Magnificent Devices Books 1-2: A steampunk adventure with a riches-to-rags found family

Book excerpt: She wants to be an engineer, but society will never allow it. Until riots break out in steampunk London and she seizes her chance... It’s 1889, and Lady Claire Trevelyan is expected to do nothing more with her life than catch a rich husband. Unfortunately, her talents lie not in the ballroom, but in the laboratory, where her experiments have an embarrassing habit of blowing up. When her father gambles the estate on the combustion engine and loses, Claire finds herself out in the street with nothing to her name but her steam landau and her second best hat. But the embarrassments of her old life might be the talents that save her now ... if she can stay alive long enough to barter her skills for a street gang’s protection. It’s not long before a new leader rises in the London underworld, known only as the Lady of Devices … a double life Claire must keep secret. Will she achieve her goal of an engineering degree? Will her loyalty to her friends be her undoing when it jeopardizes the plans of powerful men? And just how many funerals will her unfortunate mother be forced to arrange? “An immensely fun series, a wonderful main character (one of my favourites in the genre) and a great sense of Victorian style and language that’s both fun and beautiful to read.” —Fangs for the Fantasy: The latest in urban fantasy from a social justice perspective This two-book set contains Lady of Devices and Her Own Devices, the first two novels in the Magnificent Devices series. The series is meant to be read in order, but it is divided into duets and quartets for easy navigation. If you like books by Gail Carriger, Lindsay Buroker, or Nancy Warren, you’re in the right place. Enjoy!