The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

Goodreads:
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 not all Victorian girls have a darker side that makes them capable of knocking out a full-grown man with a single punch...

Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that makes Finley special - makes her 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; 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.

My first thought when I read the synopsis of The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross was: 'yay more steampunk! & that maybe Finley will have some kind of cool power involving metal because of the name of the book?'

Dundundun.. I was wrong, but pleasantly so.

The Girl in the Steel Corset was a mix of: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen x The Journey to the Centre of the Earth (and I'm thinking of the Brenden Fraser movie and not the book) and then in the acknowledgments at the end, Kady explains that she wanted to write a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen x teen X-men. (Which it was, and since I love both, you wont get any complaints from me)

For some reason I liked it when the bad young lord at the start called Finley a 'nasty little tart' something about the word 'tart' makes me giggle; and enjoyed it even more when she kicked his sleazy ass.

The story had an intriguing storyline and great plot throughout; with a good healthy dollop of mystery, romance and paranormal powers in a steampunk world of fun!

And the characters!

Finley doesn't have any powers involving metal like I first thought, but her kick ass power (very much like heightened animal awareness x super strength) is a kind of a split personality - kind of like Jekyll and Hyde - was a bit weird for me at the beginning, but it got a lot better for me as she developed and came to understand her powers as the story progressed.

Now, onto Griffin King and Jack Dandy... hold on a minute while I wipe up my drool... Jack reminded me a lot of George from Tamora Pierce's Lioness Quartet series (aka Sexy Crime Leader) and Griff was just yum... Finely sure has two lovely choices, and there better be some progress on that front in the next book.. or else!!!!!!

I love how there is not only one love triangle going on in this book but two! Sam and Emily are just so cute! Jasper is great too, but I don't think he will get far with Emily. But you never know what the next book might hold.

Damn! That ending, was frustrating, yet managed to be good at the same time.

I so badly want the next book right now, and it will be very interesting to see if we get a big chunk of Jasper's POV, in it. But with the title as 'The Girl in the Clockwork Choker' it seems like Finley wont hand over the reins so easily, or hell, maybe the collar could even be referring to Emily, will just have to wait till 2012 to find out.

I give The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross: 4 and a half noms. (missed out on the other half because I'm being petty with a certain part).