Meljean Brook - Riveted

A century after a devastating volcanic eruption forced Iceland's inhabitants to abandon its shores, the island has become enshrouded in legend. But the truth behind the legends is mechanical, not magical--and the mystery of the island a matter of life and death for a community of women who once spilled noble blood to secure their freedom.
Five years ago, Annika unwittingly endangered that secret, but her sister Källa took the blame and was exiled. Now Annika serves on an airship, searching for her sister and longing to return home. But that home is threatened when scientific expedition leader David Kentewess comes aboard, looking to expose Annika's secrets. Then disaster strikes, leaving David and Annika stranded on a glacier and pursued by a madman, with their very survival depending on keeping the heat rising between them--and generating lots of steam... 

Comment: The third book in the Iron Seas series, it's the story of Annika, a young woman looking for her sister, and David, a man who wants to find out where his mother lived before marrying his father so he can pay homage to her by leaving a memento in the place she came from and which she loved. This book is the following one in the successful steampunk series by this author.

The book tells the story of Annika, a woman working in airships because it allows her to travel from place to place and she tries to look for her sister everywhere, because she made it her mission. She feels guilty over the reason her sister left their home and wants to find her and tell her she can return. Annika has a secret though. Her family isn't conventional and live in a place of myths, somewhere she would do anything to keep safe.

David is a man who survived many losses, specially his parents and some parts of his body. He now has a grafted eye, legs and one hand and he can't seem to find any happiness and no one would look at him without pity or repulse. His mother saved hid life and died and she requested him one last thing before dying and he wants to honor that by going to the place where she lived before marrying his father, somewhere she loved and considered her home. With Annika, they will travel there together, they will see themselves in the middle of a madman's mission and will find that they never thought they would....love.

David is the kind of hero we love in books. He's got the perfect dosage of strength, courage, determination, shyness, insecurity and personality that appeal the most to the reader. I loved David. I loved what he was and what he thought and what he felt he was. I think the author has created one of the most amazingly perfect heroes in fiction, even with all his physical differences. How can he be so wonderful I don't even know how to explain but he is. I wanted him to be happy, I cried when he told Annika about how his mother died saving him and how others were repulsed by him and I just wanted him to be real so I could defend him too! I loved how he started falling for Annika and how she would see him for what he was, for his inner beauty. Seriously, the romance in this book is great and Annika is a great protagonist, but David is....perfection.

David wants to know where his mother came from. He knows it's somewhere in Iceland, a place full of myths and volcanoes, and as he's a volcanist, he knows he won't have a better chance to finally perform his task when he gets a contract to go there do some research. During the travel, he meets Annika and she looks appealing to him but for a while there neither admitted they thought of the other romantically. When that was discussed they both started to fall in love, they talked and eventually they became a couple. I can't forget some scenes with them, specially near the end when things look bad for them but their love drives them through it.

The story has many elements that are interesting, the volcanoes, the scientific research one can do and what it means, how sexuality is seen in the world created, what one would do for love, why should someone honor a promise, if it's better to have a different family than no family whatsoever, many interesting subjects to think about and that enrich the storyline. I think even without the romance, this book would be worth the reading, the author has a real talent to imagine the story and to put it together.

I loved the book. I don't know what I can say about it to make you want to read it. But it's a wonderful story, very well written, and David....he's worth it all. I loved their HEA and how happy and in love they were. The happy ending everyone in the world should get.

This is the kind of book that we keep with us, even after the last page is read. I can't barely wait for the next book in this series. I recommend it without any doubts.