Rebel Mechanics

Rebel Mechanics:  all is fair in love and revolution  by Shanna Swendson

The year is 1888.

In our history, the American colonies broke away from England more than a century earlier, but in this timeline, the British still rule the New World colonies because the magisters control all access to magic that provides power for everything from wool mills to private cars.  But now an underground rebel group is developing alternative energy sources:  electricity, steam, and other fuels that require no magic and are available to everyone, regardless of social class.

Young Verity Newton has come to New York City to work as a governess, and finds herself immediately surrounded by the factions of the rebellion.  Her employer, handsome Henry Lyndon, seems sympathetic to the scientific cause, although he is a magister by birthright.  Her new friends, Lizzie, Nat, and the dazzlingly handsome Alec, are outright rebel mechanics.  Where does Verity belong...and with whom?

The annoying romantic triangle resolves soon enough (whew) and the action sustains the narrative throughout.  This is a ripping good adventure, and probably first in a series.  No cussing, small amounts of blood, a few kisses, and plenty of scientific curiosity. Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.

Dreadnought

Dreadnought  by Cherie Priest

Mercy Lynch is a recently-widowed nurse working in a Confederate hospital during a strangely-elongated American Civil War when she gets news that her long-missing father is injured and possibly dying in the distant state of Washington.  Mercy immediately leaves the hospital and journeys West aboard the locomotive Dreadnought, surrounded by all kinds of characters:  a Texas Ranger, a spy, hostile Indian warriors, Union soldiers, Confederate soldiers, Mexican bandits, ladies of easy virtue, and a huge army of zombies.

Steampunk fun in the altered American West : it doesn't get better than this!  Don't look for historical accuracy here--the history of this  America has taken a sharp turn away from our reality, and into a very interesting place of its own.  Dreadnought is the sequel to this author's Boneshaker (another steampunk story, set in gold-rush Seattle), but stands alone beautifully.

Recommended for readers ages 14 to adult.  Some romance but no on-page sex (the ladies of pleasure go off-stage for business purposes), some drugs (including the drugs that turn soldiers into zombies!), some wartime violence, plus a few bloody scenes of amputation in a Civil War-era hospital.