Friday Reads: The Dark Unwinding series review!!

Hey there guys!

This week I'm trying to catch up with some of my backlogged reviews, since I haven't stopped reading even if my motivation to blog wasn't at its higher!

So trying to catch up, I'm gonna have a series review for this week's Friday Reads. Also since this series had been in my Kindle for a looong time (ever since Kristen from My Friends Are Fiction recommended it to me), it also counts towards my Rock My TBR Challenge!!

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron

This was Sharon Cameron's debut book, but when I read this one I had already fallen in love with her writing after reading Rook.

I really love how Sharon Cameron writes historical fiction, the voice and the details all resonate and paint a very vivid picture. It's clear she'd done her research and done it well! But the details don't boggle either the pacing or the plot nor takes over the character development. I adored the steampunk element that was present due to all wondrous mechanical toys and inventions.

Katharine is a girl that doesn't have an easy future ahead of her in the time period, since she's dependant on her aunt and will be dependant on her cousin for her life and money. She finds herself torn between selfishness trying to secure herself a future and doing what's right. It is quite a struggle and it's not easy for her or for the rest of characters she meets in her uncle's manor. As I was reading, I feared there would be a love triangle, but even if it sort of hovered there, it never came to realize itself as one, even if Katharine herself pondered about it. It's quite clear where the feelings are pointing, and my suspicions about one of the suitor's character were well founded, even if I was not suspecting exactly THAT.

Even if it's the first book of a duology, there's no real plot cliffhanger on this one, but there is quite the emotional cliffhanger to it! I will not give more details because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. Very much deserved 4 stars for this stunning debut!

A Spark Unseen by Sharon Cameron

I really enjoyed this sequel, maybe not as much as the first book, but there were some bits that still made me really enjoy it.

The action starts pretty much with a bang and Katharine needs to take measures to protect her uncle and herself, and so she concocts a not entirely fool proof scheme and goes to "hide" in Paris. The political and historical conspiracy is more preminent in this one, something that had been introduced in the first book, but that didn't drive the plot as much as it did this time, even if it was at the centre of the motivations of some of the characters.

Katharine needs to be more involved in the society this time, and even if she doesn't really care of whatever rumours or hereasay might be floating, she needs to keep a low profile to make her scheme work, and that's not something she's too good at. She's used to be in charge and charging along, and here she's much more out of depth that she had anticipated, even if her instincts were right. She finds some unexpected allies too and realizes she had judged others as wrongly as she had been judged.

The sort of love triangle was solved in book 1 and here we deal with a certain "protecting the reputation" and "not being good enough" tropes, but I'm really glad how Katharine managed to call the guy on his bullshit and asserted herself properly!

Once again 4 stars for this one, even if I was a bit torn between the 3.5 to 4 stars.