Book Review- The Girl in the Steel Corset

Yesterday I finished reading The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross.

From 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 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.

Sigh, I really need to stay away from books that aren't in modern day.  I never fully enjoy them.  And then I can't truly appreciate them either.  This book just didn't keep my interest.  It wasn't horrible by any means.  I just didn't find myself wanting to read it and it took me forever to get through it.  Sure, there was plenty of action to keep things going, but I just had a hard time finding myself caring.  And I hate feeling that way about a book. 

I didn't really care about the setting or the plot, but I did enjoy the characters.  I liked how strong Finley was and how kick-butt she was.  I LOVED that Emily was so incredibly smart.  And Griffin and Jack Dandy made a fun love triangle.  So the book had the characters going for it.

I've read a lot of great reviews about the book.  It just wasn't my style.  But if you like steampunk, then I would give it a try.  Chances are, you'll probably like it!

I gave this book a rating of 2.5/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2011 100+ Reading Challenge: 42
2011 ARC Reading Challenge: 36
2011 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 33

*FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher for a review