Flying an aership in Steampunk New France... The Perilous Journey of the Much-Too-Spontaneous Girl by Leigh Statham (Blog Tour Excerpt & Giveaway)

On Tour with Prism Book Tours.

I loved the first book in this series that I read last year (review here) and have
been so stoked for this follow-up! Read an excerpt and enter the giveaway below...

The Perilous Journey of the Much-Too-Spontaneous GirlThe Perilous Journey of the Much-Too-Spontaneous Girl
(The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl #2)
by Leigh Statham
YA Steampunk
Paperback & ebook, 297 pages
September 20th 2016 by Month9Books

Summary

Lady Marguerite Vadnay and her trusty automaton, Outil, have settled into life in New France rather well. Marguerite is top of the class at flight school and her future as an aerpilot is nearly secure. She has everything she wants— except a commission on the pirate hunting dirigible The Renegade. Using every card in her aristocratic arsenal, Marguerite wiggles her way onto the finest warship France has to offer. But as usual, Marguerite’s plans endanger the lives of those she holds dear— only this time no one else is going to save them. As Marguerite and Outil set off on a rescue mission they may not return from, she finally realizes it’s time to reorder her cogs.

This steampunk adventure is littered with facts from The Golden Age of Piracy and follows (not too closely) some of the lives and adventures of the brave men and women who sailed the seas as privateers, pirates and soldiers.

  
  
(Affiliate links included.)

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1, PART 2

Marguerite adjusted her goggles out of sheer nervousness. Claude had made her a new pair, with even better dark vision and a scoping feature on the right eye. They fit her face perfectly, but she didn’t even need them today. She had a glass dome to protect her from the elements outside. Still, she loved having them on, and she couldn’t help but think that they brought her good luck. Her first pair saved her life not too long ago.

This was her inaugural solo flight for His Majesty, Louis XIV. If all went well, she’d spend the rest of her life an independent woman doing what she loved—flying. If not, she was going to have to do a lot of backpedaling with a lot of people.

Including Jacques Laviolette, whom she spotted walking up to the edge of the group of onlookers. She’d hoped he would come today. She’d mentioned the event offhandedly the night before while they shared dinner with her automaton, Outil, but she wasn’t sure he’d understood how important this day was or if he could get away from his own duties at the school.

Jacques—handsome, brave, and annoying Jacques. He was an entirely different issue.

But there was no time to think about that now.

The professor gave the signal. She tore her goggle-tinted gaze away from Laviolette’s tall, dark-haired frame. Lifting one hand, she gave the sign for all go, pushed the buttons and pulled the lever. The launching mechanism shot her little ship into the air like a Chinese rocket. She had never traveled this fast before in her life. It felt like invisible arms were shoving her back into the seat with tremendous force, until she reached her cruising altitude and the balloon took over as the thrust let off.

The view was instantly breathtaking. Her new home city of Montreal lay beneath her in all its splendor. The river wound like a loose ribbon through the brick and wood dwellings. Her school was visible almost immediately, its roof littered with experimental equipment for weather and aviations. The chapel caught her eye next, its soaring crucifix and brightly colored windows winking in the perfect morning sun.

Her heart filled like a mini aership envelope, happiness threatening to burst it open.

Other Books in the Series

The Perilous Journey of the Not So Innocuous Girl (The Perilous Journey of the Not So Innocuous Girl #1)
The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl
(The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl #1)
by Leigh Statham
YA Steampunk
Paperback & ebook, 297 pages
March 17th 2015 by Month9Books

Summary

Lady Marguerite lives a life most 17th-century French girls can only dream of: money, designer dresses, suitors, and a secure future. Except she can’t quite commit to a life of dull luxury and she suspects she may be falling for her best friend Claude, a common smithy in the family's steam forge. When Claude leaves for New France in search of a better life, Marguerite decides to follow him and test her suspicions of love—only the trip proves to be more harrowing than she anticipated. Love, adventure, and restitution await her if she can survive the voyage.

Based on the true story of The Daughters of the King, Louis the XIV’s social program to settle the wilds of Canada with women of noble birth, Marguerite’s steampunk adventure follows in the footsteps of nearly one thousand brave women and girls who were rewarded handsomely for trekking across the pirate infested Atlantic to a strange land.

"The writing is solid and the world-building – that clever combination of historical detail and Ms. Statham’s imagination – is excellent."~ The Australia Times Books

Read my review HERE.

  
  
(Affiliate links included.)

About the Author


Leigh Statham was raised in the wilds of rural Idaho, but found her heart in New York City. She worked as a waitress, maid, artist, math teacher, nurse, web designer, art director, thirty-foot inflatable pig and mule wrangler before she settled down in the semi-quiet role of wife, mother and writer. She resides in North Carolina with her husband, four children, five chickens and two suspected serial killer cats.

Leigh is also a founder of QuantumFairyTales.com and is currently serving a life sentence there as senior editor and gnome driver. She loves all things sparkly and strange that go bump in the night.

Tour Schedule

September 11th: Launch
September 12th:
September 13th:
September 14th:
September 15th:
September 16th:
September 18th: Grand Finale

Tour-Wide Giveaway


• 1 winner will win signed copies of The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl and The Perilous Journey of the Much-Too-Spontaneous Girl plus some awesome Steampunk goggles (US only)
• 3 winners will win ebook sets of The Perilous Journey of the Not-So-Innocuous Girl and The Perilous Journey of the Much-Too-Spontaneous Girl (open internationally)
• Ends September 23rd
Grab Our Button!

What did you think of the excerpt? Did you read the first book? And I am totally digging those goggles the author is giving away!!

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