The Doll Maker (The Viper and the Urchin, #4) by Celine Jeanjean – Review

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5 stars, Adventure, Book Review, Celine Jeanjean, dolls, favorite characters, favorite series, mystery, series, spider, Steampunk

About The Doll Maker by Celine Jeanjean

Revolution in the streets.
A deadly weapon stolen.
A wardrobe too wide to fit up the stairs.
All is most definitely not well back in Damsport…

Cruikshank has created a deadly new weapon, but someone breaks into her workshop, steals the design, and leaves her for dead.

Time for Rory and Longinus to roll up their sleeves again.

But it doesn’t take long for them to be completely out of their depth. They find themselves facing a creepy doll maker, chaos in the streets, and a powerful man seeking to overthrow the Old Girl. In short, another sinister plot seeking to bring Damsport to its knees.

Once again, Rory and Longinus find themselves the city’s last line of defence.

Damsport really needs to invest in better defences.

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Review of The Doll Maker

In The Doll Maker, a serious threat to the rule of the Marchioness of Damsport brings the team together to determine who is behind it all. It seems straightforward at first. A power-hungry noble/politician wants to oust the Old Girl. Can it be that simple? Of course not. You’ll need to read the book to delve into the complexity of the plot. I will say that I was adamant that, in Damsport, the rule of the Marchioness is just fine. These upstart politicians are going to have a thing coming. I hope…..

Each time I read another book in The Viper and the Urchin series, I am fondly reminded of the first time I met Rory and Longinus. These are two of my favorite characters in all of Steampunkdom. Rory, the urchin who wanted to be a great swordswoman and Longinus, the assassin who passes out at the sight of blood. They are the unlikely duo who formed first, a business arrangement and second, an enduring friendship.

Rory and Longinus have grown into their characters beautifully over the series. I love how the friendship has strengthened and expanded to other endearing characters like Pip, Alice, Rafe, Adelma and Cruikshank. But mostly I love Rory and Longinus when they are together.

“No!” Longinus said in tone that brooked no arguments. So of course, Rory argued.

As much as Rory enjoys a good debate, she watches out for Longinus. And Longinus has Rory’s back.

While Rory is now a well-paid employee of the Marchioness, she is always on the lookout for the opportunity to steal. She doesn’t, but she is on the lookout. And Longinus is forever planning out the perfect wardrobe, one that complements him and his surroundings. Some things never change. Another one of the things I love this about this duo.

Enough about my favorite characters. The books is full of other great characters. Poor Cruikshank gets beat up for the second book in a row – totally not fair. Adelma is large and in charge, especially when it comes to protecting her son Tommy. And Rafe does his very capable Varanguard thing. He and Rory may or may not be a couple. This is just about the slowest progressing romance I have been reading about lately. And that is exactly how their romance should be.

There might be a spider, or two, or more.  See the very cool book cover!

The book ends with the promise of another dangerous adventure. I eagerly await its arrival!

Many thanks to the author for providing a copy of her book in exchange for my honest review.

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Maestra Rising (Project Enterprise #8) by Pauline Baird Jones – Cover Reveal with Excerpt

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Cover Reveal, excerpt, favorite series, Pauline Baird Jones, scifi, scifi romance, series, space opera

What’s that you say?  You need a good scifi adventure.  With a pretty dollop of romance.  And you could use a little quirkiness?  It sounds like you are saying that you need a Pauline Baird Jones / Project Enterprise fix?

In that case, I have good news.  Today I have a cover reveal of the soon-to-be-release Project Enterprise novel – Maestra Rising.  It will be out on June 18, but you can pre-order it today. In fact, I recommend it.  For today, here is a sneak peak at the cover (love it!) and at an excerpt from the book.  Thanks to Pauline Baird Jones for giving us this tantalizing taste of what is to come!

About Maestra Rising

She’s a gifted scientist. He’s a robot with a human mind. Can they save a lost ship and find love among the stars?

Nivi awakes from cryosleep plagued by guilt. The scientific genius had hoped her people would avoid war if she went into cold sleep, but she learns her sacrifice was in vain. And now a vicious enemy approaches a stranded Earth spaceship. Desperate to reactivate the technology she needs for the rescue, Nivi enlists the help of an attractive robot with a human consciousness and wisdom beyond his years…

Moose survived slavery but never forgot the feeling of worthlessness it forced upon him. After living in the body of a robot for years, he sees an opportunity to help the brilliant Nivi if he becomes human once again. In a new body with new dangers, he worries that the genius scientist will never see him as more than the robot he once was.

Outnumbered by a relentless foe, Nivi and Moose attempt to put their desires on hold to ensure humanity’s survival.

With time running out, can they defeat the enemy and enjoy a future filled with love

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Excerpt from Maestra Rising

Here is an extended excerpt about Arian and Coop from Found Girl: Project Enterprise 6. You’ve all been wondering when they are going to be rescued! Well, this is the book where they try. But as you can see, if you read the excerpt, they are in a LOT of trouble because thing are heating up where they are.

Please note this is an unedited version because I (Pauline) couldn’t wait to share it.

Deep in the tunnels of the Phoenicopterian’s central planet, the intermittent ticking echoed off the walls, seeming to reach up and out into space itself. That was the plan, according to Arian, Captain Jackson “Coop” Cooper thought a touch gloomily, as he followed his bird guide down and then down some more through the dull and rather damp tunnel system. Waiting wasn’t really his thing and Pappy—General Boyette—wasn’t a great wait-on-events guy either.

Hope had been, well, not high. Not Pappy’s skill set either. But Arian’s SOS beat trying to hoof it home in a hundred years or more—if they managed to elude the fleet of vicious storks hungrily pacing outside this sanctuary. He suppressed a memory of his fight with the storks and the men who had died. He hadn’t watched the video of that fight, hadn’t wanted to watch it again. He’d been there, so it already played on an almost constant loop inside his head.

Pappy had watched it because that’s what commanders of men did. He’d never seen the old man come out of a briefing that pale.

They’d been brainstorming an alternate plan ever since, trying to learn from the skirmish and do better the next time, if the SOS didn’t work or help didn’t come in time. Ideas for what to do better or different were thin on the ground and now—well, that’s why Pappy had sent him here.

They passed into the fountain room, then out again. That damn fountain was the only way he knew he was almost there. Like the Phoenicopterians, all the tunnels looked alike to him.

The tall double doors opened at their approach. The first time he’d been here, he’d wondered if they were all on the menu. He was glad they hadn’t been, but finding out they were kind of friends had not helped that much.

The guide stopped, letting him enter on his own. The room had morphed from weird dining room to echoing space with nothing but the Urclock and then into a sort of not-fun home away from home for them. Not that he felt comfortable doing anything but hugging Arian when anyone could walk in at any time. And often did.

The Phoenicopterians had moved in a couple of chairs, a bed, and a work station so Arian could be comfortable during her vigil. Somehow they’d managed to accommodate her other needs without her needing to get too far away. Pappy let him spend as much time here as events allowed.

Or when there was bad news.

She looked around, as if she sensed him coming. His breath caught and his heart kicked into high. Her smile lit her face until she saw his eyes. He hated that he’d been the one to erase that smile. It was the first thing he’d fallen for—

“It’s—” She stopped, her head turning to the side as Hoteimai—him or her, Coop still wasn’t sure—entered, moving toward them with that peculiar flamingo-like gait. Coop had been around them long enough to be able to tell when they were worried. Like now.

Arian’s fingers tightened around his, but her voice was calm. “They’ve broken through again? Haven’t they?”

The large bird raised and lowered its long pink neck in a nod.

“Not big enough for a ship to get through. Yet,” Coop added because what they’d done once the storks could do again, particularly when the array had already been damaged.

She nodded, her glance straying toward the Urclock. He didn’t want to look, but he couldn’t help it. The third symbol still blinked red, then yellow. They’d had some hope when the seven signal came on, but then nothing. At this point, if anyone answered the signal, could they get here in time to help them?

Suddenly the Urclock pulsed, light coming from the symbols and it also seemed to come from the surface of the thing, too. Arian’s eyes glazed for a few seconds and then it was over. Coop blinked in the bright light, his grip on Arian tightened as she swayed slightly.

“Was that…them?” he asked.

Instead of answering, she looked at the Urclock. It had changed. Arian’s symbol still blinked yellow and red, and another one had joined in hers. One and seven were yellow. And the rest were red. Not blinking red, but solid red.

“What does that mean?” Coop asked. Maybe red didn’t mean the same thing to this tangram thing…

“The Tangram can not form.” Hoteimai’s tone was flat, almost resigned, as if it had expected this.

“It’s been a long time,” Arian said, her brows creased. “But the One is active. She—” Arian’s gaze turned dreamy, distant. “The Maestra will not stop trying.”

Despite her words, her wide worried gaze met his. He managed a crooked grin for her.

“So, maybe we won’t be home by Christmas, but Easter for sure.”

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Maestra Rising is the eighth novel in the epic Project Enterprise sci-fi romance series. If you like gripping adventures, captivating characters, and emotional out-of-this-world encounters, then you’ll love Pauline Baird Jones’ thrilling saga.

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Pre-order Maestra Rising at Amazon (releases June 18):

Other purchase links here: http://paulinebjones.com/books/maestra-rising/

Purchase books in the Project Enterprise series:

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About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Pauline Baird Jones never liked reality, so she writes books. She likes to wander among the genres, rampaging like Godzilla, because she does love peril mixed in her romance. Loves chocolate, bacon, flamingoes, and mid-century modern anything.

An Artless Demise (Lady Darby Mysteries, #7) by Anna Lee Huber – Review

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5 stars, Anna Lee Huber, body snatchers, Book Review, favorite series, historical, mystery, series

About An Artless Demise by Anna Lee Huber

November 1831. After fleeing London in infamy more than two years prior, Lady Kiera Darby’s return to the city is anything but mundane, though not for the reasons she expected. A gang of body snatchers is arrested on suspicion of imitating the notorious misdeeds of Edinburgh criminals, Burke and Hare—killing people from the streets and selling their bodies to medical schools. Then Kiera’s past—a past she thought she’d finally made peace with—rises up to haunt her.

All of London is horrified by the evidence that “burkers” are, indeed, at work in their city. The terrified populace hovers on a knife’s edge, ready to take their enmity out on any likely suspect. And when Kiera receives a letter of blackmail, threatening to divulge details about her late anatomist husband’s involvement with the body snatchers and wrongfully implicate her, she begins to apprehend just how precarious her situation is. Not only for herself, but also her new husband and investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, and their unborn child.

Meanwhile, the young scion of a noble family has been found murdered a block from his home, and the man’s family wants Kiera and Gage to investigate. Is it a failed attempt by the London burkers, having left the body behind, or the crime of someone much closer to home? Someone who stalks the privileged, using the uproar over the burkers to cover his own dark deeds?

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Review of An Artless Demise

The latest book in one of my favorite historical mystery series returns Lady Darby to the place where Kiera’s life first got far too interesting. London, 1831. Also, just to remind Kiera why she left the city in the first place, a rash of body snatchers is plaguing the city again (still?). A recent body, sold to anatomists, has been declared a murder victim.

I ached for Kiera, now back in the thick of things, suffering everything from condemning glances to outright accusations. With so many reminders of her life with her deceased husband, anatomist Sir Anthony, Kiera must persevere when Gage and she take on the latest Mayfair murder case. A young lord killed, with the murder made to look like a burking (body snatching). At the same time, a blackmailer is targeting Kiera.  And just for good measure, a former associate of Sir Anthony plans to publish the anatomist’s journals, sure to include unsavory details about Kiera’s life with Sir Anthony.

So, not a pleasant visit to London Town for Kiera.

Always, when being reminded of Kiera’s past, I am outraged at culture and the treatment of women in 19th century England, making them possessions of their husbands with no rights of their own. As it happens, Kiera’s new husband Gage is 180 degrees from Sir Anthony and just the man Kiera loves and appreciates as he supports her and partners with her. Gage and some of Kiera’s stalwart friends are a breath of fresh air in what often feels a very burdensome environment for Kiera.

An Artless Demise is a mystery to be sure. But it also sheds light on a very dark side of London: body snatchers, filthy conditions, exploited children and society’s lack of regard for the poor.

The author does a good job of providing Kiera’s background without boring the seasoned readers of the series. Many characters from other books show up in this book. In fact, at times I struggled to recall who some of the characters were. However, like Kiera, I persevered and was rewarded with enough details to figure out who was who.

Why do I keep reading this series? Two main reasons. 1) Kiera is quite the unique heroine. Self-doubt and fear combined with such intelligence, courage, and tenderness make her special. 2) The historical setting has so many amazing details, evidencing the authors careful research. As long as Ms. Huber feels Kiera is worth writing about, I will keep reading this series.

Anna Lee Huber has done it again, giving us plenty of suspense, history and heart in An Artless Demise.

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

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