Poison or Protect

She would not run if he offered her his body; she would if he offered his heart.

Well, wasn't this a romp! I confess I was a little disappointed in the tamer nature of Gail Carriger's last completed series, the Finishing School books – but as they were for a YA audience I understood it and thought she handled the romance aspects of that series with aplomb. This little piece brought back all the spice and sizzle of Soulless, with an intriguing flair for readers of the Finishing School series, as we're already acquainted with the main character! This is quite a different look at Preshea, as you might expect. Not a book for the middle-school readers, ou-la-la. You d0n't, however, have to have read any of the prior books to enjoy this one.

Poison or Protect is a novella, so the plot, while there, isn't terribly exciting, and after all it's a romance, straight-up. In fact, this might qualify for the “bodice-ripper” category of one of my reading challenges this year...not my usual cup of tea at all, but this is Gail we're talking about. The prose is what I've come to expect from her – by turns sharp, witty, heart-melting, and hysterical.

“He smells like Christmas – fresh pine boughs and spices. What right has a man to smell so good?”

Preshea, unflappable though she might be, was flapped.

Imprudence