As soon as I finished book one? I had to continue on to book two and I was not disappointed. While this one had some minor flaws, it wasn't anything that ruined the entire book for me. Technically I rated this a 4.5/5 but since Goodreads only lets you choose between 4 or 5 I had to choose 4. Don't let that discourage you though! Seriously, pick it up. Also make sure you keep a nice cool drink nearby. This one gets quite steamy!

--- In-depth Review: Note that I attempted to avoid spoilers as much as possible and that this contains reviews for the following two books as well; there may be some spoilers though no major ones. Also can be found on the To Tilt With Windmills Blog. ---



Rating: 4.5/5 Windmills

This book changes pace, starting out in a more laid-back manner. The tension, the urgency are both still felt given the situation, but it suits as the action is not the focus here. Little of it happens since the characters are on the move and in hiding. Attention becomes locked on the characters and the dynamics of their relationships. This is the first book where the erotica aspect really makes an appearance, as in the first book you get the slightest taste and nothing more, and WHOA! is it ever steamy to read. Needed a long drink of cold water afterward to cool down. The beautiful thing though is that the romance and love felt since the first book isn’t lost amidst the sexual aspects. Instead it becomes deeper as Olani and Astrid grow closer to each other — though they still entertain with good-natured bickering — as well as to Teuvo.

The bond of the three gradually cements itself into the possibility of something more. Revelations are made concerning the feels of Teuvo toward Olani from Astrid, and then of Astrid toward Teuvo from Olani; the Prince quite oblivious in some ways. You’re also given a taste of more side characters; Mr. Black making another appearance, the first appearance of Crown Prince Oskar of Sweden as they take shelter at Karson Manor, and later Mr. Black’s associate Samu. Through Mr. Black’s appearance we are also introduced to more of the thickening plot. Quite an interesting plot too as the intrigues go even further down the rabbit hole than initially suspected.

Now, the only thing I disliked, and part of the reason why I gave it a 4.5/5 rating, was how easily Astrid cowered to Teuvo’s upset. I have nothing against a woman crying, don’t buy into the nonsense that it makes women not strong, yet it felt odd here. Almost as if it didn’t suit her. Young or not, this felt like an area where some of her Princess knowledge — even a little haughtiness — should’ve come into play as she was in the right to divulge what she did. I also wasn’t fond of the way she switched gears from the issue that made Teuvo feel betrayed to the relationship stuff involving Olani. Was it sweet Teuvo then worried about comforting her instead of his anger? A little. Yet I couldn’t get over my disappointment that Astrid became a weepy woman when she did nothing wrong given the circumstances. The other part of my rating concerns how Astrid gets less focus than Olani where Teuvo is concerned.

Even when Teuvo’s supposed to be talking to her. . . it somehow becomes less about her and more about Olani — as is the case with the gear switch above during the talk. It’s obvious early on that while Teuvo cares about Astrid, it’s Olani that he intensely loves, and that’s fine cause as I said things evolve in this book. Except Olani reveals Astrid’s feelings to Teuvo and they don’t really get discussed at all during the talk. Instead with the next chapter we see that after dinner Teuvo finally gets Olani alone and talks to him, and it is a more significant talk than the one he had with Astrid. This doesn’t make me dislike the characters or the story(obviously) considering I read the next part and want more, but it is something that bothered me.

How many ways can I say I enjoyed this? Too many. After the first one you think 'oh where can it go? Surely the arc has been solved for the most part. . .' until Katherine Gilraine decides to blow your mind with even more amazing character development, and fascinating twists that leave your mind begging to know what's going to happen next. Even the smaller characters introduced to help the flow of the story arc are found to be fascinating in their own right and you find yourself growing as attached to them as those who are the more focal ones. You want to know what happens to them next and your heart feels for them.

Gilraine does some great work at making you feel all the emotions during many scenes in this book while leaving you hanging on the edge of your seat as the mystery slowly unravels though becomes more, and more, twisted. Honestly, as a fan of the tv series LOST I respect this method cause just when you think all the questions are going to be answered you end up with more questions to ask in the process, and it leaves your mind constantly working. I can't wait to start the next book and to those who haven't read these yet? I highly suggest picking it up!

What can I say about this book that I have not stated about the others. Perhaps that it upped the excitement in ways unexpected? Perhaps that it furthers the plots of each characters in ways I hadn't even considered? There are many things more, but for now I'll just put it out there that this book is marvelous. Each book in the series has held my attention, intriguing and well-written in ways that made me constantly want more, but this book takes the cake. Aside from the fact that one thing I've long been waiting for to happen actually takes the place there's the fact that new details have come to be revealed. Things that make your eyes widen and your jaw drop as you go 'OH I didn't see that coming!'. Katherine Gilraine has written a third book that manages to wrap up some things yet continues to keep you hooked as the revelations only further increase the arc in total. I absolutely loved this book and will soon be starting book 4.

I won't say that this story was badly written or was unable to keep my interest, because neither of those are true. However, I didn't find it as interesting or great as I thought I would. So much of it felt rushed, and at parts even lacking, that I found myself reading it though not caught up in it. I didn't feel for this character, what he went through, or even his survival in the end which is not how one should feel for a character that has gone through such a trauma. I did find myself interested in one of the other survivors, but we get absolutely nothing on her, and the other thing is we get nothing on him following any of what happened. I don't know what it was about this story, and I can't say it was bad as I did enjoy it to some degree, but there was something that it lacked. I just can't put my finger on it is all.

This was a largely underwhelming read. While there were elements I liked about it, there were others that just rubbed me wrong. I felt like while you learned a decent amount about Beatrice there was little learned about the others. And for all her insistence she can't fall in love again, and is fine with a loveless marriage, she starts to have immediate feelings for the first man to smile at her - not even the man she's supposed to marry. We don't learn anything about the man she's supposed to marry or the man she's falling for either aside from he has a mother and sister he cares for which is not much of anything. Ultimately, the story feels rushed to achieve its ultimate goal of seeing her fall in love before the baby comes on that expected day.

I liked Beatrice, and her potential husband and love interest were enjoyable enough, but I wanted to know more - why was her potential husband so closed off? Why just a marriage of convenience? Why did he refuse to acknowledge her pregnant state or show any concern for her well-being there? Why choose a woman who is pregnant in the first place? As for the love interest, there was little about him that didn't feel like he wasn't a cardboard cut-out with the necessary important pieces ticked off to make him acceptable for Beatrice.

And as I sit here, I struggle to even recall their names as they didn't feel like characters in their own right which is a big issue.

I know this was a novella, but I've read others that were far more developed than this one so the length shouldn't be the issue. The characters need to all be their own characters and the story can take its time a little more to let us know them. The writing was enjoyable enough, and I loved the premise, but the execution just fell flat, sadly.

--- story contained a bunch of free other mail order bride stories, however I will not be reading them. I am now aware that this is a book-stuffing tactic which is a no-no. I would not have purchased it if I'd known. Since I could not return my purchase, I've deleted my copy instead.

My policy with reviews is generally to find something positive to say to go with the negative; add a balance given that a book can't be as terrible as to have nothing positive about it, and then I read this book where it became one of those rare cases. When the only positive thing you can say is that it had a premise full of hope and expectation then there's no point trying to paint it in a different light. This book was just bad. I adore Steampunk. Powerful and sexy women in Steampunk even more! Quite a deal of unbelievable things go on in this book though including one that is just downright insulting to women. This book was intensely disappointing overall. I had really hoped it would be executed well, but that was not the case. I could've even overlooked some other stuff had the execution of the plot and the character development been better, but that just wasn't meant to be.

SPOILERS READ AT YOUR OWN RISK:


However, these women are just so unbelievable as to make you want to rip out your hair. There's one point where, in an effort to be all girl-power-how-dare-guys-tell-us-what-to-do, these women who have been doing missions for their Queen and Country for YEARS disobey cause two men are put in-charge of this particular mission(and one makes their beloved leader cry at the drop of a hat over every little thing it seems!) that they decide to go rogue. . . and fail miserably leading to them getting ambushed and said leader getting captured. Later on in the novel, the one guy actually apologizes for doubting their ability! Apologizes when they literally screwed up and made things more difficult by just not following the orders of their Queen, and got caught, but how dare he — a man! — call these women out on having been wrong, right? And then there were the oppressed harem women who suddenly became powerful warriors practically overnight to achieve their freedom from their highly trained male guards though they had no training and never thought to want that for themselves until the leader woman is held captive in their harem for an extremely short time. Look, I love powerful women in stories who might go rogue to prove someone wrong that is awful — the one guy who they were so offended(not the one that made the leader cry) barely qualified by the way — when it actually works. Having them apologize for doubting them when they did wrong and messed up just cause they're women is insulting. Call them out on their nonsense! Do not excuse it.

A delightful read

So to me this is more a 3.5 but since you can't do half-stars I gave it some thought and this book definitely deserves the rounding up to 4 stars instead of being rounded down. It was such fun to read my first book in this series as I've been enjoying watching my way through the tv series for awhile. Reading this made me appreciate how well the actors have captured the characters though there are some things in the episode of the show that dealt with the cocaine mystery which I preferred to the book and vice versa though nothing terribly huge to make me enjoy either less. I think this might be my first 'cozy mystery' (don't quote me on that, I'm a little sleepy) and I look forward to reading more books in this series.