My Lord Mayhem

Disenchanted & Co. #0.5

by Lynn Viehl

À l’occasion d’un bal, Laurana Walsh rencontre le célèbre lord Chaos. Nombreuses sont les rumeurs à son propos… On murmure par exemple qu’il est un génie de la diversion et qu’aucune serrure ne lui résiste. Le mystère le concernant est absolu car nul ne connaît son visage, toujours dissimulé par un masque. Celui des ennemis de l’Empire. Voilà de quoi attiser la curiosité de Laurana, bien décidée à résoudre l’énigme du séduisant cambrioleur...

Genres: Steampunk, Paranormal, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, Magic

72 pages, ebook

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

Also see S.L. Viehl, Gena Hale, Jessica Hall. Rebecca Kelly.

She writes mostly novels in a variety of genres and under several pseudonyms. Among them are science fiction (as S. L. Viehl), romantic fiction (as Lynn Viehl, Gena Hale, and Jessica Hall), and Christian fiction (as Rebecca Kelly). She has described herself as primarily a writer of romance: no matter what genre she is working in, an element of romance will always be present.

In what spare time remains she enjoys quilting, reading, cooking, painting, and knitting. She currently lives with her family in Florida.

Reviews

[Cheesecake · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story I googled for and read online.

Like most steampunk, the world building is complex for a short story and I found myself confused a couple times as to what the characters were talking about.

Laurana leads a sad life where her only friends are a group of misfits. Her own family despises her or just can't be bothered with her. And the only man she ever loved and was forced to give up, seems to hate her too. Percival's life spiraled into the gutter after she jilted him. In her endevours to discover the identity of a thief, she finds some truths closer to home.
I liked the intrigue and mystery. I loved Laurana's character but I found the ending kind of a swift overly convenient conclusion full of predictable irony. It was also too abrupt and not as romantic as I would have hoped considering his manwhoring ways over the previous years...

Although the story was a bit depressing, I would be interested in reading this author again!

[Thenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The short story that happens parallel to the first book in the series about an intriguing woman that was introduced there, Laurana Walsh.

While interesting and enjoyable, the story felt a bit too short and I would have liked to know more about the heroine and Lord Mayhem.

Thankfully, there's another short story about them Forget-Me-Knot, that I look forward to reading.

Edit: Forget-Me-Knot is not about them after all...

[Toshokan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Une belle entrée en matière

[ᴥ Irena ᴥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good, short, free story. Lady Laurana attends a ball when an infamous thief Lord Mayhem robs everyone there, so she decides to find him.
Since it is really short I won't write about what happens, nor what she feels or thinks. It would spoil the story. I like the writing, I like Laurana's voice and what kind of person she is and I am definitely going to read the first book in this series, Her Ladyship's Curse.

[Melindeeloo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I liked this little freebie story set in Viehl's Disenchanted & Co world - though there is very little of that world in this short. Still it was charming and I really liked the ending. The story crosses with Her Ladyship's Curse at the dinner scene with Kitt. I am looking forward to more of this series with magic, steampunk, and an alternate history US in which the Revolutionary War was won by the British.

[Carolyn F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a free read on the author's blog: http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/p/fre...

I'm just about to start the Disenchanted & Co series and am so glad I came across this free ebook from the author's blog. I'm sure it will give me a glimpse into what happened to begin the heroine's new life. Very good story.

[Loucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chouette entrée en matière de la série. On ne connaît pas encore grand chose du monde créé par l'auteur, mais ça a l'air vraiment sympa.

[Kirsten Lenius · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Lord Mayhem is set within the Disenchanted & Co story world in which Britain won the revolutionary war. It shows another perspective on the dinner scene found in Her Ladyship's Curse, but is its own tale, complete in itself.

Centered around Lady Laurana Walsh, eldest daughter of Lord Nolan Walsh, the banker, the story expands upon a character that we might not have gotten to know and shows us who she is and why, as well as revealing a few other surprises.

This novella length piece is available on Ms. Viehl's website ( http://toriana.blogspot.com )and is well worth the time to download and read. I am enthusiastically enjoying this new alternate history/steampunk world that she has built.

[☽ Rhiannon ✭ Mistwalker ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly liked it. It's extremely short, which is a problem because there is not nearly enough world-building. I had to check to make sure I was reading the first one because I kept getting the feeling I was supposed to know what the author was talking about. It started out super promising (a steampunk book with a large, spinster heroine? Yes please!) but the romance ended up being a bit confused. Might have done better as a novella or full-length book. But, I'll give the next one a whirl.

Edited to add: I read some reviews of further books in the series and there appears to be a love triangle and one of my other least-favorite romance tropes. So nevermind!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little novella, My Lord Mayhem is set within the Disenchanted & Co story world in which Britain won the Revolutionary war. It shows another perspective on the dinner scene found at the begining of Her Ladyship's Curse, but is its own tale, complete in itself. Has another strong willed woman in it.

I read this after Her Ladyship's Curse and enjoyed the link to events in it. Fun quick read.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a freebee off the authors website.It's a prequel to her new upcoming series and it is really good. It seems from the short that this will be steampunk adventure with magic and romance? I can't wait for the books to start coming out. Luckily that's tomorrow. :)

[Jess the Romanceaholic · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so in love with this series right now. :)

I'm actually quite sad that this was only a novella -- I think it could have been expanded quite beautifully into a full-length novel, and I'm hoping that these characters will make an appearance in future Disenchanted & Co books.

4/5 Stars

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, fun and adventurous. I really liked this novella. It's not quite as good as the main series, but certainly worth a read. Very wonderful of the author to share it for free. Kudos to Ms. Viehl!

[Orient · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading it. The story is interesting, attracting, the ending is unpredictable. It has crime, secret, magic, detective, love and surprise - my most wanted things in a book. Best Christmas present ever

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella filled in the blanks for me and has set up a future storyline.

[Kimberly]

Free on the author's Toriana site - http://toriana.blogspot.com/

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting little snippet that runs concurrently with the first book in the series.

[Georgiana]

Author's promo.

[Edna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick enjoyable read

[Deanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story set at the same time as book 1 in the series, hope to see more of Laurann and the Lord of Mayhem.

[Merideth · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting introduction in to Viehl's new world.