A review by bubblewombat
The Brass Queen by Elizabeth Chatsworth

4.0

Constance is a twenty-one year old pig farmer turned arms dealer with a fiery temper.

With her father away on one of his sciency expeditions into unknown worlds and pronounced missing, Constance has to marry in a short time frame to be able to keep her family estate.

But the problem is, Constance is fairly undesireable with her red hair, short stature, and previously mentioned temper.

At her coming out ball she meets a cowboy spy, Trusdale who saves her life and their fates become intertwined in more ways than one.

Right from the beginning I wasn't very fond of Constance. She gives off this pretentious vibe with the things she says. Yes, she's a sheltered rich girl and all that, but I would've expected more from someone who's fighting for women's rights and helping those in need (this is where it's most prevalent, it feels like she's doing it because it's a convenience at the time, not because it's the least she can do).

Still, she's pretty funny when she wants to be and I eventually warmed up to her so she's not my most disliked person in the book.

Trusdale I have no complaints about, he was done right and is sweet.

Lucien was an interesting angle and if we ever get a sequel I hope there's more of him.

I like that, even though the book is dealing with some grim subjects here and there, it's still lighthearted and suitable for younger readers. Particularly all the failed "attempts", there's so many of them that it gets hilarious and you start to wonder if she's a good luck charm or a bad luck charm.

The descriptions were both my favourite and my least favourite part of the book. They're done well, set the right atmosphere, but there's too many of them in places there shouldn't be.

The last third of the book is also the most exciting. The first two weren't exactly slow but the pace really picks up around 77% in.

The ending is where it gets a little ridiculous, there's so much thrown in to promise future chaos. I don't mind that much, it's not a cliffhanger.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*