Eagle En Garde is a fun fantasy adventure that follows Darin, a lieutenant in the mercenary group, the Eagles.  He lives in the kingdom of Talaria, which has a border that prevents all magic from entering.  The Cleaners, a religious group, has formed and preaches against magical beings.  Within Darin's travels as a mercenary, he has saved Elves, bore a half-elvish daughter, rescued witches and befriended Dwarves.  To Darin, magic is helpful, not harmful; so when he uncovers a Cleaners plot to decimate all the magical beings in the area, he must act quickly in order to save his family and friends.  

This story kept me intrigued throughout.  Sometimes I have trouble with a story told completely through a male point of view; however, Darin's character was easy to read.  He was intelligent, thoughtful and performed his job well without the many stupid mistakes that often trip up this type of hero.   The way Darin finally stops the Cleaner's troops in insightful, rather than a bloody battle.  Most of all I liked his relationship with his daughter.  Darin might not of known that he even had a daughter until she was four, but he is determined to go see her as soon as he finds out.  I do wish that we got to see more of that relationship grow.  The world building is wonderful with beautiful descriptions of the magical worlds.  I especially loved the Elves tree-top world  where they magically wound trees together and hardened them.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. 

Soulless
"Of course, she always went and spoiled the appeal by opening her mouth.  In his humble experience, the world had yet to produce a more vexingly verbose female."

A fun, light-hearted adventure into an alternate Victorian England where supernatural beings: vampires, werewolves and ghosts are integrated into polite society and follow the rules of BUR, the Bureau of Unnatural Registry.  Outside of the supernatural are the preternatural.

Preternatural (definition): very unusual in a way that does not seem natural; existing outside of nature (Merriam-Webster).

Alexia Tarabotti is soulless, registered as a preternatural under BUR.  As a preternatural, her touch renders supernatural beings ineffective; leaving vampires unable to bite her and preventing werewolves from transforming.  Alexia Tarabotti is also well-spoken, well-mannered, intelligent, witty, very well dressed, knows how to use her silver-tipped parasol, and has been deemed a 'spinster.'  This has not stopped the Alpha Werewolf and head of BUR, Lord Maccoon from taking a romantic interest in her and using Alexia's unique traits to assist in an investigation into why lone werewolves and rove vampires are disappearing while newly created supernaturals are appearing and creating trouble.

This book was a wonderfully fun read.  Written with abundant alliteration, grandiose grammar and plenty of humor, Gail Carriger flawlessly inserts supernatural beings into polite Victorian Society.  With a strong and well-developed heroine, Alexia is a character that women will be able to relate to and will want to emulate.  Every character we meet is given a distinctive, often humorous personality and was easily distinguishable.   There are many different elements to the story, but I was never confused; we are taken through a wonderfully woven mystery that incorporates adventure, romance, supernatural beings, history and a touch of steampunk in a way that flows together smoothly.  I usually have something to say about the romance, but this one is ok.  Alexia is comfortable with her spinster status and not pining for romance or the touch of a man.  While the romance part of Soulless is fairly predictable, I wanted it to happen nevertheless. 

A great book for fans of vampires, werewolves, steampunk, historical romance, supernatural, paranormal or someone looking for a light-hearted, fun read.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

Changeless
This is the second book in the series and may contain slight spoilers for the first book!!!

I really needed a fun, light read after several serious and heavy World War II novels.  Changeless, the second book in the Parasol Protectorate series, hit the spot.  The wonderful Alexia is back, now Alexia Maccoon.  She is perfectly fit for her role as Lady Alpha, as she loves to be in charge and has no trouble bossing around werewolves.  Alexia is also enjoying her spot on the Shadow Council, getting into all kinds of adventures concerning the supernatural and using her handy new trick-parasol.

The mystery included in Changeless is very interesting, a plague of curse-breaking has followed the Kingair Pack back from England.  This means that all supernaturals in the area are unable to change, or simply mortal.  Of course, Alexia must investigate.  The new character of Madame Lefoux is brilliant, another great heroine and a creative inventor.  The parasol she invents for Alexia is to die for, even if it is a little garish.  I was also glad to see more of Ivy Hisslepenny, even if her hats are still awful.  It will be interesting to see where her daring new relationship will go.  I do agree with most people that the ending where a little overly dramatic.  Lord Maccoon's reaction was really out of character, even for a werewolf. However, I'm sure it will lead to an interesting third installment.   

Blameless
This is the third book in the series and may contain spoilers for the first two books!

This third installment picks up shortly after the second where Alexia finds herself cast out by her husband and in disgrace over her infant inconvenience as she so perfectly names it.  When her family finds out about her so-called disgrace, they cannot abide by her in their home and cast her out once again.  Alexia calls on Lord Akeldama to take her in, only to find himself and all other vampires have disappeared.  To top it off, she is also being attacked by large mechanical ladybugs.  Alexia and her troop, including Madame Lefaux and the sturdy Floote make their way across Europe to find out the exact nature of the infant-inconvenience.

While I enjoyed this book, it was not as good as the first two.  Alexia is still wonderful and I'm glad for the return of Madame Lefaux.  However, most of the book is a strange and almost unnecessary chase across several continents by vampires.  I was very surprised that it took Lord Maccon so long to come to a blatant realization about Alexia's pregnancy.  Although, all of the nonsense that took place at the Templar's was entertaining as well as finding out exactly what Alexia was carrying.  Hopefully the next two books will pick back up.   

This is a very unique book and I don't even really know where to start or how to describe it; so here's my best shot:

In a dull, corporate and highly regulated world, a few citizens try to break up the monotony and alter their reality using magic fruits and vegetables.  There is also a possibility of corrupt polygons creating absolute ridiculousness in the workplace.  

So, magical food and shapes running businesses, it sounds like the start to a YA novel, but this is very much for adults.  This is a book that will make you think, it is not a light, easy read.  Humor and satire are used throughout the book to show parallels between the absurdity happening in the character's world with everyday things that happen in our own.  There is quite an interesting group of characters with an even more intriguing set of ideas that they use for problem solving.  The world that has been built in the story is highly imaginative and different. I have no clue how to begin explaining the use of a switched on eggplant or colorful ladies panties...you will have to read it for yourself.  My only complaint is that I wish there were more descriptions or third person narrative to let me know that what I thought was happening or what the characters were seeing was what was actually happening or what was being seen.
Not a book for everyone, but definitely something different.  

This book was provided for free in return for an honest review.