Thursday, September 29, 2022

Review: The Girl with the Windup Heart (The Steampunk Chronicles #4) by Kady Cross

Title: The Girl with the Windup Heart

Series: The Steampunk Chronicles #4

Previous books in this series: The Girl in the Steel Corset (#1) | The Girl in the Clockwork Collar (#2) | The Girl with the Iron Touch (#3)

Author: Kady Cross

Genre: YA, steampunk, historical

Publication date: May 2014

Published by: Harlequin Teen

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis: In 1897 London, a final showdown is about to begin.

London's underworld is no place for a young woman, even one who is strong, smart and part-automaton like Mila. But when master criminal Jack Dandy inadvertently breaks her heart, she takes off, determined to find an independent life, one entirely her own. Her search takes her to the spangled shadows of the West End's most dazzling circus.

Meanwhile, taken captive in the Aether, Griffin King is trapped in an inescapable prison, and at the mercy of his archenemy, The Machinist. If he breaks under the hellish torment, The Machinist will claim his powers and control of the Aether itself, and no one in either world will be safe-especially not Finley Jayne and her misfit band of friends.

Finley plunges headlong into the Aether the only way she knows how, by temporarily dying. But she cannot parry The Machinist's maneuvers for long. To defeat him for good, Griffin will have to confront his greatest fear and finally come face-to-face with the destructive power he wields.

My rating: ★★★☆☆

I’ve had this series on my TBR list for well over 10 years, and I only started reading it this year! And you know what, overall, I really enjoyed myself. There were some things about it that I liked, some that I didn’t, but it wasn’t a bad series.

I really liked Mila in the last book, so I was really looking forward to more of her in this one. And you know what? I think one of my favorite things in this book was reading about Mila... and Jack Dandy 👀 You guys know I have not been a fan of Jack since book one because, gross, love triangles. And actually, his first appearance in this book I was like, “Ugh. Not Jack Dandy.” I was also not a fan of how he treated Mila in the beginning. And I get that she’s still knew to the world, but he would bring other women to the house while Mila is there, and with her enhanced hearing, you bet she heard everything. Especially because she was crushing on Jack so hard and he wouldn’t acknowledge it.

However, as the book went on and the Jack/Mila drama unfolded, I was really into it 🙈 Like, while all this is happening, Griffin was kidnapped by Garibaldi and I just didn’t care 😅 And I love Griffin! There was one part in the book where a guy propositions Mila and Jack gets up in his face and tells him that basically Mila is off limits... and that was kinda hot? And I was really confused because I was not a fan of Jack until apparently now. I was very confused 😂 This series has a couple of novellas, one of them being in Jack’s POV, which I purposely skipped over because of how little I liked him. But now I’m thinking that I DO want to read it 👀 Someone send help. I don't know me anymore 😆

Honestly, I think it’s because we no longer have to deal with a love triangle. But also, we got to see this sweet, protective side of Jack that we hadn’t seen before, AND we learned a little about his past. It made me understand why he is the way he is. But I just really loved him and Mila, and honestly, I could’ve used more of them 😆

As I mentioned, while this Jack/Mila drama is going on, Griffin gets imprisoned in the Aether by the freaking Machinist, and the rest of the gang is obviously trying to rescue him. I don’t know why I wasn't into this... maybe because Griffin is a main character and I knew they wouldn't kill him off? I don’t know. I mean, once they were actively rescuing him I was much more invested in that storyline. It was pretty cool being in the Aether as long as we were and seeing them kickass in a whole new way.

I’m not gonna lie though, the ending was kinda underwhelming. We had a nice bit of action leading up to the finale, but the very, very end of the fight we don’t get to see first hand! What the hell! Instead we are TOLD what happens. Not into that 😒 And then the resolution felt rushed and I feel like not all of the characters got a proper goodbye.

That being said, I didn’t NOT like this book. It took me a while to get into it, but that might be a me thing because I wasn't in the mood for it? I don’t know. I really enjoyed the Mila and Jack storyline, and I got invested in the other storyline once action started happening. I enjoyed learning about Jack and his family, and I also liked that Finley got some resolution with hers. I also liked that Sam and Finley have become good friends, and they even had some sweet moments I was not expecting, but really appreciated. So even though the ending was a little lackluster in my opinion, I still ended up enjoying the book and series overall.


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Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊

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