Imagine yourself at work at your desk. Your crazy sister comes up to you with yet another one of her plans to hook you up with a girl. She shakes a canister, puts it down on your work, and poof - the whole world changes.Steamed is Katie MacAlister’s steampunk romance novel. I must admit, I was a little perplexed by all the negative reviews for this novel. I really enjoyed it, as my updates can attest. I think I may have enjoyed this book more than the average Katie MacAlister reader because I had never read any of her books before. I didn’t have any expectations, except that this was a steampunk romance.As a steampunk romance, I think that this novel met my expectations. There were the usual steam powered contraptions – dirigibles, a type of bicycle, carriages, etc. But – this novel was set in 2010, not in Victorian times. In fact, it was the exact same date that Jack and Hallie’s world went poof! Ever neat! So, you have a Victorian world complete with the corsets and gadgets in 2010. You have the Victorian formalities. But the world is different. The Moghuls are trying to take over Western Europe, the Black Hand is a revolutionary group, and William is the Emperor of England and Prussia. I enjoyed the characters in this book. The main characters – Jack Fletcher and Octavia Pye are very interesting. Jack is a nanoelectrical engineer from our world. Jack is a little bit of a geek. He loves graphic novels and computers. Octavia is a female airship captain. Jack is instantly attracted to Octavia. Once Octavia figures out that Jack is not a pirate or a thuggee (love that word!), she begins to give into her feelings for Jack. These two characters have a rather entertaining love life and are rather busy during most of the book. The secondary characters are amusing. Hallelujah (Hallie) Norris is Jack’s sister. She loves taking up causes, any cause will do. Mr. Llama is a rather mysterious member of Octavia’s crew. He appears and disappears at will, however we are not told exactly what he is. I loved Francisco, Octavia’s drama queen steward. Francisco probably had some of the best lines in the book. I also found that this novel was hysterical. Katie MacAlister has a really neat sense of humor. There were a lot of word plays and one liners to keep me giggling and updating my status regularly. I recommend this book for a fun take on a steampunk romance. I hope she does write a sequel to this book. I’m dying to find out more about Octavia’s adopted family.
