Audiobook Review – Cards & Caravans (Gaslight Chronicles, Book 5) by Cindy Spencer Pape, Narrated by Helen Stern (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Steampunk/Romance
Length: 5 hours and 15 minutes (129 pages)
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: March 18, 2013
ASIN: B00BLMR914
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Gaslight Chronicles
Source: Audiobook from Audible Escapes
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Connor McKay can tell at a glance that Belinda’s magickal powers are minimal at best. She can’t be guilty of murdering village children. There’s something suspicious about her arrest and lightning-quick sentence. Unfortunately, telling anyone how he knows would mean revealing his own powers. He’s been sent by the Order of the Round Table to help and he can’t just let her die.

Escaping from jail and running from vindictive villagers in her grandfather’s steam-powered caravan is more excitement than Belinda’s had in years. And despite the danger—or maybe because of it—she loves the time spent with her sexy rescuer. But there’s more to his magick than he’s letting on…

There’s something going on that’s bigger than the two of them. It’s time for good to make a stand.”

Series Info: This is the 5th book Gaslight Chronicles series. I borrowed this book through Audible escapes.

Audiobook Quality (4/5): The audiobook was well done and I enjoyed it. So far this whole series has been narrated very nicely.

Characters (3/5): This story follows Connor McCay and a woman accused of witchcraft named Belinda. Both characters were fine, but nothing special.

Story (2/5): The story here was a bit lackluster. Basically Connor is trying to clear Belinda’s name of witchcraft charges. There is a bigger story around catching the people who are hunting witches/magic users. The whole thing fell pretty flat for me. I thought that Connor’s solution to Belinda’s issue (that they get married) was contrived and a serious case of insta-love.

Setting (3/5): Again this was okay but not great. This steampunk world could be a lot more filled out.

Writing Style (3/5): This was fine, nothing special. The dialogue between characters is well done, the descriptions could be a bit better. Pacing was fine.

Summary (3/5): Overall, this was a mediocre read. Every book in this series is starting to feel the same to me. It seems like these shorter novellas in between the larger books provide decent background but just aren’t that interesting.