Soulless by Gail Carriger

Parasol Protectorate

Soulless * Changeless * Blameless * Heartless * Timeless

Publish Date: October 1st, 2009
Format: Paperback
Series: Parasol Protectorate
Author: Gail Carriger
Author’s Goodreads

Wikia (has spoilers!)
My Review on Goodreads

Disclaimer

I originally read this book because I read Prudence but I was lost in the world that was established in Parasol Protectorate. Goodreads claims Prudence is for a YA audience, but Soulless is NOT tagged as YA in Goodreads. I assumed it would be, and I was wrong. This book gets steamy. More steamy than A Bite at the Cherry. It isn't in the YA section at my public library - it's in the regular fiction area. I do contend that teens can enjoy the story and world, but some people may be upset about the sexual content. Totally fair. I usually only review content that is clearly marketed to teens, and this is not. I'm reviewing this because it is in the same universe as the YA Prudence and is the pre-story to that. So...

If you don't like some steamy content, please skip this review/book!

  

Story

Alexia Tarabotti is a spinster, half-Italian, and is soulless. To be soulless means that if she touches a supernatural being, she neutralizes them and turns them mortal. By the way, England has integrated its supernatural folk into society. This includes werewolves, vampires, and ghosts. The Bureau of Unnatural Registry (BUR) keeps tabs on them and everything seems to be in order.

The story is actually remarkably simple; supernatural beings are going missing, and BUR has to find out why. The rest is the love story component with interesting characters. That's it. If you read the back of the book, you got it.

The issues that I had about the world in Prudence are largely answered. Vampires cannot stand any sunlight (as it should be). Older werewolves can stand the sun for a time, otherwise, they are regulated to the nighttime, and they get "full-moon madness". Ghosts did not receive much elaboration, but if the sneak-peek to the second book is to be believed, we will see them more in book two, Changeless. A rove is a supernatural being who does not belong to a larger group. A hive is a vampire group who basically has a ruling queen (queens can make other vampires). Drones are humans who want to be turned into vampires or receive patronage, and they feed the vampires willingly and serve them. Clavigers are the same as drones, but for werewolves.  

Main Character

While I hated Prudence's snobbery, Alexia is bossy but indomitable. She can still be liked. At the age of 15, her mother put her on the shelf and declared her unmarriable because she is tall, tanned, has a prominent nose, and is half-Italian (which her mother had married, did she not know how heritage works?).

I wish she was nicer to/about Ivy, her best friend. So much to say about bad hats, but she's her best friend, why can't she say anything nice?

Vampires

These vampires are more like this:

Which is good.

However, Lord Akeldama is the Sassy Gay Friend trope, which I don't think would fly today.

Werewolves

Less of this:

More like this:

Big wolves, not bipedal.

Final Verdict

Overall, I was highly invested in this book. It's more about how the various characters interact with each other rather than a compelling plot. You'll know who she gets with within the first 30 minutes, if that. Like vampires, werewolves, parasols, grumpy werewolf men with no manners? This might intrigue you. The scenes of intimacy caught me off guard, and honestly, they aren't even that interesting, one time I laughed, so there's that. I thought the ending scene in the carriage was ridiculous and I just wanted it to be over. I recommend this to an older crowd who is alright with some steamy scenes.

Still here? Have some more gifs.

Take that werewolf! Reminds me of What we do in the Shadows

You know he is, too.

Alexia and Ivy

Midnight Secrets by Rita Stradling

The Vampire Legacy #1

Midnight Secrets

Publish Date: June 11th, 2019
Format: Ebook
Series: Blackburn Academy
Author: Rita Stradling
Author’s Goodreads
My Goodreads Review

Introduction

January has some problems: her mother is an addict, food in the house is scant, and their house is run down. But that’s not her most prominent problem – she was killed and woke up as a vampire. Calling the number provided to her when she woke up, she gets hooked up with blood. And a boy, Justin. He’s aloof, secretive, and handsome. He’s in the elite school that January has a chance to attend, if she can pass the tests. Said boy is adamant that she doesn’t go to said school, can’t tell her why, and she is determined to make her own decisions.     

Story

The story and the writing are great for older teens. Yes, it is a book about vampires, but it is also a lot more. January and her mom struggle with the very real problem of addiction and the consequences of it, family, classism, and toxic relationships. She also has more to prove to other people than regular people do.

Cover/Title

The cover is great! It conveys January's demeanour fairly well. She's a vampire but she's not out to murder everyone. She looks like, and is, a girl next door, with some problems she tries to take care of. 
  

While the cover is nice, it’s misleading. She isn’t enrolled at the school yet. This book is her prepping for the trials/tests/living as a vampire. Probably would have been more suitable for book 2. Also, January has blonde hair, but doesn’t dress like that, at all. She’s poor, she can’t get leather corsets. As for the title, I don’t know how to explain it. Sexual, yes, and needlessly so. The book is way more than sexual tension/relationships. If I were to be reading a physical copy of this in public, I’d be a bit embarrassed. It isn’t smut (hey, if you’re reading smut, that’s fine, be proud! But this isn’t smut yet it comes off as smut). My husband had some questions about what I was reading because the title is so sexual.

Ending

I knew it!

Final Verdict

I was very into this book. To say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book would be an injustice. I believe I read almost half in one night, then I couldn’t devote as much time to it. I assumed there’d six books in this series that I could devour at that instant, but alas, the second isn’t out yet (I actually didn't realize how so very new this book is!). It is a very nice change of pace for vampire fiction. There’s a set of three trials which I haaaaaate in books, especially because I’ve never heard of schools doing what this one does, so that gets an eye roll from me. However, I highly recommend this to older readers who want vampires, teens, and high school.

Update

Looks like the title and series title for this has changed. When it read it, it was called A Bite at the Cherry, in the Bite Me series or the Blackburn Academy Series. It now says Midnight Secrets in the Vampire Legacy series. Better titles, and have edited the review accordingly. Below is the original cover: