Some books are like cotton candy: fun and sweet, a quick and enjoyable experience with the slightest twinge of "aw maybe I shouldn't have" afterwards. "The Persephone Star" by Jamie Sullivan quickly falls into this category, introducing us to characters and story with not so much as a fine painter's brush so much as slabs of paint chunked on to an enormous canvas. Good and bad are black and white, no subtlety or gray areas in sight.

The story progresses at a constant clip without a moment to stop and take a breath. The romance, while present, is secondary to the constant action. Unfortunately, it would be nice to have a little more downtime with our heroes. The constant focus on action makes the rest of the character relationships a little forgettable.

The story will appeal to fans of any kind of fast-paced fiction regardless of genre - it's simply THAT kind of book: an eminently readable page turner with broad appeal, even if it ends quickly and doesn't stick with you later. Cotton candy.

Cute in fiction can go either way. I’ve used it in both negative and positive connotations. But generally it’s something to stay away from…unless, like this book, cute is done just right. So interestingly enough this is a mix of wild west, steampunk and romance (all genres I avoid) that somehow ended up being plenty entertaining. Persephone Star is a ship of outlaws, adorable all female bunch of outlaws with an adorable pint sized leader to (presumably cowboy) boot named Mirage Currier. According to the rumors these ladies present a formidable threat, so everyone is one high alert as the ship arrives. Their mission is to rescue Mirage’s sister, wrongly accused of murder and sentenced to be hung. The local sheriff, bastard that he is, is out to get the outlaws, wishing to see them all hung, or drawn and quartered or at the very least dead somehow. Penelope Moser, his quiet postmaster/librarian fiancée isn’t so sure. And then she gets mistakenly kidnapped and whisked away to the ship in the skies and nothing will ever be the same. Turns out there is entirely too much excitement to be had aboard Persephone Star. I mean, the ladies there are wearing trousers, how daring, how wild. So that’s the basics…you have all the shootouts and dust the western requires, plenty of action, plenty of adventure. There’s an awesome dirigible. Penelope and Mirage (call her Mell) are adorable together. It’s silly, but entirely too much fun. And such a quick read too. Recommended for the right mood. Thanks Netgalley.