I'll be up-front about it: I pretty muched loved this entire series. I didn't really expect to. Based on my lukewarm feelings towards Gail Carriger's YA series and the descriptions of Soulless et al. as "paranormal romance" and "urban fantasy" I didn't expect to care much for these books. But I did care for them, so much so that I returned my library copy of Soulless early and bought the entire boxed set for me to own and devour all in one gulp. 
 The scene is set: Victorian London, where supernaturals and a single preternatural (our heroine) live more-or-less openly and more-or-less (in this case, less) peacefully alongside regular folk. Oh, and we mustn't forgot the slightly mad scientists and their extremely steampunk-y inventions. And the tea. There's plenty of tea to go around. And really, you can't help but brew a pot or two while reading. It's better if you can find some nice little floral patterned porcelain cups and saucers to go with, but we can't be too picky. 
 A small caveat: I'm a bit of a prude, and so found myself blushing at a few scenes. The "romance" parts of this series are more along the lines of what you find in Fabio-emblazoned bodice rippers rather than the fade-to-black sorts of scenes that I prefer. But the story as a whole was soaked in such a nice mix of winking/dry/exaggerated bits of humor that the love scenes came across as more naughtily playful than flat-out pornographic. And really, these scenes did lean more towards the fade-to-black method as the series developed (thank goodness things didn't progress in the opposite direction). 
 5 stars for sure, though I'm waffling about whether I want to give this a spot on my "favorites" shelf. Would that be a move that I would question later because right now I'm on a book high and can't be trusted to make rational decisions? Or is this a series that I'll return to again and again because it really is just that fun? 
 Review originally posted at www.lonestaronalark.com