In the fourth book in the London Steampunk series, Perry Lowell is hiding from a dark and painful past, and she does her best to avoid the Echelon—the London aristocracy of blood-drinking blue bloods. As a rogue blue blood (a person illegally infected with the craving virus) and the only woman officer in the Nighthawks (the police force that patrols London), she’s closed herself off to her feminine desires and prefers to act like a man. Perry has been secretly in love with her partner Garrett Reed for years, but she’s never expressed her feelings for him.
Garrett is fully aware of Perry as a woman, but that wasn’t so until a month earlier when their platonic friendship took a hit. As the Acting Guild Master of the Nighthawks, it’s up to him and his fellow Nighthawks to solve the murder of two young women. But as he’s unraveling the mystery, more and more questions are brought to light, some of which revolve around Perry and her past.
I really liked Garrett. He’s struggling to make headway in his new position as guild master, and the virus in his blood is growing stronger every day, which is threatening his life and sanity. Though he has secrets, he was mostly open about them with Perry and was willing to give a relationship between them a chance.
In the previous book, Perry was a tough, take-no-bull kind of woman, but she was so vulnerable in this story. She kept so many secrets, not trusting anyone, and refused to hand over important information in the murder case. She kept pushing Garrett away, and it grew frustrating after a while.
As usual with books in this series, the sexual tension between the H/h is ripe throughout the story, but there are only two sex scenes near the end.
Though I enjoyed the story, I sometimes had a hard time following what was going on because there wasn’t a lot of description in some scenes. The repeated use of he/she instead of names also led to confusion. There are some unanswered questions, but there’s also a big lead-in to the next book, so I’m sure those loose ends will be tied up soon. I cannot wait to read book five in the series!
4 Stars

Disclaimer – I borrowed this ebook from the library. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape, or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.
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I am sooooooooooooo into this series! I'll need to pick up hard copies for re-reads of all of them. I LOVED Perry and Garrett's story! I knew I would from the novella. One of my favorite kinds of heroine; a tomboy, a little insecure, a little traumatized, but tough as nails. On to the next - then I'll be caught up an have to wait for a new one! Who will it be?! ( )

I just can’t seem to get enough of this series! Bec McMaster has created a fascinating dangerous world where the all-powerful Echelon Blue Bloods rule London. The Blue Bloods are stronger and faster than humans but they rely on blood to survive. Every human must donate blood as part of their taxes. The richest and finest blood lines of the Echelon can afford thralls who are basically debutants from lesser houses of the Echelon who offer up blood and sometimes sex rights to the rich blue blood lords through a contract similar to what a mistress might receive. It’s what every debutant dreams of or rather it is the only thing they can dream of since no other opportunity exist for young women.

Ten years ago Perry fled such a situation. She was a young debutant who entered into a thrall contract with Alastair Crawford, the Duke of Moncrieff and one of the seven council members of the Echelon. A thrall contract with one of the most powerful Blue Bloods in the country would have been the envy of any debutant but the duke had secrets. In his basement, he harbored an evil scientist named Hague who experimented on women, cutting them up and taking organs from them. Hague got ahold of Perry or Octavia as she was called back then but she got away. She hacked half of Hague’s jaw off before she escaped thinking that she killed him. The Duke of Moncrieff was accused of killing his thrall and banished for ten years. During the experimentation, Perry was infected with the craving virus and became a Blue Blood. She ran to the Nighthawks and became the only female Nighthawk where she has been hiding under her assumed name, Perry.
Now, the prince consort has re-instated the Duke of Moncrieff’s seat on the council and the duke has vowed to find Octavia and prove to everyone that he didn’t kill her. There has also been killings that match Hague’s handy work. Perry doesn’t think it is a coincidence and knows her world is about to turn upside down.

Garret has just become Guild Master of the Nighthawks when Sir Jasper Lynch resigned to become one of the seven council members of the Echelon. He has been avoiding his old partner for a month….ever since the opera where Perry bloomed into a beautiful woman before his eyes when she donned a revealing gown and flirted with him. Before that, he just thought of her as his best friend and confidant. Now, he can’t get her out of his mind.

To make matters worse, his CV blood count levels keep rising. Soon he’ll be in the Fade which is when a Blue Blood turns into a vampiric monster. Every Blue Blood has to test his CV levels. Once they get so high, they have to be reported and then at some point, they get executed. Nobody wants a crazed and murderous vampire running loose. To his knowledge, there is no cure so he knows he has very little time left. ------- Of course, the readers know that in the first book of the series, Honoria has found a way to lower CV levels in Blue Bloods but Honoria hasn’t let anyone besides Blade and the people in her small circle know about it and Garret isn’t in that circle. Her father had developed a vaccination for the craving virus and vaccinated her. She discovered by accident that Blade’s CV levels were going down when he drank her blood so if a Blue Blood drinks a human’s blood who has this vaccination, their CV levels go down. I, as a reader, wondered why Honoria didn’t tell people about her cure.

This book was packed with action and I was glad to see some of the characters from previous books in it. I have really grown to love the characters in this series. The only bummer is that the next book isn’t due out until March so I have to wait until then to read it. Sigh! What shall I read until then?

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What a steamy steampunk romance! Perry is a flawed heroine, one whose flaws I understand. I understand the fear of the past, the fear that someone from your past will catch up to you and hurt those you love. I understand the power that fear has, that you may lock down emotionally, that you might do anything to keep those you love safe. Without understanding that, without being able to forgive someone for that, this book might not be all you hope for.

The wickedness in this novel is stark, in-your-face evil. The intrepid duo of Perry and Garrett (who is suffering from his own insecurities) must meet and defeat both prongs of the evildoers. And in the meantime, they must make the transition from professional partners and friends to lovers, if the romance in the book is to come to fruition.

As with all romances, the reader knows where the book will end; the joy is in the trip there. In some ways, this is an uncomfortable trip, but I enjoyed the book. I have already added the sequel (and final novel in the series) to my "to read" list.

I strongly suggest reading the London Steampunk series in order so that your knowledge of the created world grows. For folks who have read the previous three novels, I think you will like this, provided the caveats in the first paragraph don't deter you. ( )

I didn't care for this couple's previous book (and I'm still not sure why they got two). They finally have more than just a working relationship in this one, so that's one issue solved, but I still wasn't very impressed with them. We hear good things, but I feel like there isn't that much that backs them up. 'They would do anything for their partner', but then largely act selfishly, 'they trust their partner more than anyone', but then keep all these important things secret from them, they're supposed to be good detectives but they miss all sorts of things that are *right in front of them*. Also, the hero is fairly immature, and the heroine generally makes terrible decisions. And the ending felt more and more contrived as it went along. Eesh. I just didn't feel their relationship and I didn't enjoy their story. These two books are weak links in an otherwise creative and entertaining series. ( )