This review was originally posted at Christa's Hooked on Books ---> 
 http://christashookedonbooks.blogspot... 
 Finley Jane has always know she was a bit different. She's pretty strong, heals quickly and has got an incredible temper that she can barely control. After causing trouble at yet another employer's house, she takes off into the night. She knows this time, trouble will mean more than a dismissal, it'll mean jail. As she sneaks off, she collides with Griffin King, a duke and associate of the Queen. Fortunately for her, Griffin is also a little bit different, and before she knows it she's a part of a rag tag team, using their unusual skills to track down England's newest criminal, the Machinist. 
 This edge of your seat read, had me from the first few pages. Finley Jane is an A+ heroine. She is brave, strong willed, loyal and doesn't need a man to protect her. Can you say Girl Power? I found her engaging and I loved reading about her and all the trouble she managed to find herself in again and again. Finley is joined by a whole cast of other very likeable characters. Griffin King is incredibly charming, Sam (the part-man, part-robot) is ruled by his emotions but is always there for his friends and Emily, an incredibly smart and sweet girl that always seems to have the answers (again I want to say yay to girl power!). There are also some less than angelic characters, like the underground criminal, Jack Dandy. Though not as charming and well off as Griffin I definitely prefer Jack. Love me some Victorian age bad boys :) 
 Unfortunately, this book was a little predictable. It was easy to figure out the mysterious idenity of the Machinist and there were a couple more moments that you saw coming pretty far in advance. I was also a little disappointed by one of the big action scenes. It seemed too easy and it was over way to quickly. After building up to it for so long, it would have been nice for it to present more of a challenge. Overall, however, the good outweighed the unfortunate. 
 This was my first steampunk novel, so I really didn't know what to expect. What I found in The Girl in the Steel Corset, was an exciting edge of your seat read which combined what I love about science fiction with what I love about historical fiction. It was like reading Sherlock Holmes meets Jean Gray from the X-Men. There's not as much suspense as I would have liked but it's a great story, with some even greater characters and I can't wait for the next one.