Poison or Protect
Ratings24
Average rating3.7
A sexy assassin, a sexy Scottish spy, and two lobsters attend a Victorian house party. New York Times bestselling comedy of manners author Gail Carriger brings you a charming story of love and espionage set in her popular Parasolverse. ASSASSIN Lady Preshea Villentia, the Mourning Star, has four dead husbands and a nasty reputation. Fortunately, she looks fabulous in black. What society doesn't know is that all her husbands were marked for death by Preshea's employer. And Preshea has one final assignment. VERSUS SCOTSMAN It was supposed to be easy, a house party with minimal bloodshed. Preshea hadn't anticipated Captain Gavin Ruthven - massive, Scottish, quietly irresistible, and? working for the enemy. In a battle of wits, Preshea may risk her own heart - a terrifying prospect, as she never knew she had one. "This intoxicatingly witty parody will appeal to a wide cross-section of romance, fantasy and steampunk fans." ~ Publishers Weekly, starred review (Soulless) May contain plaid, gentlemen eating dainty tea sandwiches, and the strategic application of leather gloves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Outlander in this seductive story from the author of the Parasol Protectorate books. Perfect for fans of Ilona Andrews, Lindsay Buroker, or Diana Gabaldon. From the author of the Finishing School series, featuring deadly ladies of quality, this story stands alone but you can find out what happened to the next generation in Reticence or read the next in the series Defy or defend. Delicate Sensibilities? Contains men pleasing women, and ladies who know what they want and ask for it, sometimes in detail. If you like that kind of thing, you'll also enjoy How to Marry a Werewolf. Also by Gail Carriger set in the Parasolverse The Curious Case of the Werewolf that Wasn't The Finishing School series (start with Etiquette & Espionage) The Delightfully Deadly stories The Parasol Protectorate series (start with Soulless) The Supernatural Society stories The Custard Protocol series (start with Prudence) The Claw & Courtship stories As G L Carriger The San Andreas Shifter series (start with The Sumage Solution) The 5th Gender
Series
Series
7 primary books#5 in Finishing School
Finishing School is a 7-book series with 7 released primary works first released in 2013 with contributions by Gail Carriger.
Series
3 primary books#1 in Delightfully Deadly
Delightfully Deadly is a 3-book series with 3 released primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Gail Carriger.
Series
30 released booksParasolVerse (Chronological Order)
ParasolVerse (Chronological Order) is a 30-book series with 30 released primary works first released in 2009 with contributions by Gail Carriger and Miks-Rédei Viktória.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
Set in the same universe as the Parasol Protectorate and Finishing School series, this features a number of characters from those series, but in terms of its plot, is entirely standalone. It's an erotic romance, switching between the viewpoints of its two main protagonists - one a new character, and the other the school bully from the Finishing School books. Those, of course, are Young Adult, and this, set ten years or so later, is anything but, although it does a good job with getting insider her head and making her more sympathetic.
There is more to the plot than the sex and romance, with an assassination plot against a Tory peer serving as a reason to get the characters together. However, this is almost entirely forgotten by about the half-way point, and the book is too short for the other sub-plots to shine. This means that the story has less of the humour normally associated with books in Parasolverse, although there is some fun at the expense of a lobster. It's very much an adjunct to the rest of the series, rather than particularly effective in its own right - although readers who enjoy romance novels more than I do may feel differently.
This was a follow up to the excellent Finishing School series which was quite YA oriented. This story is definitely for a more mature audience with some rather explicit bedroom descriptions.
To be clear I really enjoyed this story, the depth it added to the main character was moving and extremely well written and added much needed closure for this character.
It was just jarring to read adult scenes about a character that I'd recently been reading about attending school - in the story it was years later and she was already a widow (so no impropriety) however for me it was only a couple of weeks.
So a great story - just a big jump in intended audiences.
