Review - Ironskin (Ironskin #1) by Tina Connolly

Title: Ironskin

Author: Tina Connolly

Series: 1st

Pages: 304

Published: October 2nd 2012 by Tor Books 

ISBN:  9780765330598

Source: Publisher via Netgalley

Description: Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.  It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.  When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a "delicate situation"—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.  Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey.  Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again. 

I Give This ...

 

The cover caught me on this one.  I was intrigued by the description.  I enjoyed Jane Eyre and even though I don't usually read mash-ups, this one had the fey.  I was sold.

I found Jane to be interesting.  She's learned to bring as little attention to herself as possible.  I imagine its extremely hard to do with a fey curse and an iron mask.  She's tired of being treated like a second class citizen just because of the mark on her face.  She's educated and smart, so as a last effort, she takes the chance on being able to help a child much like herself.  What she doesn't count on is that Dorie is unlike any other child she's meet.  She's determined to get through to the child and teach her to suppress her fey enhanced abilities.  But along the way, she realizes the gaining the approval of her father is just as important.  Along the way she learns a lot about herself, the feys, and the curses that bind them all together.

While Jane was interesting, I actually found Dorie and Edward to be the best part of the story.  Their characters are so deeply intertwined with the fey that it's hard to decipher what's really going on.  Their involvement with the Fey goes way deeper and longer than the Great War.  Jane must fight through the deception and figure out the truth.  I was fascinated by this family and how their curses worked.  They accepted them as part of their everyday lives but always seemed so sullen.  

I was kind of saddened to see the lower reviews for this because I truly found in fascinating.  I think it very true to the tone of Jane Eyre, so perhaps there lies the problem.  As with any classics, there are going to be those who don't like it.  You can glam it up all you like, but it's still going to hold true to the original if you've done it right.  I liked the classic, so I think I found the addition of the Fey to the story to be just the right touch.