A fun-filled romantic steampunk story that returning readers will enjoy.
In Fraedrich’s steampunk novel (one in a series), an idealistic man loses his family and status, only to gain something more rewarding.
As an Enforcer in the city of Springhaven, Falcon Smoke is a member of a brutal guard that’s supposed to find justice but more often causes strife. Falcon has recently earned the position of Steward of the Sage, a title he hopes to use to stop the cruelty of Enforcers and promote fairness and safety for the citizenry. After publicly disgracing his grandfather, a high-ranking Enforcer, he leaves his family home, cut off from the wealth of his heritage; to add insult to injury, he’s dealing with chronic pain. His friend Beatrice Holmes helps him find lodgings to rent, as well as a roommate, Keene Kohli. While Falcon focuses on the rules of etiquette and worries about saying the right thing, struggling to transcend the teachings of his upper-crust family, the handsome and friendly Keene seems to have no worries at all. When Falcon and Keene come home to find they’ve been robbed of nearly everything they own, Keene doesn’t wish to report the crime due to the notoriety of the Enforcers’ brutality and the well-known horrors of the justice and prison systems (“I don’t want someone locked away for the rest of their lives over mere stuff”). The men begin their own investigation, and soon Falcon finds himself growing closer to Keene as sparks fly between them. Fraedrich has crafted an excellent mystery story, returning to the familiar steampunk world of the Broken Gears series and its characters. Falcon’s desire to reform the Enforcers is an unusual and compelling conflict and adds complexity to his character. Keene is an engaging presence who shows dimension as he grows closer to Falcon and reveals his own backstory. Their romance is believable, growing out of an initial friendship and sparked by genuine chemistry and compatibility. The romance is interwoven with the mystery, and both have a rewarding conclusion.
A fun-filled romantic steampunk story that returning readers will enjoy.Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 9798218026684
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Goat Song Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.
An artwork’s value grows if you understand the stories of the people who inspired it.
Never in her wildest dreams would foster kid Louisa dream of meeting C. Jat, the famous painter of The One of the Sea, which depicts a group of young teens on a pier on a hot summer’s day. But in Backman’s latest, that’s just what happens—an unexpected (but not unbelievable) set of circumstances causes their paths to collide right before the dying 39-year-old artist’s departure from the world. One of his final acts is to bequeath that painting to Louisa, who has endured a string of violent foster homes since her mother abandoned her as a child. Selling the painting will change her life—but can she do it? Before deciding, she accompanies Ted, one of the artist’s close friends and one of the young teens captured in that celebrated painting, on a train journey to take the artist’s ashes to his hometown. She wants to know all about the painting, which launched Jat’s career at age 14, and the circle of beloved friends who inspired it. The bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (2014) and other novels, Backman gives us a heartwarming story about how these friends, set adrift by the violence and unhappiness of their homes, found each other and created a new definition of family. “You think you’re alone,” one character explains, “but there are others like you, people who stand in front of white walls and blank paper and only see magical things. One day one of them will recognize you and call out: ‘You’re one of us!’” As Ted tells stories about his friends—how Jat doubted his talents but found a champion in fiery Joar, who took on every bully to defend him; how Ali brought an excitement to their circle that was “like a blinding light, like a heart attack”—Louisa recognizes herself as a kindred soul and feels a calling to realize her own artistic gifts. What she decides to do with the painting is part of a caper worthy of the stories that Ted tells her. The novel is humorous, poignant, and always life-affirming, even when describing the bleakness of the teens’ early lives. “Art is a fragile magic, just like love,” as someone tells Louisa, “and that’s humanity’s only defense against death.”
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781982112820
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
