The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
Release Date: May 24, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: E-ARC
Source: Netgalley/Publisher
Interest: Debut Author
Challenge: 2011 Debut Author Challenge
Buy the Book: Amazon
In 1897 England, sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne has no one…except the "thing" inside her.
When a young lord tries to take advantage of Finley, she fights back. And wins. But no normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch….
Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she's special, says she's one of them. The orphaned duke takes her in from the gaslit streets against the wishes of his band of misfits: Emily, who has her own special abilities and an unrequited love for Sam, who is part robot; and Jasper, an American cowboy with a shadowy secret.
Griffin's investigating a criminal called The Machinist, the mastermind behind several recent crimes by automatons. Finley thinks she can help—and finally be a part of something, finally fit in.
But The Machinist wants to tear Griff's little company of strays apart, and it isn't long before trust is tested on all sides. At least Finley knows whose side she's on—even if it seems no one believes her.
Steampunk-ery at it's best. This is one steam-tastic debut! Steam-erific... okay I'm done.
This is my second "steampunk" novel and although it was quite a bit different than the other novel I read, I am finding myself enamored with this genre!
Finley. Wow, that girl can kick some butt. I think that I was immediately drawn to her because of that power she had. Seriously, I would love to be able to kick someone's ass like that! Well, when the occasion called for it... being controlled by a darker side, is something that I don't really have an interest in at all.
The characters and the world are what I enjoyed the most. I loved their quirks and the haphazard family that they created for each other, it was all rather endearing. And I loved the darkness and mystery surrounding the one and only Jack Dandy... now there is a character I want to see a little more of. I'd say he has a few secrets hidden up his sleeves. I'll admit that I had the bad guy pegged and his evil plan all figured out, long before the intelligent characters in this novel did! But it was still fun watching them putting all the pieces together themselves. There were a few instances where I was caught by surprise too!
Cross has definitely created a world and characters that I can't wait to visit again!