The Strange Case of Finley Jayne, by Kady Cross

Synopsis:

Finley Jayne knows she's not 'normal'. Normal girls don't lose time, or have something inside them that makes them capable of remarkably violent things. Her behavior has already cost her one job, so when she's offered the lofty position of companion to Phoebe, a debutante recently engaged to Lord Vincent, she accepts, despite having no experience. Lord Vincent is a man of science with his automatons and inventions, but Finley is suspicious of his motives where Phoebe is concerned. She will do anything to protect her new friend, but what she discovers is even more monstrous than anything she could have imagined…

The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My review:

This short novella has a good flow & is well written. Finley Jayne, the main character, is very strong willed and determined. She has a bit of a multiple personality disorder that makes her über strong & fearless when emotions run high. I really enjoyed her character. Being Steampunk, there are a lot of clockwork devices, automatons and a mad scientist. The story has a bit of a gory "Frankenstein" feel to it, in fact, Mary Shelley's story is referenced a couple of times. There's a bit of humour in the way the story is told. Finley sometimes comes up with funny thoughts and comments that make you smile. The action starts around the 50% mark. Before that, it's mostly character background and story setup. I am a hopeless romantic so I was disappointed that there was no love interest for Finley. I will probably read the 1st novel in the series, "The Girl in the Steel Corset" and I'm hoping that there is more romance in it.

Technical stuff:

"The Strange Case of Finlay Jayne" is the prequel novella to the novel "The Girl in the Steel Corset" from Kady Cross' "Steampunk Chronicles". Set in a fictional London, 1897 where clockwork and automatons are the new technology. Written in the 3rd person from Finley's point of view (with a little exception where we get a little bit from Lord Vincent's point of view). It is only available in ebook format. Teen Steampunk: violence and a little gore (no sex, no course language). It took me 2.5 hours to read.