The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

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 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.”

Steampunk has always been one of my favorite genres to read, mainly because I have a weakness for the Victorian era. I mean, I strongly believe that’s the era I should’ve been born in! That being said, it took me awhile to get into this book. I mean, the reviews are all high-rated, so I knew it likely was going to put me in awe, but I’m not sure what I felt it was missing! Overall, I loved it. I mean, if I was to rate it, it’d be at least 4 stars, but I felt it lacked something, too. I’ll be honest and say I think it was me and the frame of mind I was in. I often get in a little reading funk, I guess you’d call it and nothing seems to be able to pull me out of it.

The overall story was so interesting, the characters each had something “special” about them and I found myself wanting to know why that was. Finley was such a strong character and her changing moods were so extreme! Griff was a yummy potential love interest, but so was Dandy, I’d love to read more of him in the future! The automatons added a fun creepy feel that I loved.

I received The Girl in the Steel Corset from Netgalley & the publisher in exchange for my honest review.