Soulless by Gail Carriger (The Parasol Protectorate #1)
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Oh my. I usually stay away from stuff like this…except I didn’t because I heard it was clever and it was available when I went to do an ebook checkout from the library last night.  I’m glad I did because I sorta, kinda, completely love it.

This is a “novel of vampires, werewolves, and parasols.” Hmm, yeah, that does NOT sound good as I am tired of the whole werewolf/vampire “thing” that has cropped up in current literature. Essentially, this is more of a pseudo-Victorian romance novel with supernatural (and some steampunk) elements thrown in. It’s delightfully silly and never pretends to be anything more highbrow. After all, the low humor and the frivolity of the subject are the keys to its charm.

Here are a couple of the lines that made me laugh outright 🙂

“Goodness gracious me,’ exclaimed Alexia, ‘what are you wearing? It looks like the unfortunate progeny of an illicit union between a pair of binoculars and some opera glasses. What on earth are they called, binocticals, spectoculars?”

And:

“How ghastly for her, people actually thinking, with their brains, and right next door. Oh, the travesty of it all.”

And finally:

“Alexia suspected Lord Maccon’s handling was a tad more than was strictly called for under the circumstances, but she secretly enjoyed the sensation. After all, how often did a spinster of her shelf life get manhandled by an earl of Lord Maccon’s peerage? She had better take advantage of the situation.”

As I continued reading the novel, I became a little less impressed as the plot line got a little predictable and I felt the characters tried too hard to show their smarts by using big words. Still, the cutesy elements won out in the end, and I’m already reading book two!

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