Blurb
When her beloved father was assassinated, Lady Aramina swore revenge. The man responsible is well beyond her grasp, but his dangerously seductive heir, Leo Barrons, is fair game. When Mina obtains evidence proving that Leo is illegitimate, she has the means to destroy both the killer and his son, a man who troubles her heart and tempts her body.
A woman of mystery, Mina's long driven Leo crazy with glimpses of a fiery passion that lurks beneath her icy veneer. He knows she's hiding something, and he's determined to unravel her layer by silken layer. He just doesn't expect the beautiful liar to be the key to overthrowing the corrupt prince consort… or to saving his own carefully walled-off heart.
In the fifth book in the London Steampunk series, Lady
Aramina Duvall is living a double life. As the Duchess of Casavian and the only
female blue blood on the Council of Dukes (the ruling body of the Echelon, the
London aristocracy), she has to watch her back at every turn and hide her
emotions and feminine needs behind an icy veneer. Mina wants to destroy the
House of Caine, but the Duke of Caine’s dashing son constantly throws her off
balance. She doesn’t know if she can trust Leo Barrons, but both her heart and
her body secretly wants him.
Leo is also a blue blood (a person infected with the craving
vampire-like virus) and serves on the Council in his father’s stead. Along with
several other people, he’s secretly planning to destroy the prince consort and
end his reign of tyranny. Even though the Houses of Caine and Casavian hate one
another, Leo is obsessed with Mina and can see beneath her cold, calculated
shell. But then Leo is ousted from the Council and the prince consort demands
his head. Believing Mina betrayed him, he fears everything he’s worked for is
about to go up in smoke. Instead, it starts the revolution.
Leo and Mina have great chemistry, but there’s not a lot
of romance in this book. The main plot focuses more on the revolt with the
H/h’s love story second.
Leo is a strong, guilt-hardened man who’s lost everything
and is determined to keep the one bright light in his life—Mina—even though he
doesn’t really trust her. Though he lost so much, he gained more in return, and
it was really nice seeing him finally be open with his sisters, brother, and
their extended family. Leo was already one of my favorite characters, and now
he’s tied in with Blade as my favorite hero.
Like most of the heroines in this series, Mina is very
secretive and refuses to accept the help she needs for the longest time. Her
inability to trust stems from countless betrayals in her past that makes her
uncertainty and coldness understandable. Since she’s a blue blood, she has
increased speed and strength, and I loved that she and Leo worked together as a
team.
Blade, the hero from book one, and his rookery gang
played a large role in this story, and it was great seeing him and Honoria
again. I definitely enjoyed seeing Charlie and Lark together, and the wedge
that finally drove between the young couple is quite heartbreaking. Will and
Lena, Lynch and Rosalind, and Garrett and Perry (the other heroes and heroines
from the series) had minor roles, but I understand that the book would’ve been
way too crowded if everyone played a big on-page role in the revolution.
I was really looking forward to Leo’s story, but I’m a
little disappointed. Though I loved all the revolt scenes as the humans and
rogue blue bloods/the Nighthawks finally fought back and stood up for their
rights, Leo and Mina’s relationship mimicked the stories that came before (the
hero being willing to trust and start a relationship while the heroine refuses
to give him a chance).
There are some unanswered questions/loose ends, the
biggest one being how the humans, blue bloods, and verwulfen will coexist and
make peace. That will probably be addressed in the spin-off series, but I
really would’ve liked to have read what changes will be made in this book since
it wraps up the London Steampunk series.
4 Stars
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