Changeless (Parasol Protectorate #2) by Gail Carriger

Novel: Changeless (Parasol Protectorate #2) by Gail Carriger

Summary (from GoodReads.  Potential Spoilers for Book One!:  Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.
But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can. 
She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.

Characters:  In book two (or book the second, rather) I love Alexia just as much as I did when I read book one.  She's funny and smart and inappropriate... but she does it all with impeccable manners.  Once again, one of my favorite parts of these books is the juxtaposition of what is happening with Alexia's polite narration (although... as we have not been formally introduced, I suppose I really should be calling her Lady Maccon).  This book gives us a little bit more of Alexia's family, who are horrible and hilarious, and plenty more of Alexia's best friend, Miss Hisselpenny, who continues to have terrible taste in hats.  We also meet Madame Lefoux for the first time, a woman inventor who insists upon wearing men's clothing.  She hits on Alexia quite often and Alexia is not always quick on the uptake, which is funny, but the women become friends and Madame Lefoux has become one of my new favorite characters.

Plot/Pacing:  These books never go where I think they are going to.  I am always surprised, entertained, and engrossed.  In fact, I listened to books two and three back to back.  I couldn't help it.

Moments I Loved:  There is a moment when Alexia goes head to head with a highranking pack member who thinks she is a servant and not Lady Maccon.... hilarious.  These are exactly the moments I read these books for.

WTF Moments:  At the end... the fight between Lord and Lady Maccon... at first I thought it would ruin Lord Maccon for me, but it ended up just breaking my heart... and being the reason that I immediately downloaded book three.

Narrators:  I think the narrator is fantastic.  She sounds proper and annoyed at the same time, but you can tell she is having fun.  Possibly, her narration is a little slow.  I sometimes thought she was talking too slow and I was listening to the book at 1.5x speed.  I'm going to try book four at 2x.

Overall:  Did I mention I started the next book right away?  I loved it!

Changeless gets a FakeSteph rating of...