When Frances receives a cryptic message in an otherwise innocuous shipping box, she rejoices that her days of conformation to rigid social standards are done, if she can make her escape. She "borrows" her brother's steam-powered car and heads for the port where she hopes to meet up with the woman who means everything to her. Using her wit and her strong mechanical skills, along with her family name and some allies, she finds her way. Hopefully, there will be more adventures with the gender-queer pirate crew she's joined up with.

The story was actually pretty good although I felt that the conflicts were not riveting enough to keep me hooked at all times. Of course, I picked this up for the steampunk it's inspired by and for the lesbian protagonists, and while the book served well in terms of the LGBTQ+ rep and really developed a nice, sweet romance between the two best friends, I wasn't very impressed by the 'steampunk' vibes because I didn't get a lot of those in a good reference.

Majority of the story is about France, the lead, trying to not abide by the societal barricades and achieve her dreams--which is one of my favourite motives for a character--so that got brownie points from me. However, the writing wasn't fairing well while descripting the story and that took away those same brownie points and so, this book got a three-star from me.

I won't say this isn't a good story because it's genuinely a sweet romance and a light steampunk but maybe picking it up will give you a fair idea about whether it's for you or not.

This was such a lovely novella, but it felt more like the very beginning of a longer novel. That ending? That was the start of really incredible adventures. Honestly, I really want to read what happens to them after! I'm much more interested in these beautiful lesbian pirates doing actual pirating, rather than Fran travelling.
Really hoping the author decides to expand on this!

this definitely reads like the beginning chunk of a longer work, or the sort of fun novella prequel released after the main series as a little backstory. but as it stands, it doesn't really work.

the vast majority of the book was about frances on her journey to find katherine, which is all well and good but - i don't want to read about that! why would i want to read about frances boarding a ship to find kat when i COULD be reading about katherine's band of queer totally-not-pirates?

there's definitely a lot of potential here, but it wasn't explored enough, i'm afraid. short works that feel like they're a fragment of a longer work is one of my ultimate pet peeves, and for that reason i can only give it two stars.

I have to admit I am quite torn when it comes to this book. I'm not sure what to think or whether I liked it. Honestly, there was barely anything in the story.
This book is both very short and also drags so much, when I finished it I was shocked it was over already but also happy it was finally over. It's definitely not a romance, but more of a coming of age story, except, well, there wasn't much of that either. Frances as we meet her, is already a 'finished' character- she knows what she wants, she has plans on how to get it and the necessary skills, and she's only waiting for the right moment to act on it. She doesn't undergo any development at all. The entirety of the story is literally her taking a drive for few hours to the neighbouring city.
So much space is given to descriptions of clothes and technology. So. Much. I couldn't belive the author would waste several pages just on a detailed description of Frances' corset. Every time some piece of technology got described in exhausting detail I wanted to scream "yes we get it, you're writing steampunk, get on with it please" and bang my head against the table. I am not a fan of detailed descriptions under any circumstances, and when a book is 95% lengthy descriptions with no plot, when I was expecting a romance, I was not kindly predisposed to it.
My largest annoyance, though, was the complete absence of women in the story. The author poses Frances as this feminist with feminist thinking, but apart from the way she treats herself, it shows nowhere in the story. Not only are there no women present apart from her and, at the complete end, her girlfriend; every single character that helps her on her journey is a man. There is a scene where she was to more through a large gathering of 'rough' sailors and other dock workers, in her corset, very late at night, and when they catcall her, she laughs to herself because it reminds her of the mechanic shop she used to work in. But then she almost gets attacked by some prostitutes, who she sees as the real danger, because apparently, they get territorial.
So let me get this straight. This young woman, who's alone and at night, sees a large, very threatening group of adult men as completely harmless, but the single prostitute as the real threat in the situation, with the text supporting her? I'm sorry, but that was the moment where I went to check if the author is a man, because seriously. That was also when I realized the complete absence of women in the story.
All in all, there's no story, no romance, no character development.... What is there? Several pages on how special the corset Frances wears is.

I picked this one up on the premise of lesbian steampunk romance! It sort of succeeded, but wasn't what I expected. Before I get into the review, a couple of notes - first, I received a copy of this novella through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Second, this novella was previously published in an anthology, and I haven't read the others, so maybe it works better as part of a group.

The story is slow to start, with the heroine telling us of a package she receives in great detail, before actually beginning her adventure, which is relayed in something of a diary or conversational style. "I set off on a grand adventure..." (Not an actual quote.) The daughter of a wealthy white Australian family, Frances has been removed from an elite boarding school in part for a lesbian relationship she engaged in with another student. She's now trapped at home with an awful brother and some sympathetic servants. The package arrives after two years of separation from her lover, Katherine, and contains confirmation that Katherine is still alive.
With this news, Katherine runs away from home. She steals her brother's fancy new steam-powered car, drives to a port city, arranges her way onto a steamboat as engineer, and is finally reunited with her lady love after much steampunk-laden adventure.
The story failed for me as a romance because I still have no idea why Frances and Katherine were in love. The reader only sees them interact for the last 15% of the novella, which is only 20,000 words. Hardly enough time to convince me that their relationship is worth running away or that their relationship can survive after the fact. The whole thing felt more like a steampunk story than a romance, with lengthy discussion of levers and steam and engines and spanners. I suspect that a reader who picked this up for the steampunk aspects will be more satisfied than a reader like me, who picked it up for the gorgeous cover and the lesbian romance.

Lovely Australian steampunk short! All about a feisty woman engineer trying to flee from her sheltered home and reunite with her love. Well written with a very likeable protagonist though it could have done with a couple more pages and some more depth. Especially the last part felt very rushed, so the overall pacing was somewhat off. Still a very nice read!

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38357592-we-will-make-mischief-together" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="We Will Make Mischief Together" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517867415m/38357592.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38357592-we-will-make-mischief-together">We Will Make Mischief Together</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/150404.J_Hepburn">J. Hepburn</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2336286577">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I rec'd a copy through NetGalley/Less Than Three Press for an honest review.<br />A very short steam punk story with a fairly abrupt beginning and ending that I still found enjoyable.<br />In my very humble opinion, the author could/should expand this into a full and intriguing novel to satisfy readers like me who were left with half-whetted appetites. Come on Mr. Hepburn, please!<br />3 stars.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31134832-gail">View all my reviews</a>

3.25 Stars. When I saw the steampunk cover, I knew I had to read this. This is a sweet little novella. It was about 90mins of reading time for me so it is a quick story, but I still enjoyed it.

The story is about a girl who went to a progressive boarding school, fell in love with her best friend, and worked on steam engines. Her father, who thinks women are only good for marrying off, finds out about her exploits, and she is basically put on house arrest. The rest of the story is about Frances defying her father and following her dreams.

While you feel bad for Frances in the beginning, the rest of the story is very sweet and light. If anything the obstacles for Frances were almost too easy to overcome. I still enjoyed it and think this might be a good choice for people who feel like a lighter, sweet, steampunk, lesfic story.

This was a cute little novella, but with an expanded backstory, more character development, and a few obstacles thrown in Frances' way, it could have made a quite enjoyable full novel. As it is, I felt a bit like I was being thrown into the middle of a series because of the lack of seemingly pertinent information about the characters' pasts. It was also difficult to get too invested in the story because there were truly no real obstacles. But overall this was enjoyable and I would give a full novel by Hepburn a shot.