"I would die for you," he told her. "I'd kill for you. I
faced down a mechanical squid, rampagin' humanists, and
lessons in etiquette for you. I danced at a ball for you."
Sigh...gotta love that man!
HEART OF IRON takes place 3 years after the events of Kiss
of Steel. Honoria and Blade are an old married couple; and
Rip and Esme are also married and settled down. After being
pardoned by the Queen, there is relative peace between Blade
and the high-level Blue Bloods of the Echelon. Lena has gone
to live with her half-brother Leo to rejoin Society, where
she is being presented as a debutant. In this world, instead
of looking to land a husband, young women look to gain a
contract as an aristocratic Blue Blood's 'thrall', or
primary blood source. Lena has had offers but cannot bring
herself to enter into a contract. Lena is being actively
sought out by Colchester, a very powerful and highly placed
Blue Blood nobleman. When Lena continues to rebuff his
attentions, he is enraged, and makes plans to take her by
force. One of the many reasons Lena has not accepted a
contract is that she is working with the Humanists, a group
seeking to brings humans back to equality with the vampiric
Blue Bloods.
Will gets called before the Blue Blood council. H has been
promised by the Prince-consort freedom for all the verwulfen
in Britain if he (and Blade) aid him in acquiring a
much-needed peace treaty with the Norwegian were clans. Will
and Blade decide to have Lena spend time with Will, to
prepare him for Court and the Society balls he will attend
when the Norwegian clans arrive. They also need to help
protect Lena against Colchester's unwanted attentions, which
are becoming more blatant and coercive. Spending so much
time alone with Will, however, brings to the surface the
long simmering attraction between Will and Lena. Will has
long fought against becoming close to Lena; fearing that he
will infect her with the Loupe virus.
There was a lot of time spent on the set-up of the plot in
the story, making it just a little slow reading in the
beginning. When all the pieces of HEART OF IRON are set into
place, however, the story takes off and never looks back;
becoming a fascinating and incredible read. The added touch
of the creepy 'Mechs' and their inventive world help to move
this really fun SteamPunk story into a top-notch read. There
is so much going on in this colorful world that the reader
is continually entertained. Add that to the charming love
story between Will and Lena, and this is a recommended read
in a highly recommended PNR/SteamPunk series.
Lena Todd is the perfect spy. Nobody suspects the
flirtatious debutante could be a rebel against London's
vicious elite—not even the ruthless Will Carver, the one man
she can't twist around her little finger.
Will Carver, is more than man, he's a verwolfen and he wants
nothing to do with the dangerous beauty who drives him to
the very edge of control. But when he finds Lena in
possession of a coded letter, he realizes she's in a world
of trouble. To protect her, he'll have to seduce the truth
from her before it's too late.