Review – Poison or Protect (Delightfully Deadly, Book 1) by Gail Carriger (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Steampunk Romance
Length: 201 pages
Publisher: GAIL CARRIGER, LLC
Release Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1944751043
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Delightfully Deadly series
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 4/5 stars
“ASSASSIN
Lady Preshea Villentia, the Mourning Star, has four dead husbands and a nasty reputation. Fortunately, she looks fabulous in black. What society doesn’t know is that all her husbands were marked for death by Preshea’s employer. And Preshea has one final assignment.
VERSUS SCOTSMAN
It was supposed to be easy, a house party with minimal bloodshed. Preshea hadn’t anticipated Captain Gavin Ruthven – massive, Scottish, quietly irresistible, and… working for the enemy.
In a battle of wits, Preshea may risk her own heart – a terrifying prospect, as she never knew she had one.”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Delightfully Deadly novella series. This series is set in the Parasol Protectorate world and features characters from the Finishing School series. I bought this book for my Kindle.
Story (4/5): This book actually features one of the young women from the Finishing School and takes place 10 years after that series. I will say that this is predominantly a rather steamy romance for the last third of the book or so, still I loved the characters and the setting and there is an engaging story up to that point. This ended up being a fun, light, and quick read that I really enjoyed.
Preshea has been working as an assassin for many years now, her numerous marriages (which have ended in the deaths of all of her husbands) haved earned her the name Morningstar. Now she is tasked with preventing the death of a Duke but she wasn’t expecting Captain Gavin Ruthen to be given the same task. When the two meet they are drawn to each other but must first prevent the assassination of the Duke.
Characters (5/5): I found all the characters in here to be highly entertaining. Carriger always does an amazing job with her characters. Preshea is smart, strong, resourceful, and deeply emotionally scarred. Gavin is smart, strong, and has rather unique taste in women for his time. Of course some of our old favorites make an appearance as well, primarily Lord Akeldama.
Setting (4/5): Most of this story takes place out in the country at a Duke’s estate. It was fine but not the feature of the story.
Writing Style (4/5): I always enjoy Carriger’s stories they are fun steampunk reads with a lot of humor in them. The first half of this book is a fun mystery with a bit of flirtation throughout. The second half is pretty heavy romance with some very detailed erotic scenes. Carriger does both types of writing well and this made for a fun read.
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a fun read, light and entertaining with a heavy dollop of romance and some very steamy scenes in the second half of the book. I enjoyed getting to follow one of the Finishing School girls into her later life. I also just really enjoy the Parasol Protectorate world and love getting to journey back to it. I would recommend it to fans of the Parasol Protectorate series who don’t mind some descriptive romance in their books. This was fun and I plan on getting and reading the next book in the Delightfully Deadly series ASAP.
