A History Nut's Romantic State of Mind

i like this book better than the first one. Both are extremely entertaining. Highly dramatic with a flair of vampires, verwulfens and steampunk. This book has got more steampunk than the first one. Not a fan of the steampunk genre myself, I skipped those sections about the machines and intricacies of how the machines are used as weapons. But the steampunk element is still very limited. The verwulfen is played up naturally because of Will.

I think the blurb does a decent job of plot description. But if you are reading this book as a romance novel of this particular genre, I don't think the plots matter very much. It is how the writer writes about the denied lust that makes the book. And Bec McMaster did a fantastic job of it in Heart of Iron.

I like Hear of Iron better than Kiss of Steel because I like Will and Helena better as lead characters. Blade and Honoria are great but I always have problems with a mother hen of a herione. Honoria is just like that, taking care of everyone and mothering everybody. I don't find it very attractive. I think that explains my aversion to heroines who are mothers. I am sure they have their charms. I am just not as charmed.

Will is every bit of a tortured hero and I find him sweet. Possessive, protective and tortured, ladies, that is Will. Helena, aka Lena, is a little bit of a spoiled brat but the way she was written softens a lot of that princessy edge off of her. She is a likable, strong-minded girl. I think Will and Helena are perfect together.

Again I am amazed at this alternative world McMaster has created. It uses the real life stereotypes and mixes those with vampires and verwulfens. Very cleverly done. I will definitely continue reading the series. I may be premature in saying this but I think denies lust is very much a theme in this genre. It works really well in Bec McMaster's stories and she does the characters justice by creating extremely enticing stories.

One complaint: what's up with the covers?? They might be great for a 100% steampunk novel but I would not exactly say Bec McMaster wrote strickly steampunk books. The covers are outrageous. The heroines are not like that at all. They bring such a teenagey feeling to the books that I cringe just thinking about it. Not cool.