#BookReview ~ A Clockwork Christmas #steampunk #holidayromance

A Clockwork Christmas: Wanted: One Scoundrel / This Winter Heart / Far From Broken / Crime Wave in a Corset Edited by Angela James Written by JK Coi, PG Forte, Stacy Gail, Jenny Schwartz



We Wish You a Steampunk Christmas

Changed forever after tragedy, a woman must draw strength from her husband's love. A man learns that love isn't always what you expect. A thief steals the heart of a vengeful professor. And an American inventor finds love Down Under. Enjoy Victorian Christmas with a clockwork twist in these four steampunk novellas.





Anthology includes:

Crime Wave in a Corset by Stacy Gail
This Winter Heart by PG Forte
Wanted: One Scoundrel by Jenny Schwartz
Far From Broken by JK Coi

Stories also available for purchase separately.

117,000 words 


My Review: 4 of 5 stars

These were all very entertaining holiday stories filled with steampunk inventions and creations, but I will admit that I enjoyed the first and last stories the very best.

Crime Wave in a Corset by Stacy Gail was fast-paced and suspenseful with interesting and mysterious characters. The characters clashed at the beginning and then were forced to work together which only brought them closer. It was a well-written story.

Far From Broken by JK Coi left me breathless. Although this story started out more slowly than the first, that by no means detracted from the story unfolding to introduce two tortured characters in need of love and healing. Callie and Jasper's ordeal touched my heartstrings as they both struggled to overcome the ugly hand that was dealt to them. This was an emotionally touching story that I enjoyed so much that I instantly bought the sequel, Broken Promises, which continues their story.


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#BookReview: The Bewitching Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell #steampunk

The Bewitching Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

 London, 1841

There I was, retired from time pirating, enjoying a full if somewhat conventional life as a wife and mother. Then a chance encounter with a stranger drew me back into a world I'd thought I'd left, quite literally, in the past. From his odd behavior and even odder answers to my questions, I knew Phineas Grubb was up to something. I should have trusted my instincts—before he pulled out a time-travel mechanism and dragged my brother, Bacon, back with him...

Salem, 1698

The infamous Witch Trials may have ended a few years earlier, but the people of Salem are still pretty touchy about outsiders that appear in town as if by magic. Thanks to Grubb, my brother's been accused of witchcraft and thrown in jail. Now it's up to me and my husband, Dev, to save Bacon's bacon before the hysteria starts up again, and the course of history is altered forever...

This novella is the sequel to The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale which I also reviewed.

My Review:
Although you could probably read these out of order without getting too lost, I highly recommend you begin with the first. There, we meet all the major characters and we get to fall in love with Dev, who becomes Stormy's husband. The first story is definitely in my opinion a romance, the second I can't quite label as such. Dev and Stormy are already married with a precocious daughter in this book, but I was pleased to visit this world and these wonderful characters again.

Ms. Bell's writing style is riveting. From the very beginning, I'm pulled into Stormy's viewpoint where she takes me on an adventurous ride through time. With this journey she chases a suspicious time traveler back to Salem, Massachusetts, where the infamous witch trials are fresh in the memories of the residents. There she must save her brother who has been arrested as a witch, an event that threatens to ignite another mass hysteria of witch hunts. Stormy and Dev need to save Bacon and stop the rogue time traveler from messing up the events of history.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story just as much as the first. As of this moment, I don't see any more books published in this series, but I certainly hope that changes sometime in the future. I'd love to read more of Stormy's time-traveling adventures and snarky dialogue.

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More About This Book:

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 Author Website

Review: The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell

The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine  Bell (aka Chloe Cole)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Blurb:
 I'm a time pirate—born in 1810, now a 21st-century woman. I travel through time trying to right wrongs without disrupting the fragile balance between what is and what can never be.

That's why it's vital that I go to 1836 and find the man who conned my brother out of his Time Travel Mechanism as quickly as possible. If the technology falls into the wrong hands, it could change the world as we know it. The notorious Duke of Leister definitely qualifies as the wrong hands. An amateur scientist of the slightly mad variety, he's bound to figure out how to use the TTM sooner rather than later.

I knew this wouldn't be easy. But I wasn't counting on him being as sexy as hell. Or winding up chained to his bed…
25,900 words


My Review:
This novella was a joy to read! I loved it! It was fast-paced, the characters were interesting and well developed, and the plot was fascinating. This was also my introduction to steampunk. I don't think I've ever read anything in this genre. And I'm hooked! I can't wait to read another one. I would have loved to see this story as a full-length novel! It was interesting and suspenseful and I really enjoyed the use of first-person POV (point-of-view). I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a quick, fun romance that keeps you turning the pages until the end. I can't wait to read more from this author!



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