one character that I liked more than the rest. Pape truly rounded out both the male and female main characters, so that neither one seemed flat or superfluous or even only there to spotlight the other. What I really liked though, was the fact that the children that Caroline Bristol was supposed to be in charge of, did not fade into the background. In other words, they were characters and important to the story other than putting her in the sphere of Hadrian in order to create a romance between the two.

My Rating: 14/15 (4.5 stars) Must Read

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Available formats: NookBook, Epub, Kindle, Audiobook

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