Review: The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale

Book: The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell
Stand Alone or Series:  Stand-Alone
Pages:  83

Genre:  Steampunk / Historical Romance

Buy A Copy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble 

Available Formats: Ebook
Publication Date: April 25th, 2011

Publisher: Carina Press

How Did I Get This Book: From Netgalley for Review

First Line: “A blast of sunlight punched through the persistent blackness, backlighting my eyelids in a hazy wash of red."

Preview Book: Preview on Google Books

Description: I'm a time pirate—born in 1810, now a 21st-century woman. I travel through time trying to right wrongs without disrupting the fragile balance between what is and what can never be. That's why it's vital that I go to 1836 and find the man who conned my brother out of his Time Travel Mechanism as quickly as possible. If the technology falls into the wrong hands, it could change the world as we know it. The notorious Duke of Leister definitely qualifies as the wrong hands. An amateur scientist of the slightly mad variety, he's bound to figure out how to use the TTM sooner rather than later.

I knew this wouldn't be easy. But I wasn't counting on him being as sexy as hell. Or winding up chained to his bed…

The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale by Christine Bell has a surprisingly tender and romantic storyline. After reading the description, I got it in my head that this would be an amusing sort of light read. While the book was certainly amusing; the plot ran much deeper than I initially expected. This is both a triumph and a fault with the book, because although it is ambitious and intriguing, there really isn't enough time in 80 pages to work with a storyline like this.

It’s a short book, but the character of Stormy is still able to make an impact on the reader. Our heroine is a time-pirate, a self-proclaimed sort of Robin Hood of the future. She travels through time righting wrongs - as long as it doesn’t have a large impact on the world of the future. She chose the name Dorothy Gale for herself after her first encounter with the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz. Of course, she doesn’t go by Dorothy, she is known as Stormy. Stormy has a vibrant personality and is desperately loyal to those she cares about. Her internal narrative is exceedingly charming, witty and humorous; which makes the story easy to take.

The storyline moved along at a rapid pace; especially the romance between Devlin and Stormy. I was incredibly thrown off by how in-depth Devlins feelings were towards her. Granted, the author can’t draw things out too much in a novella, but I would have liked to see their romance develop a bit more gradually. Bell tries to remedy the situation by making Devlin an acquaintance from Stormy’s past life, but still, they haven’t seen each other in over 13 years. 

I think if the stormy would have been a bit longer, Bell could have developed a better foundation for the relationship between Devlin and Stormy and it would have made their courtship easier to swallow. As it is, their background is sketchy at best and it makes Devlin appear incredibly obsessive. You don’t ever really get a good feel of him; unfortunately, he is never properly fleshed out. 

That being said, I honestly enjoyed the story. Sure I wish it could have been longer, I would have liked to a fuller picture of the characters and settings, but this was still an entertaining read. I just feel with more development, it could have been a great read. I would classify this more as a historical romance with steampunk elements tossed in - there are obvious elements of a steampunk story, but it takes more of a backseat to the romance storyline.

Favorite Quotes:

"But, if I'm being honest, I have an unholy obsession with hot showers and Starbucks coffee that keeps me motivated to limit the duration of my trips."

"Presented with this stunning batch of man candy, I was feeling a bit unnerved and uncharacteristically shy."

"Had my libido gotten the better of me? Sure, he looked great, but if he planned to cut my head off with some old-fashioned lopping shears or make a dress out of my skin, it was so not worth it."