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Steamed
(Steamed #1)
by
When one of Jack Fletcher's nanoelectromechanical system experiments is jostled in his lab, the resulting explosion sends him into the world of his favorite novel-a seemingly Victorian-era world of steampower, aether guns, corsets, and goggles. A world where the lovely and intrepid Octavia Pye captains her airship straight into his heart...
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Mass Market Paperback, 328 pages
Published
February 2nd 2010
by Berkley
(first published 2010)
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Ah….another of my life’s shitty decisions. Given the choice between reading this book or having one of my BERRIES ripped off by a rabid wolverine, I went with what I thought was the safe selection and read this book. Hindsight is now screaming a foul wind of obscenities at me because I didn’t go with the partial EUNUCHectomy.
This is one literary baby that should have been family planned a little better and prevented prior to conception. PAINFUL debilitating aneurysm doesn’t begin to describe th ...more
This is one literary baby that should have been family planned a little better and prevented prior to conception. PAINFUL debilitating aneurysm doesn’t begin to describe th ...more

Imagine yourself at work at your desk. Your crazy sister comes up to you with yet another one of her plans to hook you up with a girl. She shakes a canister, puts it down on your work, and poof - the whole world changes.
Steamed is Katie MacAlister’s steampunk romance novel. I must admit, I was a little perplexed by all the negative reviews for this novel. I really enjoyed it, as my updates can attest. I think I may have enjoyed this book more than the average Katie MacAlister reader because I ha ...more
Steamed is Katie MacAlister’s steampunk romance novel. I must admit, I was a little perplexed by all the negative reviews for this novel. I really enjoyed it, as my updates can attest. I think I may have enjoyed this book more than the average Katie MacAlister reader because I ha ...more

This book is a crime against the steampunk genre. At best, this is tepidpunk. Without the punk. Jack, the hero, supposedly puts on a front so others think he's charming, but MacAlister doesn't ever really show the reader where the line is between his real persona and his fake persona. Instead, Jack spends the novel calling Octavia by different bird names ("squab" was my favorite, close to a racial slur, yet still ornithological in nature). Octavia, the steampunk heroine, is supposed to be busine
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There has been a great deal of buzz in regards to Katie MacAlister’s Steamed, a so-called steampunk romance being released today. The main question lies, is Steamed such a book that may jump start steampunk for the romance genre that so many have been waiting for?
If Steamed is any inclination, I would have to say no. Steamed is an alternative universe with a post World War II feel rather then a Victorian Steampunk type setting. There’s a grating amount of times the term “steampunk” is mentioned ...more
If Steamed is any inclination, I would have to say no. Steamed is an alternative universe with a post World War II feel rather then a Victorian Steampunk type setting. There’s a grating amount of times the term “steampunk” is mentioned ...more

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for steampunk, and I have been for over a decade, so when I saw a steampunk trashy romance, I fell for it. That'll teach me. What would've otherwise been a mediocre story line was undermined by the square-peg-into-round-hole smushing-on of a "steampunk" premise. The problem is that, if you want people to think your book fits into a genre (possibly with the exception of vampires), the best way to do this is NOT to use the word on every other page. It's also not a good
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***Spoiler Alert***I’m going to preface my review by saying that I read a lot of romances. I would even venture to say that I’ve read thousands since I was a teen in every genre: Historical, contemporary, paranormal, suspense, you name it. Over the years I’ve learned that my expectations necessarily need to be adjusted according to the tone and style of the text, but to say that I was disappointed by this book is an understatement, and what follows is a bit of a rant. I fully acknowledge that I
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Utterly ridiculous...save your money and time. Let me just tell you what I didn't like since there is really nothing that I did like. The world itself was underdeveloped and frankly just ridiculous. For anyone to be calling this a steam punk novel and introducing this book to new readers of the genre as steam punk is very misleading and unfair to good steam punk novels such as Boneshaker. The world itself was hard to believe but so too were the charters, our hero had a lot of awards for deeds of
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3.2
This book wasn't groundbreaking or amazing enough to move mountains but it did the job. It was fresh, light and sexy.
If you like romance with your steampunk and a bit of physics you should like this book. It's a good beach read.
Some drawbacks:
The leads were constantly horny. Which would've been fine if there hadn't been two major instances in which having sex was clearly not the answer. Also, when your sister gets kidnapped in a strange land - is your first action to have sex?
Octavia's hist ...more
This book wasn't groundbreaking or amazing enough to move mountains but it did the job. It was fresh, light and sexy.
If you like romance with your steampunk and a bit of physics you should like this book. It's a good beach read.
Some drawbacks:
The leads were constantly horny. Which would've been fine if there hadn't been two major instances in which having sex was clearly not the answer. Also, when your sister gets kidnapped in a strange land - is your first action to have sex?
Octavia's hist ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

I tried. I tried so hard.
The main character, Jack, is the most insufferable asshole in romance history. He's a nerdy Quaker nanoelectrical engineer who loves cons and Steampunk and hasn't met a woman he can't seduce. Oh and everyone thinks he's Indiana Jones. From the second he's introduced to Octavia, the love interest, he treats her like dirt. Even if you wake up on a dirigible and believe yourself to be at a convention, you should no openly oggle a woman's breasts. You certainly cannot touch ...more
The main character, Jack, is the most insufferable asshole in romance history. He's a nerdy Quaker nanoelectrical engineer who loves cons and Steampunk and hasn't met a woman he can't seduce. Oh and everyone thinks he's Indiana Jones. From the second he's introduced to Octavia, the love interest, he treats her like dirt. Even if you wake up on a dirigible and believe yourself to be at a convention, you should no openly oggle a woman's breasts. You certainly cannot touch ...more

The book starts with a horrible “is that a blah-blah in your pocket” cliche which is usually enough to make me close the book there and then, but I rallied and kept reading.
Jack Fletcher spends the first chapter telling us why he is really not so-cool. Then dropping as many ‘steampunk’ references as possible along the way to his lab (he’s an engineer) he meets with his sister Hallie, who manages to spill a vial of something, which transports them into Steampunk land.
It’s not timetravel, we find.

For some reason I was under the impression that several people I know had read this book, found it funny and suggested I might enjoy it... I was wrong none of you have read it... If one of you would like to remind me what book you did actually read that would be awesome.
I don't know what to do with this starwise. I mean don't get me wrong this book is TERRIBLE, god damn fucking TERRIBLE. but it's one of those books that is so bad it's freaking hilarious, I laughed out loud multiple times.
But i ...more
I don't know what to do with this starwise. I mean don't get me wrong this book is TERRIBLE, god damn fucking TERRIBLE. but it's one of those books that is so bad it's freaking hilarious, I laughed out loud multiple times.
But i ...more

There are a few bits--a very few--that had promise. The airship corps was a fairly interesting concept, and one would think that a thirty-year old female airship captain, who has fought long and hard (apparently) to gain her rank would, y'know, be a good leader and command (or even demand) respect from those around her. Is this what happens? Hell, no. Instead, we are treated to a ridiculous hero (c'mon, the protagonist-from-the-real-world-magically-transported-to-a-fantasy world schtick sucks th
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The word that comes to mind when I think about trying to describe this book is quirky. If you're picking this book up, and think it's going to be similar to MacAlister's other series.. you are in for a bit of a surprise. It was funny in a weird way, but has nothing to do with dragons or demons or anything like that.
I suggest to look in the Glossary in the back and look it over before reading. This helped when the author throws around words all the time as if we're supposed to know what they mean ...more
I suggest to look in the Glossary in the back and look it over before reading. This helped when the author throws around words all the time as if we're supposed to know what they mean ...more

Oh, wow, this is indeed THAT bad. I feel stupid that I had to make sure.
I liked the idea, I enjoyed very much a few of the author´s books ( OTOH there were also a few on which I could not make it past the first couple chapters), and steampunk, light and fun, sounded irresistible.
The book even started out well, in a vaguely Jasper Fforde-ish tone. After the first chapter, it all does downhill. The worlbuilding is ridiculous and a bit tedious, the character interaction ludicrous, and the sexual ...more
I liked the idea, I enjoyed very much a few of the author´s books ( OTOH there were also a few on which I could not make it past the first couple chapters), and steampunk, light and fun, sounded irresistible.
The book even started out well, in a vaguely Jasper Fforde-ish tone. After the first chapter, it all does downhill. The worlbuilding is ridiculous and a bit tedious, the character interaction ludicrous, and the sexual ...more

DNF - This book was very disappointing. The author has made no effort to create an acceptable story within the Steampunk genre. There is no world building, the characters are uninterested and undeveloped, the interaction between the two is more like sexual harassment… I couldn't bring myself to finish this book.
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Zapped into the aether by a zany laboratory mishap, Jack Fletcher and his sister Hallie find themselves aboard a real live airship-in an alternate universe, at the mercy of Captain Octavia Pye and her crew of the Tesla. Grappling with the realization that they are far from Kansas and no Toto, Jack and Hallie are thrust into the madcap adventures of the Tesla, the ongoing war with the Moghuls (against the Emperor), and the revolutionary force Black Hand who are dead-set at toppling the Empire. An
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This book had some interesting potential but it fell terribly short. The romance was silly and heavy handed. The author couldn't seem to go more than two or three sentences before reminding the reader that the two main characters were hot for each other. The humor was passable. The sex was at times steamy but came at woefully inappropriate times in the narrative. If you're trying desperately to free your sister from a prison in an alternate universe, I don't believe even the most fabulous cleava
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I'm glad I'm not the only one turned off by the weird Quaker thing and the artificial sense of steampunk. Octavia Pye might have been a great character but I couldn't get past page 30 to find out. Jack was so uninteresting (too bland to be unlikable) I didn't care if he had sex with Octavia or not.
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1 Star
Jack and his sister, Haley, are thrown into the past due to an explosion in his lab. They wake up in the hold of a steampunk airship commanded by Octavia. A woman who's been very capable of taking care of herself looooooong before Jack showed up. Insta-affection from Jack to the Captain. Jack is Quaker who has no problem cussing, and is a pacifist. His macho attitude is a bit stupid considering he has no idea where he really is, what's going on, or who's who in Octavia's world. He's "the m ...more
Jack and his sister, Haley, are thrown into the past due to an explosion in his lab. They wake up in the hold of a steampunk airship commanded by Octavia. A woman who's been very capable of taking care of herself looooooong before Jack showed up. Insta-affection from Jack to the Captain. Jack is Quaker who has no problem cussing, and is a pacifist. His macho attitude is a bit stupid considering he has no idea where he really is, what's going on, or who's who in Octavia's world. He's "the m ...more

Mar 29, 2012
Stephanie Krause
rated it
did not like it
Shelves:
didn-t-hold-interest,
steampunk-fiction
This... This was just awful. I wanted to laugh every time I looked at the cover of the book and it read "NY Times BESTSELLING AUTHOR" because... No.
I FINALLY finished this book today. It has ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS cover art. Do not let it persuade you to try to read this book.
Read the reviews here. They don't lie. I wish I had before I picked this one up, it was just simply awful. So awful, it achieves the dubious distinction of being my first ONE-STAR book on Goodreads.
In short, the story was impl ...more
I FINALLY finished this book today. It has ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS cover art. Do not let it persuade you to try to read this book.
Read the reviews here. They don't lie. I wish I had before I picked this one up, it was just simply awful. So awful, it achieves the dubious distinction of being my first ONE-STAR book on Goodreads.
In short, the story was impl ...more

DNF... I just couldn't get into this one. The worldbuilding was a little too gimmicky, and it's mostly handled in somewhat confusing backstory. Jack's supposed to be a brilliant scientist-type, but seems far more interested in ogling Cpt. Pye's boobs than in exploring the ENTIRE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE he and his sister have just been plunked into. (Not to mention fondling her clothing-- who DOES that to a total stranger? That's just creepy, dude.)
And while I'm usually pretty okay with the idea of i ...more
And while I'm usually pretty okay with the idea of i ...more

I almost put this on my DNF shelf, but I thought to myself, "this is so ridiculous it's hilarious." So of course I kept on going.
Underneath the title it tells everyone it is "A Steampunk Romance." I guess we are all stupid because "steampunk" appears quite often in the text. A couple of examples: "-how we got on board an airship in what is evidently a steampunk world." -and- "Steampunk sweetheart."
The characters:
Hallie AKA shit for brains (I've been wanting to use that phase forever in a review ...more
Underneath the title it tells everyone it is "A Steampunk Romance." I guess we are all stupid because "steampunk" appears quite often in the text. A couple of examples: "-how we got on board an airship in what is evidently a steampunk world." -and- "Steampunk sweetheart."
The characters:
Hallie AKA shit for brains (I've been wanting to use that phase forever in a review ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

I gave up about page 130...
The premise was interesting and I kind of enjoyed the travel between parallel worlds but it dragged! There was plenty of bosom's description and a lot of backside and bustles and how the female character's scent was tormenting the hero but plot? It was nowhere to be seen! And it was ridiculous how a captain would be defied in front of her crew. Meljean Brook does a better work with her Yasmeen. ...more
The premise was interesting and I kind of enjoyed the travel between parallel worlds but it dragged! There was plenty of bosom's description and a lot of backside and bustles and how the female character's scent was tormenting the hero but plot? It was nowhere to be seen! And it was ridiculous how a captain would be defied in front of her crew. Meljean Brook does a better work with her Yasmeen. ...more

I like steampunk well enough, but this book is terrible. I couldn't stand the main characters. The story is very thin, and the world is very poorly developed (if at all). The sex was jarring. I read 'til page 257 waiting for it to get good -- what a waste of time. The whole thing was so irritating, it wasn't worth finishing. And if you haven't started it, don't. It's really not worth starting.
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This is a steampunk time travel romance. I enjoyed Jack and his sense of humor and admiration for intelligent women. BTW, there is a great deal of sex in this book which took away from the flow of the story (seemed that even though the author had a good idea for a story, they thought lots of sex would make it more marketable).

Wow. I love Katie MacAlister but I couldn't even get through this book. Flat characters, a weird plot, and a vibe that made me immediately think of fan fiction. I feel like this would have made a better novella than a novel.
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Is this suppose to be a parody? | 1 | 7 | Nov 13, 2014 05:56AM |
For as long as she can remember, Katie MacAlister has loved reading. Growing up in a family where a weekly visit to the library was a given, Katie spent much of her time with her nose buried in a book. Despite her love for novels, she didn't think of writing them until she was contracted to write a non-fiction book about software. Since her editor refused to allow her to include either witty dialo
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Steamed
(2 books)
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