#43 The Transference Engine by Julia Verne St. John

In this early Victorian steampunk setting, cult followers of Byron have been trying for years to use Ada Lovelave, his daughter to fix a machine that will bring Byron’s soul into another body so he can live again.  Magdala has worked at protecting Ada as a child and into adulthood.   Using small and large deceptions along with a smattering of street children to gather information she is trying to find out who is behind the latest plot to bring back Byron and another plot to possibly kill Queen Victoria on her coronation day.  

Magdala is very interesting as a character and has a good backstory that slowly comes out. With her friendships with the Rom, connections to academics with her coffee shop / lending  library and her ongoing series of salons in the evenings  she uses all of these treads to get to the center of a mystery.   I did enjoy the story and the plot and it should be interesting if there are more books in the series.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Netgalley

#44 Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn

Evie is the do it all capable assistant to her childhood best friend, Aveda Jupiter heroine of San Francisco.  A demon portal opened up several years ago and several people got powers out of it.  Portals continue to open up and demons come through and attack the city. The problem with this is the demons take on the shape of what they first see when they come through so at the beginning of the story it is demon cupcakes.  The interesting thing about Aveda is she is the heroine of the city but she doesn’t use her powers to take down the demons she uses her fighting skills that she constantly works at.  When a training temper tantrum damages her ankle she gets Evie to step in and impersonate her at an event using a glamor charm from one of their friends that was also powered up in the first incursion.

Things don’t go as planned and Evie release her powers during a demon incursion while she is impersonating Aveda.  Now she has to continue with the charade since everyone thinks that Aveda is getting stronger.  Aveda wants her to do this to keep her brand and public image out there but Evie is trying and yet Aveda never seems to be happy with the results. Things do come to a head and the ending is good and bonds of friendship are strengthened over this.

I liked it for the honest way it treated how the friends first met and grew up together.  It really came across as a honest portrayal of friends both being jerks and supporting one another during the course of a lifetime of friendship.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Netgalley