Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Julia Reviews Kiss of Steel by Bec McMaster

Title/Author: Kiss of Steel by Bec McMaster
Publisher/Year Published: 2012 by Sourcebooks
How I got this book: I bought it for me Nook a while back when it was on sale
Why I read this book: I like Steampunk; I like romance. I like it more when they combine :)
Rating: 4.5 stars


Yay! A great read that I got for a great deal! 

Sorry I just had to get that out of the way.

I have a soft spot for Steampunk ever since I accidentally started reading it my senior year of college, so I was a bit predisposed to liking Kiss of Steel. But honestly, even if I was only a teensy bit interested in Steampunk, Kiss of Steel would have been a wow read.

Let's back up. Our heroine is Honoria, a displaced member of the middle class who had to go on the run with her two siblings into the slums of London after her father shows up dead. They live in a world where the Echelon rules. They are this worlds answer to the ton, or the elite upper class. This class also has a special nickname, blue bloods, for the blood rite select males take at 15 which turns them into not quite a vampire, but someone on it's way. 

Our hero, Blade, is a member of the lower class gutter who was taken by one of those blue bloods and "gifted" this rite. By rights he should have been killed as a rogue but lives as sort of like the king of the slums, protecting those whom ask for it as long as he gets something in return.

That is how he meets Honoria. He brings her into his home and is instantly taken with her. She offers to pay for his protection with speech lessons to make him sound more aristocratic and less cockney. But there is a vampire (a blue blood who has lost control and thus gone over the edge) on the loose and somehow keeps throwing Honoria and Blade together and intertwines them in a ton of unexpected ways.

Seriously what I just described is probably about the first chapter. This plot was gripping! The problem in the beginning though was trying to organically introduce us to this worlds and it's rules. She did an okay job, but I was scratching my head for a while. But once I got the hang of it, the story took over.

The characters I really enjoyed. Not only are the main couple three dimensional, they have intense chemistry between them. The heat level in this gets intense at times, though I am sure if that is not your cup of tea, skimming over them would be possible without missing major plots.

The secondary characters are also pretty amazing. I look forward to reading more about them in future novels.

The problem and why this book didn't rate 5 stars on Goodreads for me was the ending. It was rather abrupt and a bit too convenient. It almost entered a completely different story for a bit, but it was still engaging and it didn't dampen my overall enjoyment. I think toward the end the "power of love" started to change the essence of the characters a bit (especially in regards to Honoria). But like I said, it didn't dampen my enjoyment.

I would definitely recommend this to people who like Steampunk and/or paranormal romance. It's a great mix of both!

9 comments:

  1. I am a huge fan of this book. I was glued to it. Glued. Love the chemistry, the characters, and especially this dark world McMaster created.

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  2. This is one I have been eying. Thanks for the review!
    ~Decadent
    My Blog

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  3. Very nice review. I'm not quite into Steampunk, but I do love vampires (and always will - I don't care how many come to the market)!!!

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  4. This sounds AMAZING. I've added it to my TBR pile. Trying to figure out what I can shuffle around so I can get to it sooner.

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  5. I haven't read any Steampunk novels, but I'd love to try one out. I like the Steampunk art (paintings, drawings, crafts), I can only imagine how a Steampunk world looks like. A big plus for me is that this book is set in London.


    Mada Sch @ All Fantasy Worlds

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  6. Great review! I've got this on my Kindle but haven't had a chance to read it yet. Now I'm looking forward to it even more! :)

    Wendy @ Escape Into Fiction

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  7. i need to read this one still. i keep hearing really good things about it. glad you liked it!

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  8. I read my way through the published books in this series in a matter days and will definitly be reading My Lady Quicksilver when it comes out. They aren't perfect, but they are a lot of fun.

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  9. Steampunk and paranormal romance? Not something I'd ever thought of combined, but I'm definitely interested in checking this out! (Literally. Because I'm broke and frequent the library so much they probably think I live there.)

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