The Lady in the Coppergate Tower Review:
Nancy Campbell Allen’s The Lady in the Coppergate Tower is a Rapunzel-inspired Steampunk adventure. As another entry in Shadow Mountain Publishing’s Proper Romance series, it nicely balances romance, intrigue and mystery. Ms. Allen is an adept storyteller and paints vivid pictures with her writing.
If the characters in this story seem a bit familiar, they have made an appearance in her previous Steampunk novel, Beauty and the Clockwork Beast. I like the way Ms. Allen weaves characters through a number of books; it gives the reader a feeling of familiarity, even when it’s a completely new story and setting.
And this story is a very different one than its predecessors. From a journey by submersible, to hints of madness and murder, the story draws you in very early on and continues to build in tension and anticipation to the very end. Other than the classical ending of a romance tale, this book kept me guessing until the end. So much so, that it became one of those late-into-the-night reads so I could hurry up and find out what would happen to our heroine.
While Ms. Allen writes romance novels, the focus is not on the romance and her female characters are strong, intelligent, independent and creative, a most welcome change from the romance novels of my youth.
The Lady in the Coppergate Tower Summary
Hazel Hughes has spent her life believing she is a Medium—someone who can talk to ghosts. But as of yet, that skill has remained frustratingly elusive. She is also suffering from a reoccurring childhood dream of someone who looks almost exactly like Hazel, but this dream version of herself is slowly going mad.
Sam MacInnes is a talented surgeon who runs in the highest social circles thanks to his family’s position and history. When Sam hires Hazel to assist him with his medical practice, he is immediately drawn to her intelligence, wit, and beauty.
Their potential relationship is derailed one evening when a mysterious count arrives in London and reveals to Hazel the truth about her past: she was abducted at birth and her twin sister has fallen dangerously ill.
Hazel agrees to travel to Romania with Count Petrescu in order to save her sister, and Sam insists on accompanying her. The count has secrets, though, and the journey grows more sinister with every mile that draws Hazel closer to her homeland. Even as her feelings for Sam become deeper and more complicated, she fears she might not survive the quest to save her sister with her heart intact, not to mention her life. She must learn to draw on gifts she doesn’t know she has if they are going to ever return home again.
Hazel and Sam must fight their way past dark magic, clockwork beasts, and their own insecurities as they try to reach her sister in the impenetrable Coppergate Tower before time runs out.
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The Lady in the Coppergate Tower by Nancy Campbell Allen will appeal to readers from mid-teens to adults. Add this one to your reading list now in paperback or Kindle from Amazon.com. It is also available from DeseretBook.com
