Someone on my reading list was just discussing Soulless, by Gail Carriger. They liked it a lot. I have to say that I’m only about a tenth of the way through, but my emotions are mixed: I like the characters, the setting and the concepts. On the other hand, I am really bothered when, in a Regency novel, the heroine says something like “I hit him upside the head” or the hero says “Gee, thank you very much for your concern.” I mean really. Gee??? When not telling a horse to turn left? And I do not believe that merely being a spinster was a license to ignore the conventions of Regency society – rather the opposite, in fact – or that a mother of reputable character had the option to bring out younger daughters while ignoring the eldest. Also, it’s rather obnoxiously tell-y, especially about the hero and heroine’s reactions to each other. If she’s stomping out in a huff I don’t need to be told she’s affronted, and if he leans into her touch on his arm I can probably figure out that he’s attracted.
That said, it is fun and I will probably be reading the sequels. Here’s hoping the annoyances are only first-novel issues that go away in later books.