Review: The Mech Who Loved Me

The Mech Who Loved Me by Bec McMaster
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hmm, disappointing.

I started reading this with such high hopes but from about halfway through I really just couldn't get into it and kept playing Candy Crush instead.

Ava McLaren is a diminutive, blonde blue blood virgin with a mechanical heart. She works as a laboratory assistant for the newly formed Company of Rogues (took me ages to realise that was what COR stood for). Liam Kincaid is a large human with a mech arm and fiercely anti-blue bloods. Together they are teemed up to investigate a series of strange black vein deaths. Kincaid is everything Ava isn't, and maybe because of that she finds him fascinating. Tired of always being in the lab, never in the field, tired of being a virgin, tired of being treated like a child instead of an adult, Ava makes a decision to lose her virginity - almost like an experiment. Liam is horrified that innocent, naive, trusting Ava could make such a stupid decision, could potentially be taken advantage of or hurt by someone who wouldn't take the time or trouble to make things good for her. So he volunteers, as you do.

In a nutshell, that is why I was disappointed in this book, there was far too much sex or thinking about sex or talking about sex. So much so that the plot seemed relegated to the background and now frankly I am mystified as to what was going on, why the people died from the black vein, who was behind the plotting and what the purpose was. Okay, that's exaggerating, I understand these things individually but not how they form a coherent plot or indeed how they stumbled across any of these things because it all seemed to happen off the page - Gemma's found a clue, Malloryn's found a member of SoG, Ingrid's located a factory etc, etc.

I wanted more steampunk, more skullduggery, more dhampirs, more plot!

Also, is anyone else tired of the sweet, innocent virgin getting matched to the Dom? Although this was more in talk than action (thankfully) part of me thought Kincaid's talk about others not being careful with Ava seemed slightly at odds with his actions when they did finally get it together. Also, there seemed one point after a BIG SCENE when instead of debriefing the rest of the team, or trying to stop an all out war between humans and blue bloods or something important, Ava and Liam decide that would the perfect time to make love! Sheesh. But that's okay because Malloryn was too busy for a debrief until hours later - doing what? I screamed at my Kindle.

However, there was one brilliant scene, one that restored my faith in Bec McMaster, KIncaid and Malloryn are stalking a bad guy and Malloryn says THAT line, "[He's] mine" and Kincaid makes the most brilliant response,

"That's the sort of thinking that gets people killed," Kincaid pointed out. "This isn't a duel, Your Grace, and we've got ladies in here. If I see him, I'll shoot him."
"Fair call"

I didn't realise how ridiculous that line was until I read Kincaid's response - but he is so right!

Anyway, in every series there is a couple that doesn't work for me, or where I think the plot/ romance balance feels off and this was it for me.

Also, I've just realised that the first three books in the series are all twisted spy film titles (Mission Impossible, The Spy Who Loved Me, You Only Live Twice ) - is the fourth one a riff on To Catch a Thief?

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