Review: Soulless (Parasol Protectorate #1) by Gail Carriger

Goodreads Summary:

First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire - and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

Review:

Series: Parasol Protectorate #1

Release Date: October 2009

Publisher: Orbit

Purchase: Amazon

Edition: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★★

Review Written: 27 February, 2014

Upcoming Changes

I haven't spoken about it much here, but I am in a period of transition at the moment. I recently accepted a new job two states away, and have been working frantically to get everything figured out and settled. As it stands at this moment on February 17th, I will be moving on Saturday, February 22nd, to Montgomery, AL. 

This means, of course, I will be without Internet for a couple of days until I can get Charter out to hook up internet in my apartment. There's also the issue of packing like a mad-woman and a few other necessities to take care of before Saturday will most likely prevent me from updating very much. I have a couple of books that need to be reviewed as well as a movie, and I will do my best to either get the reviews posted or to get them queued up so that they'll publish throughout the week while I work on getting moved.

All the best and happy blogging!

Valentine's Mini Challenge - Day 3

Day 3 – The CHEESIEST ROMANCE scenes or topics you have read in a book.

I'd have to say, one of the Cheesiest Romance scenes I've ever read was in Her Mad Hatter. While it took over two-thirds of the book for the characters to even make it to having sex, and when they did, it was just poorly written and assumed that both would be experts at the subject. It also assumed that bringing someone back to a fantasy realm would save her of cancer and what not that nearly killed her when she returned to her own realm, but yes. Cheesy sex scenes there was almost too funny to bear.

Valentine's Mini Challenge - Day 2

Day 2 – The HOTTEST scene you have ever read in a book.

Recently I finished the first book of the Parasol Protectorate series, Soulless, and it literally ended in carriage sex. That was pretty raunchy and very well written, so I'll go with that.

Valentine's Mini Challenge - Day 1

Day 1 – Let us have it. Your Book Boyfriend/Girlfriend List.  (And I mean all of them!)

• Legolas Greenleaf - Lord of the Rings
• Draco Malfoy - Harry Potter Series
• Fred Weasley - Harry Potter Series
• Luna Lovegood -Harry Potter Series
• Tris Prior - Divergent Series
• Hermione Granger - Harry Potter Series
• Conall Maccon - Soulless

I'm sure there are a lot more, but I cannot for the life of me think of anymore off the top of my head.

Valentine's Book Blogging Mini Challenge 2014

This looks like a fun thing to do. If you want more details, definitely check out this post.

Friday Finds #2

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

So, come on — share with us your FRIDAY FINDS!

          

      

• Backwards Compatible: A Geek Love Story by Sarah Daltry & Pete Clark
• Betrothal (Queen's Honor, Tales of Lady Guinevere: #1), a Medieval Fantasy Romance by Mande Matthews
• The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) by Philip Pullman
• Soul Taken (The Life After Trilogy #1)  by Katlyn Duncan
• Katrina, The Beginning (Royal Blood Chronicles #1) by Elizabeth Loraine
• Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1) by Aimee Carter

Feature and Follow Friday #15

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

If you could read a book for the “first time” again, which book would it be? Why?

That is a very tough question to answer. Generally speaking, there are a ton of books I'd love to go back and read for the first time. And sometimes, I do end up rereading them for the "first time" because it's been so long since I cracked open their covers. Sometimes I start a book and I'll reach a certain point and stop. When I get back to it, it's almost like reading it for the first time because once I get past whatever part stopped me before, it's new territory, new words. 

Still, if I could reread any book for the "first time", I think I'll have to go with:

When I read The Golden Compass for the first time, it was an amazing book. The idea of having my conscious as an animal form was a marvelous idea to me. After all, what child wouldn't like to have a companion animal you could talk to and have it talk back. The fact that the daemons (the little conscious animals of the world) didn't settle into a final form until you were grown as also appealing. While the rest of the books happenings (the children disappearing, the church's involvement, and ultimately the need to travel through the underworld to set free all the souls trapped there) are less than ideal, I can't say I'm not still drawn to the idea of having a daemon. 

Why would I reread this particular book for the first time? I'd like to see it from a more adult viewpoint, one that's less tainted by the idealism of childhood and the need for a daemon (though admittedly, I'm not certain I wouldn't want one even as an adult, I mean a badass wolf or something as a companion? Yes please.) and the consideration of Mr. Pullman's own views of religion in a more mature mind.