The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

Rating: Clear Eyed - 2/5
Release Date: May 24th, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 473
Source: Bought

First, a quick summary from Goodreads:

"In 1897 England, 16-year-old Finley Jayne is convinced she's a freak. 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 . . . that she's one of "them."

Finley Jayne is not your average girl. Finley has a dark side - a side that enables her to throw grown men like a mere sack of potatoes. And quite frankly, I liked that about her. Finley's dark side intrigued me a hell of a lot more than her other side. The darker side to Miss Jayne was extremely bad-ass, and I have to admit, I love that in my characters. But it was really awesome how completely different the two sides of Finley were. However, I kept forgetting that Finley was supposed to have blonde hair in brown hair. The girl on the cover kept confusing me. I really wish that when the publisher, or author or whoever decides the cover art for the book that if they were going to show the characters, they at least resemble the description given to them in the book. Is that so hard to do?

Throughout the book, there were plenty of references to Dr. Jekyll and My. Hyde references, which I totally understand from Finley's personality. It kind of makes me wonder if this book was inspired by the old classic. I also got a strong reminder of a CSI episode during this book, and I was oddly reminded of Scooby-Doo during the ending. I can't really say that I liked these resemblances, though. In fact, they kind of annoyed me and felt out of place considering the time frame the book is set in. It's supposed to be the 1800s, I don't want to be reminded of current-day things.

And the love triangles! UGH! Okay. So I understand the one between Jack and Griff and Finely, but the one between what's-his-face, Sam and Emily? Totally not necessary. Not every main character in the book has to be in love with somebody. It's really not necessary. Anyways.

Other than Finley's bad-ass self, I couldn't really bring myself to really care for anyone, and I didn't really find the plot all that engaging. It was very predictable for me. In fact, it was so predictable that I can say that I could have easily stopped reading this book and I would have known what happened in the end without needing to read it.

The pace of the book was moderate. I wasn't bored with it, but I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat either. This might have been due to the fact that the book was predictable and I wasn't really invested in it's characters. Which brings me to my disappointment in this book. Trust me when I say that I wanted to like it. I really did. But I just couldn't do it. I mean, it was an okay read, but definitely not something that I would consider picking up and reading again.



***SPOILER ALERT***
Now. If you haven't read this book and plan on it, I wouldn't suggest reading this next little bit unless you want to know the ending. So scram! You have been warned!


First, I would like to pose a question. WHY THE HELL DID SAM GO AND CONFRONT LEON ON HIS OWN?!?! That was such a stupid thing to do. You have no idea how much it annoyed me. When they finally figured out Leon was The Mechanist was, I remember repeating over and over in my head, "Sam better not go and confront him on his own. He better not. DON'T DO IT SAM."

But what does he do? Exactly what he shouldn't have. *sigh* I'm sorry. I know characters have there faults and whatever, but this really annoyed me, you have no idea.

Also! At the end when they took what's-his-face away (I can't even remember his name anymore)! What the hell was that?! I understand that there was build up towards that, but barely. I mean, the guy didn't even seem like a killer. Not in the, he-hid-it-so-well kind of way, but in the he's-not-capable-of-doing-something-like-that-EVER kind of way. And honestly? When they took him away I can't say I really cared at all. And have you read the description for the second book?! Who the heck is this new chick? I thought he liked Emily. This also erked me. I can't say why, it just really did.

Butyeah. That's my rant and I'm sorry you had to hear it, but I just needed to get that out of my system.