The Strange Case of Finley Jane

Kady Cross

Publisher: Harlequin

Publish Date: already out

Version: e-book

Series: The Steampunk Chronicles

This is the prequel to The Girl in the Steel Corset.  In this book, Finley Jane is learning about herself.  She had been fired from the service of Lady Gattersleigh for punching the governess who slapped a boy.  Being unemployed is not something that Finley likes to be.  She returns to her family’s home and the next day, Lady Morton comes to inquire about hiring her to be a companion to her daughter, Pheobe, who was recently engaged to Lord Vincent.

Finley poses as a cousin of Pheobe’s while she is her companion.  Strange things happen which make people notice Finley.  All Finley cares about is finding out what kind of character Lord Vincent is and why he wants to marry Pheobe.

I hadn’t read much in the steampunk genre and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.  I really liked this book and it got me excited about reading other steampunk books.

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…

An ebook exclusive prequel to The Steampunk Chronicles.

▪Pheobe.  Even though she is from the upper class, she is a good, compassionate person who treats Finley as a person and not just a worker.

▪Finley.  She is unsure of herself and having this job at the Mortons, gives her the opportunity to show herself that she isn’t all bad.

▪Finley’s mom and step-father.  They are ever supportive of Finley.

 

▪Lord Vincent.  He is crazy though he appears to be sane.

▪Pheobe’s father.  The predicament that he caused him family to be in is deplorable.

Legacy

Molly Cochran

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Tentative Publish Date: December 20, 2011

Version: Simon and Schuster galley grab e-book

Series: none

In this book, Serenity Katherine Ainsworth, who goes by “Katy Jessevar,” is sent to Ainsworth Preparatory School in Whitfield, Massachusetts after her father moved to New York when he got a job there.  When Katy starts the new school, she meets Peter Shaw at the library.  He instantly knows that she is an Ainsworth and dislikes her.  Every new student at Ainsworth School gets invited to have lunch at Hattie’s Kitchen, where she finds a book that belongs to Peter.  Hattie asks Katy to return it to him, causing them to interact once again.

Katy eventually gets offered an afterschool job at Hattie’s Kitchen.  After working there, she understands how Hattie can give people what they need without them even asking.  She didn’t expect this job.  She certainly didn’t expect Peter to be working there also.  Katy meets Peter’s younger brother, Eric, and learns a little more about why Peter and Eric are with Hattie.  She also learns of her lineage, learns that she is a witch and makes contact with her maternal grandmother and aunt, whom she has never met.

Not soon after Katy starts at Hattie’s Kitchen, Peter and she learn to work together and tolerate each other.  This is essential because the Harbingers start showing up and Peter helps Katy understand them.  The Harbingers are bad omens and they foretell the coming of the Darkness.  According to the Great Book of Secrets, if the Darkness takes hold of anyone, they must be destroyed by fire.  What happens when the Darkness takes over someone you love?

This book was an interesting read.  I could never predict what was happening next.  With the arrival of the new Wonderland store in Whitfield thrown into the story, I wasn’t sure what was going to take precedence.  It was a book that was hard to put down.

When her widowed father dumps 16-year-old Katy Jessevar in a boarding school in Whitfield, Massachusetts, she has no idea that fate has just opened the door to both her future and her past. Nearly everyone in Whitfield is a witch, as is Katy herself, although she has struggled all her life to hide her unusual talents. Stuck at a boarding school where her fellow studens seem to despise her, Katy soon discovers that Whitfield is the place where her mother commited suicide under mysterious circumstances when Katy was just a small child. With dark forces converging on Whitfield, it’s up to Katy to unravel her family’s many secrets to save the boy she loves and the town itself from destruction.

▪Katy.  Eventually, she understand what it means to be an Ainsworth and why when the Ainsworth women got married, the groom would take their name instead of what’s expected of society.  She learns a lot throughout this book and at first is upset by being sent to Whitfield and feels like she was being thrown away.

▪Peter.  He is a good person.  Everything he does in the story is for the good of someone.  As you get further into the book, you understand his motivations better.  Even when Katy and Peter were not getting along, she said that he is a “decent person.”   He always remembers what it is important.

▪Dingo.  I like this dog and his singing.  He accompanies Mr. Haversall. 

▪Hattie Scott.  She is the witch who took care of Eric and Peter after Peter’s mom and dad died.  She is full of wisdom and is the High Priestess of Whitfield.

▪Livia Fowler and her daughter Becca.  I never have liked people who thought they were better than someone else.

▪The Darkness.  Again…expected.