Heartless - Gail Carriger Oh Alexia, what fun you are to read about! Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate books are fast becoming one of my favorite series of books. They are just so much fun, I'm not sure where to start.Alexia's escapades aren't slowed down in Heartless by her infant inconvenience, they're just made all the more interesting. Gail's descriptions of her waddling and the precarious, unflattering predicaments she gets herself into at the later stages of her 'condition' are hilarious. Honestly, this series is one of the few that I can count on to make me laugh out loud. Since I was on a roll with books recently that moved me to tears, Alexia and company were a breath of fresh air.At the crux of these books is the mystery that Alexia must solve while driving her protective alpha husband Connal crazy and pulling all her friends and associates right along with her. Heartless gave a lot of these supporting characters some unexpected depth. Lord Akeldama was back with an unexpected new role in Alexia and Connal's life. Ivy once again proves that there is more under those ludicrous hats than meets the eye. Biffy is having more trouble with his new life style than anyone seems equipped to handle. Surprisingly, Floote says more in this book than he has said in any of the others and it is still not quite enough to fill in all the blanks (not so surprisingly.) We learn more about Alexia's father from several unexpected sources. Probably the most surprising and touching part of this story came from Professor Lyall and seeing a side of him that has the potential to take his character in several different directions.Through all of this, my favorite part is the unconventional love that Alexia and Connal share. They're not perfect, they both have their faults, they exasperate one another on a regular basis, but they love each other fiercely. Connal showed a loving side in this book that we hadn't really seen before. His love for Alexia was always evident (even when he didn't realize it) but in Heartless he showed not only his loyalty, but his love for the members of his pack. It was a great side of Connal to see and gave us even more reason to love him.The only bad part about finishing Heartless is that we now have to wait for the next installment. Timeless is, however, available for pre-order and is scheduled to be available in February of 2012. I, for one, can't wait to see what happens next with the newly expanded Maccon clan. Timeless is sure to be filled with more mystery and most importantly fun! ;)