POW (Page One Wow): THE GIRL IN THE STEEL CORSET

 

Things to ask yourself when looking for POW: Does the book draw me in from the first page? Does it have that certain something that makes it unputdownable? Does it make me pay attention?

I'm going to post a few lines from the first page of a book (current or past read), and say whether or not I think it has Page One Wow. As always, feel free to chime in!

 

"The moment she saw the young man walking down the darkened hall toward her, twirling his walking stick, Finley Jayne knew she'd be unemployed before the sun rose.  Her third dismissal in as many months.

 

She tensed and slowed her steps, but she did not stop.  She kept her head down, but was smart enough not to take her gaze off him.  Perhaps he would walk right by her, as if she were as invisible as servants were supposed to be.

 

Felix August-Raynes was the son of her employer.  At one and twenty years of age, he was tall and lean with curly blond hair and bright blue eyes.  Ever woman who saw him called him an angel.  Most who knew him thought him the very devil."--page 1, The Girl in the Steel Corset

 

So, does it have POW?  For me, it's a yes.  I feel the tension, the menace wafting off of Raynes, and the danger to Finley.  I really loved this first scene. Hint: Finley can take care of herself, and the awful Felix finds this out the hard way :-).  What do you think?

 

Have a great one,

 

Ninja Girl



I LOVE STEAMPUNK GIVEAWAY

 

So, this is my first ever giveaway!!!  I wanted to make it appropriate for the season; Halloween means costumes, and if there's a genre with better/cooler fashion I don't know it.  Corsets, gears, goggles, tiny hats!  Steampunk is awesome, and I wanted my first giveaway to reflect that awesomeness ;D

Some lucky follower will win two books of your choice chosen from the list below:

Phew, I hope the format looks okay.  If it's wonky, that's totally my fault, and we'll just put that down to inexperience, shall we?  If you want a later book in the series, that's totally fine!  When you win, you'll just email me with the titles you'd like at that time.  I'll announce the winner this Friday!  Please enter using the Rafflecopter (always wanted to say that *grins*).

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

Happy Halloween!

 

Ninja Girl

STACKING THE SHELVES

So, I probably won't participate in this meme every week (there's a limit to my funds lol), but this time I got a pretty sweet haul of books and wanted to share.  Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.

List of Books: One Foot in the Grave by Jeanine Frost
                        The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
                        Social Suicide by Gemma Halliday
                        Forgiven by Jana Oliver
                        Immortal City by Scott Speer
                        Body & Soul by Stacey Kade

First up to read:

And there you have it!  The Girl in the Steel Corset is actually a gift I'm sending to one of my Ninja Aunts since I already own a copy and feel she's missing out on all that Steampunky goodness  :D  The rest I bought at BAM.  I'm giving the Night Huntress series another go b/c so many seem to LOVE Bones--and I would like to love him, too!!

Hope you all had a great week,

Ninja Girl

THE GIRL IN THE STEEL CORSET by Kady Cross

A Jekyll and Hyde Steampunk YA set in Victorian England, featuring a sixteen-year-old girl, who not only has one kick-ass persona, but two?  Yes, please!

Kady Cross is firing on all cylinders in The Girl in the Steel Corset (and not just b/c the cover's gorgeous, and the title rocks).  It's the story that stood out for me.  The unique twist she put on the Jekyll and Hyde concept just blew my mind.  In the acknowledgements section, Cross said she wanted to write "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets teen X-Men," and she more than succeeded.  I've loved X-Men since I was a kid (FYI: Rogue is the ultimate! She was always my favorite J), and part of the reason was that the back stories for each character were so well thought out and completely developed.  The characters in Cross's book were wonderful: Finley the girl with two faces, one wild and wicked, the other a little too good; Griffin the leader of the pack with a vendetta to repay; Sam the strong man whose strength failed him at a critical moment and left him (in his eyes) less than human; Emily the sweet genius who couldn't let her one true love die, no matter how much he'd hate her afterward.  As I said, for me, it's all about making the characters real, giving them a past and seeing how it affects the here and now.

And speaking of characters with a past, can we talk about Jack Dandy for a sec??

I'm not going to lie.  After the first chapter (which featured Finley, who I loved and worried about throughout), I had a hard time sticking with it.  The prose was a little much for me, a bit too wordy.  But then Jack stepped onto the scene, and I couldn't read fast enough. J  You know how sometimes there's that one character that you just cannot wait to see again?  The one that has you searching for the next time he/she appears, the one that drives the story simply by being in the room?

Well, that's what Jack was for me.  He was just so deliciously bad (in the best way possible).  His in-and-out cockney, his seedy digs, his horrible reputation.  Dandy was the baddest of the bad, the one man you never wanted to cross--and Finley goes out looking for him.  I really love characters who are threatening yet appealing in some indefinable way.  Don't get me wrong, Dandy was a bad, bad man, and I knew it all along.  I never once doubted that.  But he was always there for Finley, and Cross left the door open for one heck of a love triangle.

Even if I didn't love Finley so much, I'd read the next book just to get a little more Jack.

The plot was good: Bad guy (aka The Machinist) is somehow making automatons commit crimes.  It's up to Griffin and his crew to solve the mystery of how and who's doing it before more people get hurt/killed.  And like I said, I thought the concept of a sixteen-year-old female Jekyll and Hyde character was very unique.

But that description--"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets teen X-Men"--would've gotten me to read it no matter what.  Jack Dandy, though, was what (or should I say who?) kept me turning the pages.  I'd recommend it to any X-Men fan and any reader who loves themselves a little wickedness in their heroes and heroines J

Happy reading all,

Ninja Girl