The only reason this doesn't have 5 stars is because there were a few times that the dialogue was stilted to the point that I felt it detracted from the unfolding story. Other than that, I loved this book! It's my first foray into anything labelled at "steampunk" and I really enjoyed those elements (airships, crazy watches, not quite historically plausible technology in general, the clothes). Plus, I have the largest soft spot for vampires, especially ones that fall for humans (re: Matthew Claremont in A Discovery of Witches, NOT so much the Twilight situation), and this book had that in spades. Also, it had distinctly Beauty and the Beast overtones, one of my fav Disney stories (not least of which due to the library parts), so this story was destined to find it's way straight to the soft spots of my heart. I loved Adele (solid and believable female lead) and of course LOVED Greyfriar/Gareth (I guessed super early that that was his secret, but not to worry, I was still excited for and enjoyed the reveal and "reattachment" phase). Their relationship unfurled and now is exactly what I wanted. I also enjoyed Flay, as a character and bad "guy" (much more so that Cesare, in any case). And I'm excited to see her return, as well as larger roles from Simon, Anhault, and Adele's tutor. Less exited about Clark, but his role is necessary, so I'll deal. And I super enjoyed the ending with the cat delivery and secret note - it was heart-melting/wrenching. I'm stoked to start the next one and see where everything goes!