"Fast-paced, erotic steampunk!"
Jean Francois Champollion is the current conservator of the Louvre Museum
in Victorian times. For quite some time, he's been itching to dig into the
boxes of Ancient Egyptian artifacts left from the time of Napoleon and now is
the time. So with his assistant, Ricard Dubois, the two begin. The first crate
they decide to open is quite a large one. When they open it, they find the
headless statue of a beautiful woman. The head is also in the box and so
Ricard puts the head on the woman and is even more entranced by her
beauty. The statue doesn't even look like stone, but rather it looks alive. Then
Ricard finds a papyrus in the crate and follows the directions on it. As he
finishes reciting the incantation, the statue comes to life. A real live beautiful
Egyptian priestess is standing in front of him. When the temple at Djeba is about to be overrun by Hyksos troops, Seshat
does the only thing she can think of—she uses magic to turn herself into a
statue, hoping her friend will know to turn her back. When Seshat comes
back, she finds herself in a strange place with strange people. Not only is
their clothing strange, but also their appearance, the building she's in and
she can't understand their language at all. At least the two men can speak
her tongue and they can converse. Of course, she's shocked to learn that
centuries have passed and she is now in Paris. So Ricard takes charge of Seshat and decides to take her home with him. The
more time the two of them spend together, the more they realize they were
meant to be together. Will Seshat be able to adjust to the current time? Will people accept Seshat if
Ricard marries her? Is there a possibility the two of them could back to
Seshat's time? AS TIMELESS AS STONE is a wonderful erotic steampunk romance. Maeve
Alpin has filled her story with all kinds of wonders, from steam servants to a
steam-powered carriage. I enjoyed the mixture of new inventions with the
historical time period. Very interesting to see how Ricard had come up with
the idea of steam-powered servants. I loved the way Maeve Alpin dealt with
the problems of an Egyptian Priestess coming back to life in Victorian Paris
and how she copes. An interesting story I thoroughly enjoyed and
recommend to all lovers of erotic romance.
Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted May 17, 2010
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