Move over Evie and Rick, there's a new sassy British/American pairing to sit upon the Shelf of Goals.

I literally cannot get over how much I adore Connie and J. F. and need more of them in my life.

Brass Queen itself is a whip-crack of a novel, setting a rapid pace form the first chapter which never lets up. Taking place in a fully realized streampunk Sheffield, Chatsworth wields her pen with finesse as she takes the reader through the misadventures and steps of a Plan with a capital "P" to set all wrongs right, and achieve a few more wins along the way. 'Plucky Heroine' does not quite describe Constance Haltwhistle to her full extent. Sassy, competent, headstrong, and hilariously stubborn, she inhabits a world that simply needs to keep up with her and refuses to make concessions to those who won't do as she says. She usually knows best, after all. And when she doesn't, J.F. is there with cautious bravado and the aid of vast experience to clean up the mess. Our two leads inhabit such a level playing field it is hard to determine who finishes the novel with the upper hand.

Which is just how it should be: Connie's faults illuminate J.F.'s strengths and vice versa; and when the two finally decide to stick together and form a Plan with a capital "P" as a team, they are unstoppable.

I laughed out loud far more than is appropriate for reading in bed late into the night, and couldn't wait to pick the novel back up in my waking hours. THIS is the book we need as 2020 comes to an end: a fun, fancy, joyous adventure reminiscent of The Mummy (1999).

I enjoyed this book but there were times that I felt like the story dragged a bit. I thought the characters were interesting and the story itself, kept me engaged. Constance is smart and opinionated and not afraid to do whatever she wants to do. Trusdale is American and a spy who gets dragged into Constance's world and even though she could bulldoze over just about anyone, he isn't afraid to challenge her. I really liked them together and thought Chatsworth did a great job of developing them separately as well as together.

There is plenty of action right alongside danger and interesting inventions so if you like the steampunk genre, you might enjoy this book. I'll be looking for more from Elizabeth Chatsworth in the future!

After making it 25% through The Brass Queen it's time to call it quits. While I love steampunk fantasy, I couldn't get into this one. While the premise was great, I felt that there was too much emphasis on the action and adventure and not enough on the characters. I read for the character development, and while Constance and Trusdale had their funny moments, I felt that they were a bit one-dimensional. With the heavy focus on the plot rather than these two, this story fell flat for me.

I chose not to finish this book at the end of Chapter 5. I really liked the concept of this book, which I hoped would put a feminist twist on the steampunk genre and generally be an entertaining read. Unfortunately, I had a few issues with this book that stopped me from enjoying it as much as I wished:

- there are too many steampunk concepts and ideas thrown at the reader in the early stages. Everytime I thought I'd gotten my head around what was happening and the time period this book was set in, something else would be thrown into the mix. At nearly 20% of the way in, I was still struggling to see an overarching plot through all the chaos.

- the main character is insufferable. I don't necessarily need my MCs to be likeable, but i do need them to be compelling, and Constance was neither for me. I found her unnecessarily belligerent and rude, and she felt like a parody of a fiesty redhead rather than a real person with fleshed out desires and motives.

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review.

Set in an alternate Victorian era, this book was part steampunk, at times humorous and part adventure. But the characters didn’t really do anything for me.

Overall, there’s A LOT going on in this one. The initial plot spun off into something completely different. Constance is both intelligent but completely hard headed and doesn’t take advice. Our villain of the piece seems to be pretty one dimensional. The twist regarding the characters at the end of the book almost felt unnecessary and to me was one of many reasons why Constance and Trusdale just don’t work as romantic partners for me.

I’m sure others will like this more than I did, but I just couldn’t connect with the characters.

Ms Chatsworth, whom I virtually met on Litsy ages ago, knows how to write, and the ARC I read clearly showed all the hard work she has put into the book. It was relaxing to read something that had a well thought through timeline and plot, AND there were no inconsistencies whatsoever – something to bring out the champagne for, actually.

What’s the story about? The story is about Constance Haltwhistle, daughter of a baron who’s been absent from his estate for ages, and arms dealer to a company called Steamwerks. And Mr Trusdale, a Stetson wearing American who is and is not the person he pretends to be.

Although Constance lives in an alternate Steampunk Victorian age, she still can’t inherit her father’s estate. Since her father has been absent for a very long time, her uncle is threatening to seize the estate from under Constances bustle, if she can’t manage to snag a decent husband within the next week.

Her coming out ball is a big success until the three exo-suits that were meant as pure decoration start moving seemingly on their own accord and abduct three scientist friends of Constance’s. That’s when Constance decides that, although she is on the planning committee for the royal visit of the Queen, taking place in a few days, and actively looking for a husband, she needs to rescue her friends at all costs.

Aided by the cowboy Mr Trusdale, her coach man and her butler, Constance is on a mission to bring her big plan of rescuing her friends to fruition. Which means, the reader may settle in for a mad-cap ride through a well-designed and thoroughly thought out world-building with weirdly funny characters and excellent pacing.

DNF. Not really my cup of tea, though I'm sure others will like it. I found it too action oriented, without much character development. I honestly thought at the beginning that I was reading the 2nd book of a series because there was a lot of backstory just dumped on the reader, in the way a 2nd book might remind readers of what happened in the first. But no, not the case. The characters are 2 dimensional, and it's just action scene after action scene with many descriptions of steampunk tech, some of which was fun but others? A carriage that has a built in breakfast cooking... apparatus? Meh.

Featuring a ruthless and deceptive cast of characters, set in the cutthroat world of the upper-class in a steampunk Victorian England, The Brass Queen is must read gaslamp fantasy. Full of witty banter and social faux-pas, you'll swoon you'll laugh out loud, you won't regret picking up this book.

3.5 stars

In this reimagining of Victorian England, a witty and unconventional young girl has to find a husband. Soon, otherwise her family's entire fortune goes to her detestable uncle. A chance encounter with a rugged american cowboy will unravel a conspiracy to depose the Queen herself.
I feel this book could have benefited from more editing, but the story is solid, the characters compelling, and the worldbuilding intriguing.

The writing - ⭐⭐
The story - ⭐⭐
Overall - ⭐⭐

This was my first time reading a Steampunk novel, and it could well now be my last. My hope is that this was just a poor choice for an introduction, because I couldn't even finish this one.

The main character is incredibly unlikeable, unbearably unlikeable and it made reading this an absolute slog, the style of writing is also not great, so I gave up pretty quickly.

The Brass Queen is a multifaceted book with lots of character. From the ridiculous speeches the main character gives, to her bravery, her confidence and her intelligence. While situations depicted in the book are not entirely realistic, it made for a great read.

It is a lovely mix of fantasy, history, romance and Tech. The Brass Queen has a rather fresh view of Tech and it's possibilities as well as male/female relationship dynamics.

A great read.

A clever, atmospheric mystery full of fun and romance that keeps you enthralled until the very last page!

The Brass Queen is a steampunk romance in the style of Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate. Elizabeth Chatsworth writes with a frenetic pace, introducing new concepts on practically every page up until the last one. This breakneck style might work for many readers, but we found ourselves longing for a low-key, quiet scene to catch our breaths.

The plot: it's absolutely ludicrous - at its heart it involves an inheritance issue that requires our main character, Constance Haltwhistle, to marry by the end of the week in order to retain her ancestral holdings. However it grows tangentially to include an attempt on Queen Victoria's life with side stops in "the multiverse," illegal arms dealing, Scandinavian and American spies, and the strangest polo match you'll ever read. Convoluted and ridiculous plots aren't always a deal breaker, but they must be matched by strong storytelling in other parts of the novel.

The characters: they are all drawn in the broadest of strokes. Constance is hardheaded, aristocratic, intelligent, and beautiful. She takes no shit but also takes no advice, either. Truesdale (first name in question) is American - and if you've read steampunk or historical romance, you know what that means: he's convinced of his own infallibility, doesn't care about social conventions, is supremely competent at his job, and is super patriotic. Finally our villain is so ridiculously villainous that he's not content only to hatch a plot to depose the queen - he also has his former lovers (and their new lovers) killed, backstabs all of his allies, and can't wait to debauch Constance before he kills her.

The politics: this is perhaps the portion of the book that was most confusing. Victoria's British Empire is parodied as a structure in place simply to bring the best of the world's food to Britain. Constance is a gifted weapons maker who sells her creations to the highest bidder and doesn't seem to make the connection between the constant worldwide conflict and the product she provides. Trusdale is out to save America, but once he realizes that Britain is no threat, he has no care for the rest of the world. And of course, the fact that there are multiverses out there that could destabilize reality added the threat of total annihilation on top of everything. We were not sure how we were meant to feel about these issues. Was Constance a moral person at heart? Is Victoria's empire a stabilizing force in the world? Although enjoyable, it was also nonsensical to the point of detracting from the story.

All of these points aside, if you are a fan of the OTT Steampunk AU, you'll probably enjoy checking this one out.

This objective review is based on a complimentary advanced reader copy provided by NetGalley and and CamCat Publishing.

I generally do not read much from the romance genre, but thought this might be a fun change of pace. Set in an alternate reality where Queen Victoria had set out to greatly expand the British Empire. Since the book only deals with aristocrats, all we see of this is the availability of various foodstuffs coming and going throughout the novel -- there is no discussion of the impact of war on the everyday man, nor of the fact that the heroine of the novel is an arms dealer.

The writing itself is quite good, and the plot is fun if you are willing to suspend your disbelief and allow yourself to be swept along. If you read romance for racy sexy bits, you will be disappointed. This is not that kind of book. Flirtation and flashes of petticoats is all you will find here.

Spoiler: My quibble with this book and the reason behind the reduction of one star is that it is left until the very end to reveal the true identities of both of the romantic leads to each other. Trusdale is masquerading as his brother, and Constance is hiding the fact that she is an arms dealer. They both find these things out about each other at the very last minute and it doesn't seem to affect the way they feel about each other. Those feelings barely seemed to make sense anyway; they seemed to be built more on attraction and convenience than anything else, so it seems a bit of a stretch to expect them to also survive fairly substantial lies/misinformation about identity with nothing more than a bat of an eye.

I feel that I really should have liked this book much more than I did. It has so many raving reviews I was so excited to read it. Maybe the humor just isn't my style. I also didn't like Constance Haltwhistle at all. she was rude, condescending, and had no people skills what so ever. She runs all over Trusdale, has him arrested for no reason then blackmails him. His response is to just roll over and take it, I just think this book wasn't for me.

The Brass Queen is a thoroughly delightful steampunk romp with loads of witty banter and endearingly quirky characters. Constance Haltwhistle is a kickass heroine who designs lethal weaponry while still trying to adhere to proper etiquette according to her trusty copy of Babett's Modern Manners. J.F. Trusdale is the mysterious American who becomes her reluctant ally in a quest to find three kidnapped scientists. Imaginative and amusing, it kept me entertained to the very last page. Truly, a fun, escapist read! I'm already looking forward to next book in this enchanting series.

The Brass Queen by Elizabeth Chatsworth is an excellent historical fiction/science fiction/romance/fantasy novel that gives the Steampunk genre a whole new gleam and shimmer.

I loved all of the facets that this book possessed: action, adventure, fantasy, romance, complex and fascinating characters, a great plot, and is a great book all around. It was fun, addicting, playful, sassy, and serious all at the same time.

This is a new author for me, as well as a dabble into a genre that I am only just starting to really get into and enjoy. A lot of other books have quite a bit to live up to after reading this one, however. I was thoroughly engrossed with this story and loved the interplay, chemistry, banter, and wit between Miss Constance Haltwhistle and J. F. Trusdale.

I was surprised when I finished this book in less then two days...that is most certainly a compliment. If you are looking for a great and epic adventure, you need to read this one.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and CamCat Books for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication on 1/12/21.

Oh my goodness what a fun, steam-powered adventure story THE BRASS QUEEN was From the first line in the book, "The grass is always greener in another dimension," the main character, Constance Haltwhistle steps directly off the page and brings her entire steampunk world with her... I couldn't decide it it was true inter-dimensional travel on Haltwhistle's part or if it was just Chatsworth's splendid writing (which is utterly perfect).

If you're looking for a light-hearted, laugh-out-loud Steampunk adventure story with a sharp main character and an equally multi-dimensional (...universe dimensions or character dimensions?) cast of absurdly hilarious characters, then you absolutely must pick up THE BRASS QUEEN.

3 stars

This was a pretty good read for me!

This book has a rich backdrop and plenty of action throughout the story. The action is well-paced and I liked the course of where the book took us throughout this unified mission. The characters as well were perfect; I love Cosntace and how she deals with these missions and how she contrasts with J.F's brooding and dark personality.

Some cons were that I wanted MORE MORE MORE chemistry with Constance and J. F. If the chemistry was amped up I could have given it a four-star and been extremely happy, but alas the chemistry went flat. The dialogue was great but if we just had more it would have really taken it to the next level. As well it was really hard to immerse myself into the steampunk world; it would have been much easier to digest and read if Chatsworth gave more particular scenery details and overall information about this world because if really didn't seem formed.

Overall not a bad read at all and I will be keeping an eye out for more of Chatsworth's work.

this was a lot of fun to read, it had what I was looking for in a steampunk series and I really enjoyed getting to know the characters and their world.