Review – Geared for Pleasure by Rachel Grace

Publisher: Penguin
Publish Date: Out Now
How I got this book: Publisher

The world of Theorrey runs like a well-oiled machine. The elements are in balance, passion is tamed, and the young queen is the heartbeat of it all. But in these two all-new stories of elemental steam, nothing is ever as it seems.

Earthly Desires:
Demeter “Dare” Senedal is the Queen’s Chalice-her protector and closest companion. So when the queen goes missing, Dare rushes to locate her, even though the search leads her straight into trouble.

A gentleman who trades in secrets and sin, Bodhan revels in carnal delights, but when a naked and bound woman appears on his shore, he finds his hunger to possess at odds with his need to protect. As Bodhan shares his knowledge of pleasure, Dare must decide if she can trust him, both with her mission and her heart.

Fiery Temptations:
Seraphina always lands on her feet. After all, she is a Felidae-more feline than human-and an excellent thief. There has never been a job Phina wouldn’t take or a man who could tame her…until she meets Cyrus Arendal.

As the Queen’s Sword, Cyrus should have known better than to fall victim to a beautiful bandit. Now, to find and retrieve the moonfire dagger, he’ll need to convince Phina not to judge a man by his station, but rather by how completely he can satisfy her desires.
*Blurb from Goodreads*

I can’t count the number of times I picked up and put this book down since I got it. I was intrigued by the steampunk world, but could never really seem to find a time when I was in the mood to read it. I would get through the first couple pages and lose interest. I have to say, I wish I would have forced myself to read it sooner!!

This book actually has two stories: the first is about the Queen’s companion Dare. Dare is on a mission to find out who kidnapped the Queen and replaced her with a doppelganger. But her plans to find a specific airship are thwarted and instead she finds herself prisoner on a “Pleasure” submarine. Bodhan runs the sub and Dare instantly intrigues him, and he works hard to not only seduce her, but also uncover all her secrets.

I didn’t think this first story as much as the second. I don’t know if it was because so much of the world was being unveiled slowly, or because Dare and Bodham took some time to meet up, but either way it seemed to drag a bit in the beginning. Once things picked up, I found myself so entrenched in the story I had a hard time putting the book down. I wanted to know what was going on, who was who, and how they were going to find the Queen. It wasn’t until Dare and Bodhan leave the pleasure ship that the book started really turning around for me, but once it did, there was no stopping the awesomeness.

The sexy times between Dare and Bodham was so to develop, but so smokin’ hot. The sexual tension between them was done incredibly well, and I loved their little dance around each other as they moved toward a relationship. I hope we get to see a lot more of them as the series continues.

One of the things I also really enjoyed was that although the book was two separate novellas, the story was seamless overall. I didn’t feel like I missed anything when we changed from Dare/Bodham’s story to Phina/Cyrus’s story. The book follows the same crew of people once Dare and Bodham join up with the correct airship, and I hope we continue to follow this group of people as the story continues.

The second story follows Cyrus, the Queen’s sword. He has been through hell and back trying to find her, the worst of his problems: having to trust Phina, the woman who seduced him and left him to be kidnapped by his enemies. But the Queen trusts Phina, who was unaware of the plot behind Cyrus’ kidnapping. The tension between these two is enough to drive them both insane, if they aren’t killed by the Queen’s enemies first…

I adored Phina and Cyrus. Phina was the kind of heroine who could take care of herself, she didn’t need any man to come in and rescue her. But it also didn’t stop her from dreaming of that man. She has never had anyone to rely on, nor has she realized she wanted someone to rely on. I loved the vulnerability that Cyrus brought out in Phina, and the lengths that he went to for her. I can’t count the number of times he almost died for her, and he was more than willing to do it time and time again. They were a great couple that danced around their messy past before realizing that without each other, they both weren’t as strong.

These two had some holy amazing sexy times. They had angry sex, make-up sex, claiming sex. You name it, they had it…. But it also fit so well with their characters. I never felt as if it was just thrown in for the sake of it. They were great together both physically and emotionally.

The world-building in this story is incredible. While it took me awhile to get a good understanding of the world as a whole, as each detail was revealed, there was more and more that drew me in. I can’t wait to read more from Grace, see where the journey leads next, find out who took the Queen, where she is, and why her palace was always a little like a prison.

All in all this story was so engaging and fun to read. The first story built slowly and wasn’t as quick to reign in my attention, but once I was hooked, I couldn’t put it down. The sexy times were hot throughout the book, the world-building was just amazing and the characters (main and secondary alike) were all wonderful to read. I can’t wait to see where the series goes next, and get answers to my millions of questions!
I give Geared for Pleasure a B

 

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