*Book source ~ A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Spontaneous human combustion is so rare it’s not even considered as an option even when a person has obviously burned to death. Until Inspector Fraser is called in on one that fits the profile where the body has burned to ash and yet the surroundings have not. However, one death, two deaths, three deaths, oh, boy…this is stretching the bounds of believability by quite a bit.

Cara and Nate are settling into married life and the Queen’s new position for them as Artifact Hunters quite nicely. And then Inspector Fraser comes along asking for Cara’s help in solving these strange deaths, deaths he believes are murders. Fraser and Nate’s hatred for each other will not stop Cara from finding Nero’s Fiddle which she believes is the instrument of the deaths. Follow the fiddle, find the killer, hopefully before there’s a victim #4.

Oh, sweet, sweet steampunk! I love this series! Murder, mystery, intrigue, humor, romance, steaminess (without being graphic), mythology, fantasy and spine tingling creepiness, I love it all. This story picks up not long after Hatshepsut’s Collar and the layers keep on building. Told from several POVs, I learned more about Fraser and his reason for hating Nate and when Cara visits with Nan I learned more about her mom & dad. Then Nan gets her own POV and I learned a lot about her and Nessy’s younger life and got to meet Cara’s grandfather, Gideon. The mystery surrounding the murders is sufficiently twisty to have kept me guessing and that ending? Wowzers. Secrets are tricksy things. Oh, must not forget the Curator. Holy shit! That guy is totally creeptastic, so, of course, I can’t wait to see more of him in the next book. And Cara gets a new bodyguard, Brick, who is quite the character and a new friend, Skittles, the famous courtesan. Jackson, Amy and Loki don’t get a lot of page time, but what they get is memorable and there are appearances by Helene and Malachi, the bookseller.

I am totally looking forward to Moseh’s Staff though the blurb fills me with dread. *shudders*

*Book source ~ A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Protectors of the Night work while humans sleep. Dreamcatchers defend against Nightmares which are physical beings from the other side of the veil who feed off fear and other dark emotions and Dreamweavers create and project good dreams for the humans once they fall asleep. Daniel Graham was 17 when he died and took up the mantle of Protector. For over 200 years he’s kept the Nightmares at bay and with his current charge dying a natural death at an old age he’s ready for his break. Except he doesn’t get one. He’s immediately assigned to Kayla Bartlett, a 16-yr-old who is currently in a psychiatric facility and whose Dreamcatcher team was attacked. Daniel discovers that there’s something different about Kayla and he needs to figure out the who, what and why before she is harmed or his team is killed by the Nightmares.

This is quite a different take on fantasy and one I haven’t seen before. I like the idea of the Dreamcatchers though the Nightmares sound pretty icky. I found the world interesting and well-developed and the characters are ones I felt I could hang out with. I didn’t quite buy into the insta-love between Daniel and Kayla though and while I expected Kayla to make some “dumb” teenager mistakes I was less forgiving of Daniel. Yes, he was 17 when he died, but he’s been around 200 years. Not just around, but fighting monsters. He is not a kid and shouldn’t be making dumb mistakes and behaving in the typical teenage fashion characteristic of that age group. However, the plot is a good one with plenty of action and I enjoyed watching it play out. A battle has been won, but the war is not over. I’m curious to see where this series goes next.