Soulless

I quite enjoyed this amusing melange of victorian upperclass snobbish mores,alternate history( in this setting there has been a rather uneasy integration of vampires and werewolves into society since the Age of Enlightenment) urban fantasy ,romance,and even a smidgen of steampunk.I quite enjoyed the heroine's bossiness,and her parasol,so handy for prodding is a distinct reminder of Amelia Peabody.Once again we have a rather plain lady who finds a beloved who is very taken with an unconventional lady,though in this case the lady has some unusual preternatural talents.The romance was fun,and at first quite sexy,in a coy sort of way,but then it became too repetitious and overdone.I enjoyed the secondary characters,the hero's second in command was a delightful reliable right hand man,we got a lot of fun from Miss Hisselpenny's appalling taste in hats,and Lord Akeldama,the effete and very camp vampire was very funny,yet showed some depth.

All in all,just a rather slight but fun read.I could have done with more of the intriguing alternate history and the steampunk elements,and less of the romance,but all in all it was a nice cozy read,which I appreciated in contrast to my other read in progress,China Mieville's Embassytown!