I'm excited to be hosting a stop for the Artifact Hunters tour that features Nefertiti's Heart and Hatshepsut's Collar by A.W. Exley. This series is new adult / Mystery / Steampunk, recommended for ages 16+ (there's some mature content). The tour runs March 3-14th. Check out the tour page for the full list of tour stops.
Page Count: 284 pages
Published: February 4th, 2013 by Curiosity Quills Press
Genre: NA/Mystery/Steampunk
Recommended Age: 16 and up
Cara Devon has always suffered curiosity and impetuousness, but tangling with a serial killer might cure that. Permanently.
London, 1861. Impoverished noble Cara has a simple mission after the strange death of her father – sell off his damned collection of priceless artifacts. Her plan goes awry when aristocratic beauties start dying of broken hearts, an eight inch long brass key hammered through their chests. A killer hunts amongst the nobility, searching for a regal beauty and an ancient Egyptian relic rumored to hold the key to immortality.
Her Majesty’s Enforcers are in pursuit of the murderer and they see a connection between the gruesome deaths and Cara. So does she, somewhere in London her father hid Nefertiti’s Heart, a fist sized diamond with strange mechanical workings. Adding further complication to her life, notorious crime lord, Viscount Nathaniel Lyons is relentless in his desire to lay his hands on Cara and the priceless artifact. If only she could figure out his motive.
Self-preservation fuels Cara’s search for the gem. In a society where everyone wears a mask to hide their true intent, she needs to figure out who to trust, before she makes a fatal mistake.
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Page Count: 274
Published: November 13th, 2013 by Curiosity Quills Press
An ancient Egyptian artifact is driving Queen Victoria insane, and that’s not top of Cara Devon’s growing list of problems.
Viscount Nathaniel Lyons is a man of numerous secrets, but there is one in particular that threatens his fledgling relationship with Cara. Stunned by Nate’s revelation, and before she can absorb the ramifications of his actions, he is arrested, charged with treason and imprisoned in the grim Tower of London. He stole something the mad queen wants, and only has days to deliver, before his date with the executioner.
Although sorely tempted, Cara can’t let him die on Tower Green, not when their connection means she would share his fate.
Only together can Cara and Nate figure out how to wrestle Hatshepsut’s Collar from around the queen’s neck, before she plunges Britain into a world war. The search for answers sends Cara to the opulent Winter Palace of St Petersburg and the frozen depths of Siberia, with every step shadowed by an enemy with his own dark plans.
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My Review:
★★★★☆
I enjoyed the books quite a bit, even though I felt that the rating was a little misleading. Maybe I am a prude, but I was always uncomfortable letting my teen read books with explicit sex in them before he turned eighteen. When I read that the book was 16+ for some mature content, I expected scenes that were a little more tame then what I found. They were just as explicit as some of the adult books I review.
OK I will stop my rant about the sex and get to the characters. I have a love/hate relationship with the character of Nate. I find him to be obsessive, manipulative, and controlling. I don't think he was supposed to come off as that, but it was how I felt. I enjoyed his patience with his seduction of Cara and at times he is a little sexy. Mostly I found myself wondering how a woman as strong willed as Cara is would fall so easily under his spell.
Cara is a wonderful character. She is doing her own thing, regardless of the times. Society shuns her for the most part, even though all the bad things that make them turn their noses up at her were no fault of her own. She is strong willed, determined, intelligent, and tough, though she can still be hurt by how she is treated. She is slow to trust Nate and it is fun to read about her interaction with him and those in his employ.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the story lines. The author is really good at drawing out the mystery, building the tension, making you wonder what will happen next. The characters are well developed and three dimensional. I enjoyed a lot of the secondary characters almost as much as the primary. The writing is good and the main story enjoyable in both books.
I do recommend reading these books. I just want to warn you that there are some rather explicit, though well written, sex scenes. The steampunk element to the books is well incorporated and you can easily imagine the world the characters are living in. I only give the series a four star instead of a five star rating because I felt that the sex lives of the main characters almost overtook the story even though the artifacts and the mysteries are, to me at least, so much more interesting.
Books and writing have always been an enormous part of A.W. Exley’s life.
She survived school by hiding out in the library, with several thousand fictional characters for company. At university, she overcame the boredom of studying accountancy by squeezing in Egyptology papers and learning to read hieroglyphics.
Today, Anita writes steampunk novels with a sexy edge and an Egyptian twist. She lives in rural New Zealand surrounded by an assortment of weird and wonderful equines, felines, canine and homicidal chickens.
This tour was organized by CBB Book Promotions.
That's interesting about how you felt about the sex. I haven't read the 2nd book yet, it's up here soon, but the first one was really tame as far as sex went (at least that's what I thought when I read it). I do know that we all view these things differently though. I recently read a book where it was really graphic frequent sex and I didn't like it, but I skimmed it and in the end it didn't have much impact in my opinion of the book.
ReplyDeleteI use to think I was kind of a prude, but I either learned to skim well, or my opinion is changing. I don't care for sex in books but it doesn't bother me either. Though if it's advertised as YA, I may feel different.
ANYWAY- I'm glad that other than that bit you enjoyed the book. Thanks for hosting a tour stop and reviewing!