The Lady in the Coppergate Tower (Steampunk Proper Romance, #3) by Nancy Campbell Allen – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, fairy tale, gothic, Nancy Campbell Allen, romance, series, Steampunk

About The Lady in the Coppergate Tower by Nancy Campbell Allen

Hazel Hughes has spent her life believing she is a Medium—someone who can talk to ghosts. But as of yet, that skill has remained frustratingly elusive. She is also suffering from a reoccurring childhood dream of someone who looks almost exactly like Hazel, but this dream version of herself is slowly going mad.

Sam MacInnes is a talented surgeon who runs in the highest social circles thanks to his family’s position and history. When Sam hires Hazel to assist him with his medical practice, he is immediately drawn to her intelligence, wit, and beauty.

Their potential relationship is derailed one evening when a mysterious count arrives in London and reveals to Hazel the truth about her past: she was abducted at birth and her twin sister has fallen dangerously ill.

Hazel agrees to travel to Romania with Count Petrescu in order to save her sister, and Sam insists on accompanying her. The count has secrets, though, and the journey grows more sinister with every mile that draws Hazel closer to her homeland. Even as her feelings for Sam become deeper and more complicated, she fears she might not survive the quest to save her sister with her heart intact, not to mention her life. She must learn to draw on gifts she doesn’t know she has if they are going to ever return home again.

Hazel and Sam must fight their way past dark magic, clockwork beasts, and their own insecurities as they try to reach her sister in the impenetrable Coppergate Tower before time runs out.

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Review of The Lady in the Coppergate Tower

I do believe this series gets better with each new story! I devoured The Lady in the Coppergate Tower, needing only two settings and a few hours to tear through each adventure- and romance-filled page. This one has a gothic feel with the dark and possibly/probably evil Count Petrescu orchestrating the trip to his home in Romania. Neither Hazel, Sam, nor the reader trust him and they trust his henchman Renton even less. At one point, Hazel surmises Petrescu is a vampire. Possible because he has a henchman named Renton….. By the way, vampires do exist in this world.

You know what else they have in this world? Automatons. Or ‘tons. Eugene is what is described as a ‘high-functioning automaton…with exceptional programming.’ Basically, he has a personality and is a source of irritation for Sam and humor for the rest of us. I did enjoy Eugene’s character very much.

Sam and Izzy have a friendship that both would like to be more, though neither will admit it. Sam thinks Izzy only wants friendship and her career. Izzy thinks Sam wants a wife from his own social class. The circumstances of their travel will bring them closer together – maybe together enough that they might just work something out. Their witty conversation and occasional flirting made for delightful reading. The climactic ending with one of them almost dying made for a sharp inhale and a slow, relieved exhale.

The Lady in the Coppergate Tower is the third book in Nancy Campbell Allen’s Steampunk Proper Romance series. I’ve enjoyed all three so I can tell you that each books stands alone, though successive books do reference events and characters of previous books. Read one, or read them all!

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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A Highlander Walks into a Bar by Laura Trentham – Review

Tags

5 stars, Book Review, Contemporary Romance, Laura Trentham

About A Highlander Walks into a Bar by Laura Trentham

The timeless romance, soaring passion—and gorgeous men—of Scotland comes to modern-day America. And the rules of love will never be the same…

Isabel Buchanan is fiery, funny, and never at a loss for words. But she is struck speechless when her mother returns from a trip to Scotland with a six-foot-tall, very handsome souvenir. Izzy’s mother is so infatuated by the fellow that Izzy has to plan their annual Highland Games all by herself. Well, not completely by herself. The Highlander’s strapping young nephew has come look-ing for his uncle…

Alasdair Blackmoor has never seen a place as friendly as this small Georgia town—or a girl as bril-liant and beguiling as Izzy. Instead of saving his uncle, who seems to be having a lovely time, Alasdair decides he’d rather help Izzy with the Highland Games. Show her how to dance like a Highlander. Drink like a Highlander. And maybe, just maybe, fall in love with a Highlander. But when the games are over, where do they go from here?

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Review of A Highlander Walks into a Bar

I could not resist the title of this book. Setting me up for a story and a punch line, this tale, filled with humor and romance did not disappoint.

There is nothing in this book that is not fun! Just like the blurb says, there as never been a place as friendly as Highland, Georgia. So when Uncle Gareth and Nephew Alasdair arrive in Highland, they are not treated as the strangers they are but as the friends they may become. I know, a bit unrealistic, but really nice. In Highland, everyone is a friend. Even the banker, believe it or not, is a good guy!

A Highlander Walks into a Bar does have a few suspicious characters. Pretty much all characters are imagined has having ulterior motives at one time or another. Discovering the truths behind the suspicions is entertaining. The Highland Games becomes the climatic scene where all good things lead to the Happily Ever After. So super sugary – yes. But sometimes sweet is just what a reader wants.

Through Netgalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of Sasquatch by John Zada – Review

Tags

5 stars, Adventure, big foot, Book Review, British Columbia, folkore, John Zada, non-fiction, sasquatch

About In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of Sasquatch by John Zada

On the central and north coast of British Columbia, the Great Bear Rainforest is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, containing more organic matter than any other terrestrial ecosystem on the planet. The area plays host to a wide range of species, from thousand-year-old western cedars to humpback whales to iconic white Spirit bears.

According to local residents, another giant is said to live in these woods. For centuries people have reported encounters with the Sasquatch–a species of hairy bipedal man-apes said to inhabit the deepest recesses of this pristine wilderness. Driven by his own childhood obsession with the creatures, John Zada decides to seek out the diverse inhabitants of this rugged and far-flung coast, where nearly everyone has a story to tell, from a scientist who dedicated his life to researching the Sasquatch, to members of the area’s First Nations, to a former grizzly bear hunter-turned-nature tour guide. With each tale, Zada discovers that his search for the Sasquatch is a quest for something infinitely more complex, cutting across questions of human perception, scientific inquiry, indigenous traditions, the environment, and the power and desire of the human imagination to believe in–or reject–something largely unseen.

Teeming with gorgeous nature writing and a driving narrative that takes us through the forests and into the valleys of a remote and seldom visited region, In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond sheds light on what our decades-long pursuit of the Sasquatch can tell us about ourselves and invites us to welcome wonder for the unknown back into our lives.

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Review of In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of Sasquatch

This book highlights the stories of ordinary people who have crossed the Sasquatch path. Or Sasquatch has crossed their path. It is filled with picturesque scenery described by someone who appreciates the great outdoors.  It contains compelling narratives that detail the author’s investigation into the elusive facts about Sasquatch. As someone who generally sticks to fiction, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.

Incorporating the research of many cryptozoologists and big foot enthusiasts with his own experiences, Mr. Zada skillfully lays out the facts and the questions and allows the reader to consider all the angles, speculate and decide.

Whether you are a believer in, want to believe in, need proof of, or absolutely deny the existence of Big Foot, In The Valleys of the Noble Beyond is a beautiful read.

The publisher provided a galley of this book through a giveaway.  My review is my honest opinion.

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