Review: A fun and fabulous anthology
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 2, 2013
A Riveting Affair is an anthology with three works by three authors.Beauty and the Clockwork Beast by Lily Lang was a joy to read. If you've wondered what "steampunk" is all about, read this one and get a lovely look into what it should be. Ms. Lang mixes the old time flavor with snippets of whimsy and the spectacular. You'll be amazed at what one can build with copper wire, bits of tubing, sheets of glass, and a wooden pedestal.Rose Verney has run away to the one man that she hopes can help her build the teleportation device that her father spent his life designing. She runs because her sister is horrible and there's an arranged marriage in her future. She runs to Sebastian Cavendish, the young man she remembers as her father's favorite student, the one with brilliance in his mind.She finds a broken man, one who refuses to use automatons and is living in a gorgeous house, a house full of dust and mice and sadness. She's enthralled by the roses in the courtyard, the roses that give her hope that some of the brilliance she knew when Sebastian was working with her father is still around.Sebastian is an inventor down to his soul but he's lost the will to invent because many of his inventions were used to kill. He's returned from the war with scarred, with a leg that is barely usable...and nightmares that shatter his sleep.It takes Rose, a set of blueprints, and a funny cat to bring him back to life, to find some joy in the beating of his clockwork heart.Rose is the kind of heroine that I like. She is sweet, charming and has a backbone that won't quit. Sebastian is a hero you can love. He grows, which is what all the best heroes do.I am giving this portion of the anthology FIVE stars. Yes, it's that good and I wish I could give it more.Next is THE CLOCKWORK BRIDE by Patricia Eimer. I'm giving this one a solid 4.5.As the blurb says, Aida Mulvaney attends a masked ball at the home of her family's chief enemy. A friend insists that she get out and since no one will know who she is because of the mask, why not eat his food and drink his champagne?Aida has been living amidst gossip and scandal because she tried to help a friend by becoming engaged to him so that he could avoid a marriage to someone totally wrong for him. He's a prince, but he's not her Prince Charming. When he's forced to break off the betrothal, he allows it. Leaving Aida shunned. Her heart isn't broken, but she is annoyed that because of this scandal her father's shop is no longer being patronized by the Royals.At the ball, as she turns to leave when her former fiance steps into the ballroom, a gorgeous stranger pulls her into an alcove. He's trying to avoid his father, the man whose event this is. They kiss...and what a kiss it is!He invites her to another ball and she agrees to go. Because, well, that kiss was something else. The evening ends with them married, by a drunken vicar dressed as a werewolf. Yes, I laughed.At one point there is an automaton dragon and I really wished that Aida could make one for me, too.This one, like the first story, had a lovely beginning, middle and an end. Yes, I'd like to read more of both of them, but they are complete as they are.The last story in the anthology is DEMON EXPRESS by Candace Havens. Unfortunately, I can only give this story a 2 star.Two stars because the premise was fun but the story itself had a beginning and nearly a middle. There is no end. None of our questions are answered, the bad guy isn't dealt with, and there isn't an HEA. I want even my short stories to have that. Or at least an ending of some kind. Very disappointing after the wonderfulness that was the first two stories in this book.EDITED TO ADD: The author of this third one, Candace Havens, has just let me know that the third story is the start of a series. So this is more of a teaser than a full story. She said that they should probably add that to the anthology.I will most definitely be looking for more from Ms. Lang and Ms. Eimer!Thank you, NetGalley and Entangled Ever After, for the opportunity to read A Riveting Affair.