Blog Tour: Gilded Hearts

Title: Gilded Hearts (The Shadow Guild #1)
Author: Christine D'Abo
Publication: January 7, 2014
Genre:  Historical Steampunk Romance

Samuel Hawkins, Sergeant in the King's Sentry, has been called in to investigate a murder case. As he awaits the Archivists to arrive—the team who will use a special device to extract the memories of the dead man to help find clues to his murder—he never expects to come face to face with the woman he'd left behind when he'd fled the Archives five years earlier.

Piper Smith has grown from the girl Samuel remembered into a strong woman and full-fledged archivist. Shadowed by her mentor, Master Ryerson, Piper will be performing her first extraction. When she sees Samuel, she must push aside her childhood crush, else risk her standing within the Guild.

As the two begin working together to find the killer, Samuel and Piper explore their intense attraction to each other. But "Jack the Ripper" proves to be harder to catch than the two originally thought. What's worse, they discover he may very well work for the Archives. Now, Samuel and Piper must battle internal and external threats as they try to foil a plot against the Crown and stop Jack the Ripper from taking his next victim.

EXCERPT

Knowing there was no chance of escaping her fate, Piper stood and followed Jones out the door like the dutiful apprentice she had been until so recently.

Piper let her mind wander to Samuel. After some time to get used to the idea of seeing him again, she wasn’t surprised he’d been assigned to investigate the murder. He’d flown through the ranks from Bow Street runner to constable to sergeant in a matter of a few years. Samuel, with his brilliant mind and easy manner, his ability to know what a person was feeling. It had been like a gift, a sign, to see him at that moment. Without question she knew he would help her.

Samuel and his duty. Samuel, who’d already been at the Archives for years when she had arrived. Who’d been there since his infancy. The same Samuel who’d wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side that first night when she’d cried for her mother. She was stronger now, and yet knowing he would come to help buoyed her resolve.

They could do this. They would discover who the killer was and—

Staggering, she caught herself against the wall as a wave of pain and lust slammed into her. Laughter echoed through her head as her body responded, nipples hardening and desire flaring through her core.

“Piper?” Jones was by her side. He put his hand out, offering support, but didn’t touch.

“Effects from the extraction. I’ll be fine.” Please, let her be fine. Taking Jones by the arm, she took a deep breath. “Let’s get this over with.” They crossed the threshold to the infirmary.

Book Review Vlog: Blameless by G. Carriger

Good morning kiddos and happy Thursday!

I decided to conduct a little experiment and VLOG about a book I love instead of just writing a review!

Check it out and tell me what you guys think :)

Notes:*Please pardon my dog! He's a little lick-monster and I've simply learned to ignore him, lol.

**I realized after the fact that my hand gestures indicate that Alexia's prego belly starts at her boobs - whoops! Watching the video now, I realize how funny this looks! HAHA

Now, to vlog review or not vlog review - that is the question?

Would you guys like to see more video reviews?

Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger

Title: Soulless {The Parasol Protectorate #1}
Author: Gail Carriger
Publish Date: October 1, 2009 by Orbit
Pages: 357, paperback
Reason for reading: For fun =)

This book has earned a place in my favorites! I loved everything about it. Gail Carriger truly captured the essence of Victorian London while managing to be interesting, clever, inventive, and downright hysterical! Imagine a vampire wearing a cravat while speaking with a lisp - brilliant I tell you! This book combines my love of historical and paranormal literature and it was done seamlessly.

Alexia is impossible to dislike! She is everything that an English miss should be as far as decorum and standards go, but she is also intelligent, sarcastic, confident, fearless and wields a deadly parasol & set of hair pins {a girl after my own heart}. She also happens to be soulless. She is what is known as a "preternatural". She has the ability to nullify supernatural abilities upon physical contact. For example, if a vampire touches her, bye-bye fangs! Yet despite all her positive and supernatural attributes, she lacks the self-confidence to believe that an Earl would be interested in her. This makes perfect sense given the manner in which her family treats her.

Most of the other characters, including her love interest, are equally likable even when they're not trying to be. Lord Maccon comes across as a bit abrasive, but then again - you'd be cranky too if once a month you turned into a man-eating machine. {Which in fact, most of us ladies do so we can probably empathize! lol} He is a "catch of the first water" but is also unpolished and rough around the edges which makes him that much more fun to read. I loved him and his interaction with Alexia.

In fact, I thought that Alexia and Lord Maccon were a perfect match. An alpha female for an alpha male. They would bicker and irritate each other, but that's part of the attraction & passion between them. The fact that one could keep up with the other on an emotional level. Keep in mind that this is not a romance novel so the smut is kept to a minimum {damn!}. However, I love all the juicy little bits between Alexia & Maccon. In addition, you have the whole "I can't keep my hands off of you, but this is highly improper and we'll probably get caught - but that feels good so don't stop" element which was fantastic!

Now onto the supernatural elements of the story. Vampires and werewolves are the main beasties in the story. The concept is that vamps and weres have been inducted into society {think Sookie Stackhouse, but Victorian & British}. However, being of the inhuman kind, they have to follow a certain protocol set by the BUR-Bureau of Unnatural Registry. They are highly socially and politically organized and the ever-talented Ms. Carriger did a phenomenal job explaining the dynamics of the vamps and weres respectively. If vamps and weres did exist, they'd have to fill out paperwork too - just like the rest of us so this concept seemed very logical to me.

Finally, this book sticks as closely to the Victorian vernacular as possible without getting confusing or tiresome. As a fan of Jane Austen, I understand how daunting reading her novels can be. Many historical authors try to capture the language with their own books and frankly, some are better at it than others. Gail did a superb job of it!

I have read an overabundance of historical and paranormal romances lately. Most of them are dramatic, dark or intense or all of the above. It was truly refreshing to read something that as creative & humorous as Soulless and I cannot wait to start Changeless! I might just have a new auto-buy author =)