I truly didnt care about the love affair between Rue and Quesnel as much as the author did, so the fact that it took up more than half of the somewhat thin story here, didn't appeal to me. I also may be showing my age, but the fact that the "mystery" element of the story could have been resolved if any number of Rue's parents had just told her what was going on, was frustrating. On the one hand, I was kind of like, "oh Rue, such a millennial, assuming your parents don't know how to solve a problem" but by the end, I was like "if they had just had a conversation with her when she turned 21, there'd be no need for a book. I think there are more books in this series, it certainly didn't feel like a series ender, but assuming there are more books coming, this one was more of a waystation before more plot in forthcoming books.

I guess my point here, is this was ok, but not her best work. In fact, I'd only put it above that short story, that was basically just a deleted scene. [b:The Curious Case|22611728|The Curious Case (parasol protectorate, #0.5)|Gail Carriger|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1404235394s/22611728.jpg|42102609]