A_TiffyFit's Reading Corner: {Blog Tour} STORMS OF LAZARUS by Karen Kincy

Welcome to my tour stop for Storms of Lazarus by Karen Kincy. This is the second book in the Shadows of Asphodel series. This is a new adult dieselpunk romance and is now available! The tour runs August 11-22 with reviews, interviews & a few guest posts.
Check out the tour page for the schedule and more information.

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00066]

Storms of Lazarus (Shadows of Asphodel #2)

Sometimes escape is impossible. Sometimes love isn't enough.

1913. Christmas Eve. Ardis hardly expects a quiet holiday with Wendel, between fleeing Constantinople and hiding from an ancient society of assassins. And they owe a debt to a certain archmage.

In Königsberg, Prussia, they work with Konstantin on the next evolution of Project Lazarus. Wendel once called Königsberg home, the city now besieged by the Russians and their clockwork engines of war. This may be Wendel’s last chance to save his family and find redemption, but he's tormented by nightmares and tempted by laudanum. Ardis fears her love isn’t enough to save Wendel. Her hands are full piloting the automatons, and she's terrified to tell him a secret of her own. Will they—and their love—survive the storms of war?

Goodreads | Amazon

Disclaimer: Received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. I'm so happy I loved this one, too, because honest reviews when you don't like something can really stink to write. Phew!

When I read book one in this series, SHADOWS OF ASPHODEL, I could not stop thinking about Wendel for days. I totally fell in love with this character as well as his lover, Ardis. (You can see my review of Shadows here: http://bit.ly/1t0tP0o And it wasn't just the characters, but the book itself. I didn't mind how quickly Ardis & Wendel fell for one another. I was so wrapped up in her backstory, the current plot, etc. And besides...what you term insta-love in books is "love at first sight" in real life!

So, knowing that I really enjoyed the first book, you can well imagine my excitement for this second book. And, I'm happy to say, Karen Kincy does NOT disappoint. This book picks up mere days after the events in Shadows of Asphodel and the relationship development between Ardis & Wendel is brilliant, especially after what has transpired. They find themselves with Konstantin again and heading towards Wendel's home, Königsberg.

Karen really keeps the magic alive with plenty of clockwork and technomancy and these bits of historical figures jumping in along with mass preparation for war. The wasps and dragon are absolutely brilliant and so well-written that you will have no problem imagining them in your mind, maybe even feeling the swoop of wings! With plenty of love and sexual attraction, the romances in the book are satisfying because they are multi-dimensional with problems and complications as opposed to just happy happy joy joy fluff. I'm not saying that I reject the happy happy romances, but I connect better with the relationships that demonstrate problems and solutions.

While I find the book and series as a whole satisfying, there is so much more I want to explore and learn about and I'm already DYING for the next book. I want to watch and see what becomes of the relationships in the book. I want to know more about Ardis's sword. I want more Konstantin & Himmel. I want more on Krampus because he intrigues me SO MUCH and I know he's not just what he seems!

I could live in this world for a while. A long while. I hope Karen Kincy keeps writing in this series. I hope to be reading her for a long, long time to come.

P.S. If you're reading this on August 15th, please try and buy this today! It's on sale for a limited time (I believe for the wknd, but not sure about amazon deals) and SO worth it! <3 p="">

About the Author:

Karen Kincy (Kirkland, Washington) can be found lurking in her writing cave, though sunshine will lure her outside. When not writing, she stays busy gardening, tinkering with aquariums, or running just one more mile. Karen has a BA in Linguistics and Literature from The Evergreen State College.