The year is 1836. After her younger brother, Bacon, loses his time travel mechanism to the Loony Duke of Leister in a drunken card game, Stormy comes up with a plan to get it back. Although the mechanism has been disassembled just enough so that there's little chance of anyone accidentally activating it, it's too risky to go back to the 21st century and leave it behind.

Stormy's plan involves dressing as a gypsy fortuneteller, somehow luring the Duke into her tent (assuming he even walks by, and that she can recognize him despite never having met him), and then drugging him and robbing him blind. Unfortunately, things don't go quite the way she expected.

I'll start off by saying this was written in first person POV, and Stormy's “voice” was very much that of a modern American woman, even though she spent the first 13 years of her life as a grubby street urchin in 19th century London.

This was a fun and largely fluffy read that could have been so much better if it had been fleshed out more. The thing that bugged me the most was how quickly Stormy and Devlin ended up in bed together. Okay, so they had some history together, but that was years ago. They'd both been teens, and they'd both gone through a lot since then. And yes, they were both attracted to each other, but they'd only known each other as adults for a few hours. The sex happened way too quickly.

Too many events were quickly summed up, rather than shown, or briefly covered in diary entries. I'd have liked to see more of Stormy and Bacon's childhood, after they were adopted by Gilly. I'd have liked to see more of the "time pirate" aspect. I'd also have liked to see more of Devlin, who spent much of the story as a mysterious and possibly dangerous figure.

I mostly enjoyed this, although I don't know that I'll be buying the sequel.

(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

3 ½ Stars

This review is also published at http://thebookaholiccat.com

Stormy Gale was born in 1810 in London. Her childhood was lived begging in the streets along with other children. Until she had the fortune of meeting Gilly. He was a time traveler from the XXI century who took pity of her and her closest friend Bacon (Yes, that is his name) and offered them a better life with him in the future. They didn’t consider the offer twice and accepted. Gilly adopted and treated them as his own children. He also taught them the art of time traveling.
Now Stormy and Bacon are time-traveler pirates. Who go back in time to change little things that won’t affect the future and to acquire small artifacts to sell in ebay.
In one of those trips to the year 1936, Bacon lost his TTM (Time Traveler Mechanism). He lost it in a game of cards against the Loony Duke of Leister. Now they need to recover it. A TTM in the wrong hands could be disastrous.
They schemed a plan to trick the Duke and recover the TTM; but things don’t go according to plan and the trickster is the one surprisingly tricked.

The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale is a short story, with an original plot. It was also quiet entertaining. But it was a little bit off pace; the first part of the story moves in a nice pace while the last third felt rushed.
I loved the contrast shown from life in the XIX century to the commodities of the XXI. I think the author did a great job explaining these differences in the lives of Stormy and Bacon. And loved it even more when Stormy is explaining them to Devlin, especially the part about dog’s grooming, LOL.

Stormy is a great character; she is compelling, caring, loyal and funny. Bacon is a young man with a good heart, and a little bit too innocent. He is always getting in trouble or screwing up. And Stormy is always rescuing him from these circumstances. They are not blood siblings but they love each other as if they were. Life’s circumstances had tied them together more than blood could ever have.
Devlin, I don’t know what to say about him, we see glimpses of him but nothing to deep to really get an impression. Ok, he is a good man and has been since he was a child, but further than there is not much we know about him.

My final thought: The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale is an entertaining story, with some good aspects and others no so good. As I said before I loved its original plot and I also loved the world created. But, yes there is a but here, and it’s with Devlin and the way things developed between him and Stormy, here is where I had some problems with the book. Devlin is an X person, we don’t know anything about him, who comes to Stormy life (again), they have a talk and suddenly they are in love… mmm… sorry, but no. I know The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale is a short story, but this could have been done a lot better. It was too much, too fast. This doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoyed it, because I did, maybe if it was a little bit longer Mrs. Bell could have done it better, without rushing events at the end.
If you want a fast, entertaining, original story with a touch of Steampunk, The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale is a good option for you.
I hope to see a longer sequel of this book. ( )

Actually a 3.5
While not my normal choice this freebie that I picked up about a year go was a fun read. Stormy is out to retrieve her brother's property from the Looney Duke. She is surprised to find out that they actually have a history together and although she's sure she's in love she doesn't see anyway to make it work. The ending is a bit of a surprise and just about perfect. ( )

Usually, when I leave a book unfinished, it's because the writing is bad. This time everything else failed: plot, worldbuilding, romance.

A more detailed, spoilerish description of what bothered me the most: irrational plot and a left field romance. A time travel device has got into the wrong hands (of a certain duke) and it's up to Stormy to get it back. Her plan is to hang out at the fair, because apparently that's where all the dukes go at 1836. Instead of looking around she sits and waits at her tent masquerading as a gypsy fortune teller (the sexy kind), because that's where a duke will definitely go while at the fair - especially a duke who's into science. And so he does! When she has him where she wants him, she means to drug him and steal the gadget, but surprisingly he's clever enough to turn the tables on her: she finds herself drugged and chained by the duke. In the conversation that follows they both try to find out each other's motives, and it turns out they have met before. Yes, she was a kid in the street and he was a man giving her some bread to eat. After finding this out she throws herself into his arms and has sex with him. At this point I'd had enough, but I bet the sex was the best ever.

Two stars for the effort and the writing. I'd be happy to read more from this author if she'd only let the story take it's natural course instead of forcing it into sexy scenes that make no sense at all. ( )

Originally posted at http://mycutebookshelf.blogspot.com/2011/07/review-twisted-tale-of-stormy-gale-b... Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale starts with Stormy and her brother arriving at a beach in 1836. They’re looking for Bacon’s TTM (That’s her brother’s name, seriously). TTM is short for the Time Travel Mechanism, which they use for their adventures. It turns out that Bacon lost his TTM on a bet to the infamous Duke of Leister, also known as the Loony Duke. Stormy uses various ways to get the duke to give her the TTM, but ends up falling in her own trap. She wakes up at the duke’s house and it’s obvious he knows what she’s up to. I don’t want to give too much of the story away as it is quite short and condensed. This was a very enjoyable novella to me. The story is short, but a lot happens in those pages. There's a lot of tension between the characters, and it makes the story fun and fascinating. Stormy was an awesome and sometimes quirky character. Even though she was born in the 1800s, she was quite a modern woman due to her time travelling. I really liked that because she did things her way, and didn’t let anyone get in her way of what she wanted. The duke had sort of a sad story to him. His past was a bit depressing, in my opinion. I felt really bad for him, and every time Stormy did something to him, I just felt even worse. He was a great character though, and I just loved how he cared for everyone. Bacon was a fun character too. He wasn’t a main character or anything, but his parts were fun. Yes, there’s a story to both his and Stormy’s name. I know it sounds quite awful and funny, but it makes sense once you read it. I really liked how there was a story to everything-- the duke's way, their names, their lives. It made for an enjoyable and packed story.Overall, The Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale was a fun time travel story. This is the type of time travel story that I love, and I think Christine Bell did a great job with it. I honestly wish it could have been longer because I loved all the characters, and I would have liked to know more about their story. I can’t wait to read more stories by Christine, as I enjoyed her style of writing. If you are a time travel or adult romance fan, I suggest you check this story out. You won’t be disappointed. ( )