I really enjoyed this story. Lady Claire is intelligent and gutsy. Her gang is full of interesting characters. I look forward to reading more stories in the Magnificent Devices series.

The Steampunk continues. I was truly amused with a character laughing at the concept of internal combustion. Meanwhile, Lady Claire continues to be precocious beyond her years, while working on mechanicals, saving the previous generation's brilliant woman, and managing her charges, the orphans. It's a very set of characters, but the setting's a bit different and the writing & pacing remain above average.

Claire's adventures take an unexpected turn in this installment of the "Lady of Devices" series. The story ended far too quickly. I'm looking forward to the release of the next book.

Lady Clare - well-to-do young London debutante-to-be turned arms dealer guardian to a gang of street children, and lab assistant is back, and this time she's got a long list of things to do. Break a wrongly-convicted/imprisoned inventor out of Bedlam, build a walking chicken coop, and most importantly, invent a way for coal to last longer/burn better. Along the way she becomes engaged to a man she hates in order to keep her mother at bay, but falls in love with another man (oops!). The ending left me intrigued as to what comes next, but not my favorite recent read.

Nice sequel. This is a soapy steampunk with lots of heart. I look forward to more in this series.

So much better than the first one! And it's all steam and exciting :)I think Shelley Adina has created THE perfect feminine character: bold with a touch of motherhood, brilliant and witty at the same time. Can't wait to read the third one!

Just a quick note that the four stars only applies if you read all four (so far) books in the series. These four books form the story of Claire Trevelyan, the unexpected Lady of Devices, who transforms from schoolroom young lady to dashing steampunk heroine over the course of these books. Much in the style of Gail Carriger, this is an alternative Victorian world, filled with steam-powered gadgets, overly polite society figures, and a young woman determined to do much more than her mother's expectations of a good marriage. Although I truly feel the four books should be only two given length and dangling plot lines, I enjoyed them immensely. This isn't heavy reading, but it is wonderfully entertaining, and always thrilled to read another series where a woman's brains and courage are more important than her beauty.

Things speed up in the second book of Shelly Adina's series - more action, more tension in the romantic relationships.

What I liked:
* Faster pace
* Increased character development. Book has plenty of characters, and Adina does a good job of developing all of them enough to be unique and enjoyable
* Gadgetry and science continues to be creative and fun

What I didn't like:
* Another abrupt ending, leaving book feeling unfinished to me. If you're going to read this series, you'll want the next book available when you finish each of them.

Would I recommend? If you liked the first, you'll like this one.

Lady Claire Trevelyan took matters into her own hands after her family was ruined financially. Two months have passed since then, and now she’s known as the Lady of Devices, leader of a gang of smart orphans who she’s taken under her tutelage. Claire’s passion for engineering is strong and she has decided to ignore Lord James’s threats and accept Andrew Malvern’s offer of becoming his lab assistant. Work, the children, James’s advances and her mother’s schemes, all make for a very hectic life, but the Lady of Devices knows what she wants and will stop at nothing to get it.

Shelley Adina’s Her Own Devices grabbed me from page one and demanded to be read in one sitting!

Lady Claire has definitely stepped in and taken charge as a gang leader. This time around, Claire’s story has drive; she’s courageous and is more sure of herself and what she wants in life. She won’t let herself be cowed by Lord James, her mother, or any other insufferable person who thinks women have no place in the world. Busting out lunatics, manipulating people…now that’s the potential I knew Claire had. I couldn’t help but fume at every attempt her mother and James made to get Claire to settle down. They want her to get rid of the children! How cruel is that!?

I hated Lord James with a burning passion. He sees Claire’s extraordinary qualities and likes her for them, yet still believes women should be controlled! Whatever promises and agreements he makes with Claire, he breaks in the end. He just doesn’t deserve her. At all! Now Andrew is another story altogether. He’s kind and values Claire’s input every single time. Finally, Claire takes notice of him and realizes her mistake. Sadly, she can’t act on it because of a previous arrangement.

The story still doesn’t have as many steampunk elements as I would like, but those it has are marvelous. The landau is still my favorite and the chicken coop is hilarious. The major invention is one they’re trying to build and the plot revolves around this. I loved that another woman engineer comes into play to help. It motivates Claire’s goal of studying engineering one day.

The ending was a nice surprise! Claire might have ceded power for a second there, but she takes charge again. This time around she has help as she strikes out on another adventure. Now, Andrew’s letter just melted my brain. I can’t wait for book 3, Magnificent Devices!