71:100 Prudence by Gail Carriger

Prudence Alessandra Maccon Akeldama (Rue to her friends) has lived an unusual life even among the supernatural community. The daughter of Lord Maccon (a werewolf) and Lady Alexia Maccron (soulless) and adopted daughter of Lord Akeldama (vampire) was always going to something special but even more since she is a metanatural (steals supernatural powers for a brief period turning them normal).  Lord Akeldama has been training her, of course, and has now given her a dirigible of her own which of course she promptly has painted red with black spots and named the "Spotted Custard".

Now she has a crew including her best friend Primrose, her brother Percy, and Quensel.  Primrose's entire job seems to be making sure Rue has clothes to thrown on after she has ruined her latest outfit.  Quesnel seems to be decent at keeping the engines running and flirting.  Percy makes the most sense as he taught himself to navigate, is incredibly learned, and speaks several languages.  Lord Akeldama charges Rue to go to India to see about a new tea.  However, it looks like there is much much more going on of which Rue is completely unaware.

Rue stumbles through the story, not ever really realizing what is going on around her.  While it is set in India, we see very little of that culture or the people throughout the story and what there is, is done very problematically in that it is not respectful of the culture.  I LOVED the Parasol Protectorate and Finishing School series but this one was just not as much fun and really was kind of a slog to get through. Some of the side characters were interesting and some of it was fun so I bumped it up to the three stars.  I'm going to read the next book and hope it gets better.


Page count: 357p/12,421p ytd/304,437p lifetime

61:100 How to Marry a Werewolf by Gail Carriger

Faith has been sent away from her family in America as being damaged goods in their eyes and told to find a werewolf husband in London where that type of thing is tolerated.  She debarks the airship and is almost immediately having her possessions searched by a werewolf, a Major Channing, who is in pursuit of contraband which she does not have but he does find her rock collection that she has brought with her across the sea.  Combine unusual interests, a forthright attitude, and a pair of lovely blue eyes and Major Channing starts wanting to forget that he is damaged goods.  Throw in a meddling Alpha and London cousins who see this as a good match with two people who enjoy each more and more as they get to know each other and what else can you expect to happen?

This is the kind of romance I enjoy, where there is something that interests both parties about the other and they want to know more, not just the man sees the girl and wants to jump her bones.  Seeing Major Channing send her a rock is true romance.


Page count: 191p/10,589p ytd/302,607p lifetime

77:120 Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger

Lady Preshea Villentia is a highly trained spy and assassin and also a widow 4 times over which has earned her the nickname "The Mourning Star".  She is now set up to live her life as she pleases, being no longer under any obligation to anyone but when Lord Akledama invites her to a secret meeting, she realizes she is bored and the task of keeping a Duke safe while under the guise of working for him to break up the relationship between his daughter and an unsuitable suitor seems like just the thing.  She wasn't counting on a Scottish soldier to truly enliven things for her.

Set in the world of Ms. Carriger's Parasol Protectorate and Finishing School series, Preshea is a character from the Finishing School who always said that she was more interested in murdering her husbands than cohabiting nicely with them.  It seems that what she really needed was someone who knew her worth and was content with any affection she choose to show him.  The courtship was sweet and the book a fun, fluffy read.


Page count: 150p/20,817p ytd/269,967p lifetime

63:120 Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger

The fourth and final book in the Finishing School series.  The Picklemen plot is coming to a head and Sophronia must use all her training to try and figure out how to keep herself and her friends safe.  A dinner party at Lord Akeldama's with the Dewan may lead to some answers but what do they really know and how much will they share?

Sophronia is definitely growing up and having to figure out how to navigate men better than she has previously as Lord Mersey and Soap are both vying for her affection in much more obvious ways that even SHE can't miss.  She must always contemplate what her future will hold depending on which way she should chose to turn for she has many choices before her.

I found this to be a satisfying conclusion to the series.  Most things were tied up with a very pretty, if deadly, little bow and those that weren't have more to do with some of the side characters and may be answered in time.  In all, a fun series that was exactly what my overworked brain needed this summer.


Page count: 326p/17,307p ytd/267,267p lifetime

62:120 Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger

The third book in the Finishing School series.  Sophronia will do just about anything to help a friend so when Sidheag says that she must return to her Pack in Scotland, Sophronia is not one to turn her back even when it means hijacking a seemingly empty train that happens to be heading in the right direction with the help of her best friend Dimtry, her favorite sootie Soap, and Lord Felix Mersey who refuses to be left behind.  However, what they find as they explore the train is none other than Miss Monique Pelouse, Sophronia's nemesis, and a vampire drone guarding a mechanical invention that has some of the prototypes in it.  When they spot a dirigible following them,they realize they've somehow stumbled upon something much bigger than they were prepared for but thankfully they are well trained in improvisation.

Really, these have been delightfully light and fun summer reading books. There is character growth which is a big thing for me and the plots are engaging just enough to make sure I'm not bored but not overtaxing my brain either.



Page count: 298p/16,981p/266,941p

60:120 Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger

The 2nd book in the Finishing School series.  After the winter holidays where Sophronia managed to secure the prototype and have a cheese pie thrown at her, she thought school would get back to what passes for normal there.  However, there is now a trip to London and with all of Sophronia's sneaking about the school she has learned that there is much more to the trip than they have been told and dangerous conspiracies lurk everywhere, even when your dance card is full.  What makes it even harder on a young intelligencer is when you score top-marks and your classmates are set against you either through jealousy or teacher's machinations and you can't be sure where your friends loyalties lie just when you need them most.

A lovely installment, great for a summer read when my brain is mush and I just want something light and fun without much in the way of complicated plots but enough character growth that it's not completely boring.


Page Count: 310p/16,363p ytd/266,323p lifetime

59:120 Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

Ms. Sophrnia Temminick is a 14 year old trial to her mother.  She would rather climb and dismantle things than sit quietly and wait around as befits a girl so when she is invited to come to Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing School for Young Ladies of Quality, her mother is happy to send Sophronia there with the hopes of getting a young lady back in a few years.  What her mother does not know, nor does Sophronia until she arrives, is that this Finishing School teaches not just how to be a proper lady but how to be one while poisoning, stabbing, and spying.  Now there is a missing prototype and even though Sophronia is only a first-year, she is in the right place at the right time to keep it out of thoroughly unfashionable hands.

Set in the world of the Parasol Protectorate, it was nice to be back on familiar ground.  As this was YA, it was written a bit more simplistic and the plot was not terribly engaging but it was a perfect summer read.  Light and silly so I didn't have to think hard but just let it take me where it was going.  Sophronia took a bit to really get interesting but in the end, she did get there.  Soap was a great offset to her and really, who can't love Bumbersnoot?!



Page count: 307p/16,053p ytd/266,013p lifetime

46:120 Secrets by Margaret McGaffey Fisk

Samantha (Sam) is a Natural, one who can read the hearts of mechanical devices and use the aether to change them to become closer to their ideal.  Unfortunately, most people look at Naturals with distaste even to the point of violence and Sam's sister, Lily, is too sick to be able to keep her hidden even with her husband's help.  They have heard of a settlement on the main continent of other Naturals where Sam would be safe and able to be true to herself but when the morning for her departure arrives, she ends up heading to the ship on her own and her nature takes over which causes her motorized carriage to careen out of control and her to crawl out of the wreckage scared and alone with no idea how to find the right ship or her brother-in-law's man for help.  Instead, she sneaks aboard a ship with no idea where it's going.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel is from a rich family but his interest in life outside has him serving aboard a ship as a cabin boy although he wants desperately to get into the engine room.  Unfortunately for him, the engineer is not disposed kindly to him and when Sam steals his food, Nat ends up taking the heat for it.  Now Nat is determined to clear his name while Sam must try to stay hidden from Nat and ignore the siren call of the ship's engine.

I understand that this was written for YA and I wanted to like it more than I did.  Unfortunately I found the writing to be repetitive (a huge peeve of mine) while the characters were basically one dimensional which left me not really caring much about their plights and the pacing was slow.  I thought the world had promise but ultimately there just wasn't enough to make me want to continue in the series.


Page count: 195p/12,640p ytd/262,717p lifetime

46:120 The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't, the Mummy That Was, and the Cat in the Jar by Gail Carriger

A short story about Alexia's father, Alessandro as he goes to Egypt to have his Aunt's cat embalmed with his faithful manservant, Floote.  Of course, that is not the only reason he is there as the Knights Templar have gotten word of an extraordinary discovery in the tombs there that may be why no supernaturals have made their homes in that desert land.

While I normally love Ms. Carriger's work, I just had the hardest time getting into this one.  Alessandro is a stuck-up ass with no real redeeming points in it and I just couldn't find myself caring about him or anyone else in the story or about what was happening.  While I would love to know more about Alexia's family, this just didn't do it for me.

Page count: 32p/9,860p ytd/224,794p lifetime