Give me an A - it's in a Plastic Binder!

Thanks to everyone who commented on or emailed about the last post; I'll be submitting a donation to Doctors Without Borders today.

Book Review

A few words about this:

First, if you want me to review YOUR book, please email a quick description (query letter material or jacket copy, that sort of thing). If it's YA, urban fantasy, chick-lit, humor, or some combo of the above, I'm all over it.

What's my taste? Some of the books I've enjoyed this past year include:

• Artemis Fowl: Eoin Colfer
• Twilight: Stephenie Meyer
• His Majesty's Dragon: Naomi Novik
• Dead Until Dark: Charlaine Harris
• Norse Code: Greg van Eekhout
• Wicked Lovely: Melissa Marr
• Savvy: Ingrid Law
• The Time Traveler's Wife: Audrey Niffenegger
• The Alchemyst: Michael Scott
• Vampire Academy: Richelle Mead
• Shiver: Maggie Stiefvater
• Marked: P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
• Undead and Unwed: Mary Janice Davidson
• Soulless: Gail Carriger
• Graceling: Kristen Cashore
• The Lightning Thief: Rick Riordan
• Kitty and the Midnight Hour: Carrie Vaughn
• Hush, Hush: Becca Fitzpatrick
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Jane Austin & Seth Grahame-Smith
• Beautiful Creatures: Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
• Evermore: Alyson Noël
• The Unlikely Disciple: Kevin Roose
• Impossible: Nancy Werlin
• The Hunger Games: Suzanne Collins
• Strange Angels: Lili St. Crow
• Ruined: Paula Morris
• Blue is for Nightmares: Laurie Faria Stolarz

I'll be reviewing a bunch of these later, pretty much whenever I feel like it, 'cause it's my blog. But if there's one on the list you want to hear more about, please leave a comment. I'm not a blog tyrant.

Not yet.

But Oprah's going off the air soon, and there's going to be a void in the world of book recommendation. And, to my knowledge, Oprah NEVER reviewed a book where the MC was a werewolf.

That's where I come in.

But back to that book review. Remember? This post is supposed to be a book review.

Read away: there are NO spoilers here. I hate spoilers with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. It's one of the reasons I detest writing synopses of my own work so much.

SOULLESS by Gail Carriger

Genre(s): Humorous Historical Paranormal Romance

The tagline, "A novel of vampires, werewolves, and parasols," made me smile, and that smile stayed on through the entire read. It's set in a Victorian England in which vampires and werewolves are not only out in the open, they are part of society.

The MC is Alexia, a delightfully written "spinster."* I started rooting for her with the first whack of her parasol.

"I say!" said Alexia to the vampire (when he tries to bite her neck), "We have not even been introduced!"

SOULLESS has an original take on the supernatural versus the preternatural. It's funny and sexy and a delicious read. The zeitgeist of late-Victorian England is beautifully created in the details, such as the fascination with "modern" inventions and the importance of a well-tailored waistcoat, and it meshes seamlessly with the supernatural aspects.

And I kept wondering, "What happened with the hedgehog?" the entire time.

I started this review a couple of days ago, but got so caught up in SOULLESS again that I ended up reading it cover-to-cover again. I look forward to release of the sequel, CHANGELESS, in April. You can find more info about both books at: http://www.gailcarriger.com/

Bottom line: I loved this book.

* I have to put "spinster" in quotes since, more than twenty years ago, my high school English teacher wrote on my paper, "I find that word offensive; don't you?" It is only one of her comments that have haunted me over the decades. RIP Dr. Cole; my severe semicolon issues can all be traced back to you.