Blameless

Very enjoyable. ( )

http://teensniper.tumblr.com/post/44893124723/150-books-in-2013-21 ( )

I was in a big hurry after the ending of the second volume. Enjoying the growing complexity of the world with each book. ( )

After the bombshell ending of the second book I was definitely looking forward to continuing Alexia's story. Blameless, book 3 in Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate, turned out to be just the right amount of fluffy fun I needed to get through rough week. This review contains spoilers for the previous books.

The story picks up a few days where Changeless leaves off, with a pregnant and shamed Alexia dealing with rejection by her husband. While I can understand Connall's scepticism over the situation, you'd think that the fact that Alexia's touch can turn a supernatural human might mean there's a chance he could become human enough to be able to father a child. As annoying has his reaction is it ends up being a good thing as it allows Alexia's strength of character to come shining through and her determination to understand the whole mess leads us on quite a fun journey to Italy. Homicidal mechanical ladybugs included!

The book opens with Alexia having breakfast with her horrible family, which definitely doesn't help the situation in any way. Poor Alexia! It is such a great display of Carriger's wit that I can forgive her putting Alexia into the situation on top of all the woes she's already dealing with.

I enjoyed the change of scenery and had a blast with Alexia's fraught filled travels to the continent. Separating her from Connall was a great idea as it gave other characters more page time, especially Floote, Madam Lefoux and Professor Lyall. There is so much more than just a reserved butler to Floote that I hope we get more insight into his character over the next two books. Professor Lyall has the unfortunate job of trying to keep a despairing and drunk Lord Maccon from embarrassing himself too badly. He also has a great chance to show off exactly why he is the pack beta. He'd be one heck of an alpha if he ever wanted the position! Ivy is not in the story as much which means we are subjected to a lot less descriptions of ugly hats. More of Madam Lefoux's past is revealed and her brilliance as a mechanical scientist is played up nicely. In fact I'd say that it is the secondary characters that brought the most to the story.

One of my favorite parts is that we finally see the origin of the series title, Parasol Protectorate. I love when books do that.

The story has has just the right amount of light-hearted silliness, sly wit and absurd attacks by ladybugs that I enjoyed the read immensely. I'm looking forward to seeing just how the infant-inconvenient continues to ruin Alexia's life. ( )

Loved the continuation of Alexia’s story. I found it very slow to start, but it definitely picked up after the first few chapters. Looking forward to the next book. ( )