Book Review: The Girl in the Steel Corset, Kady Cross

Reading Level:        Young Adult 

Hardcover:               336 Pages 

Publisher:                 Harlequin Teen, May 24, 2011

Parasols:                   5

Finley Jayne is a bit of an enigma.  When angered she becomes this fighting machine and can take down just about any bloody bugger she wants.  Watching her fight is cool too.  But for Finley, she can't control it and it's getting worse.  A bit like Jekyll & Hyde, this story is amazing.

I'm very stingy with my 5 parasol ratings.  But this story totally deserves it and more.  It's brilliantly written.  Amazingly executed, this is the type of story that I love to read.  It's Steampunk, It's romantic, It's got a gothic feel to it.  There is danger lurking around every corner.

Griffin King is special as well.  He can access the dead when necessary.  So when Finley literally bumps into him and his friend Sam.  He feels a connection to this girl and decides to bring her into his house.  But you see, Griff is not what he seems.  He is the Duke of Greythorne and is probably one of the wealthiest and most eligible bachelors in all of England.  (Commence the swooning, Griff rocked my socks off!)

Griff's best friend, Sam is highly skeptical of this girl who is utterly dangerous living under the same roof.  But he's got a reason to be skeptical.  See Sam was fatally injured by an android-type thing and Emily (brilliant Em who lives with Griff and Sam and Sam is a bit sweet on) patched him together with the same material that tried to destroy him.  Sam is not thinking well.

There were a few storylines here that tied up neatly and like I said it was all executed so well.  Like a finely spun spiderweb.  Griffin is still reeling from the deaths of his beloved mother and father and wants to find the killer at all cost.  His attraction to Finley causes everyone to question his motives in keeping her around.  But he seems to be the only one who can calm her two selves into one calm being.

I absolutely adored this story and would love to read more like this.  This is Kady Cross' debut YA novel and highly recommend it.