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The Girl with the Windup Heart by Kady Cross

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The Girl with the Windup Heart by Kady CrossMila has been spending the last few months with Jack Dandy, learning how to be a real girl and live in society. When he breaks her heart she runs away and joins the circus, determined to be independent. While Jack is trying to find her and bring her home, Griffin King is captured by Garibaldi and taken into the Aether. Finley, desperate to rescue him, temporarily dies in order to go into the Aether and bring him back.

I loved this book! It is the final installment in The Steampunk Chronicles, which is bittersweet because I’m really going to miss these characters. Everything finally gets wrapped up in this last book, and Griffin finally faces down Garibaldi for the last time.

My favorite thing about this book was that it was centered around my favorite character: Jack Dandy. I’ve loved Jack since the first book, mainly because of his complex character. There is much more to Jack than meets the eye, and he hides his true self behind the criminal persona he allows other people to see. In this book we finally find out why Jack is the way he is and we get a closer look at the real Jack Dandy.

Mila is another great character, and her interactions with Jack were great. She’s able to bring out Jack’s true self, and he allows himself to be vulnerable around her. She is incredibly strong and smart, and when she begins to fall for Jack he realizes he cannot allow that to happen because he believes that she deserves better. I really loved their story and the way Mila refused to let Jack treat her like a child.

Meanwhile, Finley is trying desperately to save Griffin from the Aether. Garibaldi imprisons and tortures Griffin, and Finley must temporarily die in order to enter the Aether to find him. The whole group bands together to try and defeat Garibaldi once and for all, and make sure that Griffin does not get killed in the process. In order to defeat Garibaldi, Griffin must face the magnitude of his ability, something he has been afraid of his whole life.

Overall, The Girl with the Windup Heart was a great final installment in The Steampunk Chronicles. I loved Jack and Mila’s story and the way the series ended, but I will miss these characters very much!

The Girl with the Windup Heart will be released on May 27, 2014.

The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross

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The Girl With the Iron Touch by Kady Cross“It seemed humans, the scientifically minded ones at least, were either tempting death or trying to prolong life. Surely that was an indication of madness.”

Emily is kidnapped by automatons who want her to transplant The Machinist’s consciousness into another automaton so that he will be resurrected. Finley and the rest of the group try their best to find out where Emily is being held, but meanwhile Griffin is being tormented by the Aether and isolating himself from the others. Finley seeks help from Jack Dandy, but must deal with his feelings for her and her feelings for Griffin.

I loved the previous two books in this series so I was really looking forward to this, but I was a little bit disappointed. I absolutely love all of these characters so I enjoyed this book regardless, but I felt like the book was a little bit repetitive of itself. Finley and Griffin kept having the same argument over and over throughout the book and after awhile I was tired of reading the same conversation again and again.

I loved Emily and Sam’s moments in this book though. It was nice to see them both finally realize just how much they care about each other–especially Sam since he was always so surly and aggressive. When Emily is taken, Sam will stop at nothing to find her and his dedication to her was really sweet.

Jack Dandy is one of my favorite characters, and I was glad he played a big role in this book. There isn’t really a love triangle in this book–Jack is mainly just a source of tension between Finley and Griffin–but I love what Jack brings to the group and I love his interactions with Finley. I can’t say I would be happy to see him involved with Finley romantically because I love her with Griffin, but the two definitely have chemistry.

A big focus of this book was Emily and her abduction by the automatons. I love Emily because what she lacks in strength and size, she makes up for in intelligence. While she still needs help from the rest of the group to end The Machinist’s plans, Emily uses her brain to delay his return and the others use Emily’s creations to find her.

Overall, The Girl with the Iron Touch was a fun story but a slight disappointment. I will still be continuing on with the series because I love this group of characters, but I hope the next book will bring something new to the series.

The Girl with the Iron Touch was released May 28, 2013 and is the third book in The Steampunk Chronicles.

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

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The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

“’I like a little fight in my girls.’
She grinned at him,causing blood to dribble down her chin.
‘Then you’re going to love me.'”

The Girl in the Steel Corset is about a girl named Finley in 19th century England who has a dark side that gives her the ability to knock out a grown man with a single punch. When she loses her job because of this very thing, she meets Griffin King, a young duke who has some abilities of his own. He sees her powers as special, and invites her to join his group of friends who all have some sort of ability. She decides to join them and help Griffin find The Machinist, a man who has been using automatons to do crime. What she finds, however, is a place where she finally belongs.

This was my first steampunk book! It was recommended to me by my friend Lisa and I am so happy that I finally picked it up. Finley is such a great character–she is brave and strong and does not feel that she needs to depend on a man to protect her. In fact, she can beat most men in a fight, however she is frightened by the power her dark side gives her and seeks Griffin’s help to learn to control it. She is a bit headstrong at times but she is loyal to Griffin and his friends even though they are unsure if they can trust her at first.

The best part of this book was all of the characters. I absolutely loved each and every one of them because they are so wonderfully written. The story is told from many points of view and it gives the reader an insight into many of the other characters, which I really enjoyed. They are all extremely well developed and they all work together so perfectly that it really makes the story what it is. I also loved the romance in the book and the fact that it wasn’t the sole focus of the story made it even better.

Overall, The Girl in the Steel Corset is a fantastic book full of so many different elements:  history, romance, paranormal, and of course–steampunk! Kady Cross herself has described this book as X-men meets A League of Extraordinary Gentleman. I would highly recommend this one, especially if, like me, you haven’t read many steampunk books.

The Girl in the Steel Corset was released May 24, 2011 and is the first book in the Steampunk Chronicles. The second book, The Girl in the Clockwork Collar was released May 22, 2012 and the third book, The Girl with the Iron Touch, is set to be released May 21, 2013.

To Be Reviewed

To Be Reviewed Leave a comment

I have been super busy lately with holiday stuff (belated Happy Thanksgiving everyone!) and with READING so I haven’t been able to post as much as I’d like. I have a serious problem–I am unable to go into a library or bookstore without leaving with at least three books in hand. My to-be-read list grows on a daily basis, but here’s a list of some books I am currently reading/am about to read and will hopefully get a chance to review soon:

A Fractured Light by Jocelyn Davies

This is a sequel to A Beautiful Dark, a book about a girl who discovers there is more to her past than she realized when she meets two angels sent to protect her. A Fractured Light continues the story of Skye and the two angels, who are (of course) both in love with her, and Skye finds that she not only has to make a choice between the two of them but rather a much bigger choice of whether to ally herself with the Order or the Rebellion. I just finished this one the other day and while it had a bit of a slow start, it redeemed itself in the end.

 

 

 

 

 

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

This is the first book in The Steampunk Chronicles, which takes place in 19th century England and is about a girl named Finley who has a darker side that gives her special abilities such as being able to knock out a fully grown man with just her fist. This book was highly recommended to me and I must say I was absolutely hooked by the second page. I’m about halfway through this now and can’t wait to see what happens next!

 

 

 

 

 

The Moon Dwellers by David Estes

I actually received a copy of this ebook free from the author through a Read for Review on Goodreads. This is the first book in a dystopian series about people who moved underground after most life on Earth above ground was destroyed. It follows a girl named Adele, who was sent to prison because her parents were deemed traitors, and a boy named Tristan, who is the son of the President. They share a strange connection that confuses them both and leads Tristan to go searching for answers. I’m about halfway through this and so far it is very fast paced and exciting!

 

 

 

 

 

Skylark by Meagan Spooner

I’m about to start this one! Skylark is a steampunk-y dystopian about a city that harvests its children’s magical energy once they reach adolescence. Once Lark Ainsley reaches sixteen, it is discovered that she is able to regenerate her power so she has to flee the city to avoid being used for energy over and over. This one definitely sounds interesting and I have heard many good things about it!

 

 

 

 

 

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

I knowwww, everyone and their mother has read this and loved it so how could I possibly have not read it yet?!! It’s been on my TBR for a long time now and since the sequel is due out next year I am finally going to sit myself down and read it. I don’t know too much about this book other than the fact that everyone loves it and it is a dystopian love story, which means I will probably love it too! I’m definitely looking forward to this one.

 

 

 

 

 

Looking for Alaska by John Green

I received this as a birthday gift this year and can’t wait to read it! After reading A Fault in Our Stars, which was absolutely fabulous (if you haven’t read it, READ IT), I decided that I definitely had to read more John Green. This book is about a boy who goes to boarding school and meets a girl who changes his world. I just hope it doesn’t make me cry the waterfall of tears that I cried after reading A Fault in Our Stars.

 

 

 

 

 

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

I wasn’t a big fan of the Shiver series, but I have heard REALLY good things about this book, which is also the first in a series. This is paranormal/supernatural story about a girl named Blue and four boys from a private school that cross her path and bring her into their strange world. I’m definitely intrigued!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angelfall by Susan Ee

I got this book super cheap at Barnes and Noble! It takes place after the apocalypse and is about a girl named Penryn who makes a deal with an enemy angel to help her rescue her sister, who was taken by warrior angels. I’ve heard good things about this and am interested to read a story about an apocalypse that was caused by angels.

 

 

 

 

 

So obviously I’ve got a lot of reading to do! I am super excited for all of these and will hopefully have some reviews up soon!