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
The Short Story? – This book is so awesome that I have it in both paperback and hardback. Clockwork Angel meets The Luxe, it’s the best of both worlds! All the glam The Luxe and all the handsome young man and supernatural action of Clockwork Angel. Witty, exciting and swoon-worthily romantic. Un-put-downable, stunning debut, this is the ultimate page-turner.
The Long Story? – Why in the name of Books didn’t I read this one earlier? Why? Why? Why? I’m kicking for myself for leaving this one on my shelf for so long, I loved it. From the start to the end, it was fantastic! I can’t pin it on one thing that made me love it but there is something different about The Girl in the Steel Corset that makes it hard not to love.
One of the best plots I have read this year. It’s not really paranormal and yet there is this supernatural vibe going on. There is this logical explanation behind all the supernaturalnous of the whole novel that it’s somewhere between historical contempt and historical paranormal, closer to the latter. I’ve read many brilliant, brilliant books this year but The Girl in the Steel Corset was different, there was a purpose. It can be easily seen that a lot of planning went into the novel. All the threads that weaved throughout the novel were tied neatly together at the end except for the one that turned into the cliff-hanger ending. It wasn’t just a love story, it wasn’t one of those novels that were badly planned where the author went ‘Oh, I almost forgot to put a conflict in, let me just slotted in here’ It was neat and clever and brilliant. Non-stop action, romantic tension and badass characters.
As far as characterization goes, it’s like reading about superheroes, which I guess in a way they are. They’re crime-stoppers with super-human abilities (or intelligence …or both). Finley, our protagonist is my new best friend. Absolutely loved this girl, she was strong, clever, shy at times and brave. She was a badass heroine. Emily is too smart for me to describe but she’s completely adorable. Sam is Sam ( you’ll understand once you read the book) and my two gorgeous boys Griffin and Jack share my affection. Best love triangle I have ever read, I can’t even pick a side which how awesome the romance is. So much tension and so many *swoon* worthy moments :P
Cross’s writing is fantastic. Very strong narrative voice and it’s quite engrossing, I couldn’t put it down, it was addictive! Comfortable writing style and easy to read language, it’s a novel for all lovers of fiction. A great novel and a fantastic genre!
This book is made of awesome pretty much sums it all up. Do yourself a favor and pick up not only one but two copies of the book because you need a copy to read over and over again and another to stick on your shelf and admire :P Brilliant, original, witty and an absolute page-turner. The Girl in the Steel Corset is a stunner of a debut and I can’t wait to read the next book!
Rating – 6/5
Badass Bookie xx
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. I loved this book so much. Epic 6/5 rating for me too <3
ReplyDeleteJealous that you've got this in print! I grabbed it from Net Galley already before I got in touch with my Harlequin publicist so...yeah, still without a print copy *sobs* Lucky Lisa1 :P
Great review Lisa. Makes me want to grab a copy right now! (though I think I'll hold back until I get my package from Harlequin Teen, just in case I've been sent a copy too)
ReplyDeleteWOW! Awesome review! I think I have to go buy this book NOW! Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant review Lisa! I absolutely can't wait to read this one after your review! It's on my shelf looking at me with puppy dog eyes and now I just want to run over and dive in!
ReplyDeleteFinley sounds great - and the Luxe crossed with Clockwork Angel? YES PLEASE! :)
I'd been a little wary of starting this since hearing a few iffy reviews, but now I'm just plain curious. Thank you. :)
Wow!! Thank you for the awesome review! :) This has been sitting in my bookshelf for months now. For some reason, I couldn't seem to read it. I didn't have the motivation to read it. I wanted to read to when I first saw it but when the time came that it was finally here, in my room, I just couldn't do it. But your review just pushed me to pick it up.
ReplyDeleteFinley Jayne is trying to be independent from her family — not because she doesn’t like them, but because her actions cause destruction everywhere she goes. She is trying to make a better reputation for herself, which means working as a maid for a very rude, touchy-feely (in a bad way), and rich gentleman that is high on the social ladder. So when she ends up beating the dude half to death and runs across the street, she doesn’t expect to run into yet another aristocrat. Although crashing into Griffin King is the least of her worries. A madman is becoming bolder, determined to use his automatons to disband Griffin’s group. To make matters worse the evil half of her personality is growing stronger — and Griffin may be the only person able to help.
ReplyDeleteThis book definitely has potential. This was an amazing read once you get into it, but there were some parts that were predictable. After the first few chapters, the story never slows down. Twists? Yeah. Cliffhangers? Definitely. Victorian England makes the story even more complicated with status problems, balls, and the annoying social rules.