Shelley

I think real life got in the way for me while reading this. I failed to feel captured by it. I really liked it and I loved a lot of it but not enough to completely stun me and fall in love with ALL of it. This really should have blown me away, I mean just look at all the things I LOVED about it!

The mystic and magic - I love

'Champagne hands' - I love

The candlelight atmosphere - I love

The descriptive extremely skilled writing - I love

Merrick - I love

Lord Crane - I like him. He's sexy, but maybe too nice? I like his rough side, his history and the references to his Shanghai adventures. Now the Shanghai adventures of Merrick and Lucien is a book I would love to read.

Stephen Day - An interesting little man, an admirable and original character. But ...I perceive his voice and actions to be that of a heroine, not a hero. Sorry. I can't pinpoint why, I just do *shrugs*

I'm excited about this author, an amazing talent who I'm sure is going to thrill me in the future. It's nice to know I have something to look forward to with the sequel coming soon. This is definitely a unique and inspired series that deserves a lot more praise than I can muster right now.

Ami's review and an interview with this debut author can be found at Boys in our Books.