Kiss of the Spindle

I picked up this steampunk retelling of Sleeping Beauty on a whim, and I absolutely loved it. I probably need to buy my own copy, because I think it could be my new comfort read. I want to read it again already.
It’s a kissing book—I’ve read a lot of those lately—
rather chaste in comparison to most of the romance books I’ve read this summer, but equally swoonarific.
I’m madly in love with these characters, and I enjoyed having the POVs switch back and forth between Daniel and Isla, both refreshingly original. I was happy to find that the “strong heroine” I was promised by Publishers Weekly really was one. Whenever I see blurbs with descriptions like that, I think “Hmm, we’ll see.” But Isla Cooper is definitely my show more kind of heroine. I liked that besides her intelligence and independence, one of her greatest strengths was her empathy, not just her magical ability, but the way she related to the other characters, friend or foe. I loved how Daniel fell for her both because of her strengths and her vulnerabilities. I also prefer a more straightforward love story to a lot of cat and mouse shenanigans, and straightforward is more or less what I got with Daniel and Isla.
The steampunk setting was great fun. I’m looking forward to reading other books in this world (it seems I picked up the second in the series by mistake, but it didn’t seem to matter). There were some clever twists on the original story and several truly romantic scenes. It was a nice choice to cap off my summer of romance reading.

Re-read update 2019: Yep, this is my new comfort read. Love it! The audio version, read by Justine Eyre, was a winner, for the most part. Isla started sounding really gushy at the end, and I didn’t get that vibe from her at all when I read the book, but otherwise Eyre did a nice job with all the different characters’ voices.

Re-read 2020: There’s always room on my dance card for this one. show less

Take a classic fairytale, drop it into your basic steampunk setting, tweak the characters a bit (especially the heroine who really needs to be more active) and you have this fun story. Isla is searching for the cure to her sleeping sickness while trying to protect innocent shape shifters. Daniel is smuggling said shape shifters to safety. And there is the government agent who is relentless in his search for all shape shifters. There's a twist at the end and a lovely little romance.

I really need to read more steampunk! What little I've read (the first in Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series--why haven't I read further? no idea, since I really liked it--and both of Jess Fink's erotic graphic novels is about it, I think) I've really liked, so I have no excuse. I kept hearing good things about this book--I think it showed up on at least three different romance books out right now that you must read lists--plus, it's a Sleeping Beauty retelling--so I felt I had to give it a try. I'm so glad I did!

Overall this was very cleverly done. I liked trying to catch all of the subtle (or not so subtle, as the case may be) ways that the author gave homage to the original, and the steampunk element added to the fun. Isla and show more Daniel were strong characters--and thank goodness the author managed to tell us almost right away how to say the heroine's name ("Eye-luh"--no need to wait until book four!) even though I kept wanting to pronounce it incorrectly in my head (my brain kept wanting to change it to a weird version of Elsa for some reason) I also kept correcting myself (also in my head) and mostly had it down by the end.

Mostly. ;)

The romance here is very slow moving, which is fine (they share a few kisses, which were really beautifully written) but it ultimately did result in a "big misunderstanding"-type of relationship problem, which is really my only complaint--it's one of those everyone-can-see-it-but-them types of conflicts that has everyone but the hero and heroine rolling their eyes. But it all ends well, and Ms. Allen did a great job of tying things up nicely at the end, which I enjoyed.

My first book from her, but definitely not my last!

Rating: 4 stars / B+

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. show less

Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd book in the Proper Steampunk Romance series. I borrowed this from Audible Escapes with my Audible membership.

Audiobook Quality (5/5): This audiobook is really well done and a joy to listen to.

Story (4/5): I enjoyed this Sleeping Beauty retelling a lot. The story is engaging and has a good balance of action, adventure, intrigue, and romance. It’s fast-paced and fun to listen to. This is only loosely based on Sleeping Beauty but I enjoyed the parallels to that fairy tale.

Characters (5/5): The characters were definitely the highlight of this story. I loved Dr. Isla Cooper and her ability to fight her own battles...literally. Daniel Pickett was great fun as well.

Setting (4/5): I really enjoyed the show more steampunk setting and the journey from England to the Carribean. There aren’t a ton of unique steampunk elements in here and the world-building is a bit sparse, but it’s still a fun setting.

Writing Style (4/5): This is very well written and the writing flows well. The viewpoints switch between Cooper and Pickett and this works very well for the story. No complaints about the writing style.

Summary (4/5): Overall this was another fun and highly entertaining steampunk romance novel. These have been just pure fun to read. I enjoy the characters, the action, adventure, and the romance. I especially love the fact that these are well done steampunk fairy tale retellings (two of my favorite genres mashed up). I definitely plan on continuing the series. show less

I won an ARC in a GOODREADS giveaway!