Title: Moonlight & Mechanicals
Author: Cindy Spencer Pape
Publisher: Carina Press
Genre: Steampunk romance
Description
London, 1859
Engineer Winifred “Wink” Hadrian has been in love with Inspector Liam McCullough for years, but is beginning to lose hope when he swears to be a lifelong bachelor. Faced with a proposal from a Knight of the Round Table and one of her closest friends, Wink reluctantly agrees to consider him instead.
Because of his dark werewolf past, Liam tries to keep his distance, but can’t say no when Wink asks him to help find her friend’s missing son. They soon discover that London’s poorest are disappearing at an alarming rate, after encounters with mysterious “mechanical” men. Even more alarming is the connection the missing people may have with a conspiracy against the Queen.
Fighting against time-and their escalating feelings for each other-Wink and Liam must work together to find the missing people and save the monarchy before it’s too late…
My Review
Moonlight and Mechanicals is a light, fun read with a great story, delightful characters, wonderful automaton pets and creepy mechanical men designed by an evil mastermind. I enjoyed it immensely.
I met the characters in this book when they were children in the book ‘Steam and Sorcery’ by the same author. Like that book, this is a lovely combination of adventure, mystery and romance. Wink has grown into a young lady since I saw her last. Then, she was a street urchin adopted, at the end of the book, into a family of descendents of the Knights of the Round Table. Now, she is a beautiful, intelligent and gutsy young lady.
Wink is the usual kind of steampunk heroine, one with the elegant manners of Victorian England and the sensibilities of a modern woman. No one is going to tell her what to do, and when her brothers and Inspector Liam begin investigating the strange mechanical men, Wink is right in there with them. And Liam is smart enough not to try to stop her.
All the men in Wink’s life (apart from the bad guys) are handsome, charming and caring, but Liam’s the only one she feels more for than a brother or a friend. I guess she just can’t resist his raw animal magnetism J Like the best romantic heroes, he struggles with his demons, but luckily Wink isn’t one to let life get away from her, and she draws him out. The story ends with the inevitable fight to save the monarchy and everything is elegantly and satisfyingly resolved.
I recommend it for any time you’d like a light story with a dollop of sex and a happy ending.
