Lala's Book Corner: Soulless by Gail Carriger

"Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette. 



Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.



With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?"

From Goodreads.

First and foremost, Happy Valentine's Day! Now that, that is out of the way... LOL





I feel like it took a journey for me to finish this book. It started so slow that it felt like hours were spent on a page and the damn story just did NOT move forward. I think the old sort of language and vocabulary takes a while to get used to too.





Well, I tried reading this book a few times and even took it with me to Italy. I read 3 other books while there and not this one, at all. On the flight back I was out of options and decided once and for all to dig into it and read it.





I have to say I am SO HAPPY I did. After such a rocky beginning, Soulless stole my heart and  made me a huge fan of Miss Alexia Tarabotti.





Alexia is a great heroine. She is in her mid twenties and lost in a society that sees her as a spinster. A woman full of character, a lot of attitude and with an enviable wit, she does not take lying down all the criticism directed at her. Miss Tarabotti is also a preternatural, Soulless and the natural enemy of the supernatural races. She makes Vampires and Werewolves powerless with just a touch. 





Lord Conall Maccon is the Alpha werewolf of the London pack and also a member of The Bureau of Unnatural Registry (BUR), which would be like the CIA of the time. Conall is the epitome of the Alpha male hero and I loved his strength and personality.

"Alexia decided,then and there, that Lord Conall Maccon clearly had only two modes of operation: annoyed and aroused. She wondered which one she would prefer to deal with in a regular basis. Her body joined her in that discussion, and she actually managed to shock herself into continued silence."

Maccon and Alexia's chemistry was apparent from the get go and you couldn't help but root for them to stop being silly and just get together already. Being set in Victorian times its safe to say that the smut wasn't on a Demonica Series level for example, but the romance and sexier parts were very well done. I couldn't help but cheering on when they finally kissed for the first time.

"He was sure his control was around somewhere, if he could simply find it. He tore his eyes away from the tops of those remarkable breasts of hers and tried to think unpleasant thoughts of particularly horrible things, like overcooked vegetables and cut-rate wine."

Besides a very compelling romance, Soulless has a very interesting mystery going on. Vampires and Werewolves that live as rogues have been disappearing around London and its Lord Maccon's job to figure out what is going on and to his surprise, Alexia proves to be the perfect partner to help him, much to his chagrin.





I love this book and I am really glad that I gave it a chance in the end. The only negative for me was the slow start, after that I can say that it became one of my favorites. I am really looking forward to the second book in this series, "Changeless" coming out on March 30th!

Smut Level: 2/5!

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xoxo,