Doctor Who-- The Bells Of Saint John

We did it, you guys! We got through the long, hard winter and finally, FINALLY, welcome back another episode of Doctor Who!

I'm not going to do a full recap--you guys can find that anywhere and, also, you JUST watched it! You don't need me to tell you what happened! ;)

As a mid-season premiere, I thought it was just okay.
But as a basic episode, I loved it. It DID take me 2 viewings to figure that out, though! I was on the fence at first.

Here's a quick rundown of my thoughts--

I loved the beginning. Did it remind you guys of Sherlock? Me too! Tricksy Moffat!

What the heck was that 'say it again' thing all about?! Why did the Doctor make Clara say his name so much there? Was it just another nod to the whole 'Doctor Who' question?
Weird.

Two BIG questions--Who put that password into the families WiFi (Run You Clever Boy) and, even more important, who was the lady in the shop that gave Clara the TARDIS phone number?!
My guess about the latter? River.

Clara skipped age 23 in her book of 101 Places to See. Why?

What's the leaf all about?

How much did you LOVE that Amelia Williams wrote the book the young boy was reading? *sigh*, I miss you, Ponds!

Looks like the Great Intelligence is going to be the big bad for the second half of the series. Veeeeery interesting!

And did you notice that Clara is now a total computer genius? Familiar, no? Don't know about you, but that clinches to me that Clara and Oswin (Asylum of the Daleks) ARE the same person, and now we know how Oswin got to be as savvy as she is!

Oh, and off topic, because I've been asked many times today, OMG YES I'M VERY OKAY WITH TENNANT AND PIPER RETURNING FOR THE 50TH AHHHHHHHH!
I just REALLY hope it's Ten and not 10.5 (the DoctorDonna Doctor, remember?) returning.

Okay, your turn! Did you enjoy The Bells of Saint John? What are your thoughts about Clara? The GI?
I'd love to hear what you guys think!

The Best of 2012--My Thoughts

Before I get to my 'best of' post, I really owe you guys an apology and an explanation.

I haven't kept up with my blog in the last month, and for that I'm truly sorry. The truth is--I got completely burned out. It started to feel more like work, and that was not the goal that I had in mind when I started posting my thoughts here.

There's also just too much stuff going on right now in my real life to even consider keeping up-to-date on my TV shows...so I'm going to have to stop recapping OUAT. Sorry, guys.

I can't promise that I'll post here regularly, but I will do my best to post reviews of any movies I see, books I read or TV shows that I REALLY need to talk about--and that may include some OUAT episodes from time to time.

I really hope you all understand and I really hope you'll all stick around. I appreciate every single one of you for supporting me and my little blog!

Now, on to my Best Of 2012 post!

I'll start with my top book picks, because that was the toughest.
1) Ready Player One.
2) Westlake Soul.
3) The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen.
4) The Dark Side of the Glass.
5) Rift Healer.
Honourable mentions go to Starters, Partials and The Mine.

Next, movies. Another tough one! My top 3 are really too close to put in any order.
1) Avengers.
2) The Hobbit.
3) Les Miserables.
4) The Cabin in the Woods
5) The Grey
Honourable mentions to The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spider-Man.

And lastly, TV series! I'm doing this one in two categories. Recurring series and new series.
Recurring--
1) Once Upon A Time
2) Doctor Who
3) Fringe
4) Grey's Anatomy
5) The Walking Dead
Honourable mentions to Breaking Bad, New Girl and Supernatural.

New series--
1) Nashville
2) Elementary
3) Revolution
4) Arrow
5) Beauty and the Beast
Honourable mention to Chicago Fire.

There you have it!
Now, what did I forget? What would you add? What were YOUR faves in 2012?

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Wow. WOW.
Okay, to get this out of the way--Not a fan of 48FPS. Luckily, you'll mostly forget about it after the first ten minutes or so.
Growing up with Canadian TV, it reminded me very much of watching Littlest Hobo or Road to Avonlea. It's very much like watching a live show on a screen, if that makes sense....the rain doesn't touch the actors during the scenes! O.o

The movie itself is AMAZING. It's all I'd hoped it would be and more.
It's exactly like coming home again.
Freeman IS Bilbo. I was so worried because I really only see him as Arthur Dent or Watson...but he's the PERFECT Bilbo.

The beginning scenes are epic and amazing.
The first scenes in the Shire are quietly touching.
The troll scene is hilarious, the dwarfs are perfect and endearing (especially Aidan Turner, who has quite a few scenes!), but Andy Serkis as Gollum absolutely steals the show.
This is a much more Smeagol-y Gollum (er, does that make any sense?) than we saw in the LOTR trilogy, and Serkis plays the part brilliantly.
The whole theater was in stitches during the Bilbo/Gollum scene, which, by the way, was the first to be filmed and took about a week of filming!

There are a few surprise guests--I'm not naming names--but you'll be pleased to see them. ;)

Sylvester McCoy as Radagast the Brown is another highlight, and, man, Richard Armitage is a damn great Thorin Oakenshield.

Seriously, go see it....and do your best to get over the initial shock if you decide to see the 48fps version.
It's so, so worth it.

And the way it ends?!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
How am I going to wait a YEAR to see part 2?! (Which opens on my birthday next year!)

Did you see it? What did you think??

GenreCon 2012-- Day 3

I started the day off by watching the news coverage of the con from the night before. Can you spot me in the video? Haha!

9:30am again came early, but thanks to my great decision-making the night before, I felt well-rested and ready to go.
My co-volunteers? ...not so much. ;)
Some looked like death warmed over (I'm looking at you, Liz!) and others just looked tired. Next year I'm definitely going to plan around the Saturday night room parties. I felt a bit left out!

It was just Nick, Rob and I in the dealer/signing room on day 3, which worked out fine. I wandered around the floor while they sat and 'supervised'.
By day 3, there's a wonderful camaraderie and friendship between the volunteers, so there was much joking and teasing. It was great.

Mark Meer talks with Mass Effect fans

I got to watch Mark Meer (Mass Effect) fawn over some fans in GREAT costumes. We don't allow fans to take posed photos with the guests, but this time Mark himself asked for the photo!

The talent did a lot of connecting. You could tell the con was coming to an end and no one wanted it to!

Mark Meer chatted with pretty much every other guest, as did Robert Maillet and Mark Lutz.
I think the talent really enjoyed meeting each other! I like to imagine that some will stay life-long friends. :)

Robert Maillet (seated) chats with
Mark Meer

The vendors also seemed very happy on day 3, because many of the guests started buying the merchandise they'd had their eye on all weekend!
I saw Mark Meer buy a few ChiZine books and Julian Richings bought a movie and a book!

I took it upon myself to 'live-tweet' on Day 3.
I noticed that no one was really doing it, and I thought the fans (and my followers!) might find it fun!
I got a HUGE response! Thanks, you guys, for being so interested in my tweets! I hope you all come next year so you can see the awesomeness for yourself!

His t-shirt says, "Hello, my name is Inigo
Montoya..."

I watched Robert Maillet buy a t-shirt and I just had to take his pic while wearing it. Can you see the name tag? Hahaha! He DOES look like Inigo Montoya!

The morning went by quickly and at 12:30, I went to see about my photo op with Nicholas Brendon.
There was a small line, and at 1pm it started to move.
Imagine my surprise--and joy!--when I was told that I could get a photo with BOTH Nicholas and Tom Lenk for the price of one photo op!
Um, yes, please!!
I was last to go and I smiled nervously for the camera.
I think the photo came out okay, don't you? :D

I got ANOTHER hug from Nicholas (he initiated, not me!) and went back to my 'job' in the dealer room.

I was again just thrilled to watch the talent interact. Most of them had only just met each other and, like the con volunteers, seemed to mesh and just had great camaraderie!
I guess geeks are geeks, no matter WHAT we do for a living! :D

Mark Lutz and Nicholas Brendon
(You can see Robert Maillet standing
in the background)

Mark Lutz hanging with the Dead Genesis crew

Robert Maillet and Sandhal Bergman
(Red Sonja, Conan the Barbarian)
pose for a photo

And I finally got my photo with the amazingly inspiring Jacqui, Nicholas Brendon, Mark Meer and Mark Lutz's con manager!

Nicholas Brendon and Robert Maillet
say goodbye

Sadly, Jacqui and Nicholas had an early flight out, and they were the first to say goodbye. I got ANOTHER hug from Nicholas--again, instigated by HIM!--and waved goodbye.
Meeting them was a dream come true and I'm so, so grateful that Genrecon made that happen.

Back at the volunteer table, Nick and I were fascinated to watch the filming of a Versus Valerie webisode. The amount of takes and different camera angles--it's seriously REALLY cool to watch! I can't wait to see the finished product!

Mark Meer playing a cosplayer
playing the Tenth Doctor
in Versus Valerie

 I got to hang with my favorite child actor, Connor Stanhope again too. He really seemed to enjoy himself, which made us all pretty happy.
When it's a guests FIRST con, you want to make it special and something they'll remember forever. I like to think that Chris, Rob, Jody, Adrienne (Connor's liaison), Tom and I were able to do that for him.

Volunteer Chris, hangs with Courtenay Taylor
(Mass Effect) and Connor Stanhope

I gushed over him enough yesterday, so today I'll just ask you to follow him on Twitter and Facebook to show your support for a really great kid. Thanks. :)

Next it was time to say goodbye to Mark Lutz--and I got a REALLY unexpected hug from him!
I was thrilled to watch him and Sandhal Bergman say their goodbyes--they talked and joked about Mark's HUGE bottle of booze.

Sandhal (in the hat) wants to know how Mark
is going to get the huge bottle through
customs!

Sandhal and Mark say goodbye

It really was touching to see everyone so sad to be leaving the con.
Hydra team, fellow volunteers--I wish you'd been able to see what I saw. They truly had a wonderful time with us and with each other.
Kudos and congratulations for showing them what a fan-made con is all about!

But it wasn't COMPLETELY over yet!

Connor and Nicole Gauss (My Little Pony) hung out for a few more hours, and there were still a few panels and Q&A's going on as well.

Nicole Gauss and Connor Stanhope (notice the
sonic screwdriver!) pose for a pic

Finally, FINALLY, it was time for my daughter to meet me. It was a LONG weekend without her--and it was the first time I'd ever been away from her, even overnight!
I missed her like crazy!!

I brought her around to meet Nick and let her pick out a new toy. She chose the red ghost from PacMan. Haha!
Of course, I couldn't help myself and took this awesome photo of her with her new ghost buddy. Best. Pic. EVAR! ;)

My daughter poses for a pic--
But who's that in the
background?
Oh, only Julian Richings
saying goodbye to
Robert Maillet!

With a few last and completely unexpected goodbye hugs from Tom Lenk, Robert Maillet and Connor Stanhope, it was time for me to head home.

I hugged Nick--best boss ever--and thanked Kris, one of the lead volunteers for an amazing weekend.

The ride home was quiet and bittersweet. On one hand, I was so happy to see my baby girl, and on the other, I missed my co-volunteers and the con atmosphere so much already.

So thank you, Tom and Karen and Kris and Paul and Petr--the whole hydra team. We've done the impossible--and that makes us mighty.

To Chris, Nick, Jody, Liz, Rob, Justin, and all of my co-volunteers--We did it, guys. And the best part? We've made friends for life. I adore ALL of you. Until next year, Staff Infection, et al!

To the vendors--You are ALL awesome. Although the con was small, you all made your own fun and decided to sign up to come back again next year!
Thank you for believing in us, for your patience and for being fun. :)

To the guests & talent--Lifelong memories were made this weekend, for some of you, for our attendees and for US, your volunteers. Thank you for being gracious, approachable, friendly, funny, patient and just plain amazing. I'll never forget any of you. :)

And to the attendees--Wow, you guys. WOW. You're amazing and smart and fun! Thank you for taking a chance on our little con and for making it bigger and more wonderful than we ever imagined it would be.
I hope that your memories of Genrecon are as amazing as mine are, and I can't wait to see you again next year.

It wasn't perfect, our little con--there were a few glitches and minor set-backs--but all-in-all, everyone seemed happy and, best of all, they had fun.

Expect bigger and better things next year. you guys. And expect me. Wild horses couldn't keep me from GenreCon 2013!

Thanks for reading my experiences, everyone. Hugs and con-love to you all!

GenreCon 2012--Day 2

7am came early and, thanks to the poor choices I'd made the night before, I wasn't quite feeling my best.
But the show must go on, and I soldiered through!

I arrived at the hotel at 9am and met with my co-line manager for the day, Jody. She was also a big Buffy fan, hooray!
I introduced her to bossman-Nick and showed her around, and then it was time to start our day.

Nicholas Brendon's Q&A was first thing that morning, at 10am. Thanks to it's early time slot, I was given permission to sneak away to watch some of it.

Nicholas and his con manager, Jacqi
during his Q&A

This reunited me with Liz, Chris and Mike, my Staff Infection mates from the night before. We all looked a bit tired. ;)

Nicholas was funny and sweet and, yes, a bit racy. He talked about Joss and his cast mates and possible spinoff series and his other projects.
He said he misses Xander (so do we, Nick...so do we!) and that he'd come back for a reunion show or movie in a heartbeat.
As his panel concluded, yes, he did his famous Snoopy dance. And yes, I got it on video.
To see that live? Yeah, dream come true. :D

After that, it was back to my post in the dealer/signings room. I didn't spot any cosplay on day 1, so I was very excited to see lots on day 2!
There were ponies and Assassin's Creed and Predator and Mass Effect and Jessica Rabbit and Supergirl, and a Cardassian, and, yes, even I got into the spirit with my Jayne Cobb costume!

Nicholas on the end, Tom in the
leather jacket.

The signings were in full swing, and this was when I got my first glimpse of Tom Lenk (Andrew, Buffy/Angel)!

It was busier, but still much more quiet and intimate than a large con like Fan Expo.
I stayed busy and when Michael Biehn and Jennifer Blanc's handler asked me to find them some Diet Coke, I sent Jody to the green room for some.
Little did I know that the hotel was a Pepsi-only venue.
So it was Christina to the rescue!
I ran out, in the cold, without a jacket, in my Jayne costume--complete with gun in a leg holster--across the street to the drug store to purchase Diet Coke for our guests.

It's a horrible pic, but it was
taken just after Nick
hugged me

They were grateful--and then I found out that Chris, my fellow Staff Infection member--had a FULL CASE of Diet Coke in his room upstairs. ARGH!

Since it was pretty quiet, I figured this would be a good time to get my autographs.
First up was Nicholas.
He gave me a BIG hug, and the rumours are true. He hugs so tightly and pretty much just envelops you. He makes you feel like you're his favourite fan ever, just in that one hug. Thank you for that, Nick!
I showed him my tattoos and told him about my disappointing James Marsters meeting at Fan Expo. I thanked him for being everything I'd hoped he'd be and told him Xander was my favourite Scooby.

I got my autograph and sighed happily. He was sweet and handsome and funny and it was just an awesome, awesome experience.

I chose this photo because
it's my favourite Andrew
moment

Next was Tom Lenk, who's adorable and beautiful and smart and gracious.
I showed HIM my tattoos and we talked about how big Buffy still is, and how he doesn't think about that often.
I told him it changed my life and that really surprised him. He told me that his boyfriend is a child psychologist in an ER and that he often comes home after experiencing such disturbing things feeling helpless.

Tom signs something
for Liz

He said that all he does is read the lines on the paper provided for him. He doesn't often see the side that I see--the possibly of Andrew--especially season 7 Andrew--as a life-saver for teens even today. Teens that are bullied and close to giving up might see Andrew being accepted and loved and even becoming a hero and realize that it DOES get better.
I think he appreciated hearing all that. :)

Julian Richings
plays 'Death'
on Supernatural

After that I got back to work...which really wasn't much work at all.
It was very laid back and so much fun.
I pretty much just circled the room, answering attendee questions, making sure the vendors didn't need anything, seeing if the talent was okay--so I was able to take a lot of pics and talk to a lot of people. It was pretty amazing.

Julian Richings (Supernatural, Cube) is SUPER nice and spoke to each fan for at least 5 minutes each!

Tom Grofton. The man, the
myth, the legend

Tom Grofton, the man who made the con happen, did a quick interview. I swear he was like a ninja!
I barely saw him all weekend, but, POOF, he'd appear suddenly out of nowhere and then disappear again just as quickly! Hahaha!

Mark Lutz Q&A

I was also able to catch a few minutes of Mark Lutz's (Angel) Q&A. Wow, is he a hilarious and engaging speaker! It was an awesome panel!

Nick and Tom reconnect

Back in the dealer room, it was truly great to see old friends Tom Lenk and Nicholas Brendon reconnect. When they weren't signing, they were talking and laughing, reliving memories and making jokes.
Nick even defaced one of his own photos in an, er...adult kind-of way and signed it for Tom. Hahaha!

Robert Maillet (300, Sherlock Holmes) was a huge hit with attendees (pun intended) and Connor Stanhope (Smallville) was a huge hit with us, the volunteers! ;)
Robert made time for every single fan, and then some! He always had a smile, a nice word and a hearty 'hello', and his manager was pretty cool too!

Connor was a pretty amazing kid.
At only 14, he's at least 4 inches taller than I am! He spent the day creeping people out while wearing his Guy Fawkes mask from V for Vendetta, showing off his plethora of card tricks, and grossing everyone out with his double-jointed hands. Yeah, I could NOT look when he did those weird things with his fingers!

I'm seriously honoured to have met them both and when Connor is rich and famous one day, I'll be able to look back and say I knew him when. He's a really, REALLY brilliant kid. :)

By this time, the night before was finally catching up to me and I took a ten minute break to recharge in the green room.
Thank God for oranges and granola bars!

Then it was back to the 'grind' (it was totally not a grind) for a bit, and 6pm came fast.
My shift was done and I was VERY excited because I was about to meet friends!
I'd been speaking to George for a year or so on Facebook--we 'met' on the SPACE channel FB page!
George is from Guelph and made the trek down to the Holiday Inn with his adorable girlfriend, Kitty, just to meet me!

We sat in the lobby and chatted...and we got totally lucky in the celeb-spotting department!

Tom Lenk waits for his limo

You see, many of guests were slotted to be at the Saturday night party that was being held off-site. As they waited for their limo, they sat in the lobby and talked--right where George, Kitty and I happened to be!

Since I was off-duty, I could now act as a fan, and I did, just for George and Kitty.
You see, they're BIG Supernatural fans, and who just happened to be in the lobby?
Why, Death, of course!

George and Kitty chat with Death

I took it upon myself to say hello and introduce him to the couple. They chatted as I took pics. I'm pretty sure they were stunned and a bit tongue-tied, but they did fine and Mr. Richings was ever-gracious and kept the conversation going. It was REALLY amazing to see and I'm so glad that I was able to do that for my
friends!

The Masquerade was about to begin and my co-volunteers tried their best to get me to stay and watch.
Sadly, I knew I had to get back to my moms and get some sleep--and judging by their faces the next morning, it's a good thing I made the choice I did. Apparently they partied all night! Hee!

George, me, Kitty

By 8pm I was exhausted and it was time to say goodbye to George and Kitty. We got a pic and I hugged them goodbye--getting teary as I did.
It's hard to say goodbye to kindred spirits. :(

An early bedtime prepared me for the bittersweet-ness that way day 3...

And you'll hear all about that tomorrow. ;)

GenreCon 2012--Day 1

You guys, I had the BEST WEEKEND!
I was lucky enough to get a volunteer position at the first annual GenreCon in Guelph, ON!
Who were the guests? Oh, just to name a few--NICHOLAS FREAKIN' BRENDON and TOM FREAKIN' LENK and MARK FREAKIN' LUTZ!
Only THREE Whedon alum--one of whom just happens to be my FAVOURITE scooby! Y'know, no big deal. (TOTALLY A BIG DEAL!)

Autograph table, before the guests
arrive!

My job was 'line management' in the Autograph/Dealer room, which was a pretty sweet position!
I was able to watch and even interact with the talent and guests all weekend...it was a dream come true.

Day 1--Friday:

I arrived in Guelph 90 minutes before my 5-8pm shift was to start. The location was a Holiday Inn, and I was sent upstairs to the 'headquarters' (a block of 3 attached rooms) to sign my release and get my 'official' t-shirt.

My boss, Nick.

I was given a quick tour--the main Q&A room, the panels, the vendors, the photo op room, artists alley--and then I was introduced to my immediate boss, Nick--who seemed a bit uptight and cold.

There was a bit of confusion over what my job was, exactly, but I'm pretty resourceful and was able to pretty much figure out my own duties, which I think Nick and Paul--my bigger boss--appreciated.

Day 1 was slow, but fun. Because we didn't have a steady stream of attendees, the talent mixed and mingled with the volunteers and vendors.

Michael Biehn and his wife
Jennifer Blanc

I had a 30 minute conversation with Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens) about karaoke, his horrible singing voice, a movie he almost did with a young Peter Gallagher 30 years ago and my city, Hamilton, which he calls, 'rough'. Hahaha!

I was also able to say a brief hello to Nick Brendon (Buffy, Criminal Minds), Mark Lutz (Angel) and their con manager, Jacqui.

Nick Brendon (sitting, grey hat) and Mark Lutz
(sitting, looking at Nick)

I shook the guys hands and hugged Jacqui hello. It was so awesome to meet her in person after reading her Tweets for so long.
Of course, I squeed over the guys after I moved away from their table, and I immediately regretted not asking Nick for a hug.
He's pretty well known as the huggiest Whedon alum, but since I had my 'official' con shirt on, I didn't feel it was appropriate of me to hug the guests.
Boy, was I wrong. ;)

Mark Meer chats with the artists

As I made another circuit around my area, I ran into Mark Meer (Mass Effect) browsing Artist Alley.
We said hello and talked about the amazing Thai food he'd just had.

8pm came quickly and a few of us--including author JM Frey, whom I've seen and spoken to at many, many events now (and adore!)-- then decided to check out the pub quiz and karaoke that was happening in the party/main Q&A room.



Hoooooo, boy, was THAT a great--but oh, so painful the next day--idea!

We were split into teams, and I was put on the 'Genrecon staff' team because they were short players.
I was okay with this and unknowingly made some amazing new friends!

After the first round, in walks my uptight and cold boss, Nick. I'm pretty sure I gasped aloud when he sat at our table. LOL
And now comes the part where I apologize to him (again) about calling him uptight. We had a GREAT time at the trivia and it was pretty damn amazing, working together as a unit like we 'Staff Infection' (best team name EVAR) did.
We all knew a bit about almost every subject, and so we did really well. After the 6th round, we were winning by 5 points.
...but somehow we lost by 1 to another team.
The funny thing? The other team is pretty sure the host added wrong and that we were the winners....but I'm not bitter. (I'm totally bitter :P)

Jess shocking the crown with her huge voice!

Next up--Karaoke!
By this time I was a few beers deep, which is NEVER a good thing when Karaoke is involved.
Jess (JM Frey) got up there and belted out an amazing 'Let's Hear It For The Boy', new friend Liz and NICK (*gasp again*) got up and sang, 'I Got You, Babe' (just for me, to prove how uptight he really isn't. LOL!) and then, yes, I actually got up on the stage and helped sing background vocals to 'Grease Lightening' with my fellow Staff Infection members.

By the way, Rob, Dave, Nick, Liz, Chris and Mike--if you read this? Thank you. You're amazing, you brought out the best in me, you made me feel accepted and I adore each and every one of you. Thank you. :)

I'm the one trying to hide behind everyone.

Last call came early (thank GOD!), and I hopped in a cab.
Luckily, my mom and step-dad live in Guelph, so I didn't have far to go.

I was there by 12:30, ate a ton of Chinese food, drank a ton of water and in bed by 2am.

Boy, did 7am come quickly, and I wasn't feeling so great when I woke for day 2.

And with that, GenreCon day 1 was wrapped!

Day 2 would bring even more awesomeness and surprises!

...and I'll tell you about those tomorrow. ;)

YA Book Review- Ironskin by Tina Connolly

Hardcover
304 pages
Release date: Oct. 2, 2012
Publisher: Tor Books
Series: Ironskin #1
Author: Tina Connolly
Big thanks to Tor for providing this copy for review!

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.

Ironskin is apparently a 'steampunk retelling of Jane Eyre'. I've never read Jane Eyre, so you won't find any comparisons here.
I'm just going to tell you MY thoughts about a cool book. :)

Ironskin takes place in a really amazing world. I just wish we learned more about that amazing world!
Because it takes place years after the war, and we only get a few flashbacks and memories, we don't know exactly what happened or why, and I REALLY wish we did!

The characters were mostly great. I loved Dorie and REALLY loved Poule, but I disliked Edward. A lot.
And the romance was just so forced. I almost wish that bit had been completely left out. It wasn't needed at all and really just slowed the book down.

With more world and character building, Ironskin could have been a great book.
As it is, it's a good book.

I'd recommend it to folks who enjoy steampunk or stories about the fey.
There's no heavy romance or violence, but the plot can be a bit complicated, so readers 14+ might enough this book.

Let me know if you read it!