Name: Wicked as They Come
ISBN: 9781451657883

Delilah S. Dawson

When the ruby locket she purchased at an estate sale transports her to a surreal world, Tish Everett finds her destiny in the arms of Criminy Stain, the dashing proprietor of a magical traveling circus, and must fight by his side to keep the necklace from falling into the wrong hands. Original. 100,000 first printing.

Wicked as They Come

Aleena Korell

Okay, first things first. 



I stole this from another reviewer but let's be honest, these things have to be said.
With that out of the way, I'll keep this quick. This book took me from delighted surprise and intrigue to confusion/irritation to some eye-rolling and boredom and then, BAM, back to intrigue. In that order. 
Some great dialogue and fab world-building, and the ending is fun-- but the romance, which starts fun and interesting, becomes flimsy and foundationless (which, apparently, isn't a word) and got too swoony for my taste. But, what did I expect picking up a book with this cover? Well. Yes. You've got me there.

Promises of magical carnivals, it seems, are doomed to be my undoing. 

In the end, it's a solid 3 star read, balancing out right in the middle. I had hoped to find more Urban Fantasy/Steampunk than Romance, but it's a pretty even representation of all three genres. It's pretty clear that Dawson is a fantastic writer, and I'll certainly be up for reading more of her work-- if I steer clear of her romances I'll likely enjoy it much more.

Amanda J 

I should have liked this book. It had everything I usually liked-steampunk, alt-realities, pseudovamps, but I just didn't. For one it was too realistic. The heroine made choices that I would choose and made it come out of the story too much. On the other hand too unrealistic-the romance just wasn't believable.