Birthdays and Birthmonths: Book B

Since roughly 90% of the people in my (Ms. Anderson's) life were born in June, I thought it would be fun to do a task related to birthdays!

For your first book, pick out your birthday month from this list and read a NONFICTION book about that topic.
...
December: History of Language (EXAMPLE: Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World)

For your second book, find out what day of the week on which you were born (if you don't know already) and read a FICTION book from that genre.
...Tuesday: Alternate History (EXAMPLE: The Yiddish Policemen's Union)
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Note: The books are two distinct categories, so therefore do not need to be related at all.

Book title and author:Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate, #1) by Gail Carriger
Info: published 2009 by Orbit
Where: Picked it up off the new book shelf at my college library
Rating: 4/5

This book was a breath of fresh air. I think reading this first chunk of the summary (via Goodreads) sums it up quite nicely.

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

First of all, what is "soulless"? Why are there vampires in Victorian England? And when have vampires ever been in the realm of social etiquette?

This first book in the series answers all those questions and more. It is a debut effort by Gail Carriger that mixes steampunk, paranormal elements and a powerfully strong heroine, adding a dash of romance and a whole smattering of intelligence. The writing is snarky and delicious and really brings you into a story where you have no trouble believing that vampires and werewolves are an integral and excepted part of English society.

With the resident werewolf love interest, Lord Maccon (who is to die for in his powerful manliness) and the lovable effeminate vampire Lord Akeldama are wonderful characters! And that only really names two. The secondary characters really round out the story and give it that extra something. The book is complete with horrible sisters, a mysterious society and all the glories of steampunk London.

It is worth taking a look. A good alternative to the many formulaic books on the shelf today. An interesting world, an interesting plot, awesome characters. Win, win, win.