The Mysterious Case of Mr. Strangeway by Karina Cooper

Synopsis from Goodreads.com

Although I have only been part of Society for two years, I am already desperate to escape its confines and eager for adventure. The world my deceased parents have left me is nothing more than a gilded prison, and I will do anything to escape the boredom, even become a collector of bounties.

My name is Cherry St. Croix, and I may be young, but I am old enough to know when I am in over my head. My first collection seemed easy: Mr. Strangeway’s debts have come due, and the purse for his capture is hefty. Yet the wastrel remains one step ahead of me, and my efforts are hampered by another collector after the same coin. What’s more, a simple hunt becomes the forefront of a conspiracy that leads me on a chase through London’s low-class streets.

Not only does my pride demand success, but the well-being of many rest upon the choices I make—failure is not an outcome I can live with.

My Review:

I don't normally read Steampunk, but seem to have acquired most of this series through Netgalley so thought it would be worth giving it a go and you know what? I really quite enjoyed this one, although it didn't appear as Steampunk-y as other Steampunk books I have read, but maybe because it's a novella so there wasn't much time/space to develop the Steampunk world. There were hints of it though so I'm guessing more will be revealed in the main books.

Cherry St Croix is a Society girl, but has had a difficult life in her young 15 years of age and having been abandoned before she finds trying to become a lady pretty boring and hates virtually everything that Society expects of her. After overhearing a conversation about collectors - people who collects others debts for them, usually from pretty unsavoury characters, she decides she would quite like this collector job to be a secret part of her life.

She sets off on her first job, which does not go too well for her at all. In fact, she doesn't collect her quarry at all, but instead pairs up with him to do a completely different job against the man who posted the collection note instead! She does start to get a feel for what collecting is all about and how dangerous is might get for her as well, but that doesn't scare her off at all. In fact, it makes all the more determined to be the best female, the only female, collector in all of London low!

Although this book was fairly short, I thought it was a great insight to this genre, especially for the likes of me who does not read it all that often. Cherry was a great character, feisty, determined and really didn't have a clue how much danger she  was putting herself in, but kept on going regardless. I will very likely read the rest of this series at some point.

I did receive this book from the publisher through Netgalley but this review is my own honest review!

A Clockwork Christmas by JK Coi et al

Synopsis from Goodreads.com
We Wish You a Steampunk Christmas

Changed forever after tragedy, a woman must draw strength from her husband's love. A man learns that love isn't always what you expect. A thief steals the heart of a vengeful professor. And an American inventor finds love Down Under. Enjoy Victorian Christmas with a clockwork twist in these four steampunk novellas.

Anthology includes:

Crime Wave in a Corset by Stacy Gail
This Winter Heart by PG Forte
Wanted: One Scoundrel by Jenny Schwartz
Far From Broken by JK Coi

My Review
This was my first venture into the genre of steampunk and not really knowing what to expect, I can honestly say I wasn't overly impressed. In fact I was quite bored with these short stories and it took a lot for me to get through them all. I was constantly checking my percentage meter to see how much more I had to endure. And other than the odd reference to Christmas I didn't really feel these were Christmas stories at all.

There are 4 stories in this book, but the first one was the best of them all. Crime Wave In A Corset was a tale about Cornelia, a thief who stole a Fabergé egg from a university professor, who now wants her to steal it back, but instead she manages to steal his heart. 3 STARS

The Winter Heart was a love story gone wrong between Orphelia and Dario. She returns to him with their son after being made destitute following the death of her own father. However, Dario isn't at all pleased to see either her or his son, especially as her genetic make-up declared her as being barren. Will love conquer all? This one was ok, but I thought it was a bit far fetched. Maybe that's what steampunk is all about - technologies far too advanced for the time period. 1.5 STARS

Wanted: One Scoundrel was just plain boring. Esme, a strong suffragette, wants to hire a scoundrel to put forward her opinions in the men's clubs in the gold mining town of Fremantle in Australia. Not a great deal really happened in this one. As expected Esme falls for her scoundrel. He helps another man get his comeuppance after he tries to force Esme to marry him, claiming he had kidnapped her father. 1 STAR at a push.

Far From Broken was a nice love story, but again was too far fetched in my opinion. Callie was tortured, almost to the point of death and her husband Jasper agreed for the government's War Office doctor to put her back together again with a mechanical eye and limbs and biomechanical organisms which helped her to heal really quickly. Jasper had to fight for their love and she slowly broke through the shell she had created to push everyone out in return, but when someone unexpected comes back to kill Jasper, will love win? 1.5 STARS

If this is the kind of stories that steampunk authors produce then I don't think they are for me at all. I like lots of action, with a bit of blood and guts thrown in for good measure and a bit of sex and romance. These stories are more of the kind of books my mother would read and I'm not your kind of soppy romance fan that she is!

Thank you to the publishers for letting me receive this book through NetGalley and review it completely honestly.