To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from Hauntings and Humbug: A Steampunk Christmas Carol by Melanie Karsak. It just sounded… well, kind of weird. I got it for free, though, and the cover interested me enough to read it. I’m glad I did because I ended up LOVING it! This review will be spoiler free.

Synopsis:

Humbug! This Christmas, Ebony Scrooge will learn the true meaning of the holiday season.

It’s Christmas Eve in Victorian London, and Ebony Scrooge is hard at work tinkering weapons of mass destruction and avoiding all things Christmas. When the spirit of her deceased partner, Jacqueline Marley, warns Ebony that she will be visited by three ghosts, Ebony writes the visitation off as a dream. But on this Christmas Eve, the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future must try to pull off a miracle, restoring Ebony’s heart before it’s too late.

Hauntings and Humbug is a retelling of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, set in New York Times bestselling author Melanie’s Karsak’s steampunk universe.

My Thoughts:

• Rating- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you know the A Christmas Carol story, then you know the basic plot of this novella but Hauntings and Humbug brings something new and fresh to this old tale. For the most part, every character is the opposite gender than in the original work and I thought that might be strange, but I actually really liked it. Ebony’s story is much more heart wrenching than the original Ebenezer’s and that’s why I gave this five stars. I actually teared up and that’s rare for books in general, but especially novellas.

I also loved the small steampunk details, especially the robot named Dickens. Melanie Karsak has many books in this steampunk universe and they are officially on my 2023 TBR.

Final Thoughts:

Melanie Karsak is a fairly new to me author. I have read and reviewed her novella The Glass Mermaid and I enjoyed it as well. She has written a TON of books and novellas so I’m looking forward to exploring all of that in the coming year. Also, if you’re interested in her work, sign up for her email list. She sends out more freebies than any other author I know of. Every book I have from her, so far, has been free. Does this holiday story sound interesting to you? Let me know! Thanks for reading and have a great day!