#40 Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger

This is a first in a series of novellas that deal with minor characters from her three series. Lady Preshea Villentia, a Finishing school graduate has buried four husbands and in the process secured a title for herself thanks to her fourth husband and the society title of the Mourning Star.  Of course no one can pin any of the deaths on her but people do gossip. Her current assignment is twofold, the Duke wants her to break up a love match between his daughter and a broke beau and her main assignment that the Duke doesn’t know is to keep him alive and foil an assassination attempt. What Preshea isn’t expecting to find is a romantic entanglement of the kind she has never had before.

What I liked about this was for the most part it works well by itself. You don’t need to know the entire backstory of the other books but it does add some color to this world. This has more of a romance feel to the storyline so some readers may not care for it but I liked it. I’m looking forward to more of these novellas.

#41 Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine

The sequel to Ink and Bone is certainly a faster paced book than the previous one. Jess finds information that leads him to believe that Thomas might possibly be alive.  He and his friends try to work on finding a way to find him and spring him. Of course the Archivist has his eye on all of them and they quickly have to try to escape before they are put to death. There is more of a subtext of family and how everyone interacts with their family members in this story.  What the group is trying to do will shake the foundations of their society and I’m not sure all of them can live with the consequences.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley