Title: The Mysterious Adventures of Becca Carlisle (Blood & Steam #2)
Author: Cate Morgan
Genre: Steampunk/YA
Date Read: 09/09/2016 – 11/09/2016
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
I read this book almost exactly a year to the day after I read the first Blood & Steam novella, and while this one had less of the exciting exotic locations, it still had all the bright, vibrant characters that I enjoyed in the first one.
Becca Carlisle receives a letter from her family lawyers in London, claiming that her brother is going to be charged with desertion from the army. She soon learns from a junior partner in the firm, however, that her lawyer is in league with Baron Lindsey, the same man responsible for her father’s alleged death in an airship accident. As she and Avery begin to build a case to prove their senior’s connection to the Lindseys, they find there are a few people determined to stop them investigating.
Becca and Avery were both fun characters. Becca is the slightly more “normal” Carlisle sister, compared with adventurous Acacia and inventor Lucia. Still, she sticks up for what she believes in and isn’t afraid to join with Avery in building a case against Avery’s former employer and the Lindseys. Avery is very sweet, a bit dorky, but also determined to have revenge for his father, who came to grief when he crossed the Lindseys some years before. There was also some entertaining side characters in the Ladies’ Adventurers Club, in particular three ofo these ladies who were too old to give much of a damn what other people thought of them.
As this book was set in London, it did lack the exciting description of faraway lands that the first book did, and there was even less of a steampunk vibe than in the first. Apart from a few telescopes and a fancy telegraph system, there was little to distinguish the setting from regular Victorian England. Even so, it was a quick, fun read and I certainly look forward to reading book three and concluding the story.
A Keyboard and an Open Mind 
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