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Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
This series is like sickly sweet lemonade. When you take the first sip, it seems to be good to be true. You slurp it down, savoring its every drop about Jacky (Mary) Faber and her adventures. She is a swash-buckling heroine that charms you right from the start. Smart, strong, devious, and witty, there is nothing you would not love to read about with her. You gladly gulp down each book, salivating for the next.
However, I began this book with apprehension. I'm starting to tire of this sickly sweet lemonade. You can only have too much sweetness before you start to crave plain water, or maybe even something sour. Just something different.
Jacky's story is becoming cliche in its own sense-- every book she never gets to be with her lover, Jaimy. Jacky will also get back into trouble with the authorities, no matter how positive her future looks at the end of the prior book. Worst of all, the villain is always of the same personality. Vile, cruel, and (most likely) ugly, the villain will attempt rape Jacky. However, while the villains are always nasty, Jacky always finds plenty of substitutes for Jaimy. They too, have a developed in a stereotypical character. Handsome, brave, flirtatious, and gentle, these male characters seem to have few faults. Or if they do, it is arrogance, but Jacky rarely becomes annoyed.
Something else that nagged at me as the series continued was how Jacky never learns from her own vices or does nothing to correct them. In the series, Jacky is continuously greedy and wayward in her romantic relationships... the amount of admirers she collects are so numerous it is quite easy to forget some of them. Poor Jaimy!
Despite of all of this, I am ever hopeful about the 9th book. How can this be? Because at the end of this book, Meyer finally inserted a new problem. Something completely relevant--yet completely surprising for Jacky--. Anyway, this change makes me hopeful, and of course, Jacky herself is just so charming of a character. So, like always, I find myself waiting for one last glass of the sickly sweet lemonade. :)