Kiss of Steel

Alison Larkin's performance is terrific in this steampunk adventure. Honoria's scientist father died and left their small family destitute and unprotected. In the steampunk version of London where they live, only the very dangerous, slightly otherworldly gangster Blade can keep them safe. Honoria does not want to be indebted to such a bad boy, but then sparks fly. Larkin gives good girls upper-class British accents and bad guys Cockney growls. While the love story does turn steamy, it never becomes embarrassing. Larkin brings life to the multiple tough guys in Blade's street gang and gives Honoria and her sister, only a few years apart in age, familial yet unique voices. Steampunk, romance, and paranormal fans will all thrill to listen. G.D. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

July 2, 2012
In Victorian London, the aristocracy is ruled by a group called the Echelon, “blue bloods” infected with the craving virus that will someday blossom into full-blown vampirism. Honoria Todd, daughter of a murdered inventor, escapes to the Whitechapel district with her sister and secretly infected brother. Reluctantly, Honoria asks Blade, the master of Whitechapel, to protect her family. Blade is a rogue blue blood and intensely attracted to Honoria, but she only views him as a potential monster. When a vampire commits vicious attacks in Whitechapel, Blade forges an uneasy alliance with the Echelon and Lord Vickers, his sworn enemy, to defeat the creature. Working with the Echelon is dangerous, but not as dangerous as the growing desire between Blade and Honoria. Readers will be confused by the numerous overlapping plot lines, and hastily gluing on a few gears does not a steampunk novel make. However, McMaster’s debut does put an interesting twist on the vampire mythos and the brutal side of London high society. Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds.