The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress

Published by Penguin Group Canada

London, 1900. Home to three powerful men and the talented, strong, young women who assist them. Cora, lab assistant, loves to invent new and wonderful gadgets when she isn't busy rescuing Lord White from himself. Nellie, magician's assisstant with such flexibility that a pretzel would be envious, loves working with the Great Raheem, who is almost like a father to her. Lastly, Michiko, who is skilled in the art of fighting, and uses those skills to assist Callum, a toad of a man who treats her despicably.

A series of events, finds the three women thrown together, and a gruesome discovery encourages them to join forces and solve the murder, without drawing unwanted attention to themselves, and those they assist. Sounds easy, right?

I have to admit, writing about this book without spilling any of the info, is a challenge. It's one of those books that you cannot stop raving about, once you have finished reading it. (At least, that's how it affected me.) The characters are well written, the storyline is also well thought out and encourages the reader to try and guess ahead as to what will occur next. Even during the times when I found myself putting the book down (reluctantly), my mind lingered with the characters, to the point where I even imagined a movie version and cast the appropriate actors/characters.

My cast - Michiko: Lucy Liu/Chiaki Kuriyama. Nellie: Christina Applegate/Chloë Grace Moretz. Cora: Rachel Weisz/Alexis Bledel. 

I went with a mature choice, and a younger choice, for each character. I would honestly watch both versions. Movies rarely live up to the books, but for me, I want to see what the special effects would be like. Frequently in the book we are witness to the genius creations that will make this book a favourite with the steampunk communities, but even to those, like me, who aren't that knowledgable with the steampunk genre, it's a fun read. I did experience bittersweet moments though, as I truly relished and devoured this book and found myself feeling somewhat saddened towards the end.  I knew I would be saying goodbye to the characters, at least for a little while. I can't wait to see what the next installment brings.

This is a fun series that I believe will become classic. It brought to mind the Famous Five, and Secret Seven series, except that this series is girl power to the nth degree.

Author's website: http://www.adriennekress.com/