I went in hoping for a fast paced whodunnit, but honestly, it dragged quite a bit. There's a ton of potential here, but not quite where it's palatable.

This novel was fun to read. I do like main character, Clara. Interesting idea of 'functions' plus assassins and heroes. Overall nice fantasy book to read.

Faye Murphy's debut novel, The Dishonest Miss Take, offers a thrilling and imaginative journey through a steampunk-infused Victorian England. The story centers on the snarky and sassy Miss Clara Blakely, known to the tabloids as Miss Take. Being the daughter of London's most infamous criminals, Clara is determined to clear her tarnished name, and thus volunteers for the Hero Brigade, a decision that thrusts her into a world of fantastical elements and high-stakes adventure.

In this richly crafted universe, pollution and smog have endowed many of London’s "heroes" with extraordinary abilities, and Clara is no exception. However, when a new and sinister force emerges to terrorize the city, Clara must draw on her powers while befriending a band of intriguing assassins to confront the looming threat.

Murphy’s novel is a splendid blend of steampunk, fantasy, sci-fi, and mystery, with a smidge of romance, creating an engaging and immersive experience. The narrative is lively and filled with inventive details, making it a captivating read from start to finish. Clara’s journey is both thrilling—showcasing her resilience and bravery in the face of danger—as well as heartfelt, as she comes to learn quite a bit about herself along the way. If you’re a fan of imaginative, historical worlds and gripping adventures, The Dishonest Miss Take is a must-read.

Clara has a background of being a villain and we learn that many of the characters have functions or super powers. I really enjoyed the relationship between Clara and Morgan and how helpful they were to each other. It was a crazy twist in the story when you discover who is actually the real villain. Thank you for sharing!

The Dishonest Miss Take is the first book written by Faye Murphy and the beginning of a new series. This is a blend of what is supposed to be Victorian England, steampunk and superhero/villain. Our heroine is doing community service for her past bad deeds when she ends up getting pulled into a bigger mystery of who assassinated her boss and why along with what is killing random people on the streets of London.

Clara is a functional, someone with special powers, brought on by all the chemicals, pollution etc floating around in the air in London. She is pretty well known due to who her parents were and the life of crime they led. She is trying to live on the straight and narrow and doing her time with the Hero’s Brigade, protecting the streets, as part of her community service. She didn’t expect to get thrown into trying to track down the assassin who killed her boss to get a lead on who would want him dead. She didn’t expect that the assassin would turn out to be someone she wanted to spend time with and work with to clear her name.

Clara’s investigation takes her down some strange roads and puts her in the path of a seemingly separate mystery of who or what, since it seems like it is a Dirt Monster, that is killing some of the innocents in London. With a little help for Morgan, the assassin and a few other people from the Assassin finishing school they will try to get to the bottom of a few mysteries.

This has an interesting premise, but I don’t think I’m the age demographic that is really going to enjoy this. For one, anytime you are in Victorian England, I expect some certain types of dialogue and turns of phrase instead of feeling like it is a big more modern in the language. But if I was younger and hadn’t cut my teeth on so many historical romances I probably wouldn’t have cared. That said it seemed like the book couldn’t decide if it was going to be a sci-fi murder mystery or a romance. I wasn’t really completely on board with the romance aspect of it so I wanted more in the who done it side of the story. Clara and Morgan were both a little hard to like as they swindled or murdered people for a living without any remorse and maybe didn’t deserve it.

Overall, I think this is going to play better with younger readers in their YA or NA years. This is definitely a first novel and as such there are some areas that could flow a bit better or transition better but I think that will come with time for Faye Murphy as she hones her craft. Solid first book and if you enjoy steampunk and F/F romances this might be something that will work for you.

There's a lot to love in this novel and I loved it: humour, steampunk, weird MC, queer relationships.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A wonderful read about a young woman put in place where she must fight to save her friends. I love the setting of the book and the descriptions of what would partake were incredible. I love the Victorian era and add in some steampunk and I am reading this book. This was a nice break from my horror book reading.

What a wonderful, wonder-filled novel. The mix of fantasy, humour and horror kept me involved from first page to last, along with a group of well-developed characters -- it simply isn't possible to not love Clara and Morgan! Nothing less than five stars. I can't wait to see more from this author. Thank you to BHC Press and NetGalley for allowing me the chance to review The Dishonest Miss Take.

The Dishonest Miss Take is the first novel by British author, Faye Murphy. Nineteen-year-old Clara Blakely, wrongly accused of murdering the cartographer whose biography she was writing, Lord Balthazar Forgo, is unexpectedly released from custody when an assassin claims responsibility. Her name dragged through the mud by the press, she is determined to find the assassin and discover who took out the contract on the map man so they can exonerate her to the press.

Still under obligation to perform ten thousand hours of Community Service for past crimes which saw her dubbed Miss Take, she departs Dippenwick for London where she will patrol with The Hero Brigade’s Community Squadron of functionables.

Functionables have acquired a function, it is theorised, from the chemicals pumped into the air, water and land by factories. Functions vary widely; in Cara’s case, she is a pain reliever, who can take on another’s pain; she can also pass it on to someone else.

When the Finishing School (for assassins) declines to identify Forgo’s killer, Clara takes an unusual step to draw out the young woman she later learns is Morgan Murdur, an undergraduate assassin at the Finishing School. Morgan has a function she doesn’t immediately share but, after a few more encounters, she reveals to Clara who paid her.

In her search for this person, Clara stumbles on forgery and corruption, and the source of a monster known as the Dirt Man who is taking innocent lives on the streets of London. Morgan introduces her to some other assassins, but it’s when she realises that Morgan has a crush on her that she gets distracted from her purpose: to expose the aristocrats putting the city in danger.

While the era and setting are mostly Victorian London, the dialogue and social issues definitely belong in the twenty-first Century, even when they’re a weird mix of both as in: “kid I had once picked up for propping horses on bricks and stealing their shoes” and “turn her into a human-sized kebab” and ‘Sorry we buried all those people alive, that’s our bad.’”

Clara’s internal banter with a mind-reader is quite interesting, and the way the functionables use their functions is imaginative. Clara falls into a vat of toxic waste, poses as an assassin, falls off a roof, and comes to appreciate Morgan’s functionable pigeon, Victor, before the final action-packed climax in which there’s a bloody battle between some unexpected opponents. If you go with the flow, this impressive debut novel is a fun read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and BHC Press

The Dishonest Miss Take by Faye Murphy was everything I was looking forward to and more! Mix a Pigeon with questionable culinary choices, a cast of hilarious side characters and a mind-reading crush and you have the ideal backdrop for what is a delightfully unique Victorian Paranormal Mystery

Utterly delightful and wonderfully whimsical, comedy steampunk at its finest and I am absolutely here for it. Defo one for the shopping basket! I am really looking forward to where this one goes and absolutel slated for a re-read

Thank you to Netgalley, BHC Press and the brilliant author Fay Murphy for this glorious ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

What do you get with a sassy yet grumpy protagonist, a world full of superpowers and special powers made from industrial pollution in a modern take on Victorian London? An instant hit! Couple that with a porridge eating pigeon, a dopey band of assassins, a love interest who can read minds and a friend with hideous taste in wallpaper, and you had a book that I couldn't put down!

This book was full of hilarious writing and just nonsensical information. It was heartwarming and fun. I would dearly like to read anything else that the author has written. Definitely a different take on a heroes and villains story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author and publisher for a temporary copy in exchange for an honest review.

To start, I believe that the target age demographic for this book — what I assume to be somewhere between a middle grade and a YA reader — is going to really like this book. Described as Enola Holmes meets X-MEN meets Warrior Nun, I was also reminded throughout of the Jessica Jones series — our FMC has the bad temper, short fuse, and surliness of someone who’s had to fight to survive.

In addition to clean and clever writing, one of the most compelling elements was the banter and budding intimacy between two of the main characters. This romantic subplot was the emotional heart thread of the story!

The biggest takeaway is the sheer volume of elements built into this tale. It felt less like a cohesive arc and more like many great starts to standalone book-length novels:
- a school of assassins whose identities remain a secret + an enemies-to-lovers queer romance between an assassin and her target
- people with special powers who prevent and fight crime in Victorian England — though some heroes have turned villain and we don’t know which ones — and a girl skirting the line between both worlds to survive.
- a magical dirt monster terrorizing the city and a girl clever enough to save the day.

There were many areas where I felt more contextualization and/or clarity was necessary but these two stand out the most:

- The morality and motivations of the assassins. When any citizen has a legal right to order a hit on any other citizen for any reason, what is the precedent for assassins believing that their work is noble and making a difference? (I believe both Morgan and Darcy have lines about this the text.) We needed clarification here.
- Clara’s family dynamic. It feels difficult to empathize with a scenario in which you can care about someone’s well being but also readily harm or kill that person the moment it suits your own needs.

I’m giving this 3 stars because I think there are some special things going on here and even though I left with more questions than answers, I WANTED to know more. I think this author has more she can give us!

Thank you to BHC Press and Faye Murphy and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

In this sci-fi, steampunk, gas lamp book from Faye Murphy; it follows Clara who has left her days as a notorious villain behind and so she would have us think, not allowing herself to be dragged into a fight that not hers. She reluctantly has to join forces to fight the corrupt elite.
This was an exciting traverse into the Victorian era I found the story intriguing and flowed through the story at some points I felt the story went off on a tangent with the word building but on the whole I reaped the benefit of the story.

I was hoping for a lot more from this but it didn't really do anything for me.

It had an interesting magic system and I wish there was more worldbuilding, seemed like the author didn't develop the magic system passed the basics so didn't bother explaining it. One of the characters even says they don't know how it works but just don't think about it too much? Like what is that??

I liked the idea of the assassin school and that the public actually knew about it especially in a Victorian era.

The whole premise sounded great but the execution didn't work for me. I didn't really like the writing style or the pacing, I felt pulled out of the story a lot because it just didn't flow.

I didn't connect to any of the characters or really care about what was happening because it was too fast paced and there wasn't much depth to any of it.

I think the book has a lot of potential, if it was reworked it could be great but it missed the mark for me unfortunately

This book surprised me! I have to admit, after the first 25% I almost DNF. I was a bit bored, and was not connecting with the main character. But once we encountered the "big bad" of the Dirt Man, the pacing sped up and the characterization tightened for me. I loved the camaraderie that developed between Clara and her found family (not that she would call them that, amazing grump that she is). I really began to enjoy her inner voice and her snarky comments. Sometimes it was a little much, but overall I enjoyed it. And while I like her romance in Morgan I didn't quite "buy it." I did not get a feeling of chemistry between the two; it feels more like a platonic friendship than romantic feelings. This story was entertaining, the voice was fun, and the worldbuilding was interesting. I think the characterization could have been a bit deeper, and the pacing in the beginning was slow. For these reasons, I give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up to 4.

this felt so much like a victorian romantasy half the time and so much like a superhero scifi the other half and both halfs were so gorgeous. thanks for the arc.

<i>I received an ARC of this book through Ntegalley</i>

2.5

I really wanted to like this, I really did. Both the title and the plot are intriguing, but I'm afraid the story itself fell a bit flat. I found the characters to be very blund which made it impossible for me to connect with them and be interested in the story, and I wasn't a fan of the writing style at all. However, it was fast-paced and had an interesting magic system (which, if I'm being honest, I didn't understand entirely).

This is a story that follows our main character Clara as she tries to discover the truth behind a murder that she is suspected of committing, I really didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did as i found the first 20% to be slightly flat, but I could also see this to be important to explain the story and motivations for each character, as soon as I got to around 30% it’s like we suddenly switched gears and I really started getting into the plot. I really loved the found family feel that we got from our characters and there were plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing. The idea of certain people having “Functions” which enhanced certain abilities really interested me but it wasn’t that clear to at first until we got to a few more peoples abilities. Overall I found the story to be super interesting and the interactions between everyone was really funny and the banter that Clara had with her little gang of misfits made me smile, this book was definitely a pleasant surprise for me! Thankyou Netgalley for an arc of this book :)

The Victorian era is one of my favourites to read about in terms of historical fiction, and from the description, I thought this book sounded interesting.

This was an entertaining read. The narrator struck me as not particularly kind or caring, but funny, confident and sassy. Even if she didn't seem particularly likeable, she had a strong personality that I appreciated.

The author wrote with a sort of simplicity that I liked, bringing to life both the setting and the characters within it, without over-embellishing. Maybe this was partly due to the personality of the narrator, telling the reader what they needed to know, and nothing more.

I did find this quite humorous in places, and it was quite light, easy reading. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

I was given a chance to read this book thanks to the publishers and Netgalley.

This was a fun, fast-paced read. It was enjoyable but did leave me wanting more. It gave me the Incredibles, but Villians mixed with XMen vibes. Although to me, the powers of each weren't fully explained. I also feel like the speed made it a bit hard to connect. At one point, it felt like this was a second book in a series, not the first , as it was written. The world building is there, but to me, I wanted more.

Though I did enjoy it and some parts had me laughing. There was some good banter between characters. If there is a future book, I would definitely give it a go as I did enjoy the premise and story!