In Which I Rave About Jade, But Otherwise Have Very Little to Add.

Ah yes, the Lady Jade. To be honest, I'm not sure she ever gets a last name (it might be mentioned once) but her brother is the Earl of Something, and the man with whom she has lots of hot sex and babies is the Marquess of Cainewood, aka Caine. So Julie Garwood's lovely and amazing Guardian Angel does not really conform to ideas of modern names.

When we first meet Jade, she is cowering outside a dockside tavern (really, is there any other kind?), battered and bruised, imploring the heroic Caine to, well, kill her. What an opening! Caine's pretending to be the notorious (but ultimately anonymous) Pirate Pagan in order to capture the man, assuming that the pirate was responsible for his brother's death. Thinking Caine to be Pagan, Jade asks Caine to kill her. Apparently if he doesn't, someone else will.

Why does Jade really want Caine to kill her? She doesn't, and she knows he won't. She's just trying to get his attention.

Things I like about Jade: It is very apparent from the beginning (though she is doing a marvelous job of simpering and cowering) that she is anything but a shrinking violet. She's a chick on a mission, and even Caine knows this by the close of the opening sequence, which involves a rather exciting chase through the back alleys of London. Oh yeah, and then he throws her in the Thames. Now most heroines would freak out at this, and Jade does, but only because it's what she thinks she's supposed to do. And also due to an extremely realistic fear of sharks. (Seriously, realistic)

OK, so she's a badass who's loyal and fierce (it turns out she's assigned herself the task of protecting Caine from the pirate, who must surely be on the hunt for him). She takes a bullet, fights with Sterns the butler (one of the all-time greats) and does a pretty excellent job of keeping all of the overbearing men in her life in their right and proper places (oh, Jimbo and Matthew... way to follow orders). And then, in one of the best twists I have ever read, well... I can't tell you. Would totally ruin the surprise. And it's a doozy.

I like Jade because she is manipulative (in a fairly benign way), smart, funny, and generally pretty excellent. What's my heroine going to get from Jade's influence? Simple... twist.

THIS JUST IN: The new Lisa Kleypas, in addition to the new Tessa Dare, are on their way to my house. Along with a Meredith Duran book I have been curious about.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?: I have motivation to finish Never Love a Lawman (beyond the fact that it is an excellent book) and promise lots of weekend blogging ahead.

Of course, every time I promise that I epic fail, so let's manage expectations accordingly, shall we?