[Archive] LITERAL ADDICTION's Review of Gilded

Karina Cooper: After writing happily ever afters for all of her friends in school, Karina Cooper eventually grew up (she got taller, anyway) and delightedly learned it counts as A Real Job. Not one for half-measures, she broke into the scene with her gritty Dark Mission series and introduced a new world that RT Book Reviews calls “an electrifying start”.

One part glamor, one part dork and all imagination, she writes dark and sexy paranormal romance and historical urban fantasy. When she isn’t writing, Karina is an airship captain’s wife and Steampunk fashionista. She lives in the beautiful, moss-ridden Pacific Northwest with a husband, four cats, two rabbits, the fantasy of a dog and a passel of adopted gamer geeks.

Gilded, Book #2 of the ST. CROIX CHRONICLES
Author:  Karina Cooper

Synopsis:

The second book in Karina Cooper's stunning steampunk series featuring fearless heroine Cherry St. Croix, in which she is faced with two men after her heart—and one killer out for her blood.

In the gleaming heights of Victorian London, a world of deception awaits an unconventional Society lady whose taste for adventure makes her a most formidable adversary . . .

Though Society demands that I make a good marriage, I, Cherry St. Croix, have neither the time nor the interest. I am on the trail of a murder with no victim, a mystery with no motive, and the key to an alchemical formula that could be my family's legacy.

Yet the world is not so kind as to let me pursue simple murder and uncomplicated bounties. Above the foggy drift, an earl insists on my attention, while my friends watch my increasingly desperate attempts to remain my own woman. From the silken demands of the Midnight Menagerie—to whose dangerously seductive ringmaster I owe a debt—to the rigorous pressures of the peerage, all are conspiring to place before me a choice that will forever change my life.

Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Pack Alpha - Michelle L. Olson:

I really enjoyed the first installment of Karina’s ST CROIX CHRONICLES, "Tarnished", but the sequel blew me away. My exact, 'first thought' words upon completion were: "Hells bells & damn Karina... You butter us up for a book & a 1/2 and then drop THAT on us!? Just wow. The series is getting better & darker & I want the next one now!"

Once again we're immersed in a split world, that of London above and below, where the line between the classes is darkly drawn, and where Cherry is not quite completely a part of either.

Gilded picks up where Tarnished left off with Cherry trying to fit in with the upper-crusters of London above, but continuing her work as a Collector below the drift as she tries to get over the ordeal she went through in Tarnished.

Immediately upon starting out she's battling her demons, both real-world and inner, while trying to make her chaperone happy by entertaining the advances of Lord Compton and attending soirees. In true Cherry St. Croix fashion however, she remains outspoken and doesn't shy away from her love of science and the mystery therein, thereby shocking and scandalizing society and intriguing Lord Compton all the more.

The heart of Gilded revolves around Cherry’s quest to solve Lady Rutledge's riddle about some mysterious murders of Men of the University while still playing a game of cat and mouse with the mysterious collector who both hindered and helped her in Tarnished.

Once again Karina weaves a wonderfully magical tale of Victorian Gothic literature using some of the best aspects of the classics we all know and love and gives us an utterly spell-binding read.

Not only was the mystery amazing, the action was captivating, and that ending... holy cow! I said I wasn't going to forget Tarnished anytime soon, that goes doubly for Gilded. I absolutely cannot wait for the next book!

LITERAL ADDICTION gives Gilded 4 1/2 Skulls.

Gilded