Book Review: The Silver Skull by Anne Renwick

Elemental Steampunk Chronicles Book 2

An illegal border crossing. A fake marriage. A mad German count determined to create an army of unbreakable soldiers.  Lady Olivia is not all she seems. Trained for marriage to an assigned political target, her skills lie in programming household steambots to serve tea, dress her hair... and sound the alarm while she picks locks and listens at doors. Humiliated by a failed assignment, she decides to redeem herself by tailing a suspected double agent.

Lord Rathsburn must flirt with treason. Struggles to cure a horrible disease have met with unexpected complications. The cells he engineered can make a man's bones unbreakable, but the side effects are fatal. He believed the research terminated... until his sister was kidnapped by a German count. Her ransom? A cure.

Piloting a stolen dirigible, he uncovers an unlikely stowaway, Lady Olivia. Arriving together at a crumbling castle, an impossible task is set before them: cure the count's guardsmen. Amidst their fake marriage, a very real growing attraction, dying guardsmen and escalating hostilities, Lady Olivia and Lord Rathsburn are thrust deep into the world of international medical espionage from which there may be no return.

THE SILVER SKULL is a story set in the Elemental Steampunk World, including The Elemental Steampunk Chronicles, Elemental Steampunk Tales, and Elemental Steampunk Stories.

Steampunk adventure wrapped around a romance and threaded with biotechnology. Join USA Today bestselling author, Anne Renwick, as she takes you back into an alternate past.

THE ELEMENTAL STEAMPUNK CHRONICLES The Golden Spider (Book One) The Silver Skull (Book Two) The Iron Fin (Book Three)

ELEMENTAL STEAMPUNK TALES A Trace of Copper In Pursuit of Dragons A Reflection of Shadows

ELEMENTAL STEAMPUNK STORIES The Tin Rose Kraken and Canals Rust and Steam

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My Review:

It's a little like an episode of House crossed with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: medical marvels and technical gadgets wrapped up in an intriguing puzzle and enough sexual tension to choke a kraken. It was impossible to put down. I loved that both Olivia and Ian are brilliant and talented but are still capable of making mistakes. It made them very relatable to me. There were times I wanted to pull my hair out in frustration as I watched them try to figure out if they could trust each other but they have so many laugh-out-loud moments that delighted me. The supporting cast are such a unique group of characters, I hope they return in future books of the series. I can't wait to see what the next book brings. I received a complimentary advanced copy of this book.

Other books in the series:

The Golden Spider (An Elemental Steampunk Chronicle Book 1)