So people always ask me how I decide what books I’m going to read, and the simple answer to that question is PRICE, although I do also like a good synopsis. Goodreads is a fantastic site, as if I don’t laud their praises enough, but they recently started this new thing called “Goodreads Deals” where once you select a few genres, they send you a daily e-mail telling you which books are on sale for like $3.00 or less. Normally what I do is once I get that e-mail, I read the synopsis, A daily e-mail folks. This e-mail, combined with the Kindle Unlimited program has led me to a place that I haven’t been in a long time – I have so many books that I’ve bought/borrowed because I liked the synopsis and they were cheap/free, and not enough time to read them in. This book in particular was available on Kindle Unlimited and was such a cute, easy, interesting read.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again; Steampunk always ends up confusing me. Luckily, in this novel it’s kind of clear from the beginning that it’s Steampunk because Penelope has a clockwork heart (or “ticker”). Steampunk is always interesting to me because authors can come up with some pretty nifty inventions that seem like they would be so cool to actually see in real life.

But all this aside, this was a cute little quick read that I did via audio book (that’s one of the benefits of Kindle Unlimited is that a lot of the books that you borrow come with an audio version) during work hours. This book has a British narrator, or at least the version I borrowed did, which had me super obsessed. I love English accents, which might have contributed to my enjoyment of this novel, especially since there are many negative reviews of this story and it has an average rating of 3.42 stars as of the very moment I’m writing this review.

And of course, after another tangent, this book tells the story of Penelope Farthing (Penny) who has a brass “ticker” implanted in to her chest to make up for a genetic heart defect that has killed two of her other siblings (one when she was just a baby, the other not long before this story starts). Penny’s story is filled with explosions, missing parents, missing technology, strained familial relations, a budding new romance between her and the Legatus legionus of the Ferrum Viriae and a lot of guilt for being the one who lived (at least for now). Again, a cute, light engaging read where we encounter a heroine who doesn’t want to be slowed down by her failing heart. This book is not part of a series, though it very well could be. An augmented girl solving crimes with her Legatus boyfriend in the Steampunk world. I could definitely see this becoming a series, but this book is a nice balance between the budding romance, the mystery of the missing documents and parents, and Penny herself and her failing “ticker.” Are there a few times where the writing gets to be a little too much? Sure. But that’s the reason for the 4 flame rating instead of 5. 😉

This definitely makes me want to check out Lisa Mantchev’s other novels as this appears to be the least-liked out of all of her published works, so I’m excited to learn how engaging her other reads are. Stay tuned…