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A review by jugglingpup
A Trace of Copper: An Elemental Steampunk Tale by Anne Renwick
3.0
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
I got an ARC of this book.
I have attempted to read steampunk before, but it just never felt right to me. The stories I was attempting just weren’t doing it for me, so when I saw a romance steampunk up for grabs I went for it. I can usually get behind a romance novel. It seemed like the perfect chance for me to start into the genre for real.
So fun fact: Renwick has Ph.D is biology. Her understanding of biology gave me more hope that the medical mystery element of the story would be handled in a more believable fashion than so many others that I have seen. I was not wrong. All of the science may have been 100% made up for all I know, but it read like it was legitimate to me. It didn’t seem forced or faked as a way to make the story worked. The explanation seemed like it would actually make sense even if I knew more biology than I do.
The romance was eh for me. There was the idea that these two characters loved each other already and were able to get over their issues to potentially be together again in just a matter of a few days after five years of no contact. It felt far fetched and really anti-climatic. I needed a bit more drama to make this love story really pop for me. As it stands, it felt like I had jumped into the middle or the end of a romance. I missed all of the angst and feelings. It was just an eh romance plot.
The sex was also pretty eh. The scenes were not long or graphic. The dirty talk and the use of language wasn’t the worst, but “sheath” for vagina just made me laugh instead of dragging me in. I do have to give props for consistent condom usage. I am not impressed that there is yet another hung male hero of a romance novel. I am impressed that after five years of celibacy and only one encounter in her life, that the main heroine was able to take such a large penis without a single thought. So yay for condoms, but boo for the actual sex.
Overall, this left me with an eh book. I did enjoy it. The writing was fun, but I felt like there were so many lost opportunities to heighten emotions both within the romance plot and the Russian spy plot. None of it had me devouring this book looking for answers. It was a leisurely stroll. So I will probably read more books by this author, but I will wait until I want some more fluffy pieces so I can really enjoy them fully.
I got an ARC of this book.
I have attempted to read steampunk before, but it just never felt right to me. The stories I was attempting just weren’t doing it for me, so when I saw a romance steampunk up for grabs I went for it. I can usually get behind a romance novel. It seemed like the perfect chance for me to start into the genre for real.
So fun fact: Renwick has Ph.D is biology. Her understanding of biology gave me more hope that the medical mystery element of the story would be handled in a more believable fashion than so many others that I have seen. I was not wrong. All of the science may have been 100% made up for all I know, but it read like it was legitimate to me. It didn’t seem forced or faked as a way to make the story worked. The explanation seemed like it would actually make sense even if I knew more biology than I do.
The romance was eh for me. There was the idea that these two characters loved each other already and were able to get over their issues to potentially be together again in just a matter of a few days after five years of no contact. It felt far fetched and really anti-climatic. I needed a bit more drama to make this love story really pop for me. As it stands, it felt like I had jumped into the middle or the end of a romance. I missed all of the angst and feelings. It was just an eh romance plot.
The sex was also pretty eh. The scenes were not long or graphic. The dirty talk and the use of language wasn’t the worst, but “sheath” for vagina just made me laugh instead of dragging me in. I do have to give props for consistent condom usage. I am not impressed that there is yet another hung male hero of a romance novel. I am impressed that after five years of celibacy and only one encounter in her life, that the main heroine was able to take such a large penis without a single thought. So yay for condoms, but boo for the actual sex.
Overall, this left me with an eh book. I did enjoy it. The writing was fun, but I felt like there were so many lost opportunities to heighten emotions both within the romance plot and the Russian spy plot. None of it had me devouring this book looking for answers. It was a leisurely stroll. So I will probably read more books by this author, but I will wait until I want some more fluffy pieces so I can really enjoy them fully.