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annathepiperI went from Book 1 of the Jade del Cameron series right into Book 2, since I had it immediately handy--and I had much the same reaction to the second installment as I did to the first. To wit, this series is still riding a fine line for me between being fun and being too cutesy for my tastes.
Let's start with the cutesy. As of this installment, one of the heroine's friends has decided to start writing novels about her adventures--seriously romanced up, of course. And, of course, the dude that shows up in this episode--and who is clearly the Actual Love Interest, as opposed to the guy in Book 1--has fallen in love with Jade because of having read the friend's book. This entire situation does not quite make me go "gak", mostly because the writing is solid enough to save it. But in a lesser writer's hands, this wouldn't have been the case.
Problem number two I've got: Jade gets it into her head, because of events in Book 1, that the guy she was ogling in that story is a scoundrel. From what I saw in the story, though, she's got no evidence to base this on, and nothing to go by except suspicion that's probably fueled by the fact that Harry was hitting on her and she was enjoying it. She spends way, way too much time ranting about what a louse Harry is, though. This too does not quite make me go "gak"--if nothing else because Jade's friends chide her for that very ranting, and to her credit, she shuts up about it.
Now for the good stuff. Plotwise, I liked this story better than Book 1's, actually, since Jade was out on an adventure to photograph animals, not shoot them. The scenes where she comes across the savage work of poachers are effective, and there's just enough of a hint of the supernatural going on this time around as well to land the entire storyline well and firmly in the realm of the fantastic.
Sam, the new love interest, was clearly identifiable to me as such the instant I hit his first scene from his POV; we never got any scenes from Harry's POV in Book 1, I noted. ;) And as he's a lot closer to Jade's age, a fellow WWI vet, a pilot, and American, yeah, he pretty much had LOVE INTEREST flashing over his head in neon letters. He's not a complicated character, but he proves both a good foil for Jade's impulsiveness and decent enough to not press his interest too hard once he fesses up to having fallen for her because of her friend's book. What happens at the end of the story leaves things between them wide open, of course, with plenty of room for the relationship to develop.
And I enjoyed reading about Jade and Sam enough that okay, yeah, I'll be coming back for Book 3, too. For this one, three stars.
Let's start with the cutesy. As of this installment, one of the heroine's friends has decided to start writing novels about her adventures--seriously romanced up, of course. And, of course, the dude that shows up in this episode--and who is clearly the Actual Love Interest, as opposed to the guy in Book 1--has fallen in love with Jade because of having read the friend's book. This entire situation does not quite make me go "gak", mostly because the writing is solid enough to save it. But in a lesser writer's hands, this wouldn't have been the case.
Problem number two I've got: Jade gets it into her head, because of events in Book 1, that the guy she was ogling in that story is a scoundrel. From what I saw in the story, though, she's got no evidence to base this on, and nothing to go by except suspicion that's probably fueled by the fact that Harry was hitting on her and she was enjoying it. She spends way, way too much time ranting about what a louse Harry is, though. This too does not quite make me go "gak"--if nothing else because Jade's friends chide her for that very ranting, and to her credit, she shuts up about it.
Now for the good stuff. Plotwise, I liked this story better than Book 1's, actually, since Jade was out on an adventure to photograph animals, not shoot them. The scenes where she comes across the savage work of poachers are effective, and there's just enough of a hint of the supernatural going on this time around as well to land the entire storyline well and firmly in the realm of the fantastic.
Sam, the new love interest, was clearly identifiable to me as such the instant I hit his first scene from his POV; we never got any scenes from Harry's POV in Book 1, I noted. ;) And as he's a lot closer to Jade's age, a fellow WWI vet, a pilot, and American, yeah, he pretty much had LOVE INTEREST flashing over his head in neon letters. He's not a complicated character, but he proves both a good foil for Jade's impulsiveness and decent enough to not press his interest too hard once he fesses up to having fallen for her because of her friend's book. What happens at the end of the story leaves things between them wide open, of course, with plenty of room for the relationship to develop.
And I enjoyed reading about Jade and Sam enough that okay, yeah, I'll be coming back for Book 3, too. For this one, three stars.