Waiting on Wednesday | Rebel Mechanics

 Rebel Mechanics • Shanna Swendson

A sixteen-year-old governess becomes a spy in this alternative U.S. history where the British control with magic and the colonists rebel by inventing.

It’s 1888, and sixteen-year-old Verity Newton lands a job in New York as a governess to a wealthy leading family—but she quickly learns that the family has big secrets. Magisters have always ruled the colonies, but now an underground society of mechanics and engineers are developing non-magical sources of power via steam engines that they hope will help them gain freedom from British rule. The family Verity works for is magister—but it seems like the children’s young guardian uncle is sympathetic to the rebel cause. As Verity falls for a charming rebel inventor and agrees to become a spy, she also becomes more and more enmeshed in the magister family’s life. She soon realizes she’s uniquely positioned to advance the cause—but to do so, she’ll have to reveal her own dangerous secret.

WHOA WHOA WHOA. GUYS. Does REBEL MECHANICS sounds fantastic, or what? I’m utterly, utterly fascinated by the sound of this book. Alternate history in which the Colonies never gain their independence from Britain (if the American Revolution even ever happens); REBELS, HELLO; this great steampunk angle; and WHAT IS VERITY’S DANGEROUS SECRET???? Also, can you see that tagline there on the cover? “All is fair in love and revolution”? STAHP. I’ve gone on before about how much I love reading about revolutions, and Shanna Swendson’s YA debut is hitting all of the right notes, and has mad potential. MY BODY IS READY.

REBEL MECHANICS comes out on July 14, 2015 from Farrar, Straus and Giroux