Title: Clockwork Fairies
Author: Cat Rambo
In: The Mammoth Book of Steampunk (Sean Wallace)
Rating Out of 5: 3.5 (Liked this)
My Bookshelves: Romance, Steampunk
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2010
5th sentence, 74th page: I smiled at her.

He’s engaged to a brilliant mechanic, but someone else is suddenly showing an interest and all of his beautiful, future plans might come to naught.

The narrator of this story quite frankly pissed me off. Which was the idea that I think the author was going for – it was this idea that once married, his fiancé would become the “perfect woman”. And conform to what he felt that he needed. WRONG!

And luckily, the ending of the story agreed with me. The tone and lilt of the words was quite patronising towards anything that deters what is considered normal. The ability of the girl to stand up to this was admirable, but she still put up with some of the sillier moments throughout the story. Until she found her out. And that was the message that I loved within this story. The narrator gets his comeuppance and the idea that everyone should stay true to themselves was certainly highlighted in the story.

Image source: Amazon