The Inventor’s Secret by Andrea Cremer

Publisher's Summary: New from Andrea Cremer, the New York Times bestselling author of the Nightshade novels, comes an action-packed alternate-history steampunk adventure.

In this world, sixteen-year-old Charlotte and her fellow refugees have scraped out an existence on the edge of Britain’s industrial empire. Though they live by the skin of their teeth, they have their health (at least when they can find enough food and avoid the Imperial Labor Gatherers) and each other. When a new exile with no memory of his escape or even his own name seeks shelter in their camp he brings new dangers with him and secrets about the terrible future that awaits all those who have struggled has to live free of the bonds of the empire’s Machineworks.

My Take: Yes! I’m so excited that Andrea Cremer has created another trilogy that I’m going to love to death! I’m a huge fan of her Nightshade series and I’m completely sold by The Inventor’s Secret!

One of my favorite things about this book is how phenomenally detailed Andrea was in creating the setting for this book! I keep telling people that I would be thrilled if this book were made into a movie, and I think the movie would be amazing! She created and described the steampunk gadgets and machines so amazingly that, in my mind, the world she created is almost magical! I feel like it’s similar to how I would picture things from a Middle-Grade book, only we get some YA romance and some pretty vivid moments of … how do I say … well, I’ll just be blunt … there’s some killing.

There are quite a number of difficult challenges the characters need to face throughout the book and right after they cross one stumbling block there always is another! It was so good!!!

I just loved Charlotte’s character! She is so openly blunt about things and she’s so not the girly-girl type, but she’s thrown into playing the part of a girly-girl and it’s hilarious! She can’t hold her tongue and I loved it! I feel like she’s a lot like me, she is very opinionated, bossy (except I'm not bossy LOL) and very vocal about her thoughts and it’s extremely entertaining! Very rarely does she hold back, but if she ever does it always seems like things turn out good for her anyways.

The ending was extremely sucky but in a really good way, and I’m going to be dying for who-knows-how-long before book 2 comes out!

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

Publisher's summary: Sybella's duty as Death's assassin in 15th-century France forces her return home to the personal hell that she had finally escaped. Love and romance, history and magic, vengeance and salvation converge in this thrilling sequel to Grave Mercy.

Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge—but at a price. The convent views Sybella, naturally skilled in the arts of both death and seduction, as one of their most dangerous weapons. But those assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?

My take: This book was phenomenal! I had really high hopes for this book after reading Grave Mercy and it didn’t disappoint even one bit…I got everything I wanted and more!

After reading Grave Mercy, I was super excited when I learned that in Dark Triumph we get to learn more about Sybella, cause all throughout Grave Mercy we only got to see little glimpses of Sybella, and her character was extremely intriguing. Now I know why! Holy CRAP! That girl has had one extremely messed up life. I don’t think it could at all get any worse than what she had to go through, and I knew that pretty much immediately as soon as I discovered who her family was. And OMG!...it’s horrifying. I kept questioning myself like, “Is that really her dad? Oh crap!” Being able to be in Sybella’s mind, to truly understand what she’s thinking, and gauge her reactions to situations was perfect!

Other than Sybella’s story, there are other things that I was thrilled that we get to see more of. We get to learn more about St. Mortain (Death) and the Convent. We get to see Ismae through Sybella’s eyes and we get to know more about the politics between the countries. And we learn more about the death marks!

Every part of this book was fabulous. The beginning, the middle and the end were all AWESOME! And hooray for the romance! Score!!! It was the most perfect of all perfect matches! I couldn’t have asked for a better dude for Sybella.

I’m super excited that the last book in the His Fair Assassin Trilogy is going to be about Annith. I can’t imagine what kind of life she has had, and I hope that she gets a happily ever after. I have a feeling that I’m going to have a really hard time saying goodbye to this series. I can’t believe there is only one book left.

Gilt by Katherine Longshore

Publisher’s summary: In the court of King Henry VIII, nothing is free-- and love comes at the highest price of all.

When Kitty Tylney's best friend, Catherine Howard, worms her way into King Henry VIII's heart and brings Kitty to court, she's thrust into a world filled with fabulous gowns, sparkling jewels, and elegant parties. No longer stuck in Cat's shadow, Kitty's now caught between two men--the object of her affection and the object of her desire. But court is also full of secrets, lies, and sordid affairs, and as Kitty witnesses Cat's meteoric rise and fall as queen, she must figure out how to keep being a good friend when the price of telling the truth could literally be her head.

My take: As you can obviously see from what I normally read, I’m pretty much not one who’d ever be caught reading a historical fiction, but I absolutely loved Gilt! I’m actually not a fan of history…period…end of story. But Gilt made learning about some history that I didn’t really know much about a lot of fun!

I love that Katherine Longshore wrote this book specifically for the Young Adult crowd. I wasn’t able to find Catherine Howards’ (Cat’s) true age when she actually married Henry VIII in real life, but she had to be really young, and Katherine Longshore did really well to capture the mannerisms of teen girls in that time era. Katherine also did a fabulous job creating a very entertaining story while still following authentic history!

As for the characters, Cat (Catherine Howard) was such a spoiled brat that I waited and hoped throughout the whole story that she eventually would be humbled. There were times throughout the book that I couldn’t believe Cat actually just did that…and then in the very next scene she topped herself and I couldn’t believe that she then actually just did THAT! I will let you read the book for yourself to find out if she is ever humbled at any point from the start of Gilt up until her beheading. FYI… I hope that’s not a spoiler because, in real life, King Henry VIII actually beheaded Katherine Howard! Kitty was a fun character. There were times when I wished she wasn’t so loyal to Cat, but Kitty’s loyalty never wavered. She is that naive friend that you feel like you just have to help toughen up. And I fell hard for William, but I really wish I knew where he and Kitty’s story eventually led. Lastly, I cannot stand Henry VIII!!! And, even if Cat weren’t such a “B,” I can totally understand why any woman would be disloyal to him…even with the fear of getting an axe to the back of the neck hanging over her head (pun intended)…or getting disemboweled. He was a truly disgusting old man.

I hate to say it, but I really liked the way the story ended. And, even though it made me want just a little bit more, I was still satisfied with that ending.

I read this book by listening to Audible and I’m thrilled! This is the perfect book to listen to in audio and the reader’s voice and style fit the story perfectly.