Kiss of the Spindle
Nancy Campbell Allen
(Author)
Description
A steampunk Sleeping Beauty story from the author of Beauty and the Clockwork Beast. Doctor Isla Cooper is cursed. Literally. Each night, at the stroke of midnight she falls into a death-like sleep from which she cannot be awakened for six hours. To make it worse, the curse has an expiration date--after a year, it becomes permanent. And the year is almost up. In a desperate attempt to find Malette--the witch who cursed her--Isla blackmails her way onto Daniel Pickett's private airship bound for the Caribbean, only to discover she's traveling with three illegal shapeshifters and the despicable Nigel Crowe, a government official determined to hunt down and exterminate every shapeshifter in England. Isla and Daniel must work together to keep the identities of the shapeshifters hidden while coming to terms with their own hidden secrets, and their blossoming attraction to each other. Filled with suspense, intrigue, and plenty of romance, Kiss of the Spindle is steampunk Sleeping Beauty story. It is a race against the clock as Isla and Daniel try to hunt down the elusive Malette before Isla's death-like sleep becomes permanent.
Product Details
Price
$15.99
$14.87
Publisher
Shadow Mountain
Publish Date
July 03, 2018
Pages
352
Dimensions
5.4 X 1.1 X 8.3 inches | 0.75 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781629724140
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Nancy Campbell Allen is the author of thirteen novels, which span genres from contemporary romantic suspense to historical fiction. She has been a speaker at numerous writing conferences and events. She has a degree in elementary education and is the mother of three children.
Reviews
"Allen delivers pure reading joy in a steampunk riff on "Sleeping Beauty" that is equal parts race-against-the-clock adventure, social comedy of errors, sweet romance, and clever alternate history, with a strong moral compass befitting its fairytale heritage. Isla Cooper, a kind and empathetic physician and advocate for peaceful shape-shifters (and a hunter of criminal ones), negotiates passage on the private airship of wealthy, dashing Capt. Daniel Pickett, who smuggles shifters to the Caribbean. She has a sleeping sickness that plagues her for six hours a day; the voyage is her last hope of obtaining a cure before she falls permanently asleep. The charismatic and delightfully developed other passengers--the automaton servant who's part Data and part Jeeves, the shape-shifting older English intellectuals sadly leaving home, the antagonistic government official with an awkward secret--come together to support Isla in the tricky work of solving her problem, while Daniel starts looking like a good candidate to deliver the fabled curative kiss. Allen turns Sleeping Beauty's passive story upside down with Isla's active competence and frustration with how the curse interferes with her work; fans of strong heroines will be deeply satisfied."-- (02/26/2018)
"In Allen's imaginative adaptation of the famed fairy tale 'Sleeping Beauty, ' tensions fly as high as the airship itself as Isla and Daniel explore their attraction while protecting the shifters' secrets, and their own. As in Beauty and the Clockwork Beast (2016), Allen crafts a witty romance set against an exciting steampunk backdrop, capitalizing on both the sweet appeal of a Victorian romance and the adventure of a light fantasy."-- (05/15/2018)
"Another deftly crafted and simply riveting read from first page to last by a master of the romance fantasy genre."--Midwest Book Review
"Allen's extensive world building provides a view into an intriguing alternate universe, and readers will delight in following the author's imagination into its heart. Isla and Daniel have full lives and believable motivations, and the humor provided by a very realistic automaton--yes, an automaton!--is a welcome touch. This kisses-only love story is an action-packed thrill ride, complete with a ticking clock sure to keep readers' pulses racing."-- (07/05/2018)
"Charming tale is fun and easy to read. The heroine is as kind as she is well armed and the moral of the story seems to be that no (wo)man is an island. Some gentle escapism and a splash of feminine badassery."--Historical Novel Society
"In Allen's imaginative adaptation of the famed fairy tale 'Sleeping Beauty, ' tensions fly as high as the airship itself as Isla and Daniel explore their attraction while protecting the shifters' secrets, and their own. As in Beauty and the Clockwork Beast (2016), Allen crafts a witty romance set against an exciting steampunk backdrop, capitalizing on both the sweet appeal of a Victorian romance and the adventure of a light fantasy."-- (05/15/2018)
"Another deftly crafted and simply riveting read from first page to last by a master of the romance fantasy genre."--Midwest Book Review
"Allen's extensive world building provides a view into an intriguing alternate universe, and readers will delight in following the author's imagination into its heart. Isla and Daniel have full lives and believable motivations, and the humor provided by a very realistic automaton--yes, an automaton!--is a welcome touch. This kisses-only love story is an action-packed thrill ride, complete with a ticking clock sure to keep readers' pulses racing."-- (07/05/2018)
"Charming tale is fun and easy to read. The heroine is as kind as she is well armed and the moral of the story seems to be that no (wo)man is an island. Some gentle escapism and a splash of feminine badassery."--Historical Novel Society
