Engaged is "3.5" in the Jade Calhoun/Bourbon Street series, after:
- Haunted on Bourbon Street (ramble HERE)
- Witches of Bourbon Street (ramble HERE)
- Demons of Bourbon Street (ramble HERE)
So, ENGAGED off Bourbon Street makes it sound like we'll have finally have happy times for Jade and the gang, right?
Ha.
You obviously haven't been following along if you think it's that easy.
Yep. Right from the very beginning Jade is wreaking havoc ... on herself.
It's a joint engagement/holiday party and she's still recovering (sort of) from the events of book 3. Of course, add to that the fact that she already has issues with spells going awry and ... well ... things go a more than a little haywire. Mistletoe is acting up, a ghost is floating around the party, and Jade is still the constant damsel-in-distress while trying to still manage everything ... and every body.
It's a comedy of errors, I suppose. Even for a short story it seemed to fly by too quickly to really feel worth it. Which, of course, made me happy that I could go straight into ....
Yay! Angels! Angels are happy and nice and .... oh, yeah. This is still Deanna Chase we're reading here. Angels can be vindictive and horrid and wretched and ... I think you get what I mean.
Angels of Bourbon Street begins five weeks before Kane and Jade's wedding is to take place. It really does turn out to be a good thing to have read it back-to-back with Engaged since the ghost who was floating around the engagement party ends up playing quite a big part in this installment since she possesses Jade.
Yep. A bride possessed. Because, you know, we were running out of ways for Jade to be put through the ringer.
And this is about where I started to bash my head up against my desk.
I've been through a hell of a lot with these characters so I've been determined to at least try to see this through but Jade is really starting to get on my nerves.
"Starting to"?
Scratch that. She's been getting on my nerves since February. Well, really, before that even since February was a re-read.
Maybe I've just been reading too many books with too many strong females lately. "Jade Calhoun" and "strong female" don't really seem to go together for me ... unless it's in reference to someone else in the story like if I said "Jade Calhoun's [aunt/angel/friend/mentor/stranger-on-the-freaking-street-corner] is a strong female."
I have to admit that I almost gave up entirely on this after the first couple of chapters because I didn't think I could take it any more ... and then I got to Chapter 7 and Pyper saved it (at least temporarily):
Only to a small degree, it seems. She's still the center of her universe even when her friends are in danger ... but, then again, it IS "A Jade Calhoun Novel" according to the book cover so I suppose it makes sense that she's so "me me me" all of the time. I just wish she wasn't such an annoying whiny twit about it so much of the time.
And then. Oh gosh. The book took a much darker turn than the others have and I had to put it down for a bit. You know ... like "TRIGGER WARNING: SEXUAL ASSAULT INCLUDED" would have been nice to have dark. I think you already know that I don't really do the sexy/steamy bits when I can manage to skim and with this installment of the series my skimming skills came in quite handy. I don't think I would have been able to finish it otherwise. Even with the skimming I came very close to throwing in the towel more than once.
I'm just going to set these aside for at least a while and think to myself that everyone lives happily ever after. Of course, we already know I'm a glutton for punishment at times so I'm sure I'll catch up again at some point in the future.
Chase has started a spin-off series starring Pyper ... maybe I'll move on to those next ...
After the next 14 books, that is.
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