The Girl in the Clockwork Collar by Kady Cross

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Harlequin

Pages: 416pgs

The Story

In New York City, 1897, life has never been more thrilling - or dangerous.

Sixteen-year-old Finley Jayne and her "straynge band of mysfits" have journeyed from London to America to rescue their friend Jasper, hauled off by bounty hunters. But Jasper is in the clutches of a devious former friend demanding a trade-the dangerous device Jasper stole from him . . . for the life of a girl Jasper loves.

One false move from Jasper and the strange clockwork collar around Mei's neck tightens. And tightens.

The Review

A big thanks to the publisher on netGalley for accepting my request in reading this book early!

THE GIRL IN THE CLOCKWORK COLLAR is the second installment of the young adult series Steampunk Chronicles that features the fiesty heroine Finley and her gang of misfit friends. Unlike what happened in the previous book, The Girl in the Steel Corset, this time round the characters find themselves travelling across over to New York to rescue their beloved friend, Jasper, whom was hauled away on murder charges the last time we'd seen him.

Just like in the first novel of this steampunk YA series, the main character Finley remains to be that "I'll-do-what-I-want" and that same old kickass girl we know her to be. In fact, many readers will be really impressed by the maturity Finley has developed from books one and two, and even though for the majority of this book she's struggling against her two personalities as seen in the previous novel, but in the end of this sequel, she's still that girl we love and adore. Only she relies more on her brain cells rather than her fists. And for those hearting over Finley and Griffin, readers will be grateful to see there's also less awkward scenes going on between these two characters and there's far more chemistry sizzling between them which was great to read about!

With that said, while I thought this sequel was a pleasantly enjoyable one and entertaining in its own right just as I expected from Kady Cross's writing, however I still firmly believe the first book was slightly better than this one especially since it had more steampunk elements which I loved, and which this sequel did not have as much. Also, there was another aspect I was disappointed by such as things like the new character Mei and her relationship with Jasper, which wasn't really my cup of tea and I couldn't really warm up to either of those two characters, the ending where there was lack of a I-want-more-of-this-series kind of ending, and also I thought many of the events featured in this novel were a bit too predictable for my taste. And as for those fans of Jack Dandy such as myself, unfortunately for us there is no appearance from him whatsoever in this new sequel which was really, really disappointing for me because I completely and wholeheartedly adored his character from the first book. But regardless of those few downers, I still enjoyed this book and everything it offered up onto the plate.

Overall, Kady Cross's sequel THE GIRL IN THE CLOCKWORK COLLAR was an easy-to-read and flowing novel. With the main heroine, Finley, still remaining on top compared to the other supporting characters and still continuing to be that kickass chick we love her for, I think many readers of this series will find the sequel another great installment and will certainly help gear you up for the third and final book in the series!

The Rating 3 1/2 / 5 stars