WAISTCOATS & WEAPONRY / Gail Carriger / 298 Pages

Waistcoats & Weaponry (Finishing School - Book the Third) / Gail Carriger / 298 Pages

"It's one thing to waltz properly. 

It's quite another to waltz properly with a bladed fan stitched into one's corset."

Sophronia is progressing exceedingly well through Mademoiselle Geraldine's "school for proper young killing machines." She will be a top intelligencer asset IF she can survive running away to Scotland, hijacking a train, and foiling a fiendish vampire plot, not to mention escaping a dirigible full of armed Picklemen and flywaymen. All in a days adventure for Sophronia - this time though she's going to have to make a choice which will change her life forever.

Get ready for another rollicking good adventure with Sophronia, Soap, Dimity, and other assorted friends in this witty, laugh-out-loud, action-packed novel. Fans will be eager for the next book in Gail Carriger's 'Finishing  School' series.

Read-alike suggestions: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (the 'Gallager Girls' series) or Palace of Spies by Sarah Zettel (the 'Palace of Spies' series).

THE LAST STORMDANCER / Jay Kristoff / 125 Pages / Christmas Challenge: 2 Turtle Doves (flying) & 8 Maids-a-Milking (animals)

THE LAST STORMDANCER is a limited-edition, novella set 100 years before the events in Kristoff's Lotus Wars series, a dystopian, steampunk fantasy set in Japan. I was so excited to be one of the fortunate few to receive a copy!

The story is told from the point of view of Koh, an Arashitora (half eagle, half white tiger), more commonly called a thunder tiger. Koh relates the, here-to-for, unknown history of the Imperium which lead up to Yukiko, the heroine of STORMDANCER (2012) and KINSLAYER (2013).

A descriptive, atmospheric and moving introduction to the story behind the Lotus Wars.

A Conspiracy of Alchemists/Liesel Schwarz/338 pgs.

The author classifies this book as "historical fantasy and science fiction." It is also called "steampunk." However it's classified, it's a great read! This is book one in the Chronicles of Light and Shadow. The year is 1903, and the main character, Elle Chance is an airship-pilot. She has traveled to Paris to collect some cargo to transport to her home country, England. The cargo is "unusual" to say the least--and that's where the story takes off! Unknowingly, Elle is the newest "Oracle" in a time of Warlocks, Shadows, and Nightwalkers. Only Elle can keep balance in the universe; as a result, there is danger, adventure--and a bit of romance. I can't wait for book two in this entertaining series! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed A Discovery of Witches.