Clockwork Mafia (Badlands #2) by Seleste deLaney

Clockwork Mafia (Badlands #2) Reviews

• 
  Beth

  Marshall Carson Alexander lost his love to a mafia execution. Now his sole focus is to bring down the mafia element. He believes if he proves the connection between Senator Mason and the mafia he will exact his revenge. With Senator Mason's death, his best hope is Henrietta Mason, the Senator's daughter. Carson has chance meeting with Henri happened at a masquerade ball. Unbeknown to Carson, his quarry was the beautiful woman in the butterfly mask that intrigued him all night.
  
  Dr. Henrietta Mason father has just died. Retiring from her airship, she has returned to Philadelphia to clean up her father’s affairs. Henri knew her father had nefarious connections, but she never realized that she would become the target of the criminal element her father was working with.
  
  Unaware of the danger following her, Henrietta heads out one last time into the Badlands. Carson follows quickly on her heels, hoping to protect the only person that can help him achieve his goal. But Carson is not the only one following Henrietta, her father’s manufactured creatures are in pursuit as well. In a land of desolation and violence, Henri and Carson must rely on their intelligence to save them from a superiorly enhance adversary.
  
  Seleste deLaney writes a dramatic story of a dark world touched with violence, crime and mechanicals while carefully weaving emotional connections and even love into this harsh world. I truly enjoyed reading this book. The characters were colorful and interesting and the story was fast paced and action packed which kept me anxiously turning the pages. The Clockwork Mafia was an amazing, dark, brutal, steampunk voyage you should definitely take.
  
  This copy of Clockwork Mafia was given to me by Carina Press in exchange for a honest review. This book was published April 29, 2013.
  
  

  
  
  
• 
  Dianne

  Dr. Henrietta Mason’s father, a Senator, has just died. After cleaning up his affairs, she now wants to take her place in Philadelphia Society, starting with a masquerade ball where she meets Carson Alexander, a dashingly handsome, slightly rough-around-the-edges, U. S. Marshall . Carson is hot on the trail of the mafia and the late Senator Mason’s suspected ties to organized crime. He also has a personal interest in bringing the mafia down.
  Clockwork Mafia takes us from the ballrooms of the elite to the dust and grit of the Badlands, where Henrietta and Carson must rely on their own devices in a battle against the enhanced army of the mafia and the terrifying creatures her father helped create. Their attraction, even in a time of extreme danger is undeniable.
  
  Seleste deLaney has created a darkly dramatic world full of deceit where even the criminals are trying to outsmart each other and death is a way of life. Her characters have many facets to them, Henrietta didn’t quite fit anywhere in the eyes of others until she finally came to grips with what she REALLY wanted! (A Steampunk Coming-of-Age Story?) The author’s ability to create backgrounds so desolate and savage strength to the characters who thrive in these places, while pulling out all stops in the action had me lost in her amazing world! Clockwork Mafia gets one star for the plot, one for the characters, one for the action, one for the cover, and one for being Steampunk!
  
  An ARC edition was provided by NetGalley and Carina Press in exchange for my honest review. Publication Date: April 29, 2013
  
  
• 
  Melissa Hayden

  I love this world! We start in the Union, but don't fret you'll be in the Badlands before you know it. Henrietta is different from Ever, but she has a steel backbone of her own and morals she will stick too. Loved reading Henri and the clockwork world revolving around her.
  
  
  ****FULL REVIEW****
  Carson had staked his career on the two men behind the mafia and now one's dead and the other's hidden. Left with no clue in Mason's private lab he's stuck...and someone's to pay for a death they were to help prevent. Unwantingly, Carson goes to a gala to raise money for a children's charity program, showing how needed the Marshals are, with hopes of finding some information among the attendees to find the man leading the mafia of nearly unkillable men to lock him away forever. But not what, but who he finds this night and not knowing is attracted to her, as she is to him, and takes them both on an adventure they never expected.
  
  Henrietta Mason is working hard to maintain the status her family had, after being sent away for so long, attending the gala. To reclaim her families social standing, with her father dead and the tarnished history of her own, Henri will need a respectable husband. Will one allow her to be who she is? Maybe Henrietta will find the one thing that will trump the need...Love. There are other things than the gold in the Badlands that are desired, what Henri doesn't know of her father's work could get her killed.
  
  First I have to say, I didn't know if I'd like Henrietta. I left Badlands and Ever's thoughts not much liking Henri. That was Ever's feelings. As soon as I started Clockwork Mafia, I loved Henri. She is completely different than I viewed her through Ever's eyes. WOW! Seleste is talented in turning me a 180 to love Henrietta, and want more with her. And we get to see Ever through Henri's eyes.
  
  I love this world!! We start in the Union, but don't fret we go back to the Badlands in no time. Henrietta is different from Ever, but she has a steel backbone of her own and morals she will stick too. Loved reading Henri and the clockwork world revolving around her. Oh...the things Henri's father created and the monster of a man at the lead - one way or another he will get the clockwork plans and payment.
  
  We get the story through Carson's and Henrietta's eyes. This gives us a whole new view of the mafia we are after being they are from the social life of Philadelphia and not the Badlands. There is also something growing between the two, even though Henri might want it, she needs someone else. Not only does Henrietta make Carson feel for the first time in years, she might have information she isn't aware of and be in danger from a kind Carson has faced once before - and doesn't look forward to facing again.
  
  Quickly the story brings Carson and Henrietta together. And there's CHEMISTRY! I'm drawn to the attraction here. We learn what each of the two's goal is, until they meet.
  
  I feel like we start with a masked Cinderella feel at the gala with a twist of mafia of clockwork enhanced men, danger, and deception. The more I read the more I'm feeling a Firefly feel. (yes, I finally saw the show and movies and this fits that feel.)
  
  You could read this one without reading Badlands, but meeting Ever up front and personal is awesome! There are mentions of the last story that lead to the way things are now, so you will not be completely lost.
  
  I did NOT want to stop reading this one. For several reasons. The story, the action, what each person in the chase wanted, strong woman of different types of strong, and maybe a relationship? And the world! Wow. I want more!
• 
  Jaclyn

  Clockwork Mafia is second in deLaney’s Badlands series. In Clockwork Mafia U.S. Marshal Carson Alexander is on the trail of the mafia leader who is responsible for the murder of the woman he loved and the trail leads him to the Senator Mason. However, Senator Mason is dead and his inventor daughter, Henrietta, is left to soft through his lab. Sensing that Henrietta is in danger, Carson follows Henrietta into the Badlands to protect her from the mafia thugs who are also after Henrietta.
  
  Henrietta Mason is determined to leave behind her life as an airship physician and return to Philadelphia society; however, her father’s crimes and her time in the air have changed her making her return to society difficult. Henrietta is confronted with the knowledge that her father was in bed with the mob, making her question herself.
  
  To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of this novel. I had read the first book in the series, Badlands, and wasn’t crazy about the characters, but I gave this one a shot because the description of the characters appealed to me more. I liked the fact that Henrietta was questioning everything she knew because of the revelations about her father, but in the end I felt a little bored by the story. I guess, I was expecting more of a romance and got more of a crime drama/western.
  
  I think this one will appeal to fans of western and the steampunk genre. The author was able to create an intriguing alternate American society and I think the novel is something that would appeal to fans of stronger steampunk books because these features were a large part of the novel. Overall, Clockwork Mafia was strong storytelling; I just could have used more character interaction between Carson and Henrietta.
  
• 
  Julie-anne

  Henrietta wants nothing more than to be rid of reminders of her father's betrayals and no-good-ery (it's a word, I swear!) but while she's in Philadelphia finishing stuff up, she meets Carson and feels an attraction towards him ... and him to her. When he discovers who she is, Carson finds her just as she's leaving for the Badlands and stumbles into a mafia raid of the Dark Hawk. Following her to the Badlands, he helps her with her father's things and her mafia trouble and neither one of them can fight the attraction they feel (despite Henri trying to ignore it).
  
  Readers of my blog know that I know Seleste and I like to troll her by telling her her books aren't long enough ... this one is no different - "Hey Sel, it's too short!"
  
  Seriously though, I loved this book. It's weird how reading from another person's POV can change your perspective of another character. In Badlands, I liked Ever's straight to the point talk and no shit attitude - but in this from Henri's POV? I found I really disliked her, and vice versa, I'm pretty sure I disliked Henri in Badlands but I really liked her in this.
  
  It's the whole thing of getting inside someone's head, I think. In Badlands, we were seeing Henri through Ever's eyes and she came across a bit stuck up and up herself. Whereas in this, you get to know that even though she's like that, she doesn't want to be like that and as much as she wants to be herself she feels she has to act the way society expects her to.
  
  I'm glad to say that Carson changed her mind and her choices. Still love this world that Seleste has created and I can't wait to read more ...... there will be more, right?
• 
  Lynsey is Reading

  Steam but no sizzle.
  
  I find myself slightly frustrated after finishing CLOCKWORK MAFIA. Like I've been short changed somehow. You see, its synopsis reads like that of any other romance novel—albeit a steampunk one—with a bit about the heroine and a bit about the hero. So I was kind of expecting a full on romance. You know, with heated kisses and intimate scenes and stuff like that. But, nope it was sadly lacking in that department. Only a couple of smooches which had little impact. And, you know, I can happily read a book with no sex in it just fine, so it's not like I'm some insatiable smutmonster or anything. But it's all about expectations. I expected more romance, I didn't get it, so I'm disappointed. So on the romance front, it gets a very low score.
  
  However, on the Steampunk side of things, I really enjoyed it. I loved that Henrietta was so skilled with machines and clockworks, even if it did land her in hot water more often than not thanks to her late father's dealings with the mafia. I also loved that the hero, Carson, was still amiable despite being a man hell-bent on vengeance for his murdered fiance these last eight years. And the descriptions of all the various instruments were great, and the plot in general was entertaining, if fairly short. Hey, maybe they could have made it longer with some sex scenes! Just a thought.
  
  So, all in all an entertaining steampunk, but a disappointing romance
  
  3 Stars ★★★
  ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Danielle Annett

  My Review: This was one of those books that I requested as an ARC simply because I loved the cover. Isn't it just beautiful?! So the cover gets a high rating alone but the story within was an amazingly captivating read. The story centers around Henrietta Mason (Henri) a woman discovering where her place in society lies. She has recently lost her father and finds that his many previous crimes in life are coming back to haunt her. Along the way she meets Carson Alexander, a Marshal bent of avenging the death of his late fiance and bringing down the mafia that Henrietta's late father had been previously assisting. Together the two carve out a place for each other and we see their relationship blossom though Henri does her best in the beginning to push Carson away. I really got sucked into this book and Henri's emotional turmoil regarding were in life she fit in. This was a must read for me and the secondary characters catch my attention just as much as the main characters do. I was excited to find out that a novella existing about Ever who is just one of those characters you can't help but love and hate at the same time. All in all this was a terrific book that I would highly recommend.
  
  My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.
• 
  Kara-karina

  Fun, short, intriguing and left me hungry for more. Ironically for Carina Press title, the romance is not what keeps you hanging in this book. The romance is just there like an afterthought.
  
  What fascinates you is Henrietta's formidable character as a doctor and an inventor, and one pretty wicked villain made of clockwork and pure evil, - Gambini.
  
  The rest, although interesting, - the kingdom of Badlands; the mafia headed by Don Lupo; larger than life, fierce Ever; the array of inventions by Henrietta and her father... fades a bit into the background.
  
  I'd like to know more about Henri's father for example. How did he become this evil inventor and yet helped Carson's fiance's medical condition? What's Gambini's background? Why so much interest in St.Clair?
  
  I'm pretty sure it's my own fault in missing out on the first book of this series, Badlands, which would have probably answered my questions. So make sure you read book one before you start Clockwork Mafia for a more satisfying experience. Otherwise it's a very engaging and easy read!
  
  
• 
  Ginny Lurcock

  So I actually read Badlands too, with every intention of reviewing it before, you know, today��� but that did not happen. Which has little to do with this actual review except to let you know that later if (okay��� when) I compare the two I���m not blowing smoke out of my ass.
  
  This time.
  
  Probably.
  
  But enough about me, lets discuss clockwork dragonflies. (It���s really hard not to tell the dragonfly anecdote right now, but I���ve already said enough about me���) Henry was not so much a likable character in the first go round of this series. Actually ���fucking deplorable��� might be a better description for her, so expectations were not high when it came time to tell her story.
  
  Thankfully, as is so often the case, I was wrong.
  
  Henry becomes this beautifully flushed out three dimensional character with flaws and hidden strength and mother fucking clockwork dragonflies. That she built. All on her own. Along with other automatons that she either built or modified from being simply functional to fully functioning works of art.
  
  Which just reaches out and grabs me by my steampunk nerdgirl heart every time.
  
  Carson, Henry���s counterpart, is also a good character. Okay, honestly, I read the book like 10 days ago and while I liked Carson, I didn���t like him as much as the male lead in Badlands and there wasn���t much that stood out enough for me to remember him. Except for when they first meet at the ball. And his unwavering determination to follow his goals through to the end. And a lot of time spent recovering from wounds. Physical ones I mean since the emotional ones take the entire book to resolve and boy are they doozies.
  
  ���
  
  Well damn, apparently Carson did leave a mark.
  
  And that���s without getting into the plot, which could be disturbing and, quite frankly, overly graphic at times. Not in the sense that this shit wouldn���t have happened. Probably in more graphic ways then it was described in the book. It was just a bit much for my delicate sensibilities. Honestly though, the plot was excellent. Gritty and real and exciting and holy shit was that all in 250 pages? They���ve got to be using some kind of temporal magic to cram that much in and not make it feel rushed.
  
  Excellent pacing, characters, story line and it���s steampunk with clockwork dragonflies. What more could you ask for?
  
  4 stars
  
  
• 
  Lark of The Bookwyrm's Hoard

  Review originally published at
  The Bookwyrm's Hoard.
  
  Clockwork Mafia is an entertaining and at times suspenseful romp. Henri and Carson are both sympathetic characters; the fact that their relationship was inevitable didn’t prevent me from rooting for them, both singly and together. Their initial attraction did feel a little too sudden to me, perhaps because the author didn’t spend much time establishing their personalities before throwing them together. Once I got past that, the progression of their relationship worked pretty well, though there’s still not a lot of depth to the character development. Their final resolution was satisfying, though perhaps a little too pat.
  
  The adventure itself is also entertaining, albeit somewhat clichéd – a mash-up of pulp-fiction-era adventure, western, thriller, and science fiction tropes that work surprisingly well together, rather like one of the clockwork creations in the book.
  
  Clockwork Mafia is the second book in a series. I hadn’t read the first one before starting Clockwork Mafia, and that may have been a mistake. The first book, Badlands, must have contained a significant amount of world-building, some of which is not well-explained in the second book. I found myself scrambling to understand a number of things: what was meant by “the Badlands," the Badlands’ social structure, and Henri’s position and relationship to the crew of the airship, among others. I was eventually able to catch up, but it would make more sense to start with the first book in the series.
  
  Bottom line: If you like steampunk and you’re looking for fun, fast-paced suspense with a kiss of romance, give Clockwork Mafia and its precedessor, Badlands, a try.
  
  FCC disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
  
• 
  Cecilia Tan

  This was a fun book mixing steampunk and romance, but there were times when the romance was a little too breathless for me. It's as if every character's emotions are cranked up all the way to 11, even the secondary characters, and eventually that just feels fatiguing and starts to lose impact. By this I mean, for example, one of the other characters can't simply be miffed at our heroine, she has to be ENRAGED!! and so on. I see this kind of oversaturated emotion often enough in romance that I'm sure some readers won't be bothered by that. This has a quick-moving plot, and a strong, smart, and thoroughly feminine heroine. If you're a science fiction reader you have to get over the fact that no explanation for how the clockworks actually WORK is ever given. (It's not by steam-power, obviously, when things like artificial limbs can animate dead bodies and a deadly, dragonfly hair-pin can fly through the air.) The pseudoscience is there as part of the steampunk milieu so just sit back and enjoy the adventure without looking at it too closely. (It's also possible the explanation is given in the other book in this series, which I have not yet read.)
• 
  Alexandria

  I was sincerely interested in this book upon picking it up. Things start off on an interesting note.....
  
  
  
  Then take an abrupt turn to literary and plot hell. 200 pages in I was like...
  
  
  The story itself was just far too plain. Sometimes it's ok to make a book that is this straightforward and predictable, but only when you have amazing characters to pick up the weight. And even then, it's questionable.
  
  This book failed to impress me, and I just got to that point to where I simply couldn't take anymore.
  
  My advice? Save yourself from mediocrity that is this book.
• 
  Janelle

  I must say, Henri wasn't my favorite character in Badlands, so when I found out this book was about her, I groaned a little inside... I mean... She wasn't exactly the nicest person in Badlands...
  
  But as soon as I started the book and got to know Henri from her perspective, I realized how great of a character she really is!! She is absolutely one of my favorite female characters of Seleste's.
  
  And Carson... *sighs* Carson... Love him.
  
  Anyway, I love this story. Henri is so much stronger than I thought, and I love the scenes with her and Ever.
  
  I can't wait to read the rest of this series!!!
• 
  Danielle Paglia

  This was a great follow up to Badlands. There was action and destruction and a whole lot of heart. It was fun seeing the world from Henri's point of view this time around. I loved the banter (hostility) between Henri and Ever and their unexpected bonding (as much as is possible for the two of them). It was a fun read that I highly recommend. If you want an adventure with kick-ass women, clockworks, mafiosos, and little sexy, this one's for you.
• 
  Britt Marczak

  Even better than Badlands, I loved how Clockwork Mafia really delved into the world and the characters more, providing more depth. I also love to see a character who readers previously didn't really like become sympathetic and lovable.
  
  Plus, I just love Seleste's writing :)
• 
  Aine

  Enjoyed even more than the first in the series!
• 
  Sara

  A great Steampunk adventure!
• 
  Carol Evans

  Clockwork Mafia is a fun romantic adventure with a touch of steampunk.
  
  Even though it's the second in the series it works fine on its own.