Her Sky Cowboy review - updated

Her Sky Cowboy by Beth Ciotta* is a steampunk romance action adventure novel that hits all the high notes - fun characters, a solid plot, lots of action, and a villain you love to hate. It's received a lot of attention and great press since its release in November 2012 but there's no such thing as too many reviews or too much publicity, right? :) It is the first book in the Glorious Victorious Darcy series.

Her Sky Cowboy is a brilliantly original book crossing steampunk Victorian England and the counterculture 1960s along with pirates who roam the skies and partially mechanical animals. Tucker Gentry is a quintessential hero who is fighting for his life and reputation after being framed for murder and theft in America. He roams the skies in Europe as a not completely above board air transport captain with a crew of misfits who are as loyal as they are suspicious. Amelia Darcy is a stymied adventuress who only wants to revive her family's reputation and meet her hero - Tucker Gentry. When the two collide, sparks fly between Tucker and Amelia even as each fights against it for their own reasons.

The emotion between the two characters is powerfully written and Ciotta does a fantastic job of painting characters and interplay that immerses a reader, pulling them into the world she has created so fully that I found myself startled to see my own apartment when I looked up from the book. I cannot wait for the second book in the series.

The second book, His Clockwork Canary, will be published in June and an ebook novella, His Broken Angel, will be published in July May.

*I should note that I know Beth Ciotta and find her to be a wonderful person and author. Consider that my full disclosure :)

Synopsis

Amelia Darcy has no interest in marrying well. Her heart belongs to the sky and the dirigibles of brass and steel that swoop over Victorian England. But when her father, an eccentric inventor, dies, the Darcy siblings are left with scrap metal—and not a penny to their names. Their only hope to save the family reputation and fortune is to embark on a quest to discover an invention of historical importance in honor of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Armed with only her father's stories of a forgotten da Vinci workshop, a mechanically enhanced falcon, and an Italian cook, Amelia takes flight for Florence, Italy. But her quest is altered when her kitecycle crashes into the airship of ex-Air Marshal—and scandalous dime novel hero—Tucker Gentry.

Tuck agrees to escort Amelia to her destination, but the two are challenged by political unrest, a devious sky pirate, and their own sizzling attraction. Soon the pair is dragged into an international conspiracy that could change the course of history… again.