The Strange Case of Finley Jayne

Title: The Strange Case of Finley Jayne
(Steampunk Chronicles 0.5)
Author: Kady Cross
Kindle Edition, 78 pages
Published May 1st 2011

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...

This is a short story, a prequel to the steampunk bestseller The Girl In the Steel Corset, a book I have yet to read. The story begins with Finley Jayne who was fired from her last job after hitting her former employer's governess in the face!

Jobless, Finley went to her mother's home, hoping to find refuge for a few days. Then a wealthy matriarch hired her to be her daughter Phoebe's companion. Soon Phoebe and Finley became friends. Little did Finley know that  she was actually hired to spy on Lord Vincent, a man of science who was eerily engaged to Phoebe. I say eerily because there was something sinister about him and his house full of automatons, and wanting to wed a girl who looked like his dead wife!

Finley is a brave and loyal companion as well as a fierce heroine. She possesses great strength and character and she sure has lots of spunk! I really want to read  The Girl In the Steel Corset, really soon, because I need to know more about Finley and how she became a not-so-normal teenager with super-strength.

 The Strange Case of Finley Jayne is a quick/fast paced steampunk novella, quite entertaining and intriguing at the same time.  Young adult fans of steampunk will surely enjoy this :)