Steamed – Katie MacAlister
Penguin Signet, 2010
334 pages
RRP: US$7.99
ISBN: 978-0-451-22931-1

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

As those who’ve been reading my reviews for a while will know, I really enjoy reading Katie MacAlister’s writing. Her books are funny, sexy, always interesting and slightly off-beat. Steamed is no exception. Telling the story of a steampunk aficionado who is somehow transported into the world of his imaginings, Steamed is a comic and sensual romp around airships, corsets and velocipedes.

Jack Fletcher is an electrical engineer whose experimentation accidentally transports his sister Hallie and himself into the hold of Captain Octavia Emmeline Pye’s Aerocorps airship Tesla, in a very different world. Jack is ecstatic to be exploring this amazing place, although he is somewhat perturbed that the women don’t wear their corsets outside their clothes, and that goggles aren’t a fashion accessory. The fact that he finds Captain Pye extremely attractive possibly has something to do with his ease of relocation. Hallie on the other hand, is in denial. Octavia, while first suspecting that the stowaways might be spies or revolutionaries, does her best to hide them from the Emperor’s officials, while fighting her own attraction to Jack.

Steamed is a worthwhile read for those who like their romance spiced up with a bit of SF&F. The characters are amusing, the plot moves along at a cracking pace, and the love scenes are, well, pretty steamy.

Steamed will be released in Australia in June, although it was released in the US in February. There’s an excerpt available on Katie MacAlister’s website if you’d like to try it out.