Viva Jacquelina!: A Bloody Jack Adventure

Another Bloody Jack adventure. While Jamie is in Rangoon, recovering from his misadventures in the previous volume, Jackie is sent by the British as a spy to Spain to get information on the French plans. Finding a position as a model in the studio of the famous artist Goya, she makes new friends and adds to her amazing list of adventures.

A spy once more, Jackie is sent to Portugal and then ends up in Madrid, spying for the English. She ends up posing for the painter Goya and later we meet some gypsies. Lively and quick.

I recently read in a review that one way to relate to the length of the series is to see it as a bunch of tall tales. That works for me! Jacky is embroiled in the Peninsula War, Goya's studio, and a little time out in a Romani camp. The usual... Kellgren is great at voices and is a decent singer also.

Jacky's adventures in Spain. Not my absolute favorite but still interesting enough. She's hiding from the inquisition in an artist's studios and like always, her bold and dramatic flair catches the eyes of many young men but also earns the burning jealousy of her female acquaintances.

I like this series a lot, even as it gets less likely. And you've got to appreciate someone who insinuates herself into Goya's household.

Mighty old hat by now, but still entertaining.

I'm tired of Jacky and Jaimy (oh, how I hate writing that name that way!) I wish she was not interested in love with him, but instead her flirty self with no thought of commitment to a single person. In general though, her story is wearing thin, and I would hope that it is wrapping up soon.

As usual, the audio was spectacular. The reader - Katherine Kellgren does a great job bringing the characters and music to life. Jackie is sent to Portugal and then ends up in Madrid, spying for the English. She ends up with the painter Goya and later we meet some gypsies. Always a pleasure to visit Bloody Jack.

audiobook - Jacky has just shipped the mentally unstable Jaimy off to her friends in Rangoon for some R&R when she is, of course, picked up by Naval Intelligence. They again tell her she will be pardoned of her crimes against the crown if she spies for them, this time in Spain and Portugal during the Peninsular War. Through a typically bizarre chain of events, Jacky ends up as a servant and nude model to the great painter Francisco Goya and his painting school. (She is, obviously, the model for The Nude Maja.) She has fun for awhile, and then gets involved with the Spanish revolutionaries. Pretty typical of the later Jacky Faber books. There's not really a concrete plot, but Jacky has tons of adventures involving "special" mushrooms, the running of the bulls, gypsies, etc. I was not at all familiar with this era in Spanish history or with Goya, and so I liked learning about those a lot. Can't wait for the next book to come out in a few days!

Slower than previous books (the bulk of this one takes place in Goya's art studio, not really a hotbed of adventure) but entertaining enough. Really, I'm following through on this series because Katherine Kellgren is still doing an amazing job with the audios, and they're just such fun listening. Even if the books themselves are... um... less than great now.

Another Bloody Jack adventure. While Jamie is in Rangoon, recovering from his misadventures in the previous volume, Jackie is sent by the British as a spy to Spain to get information on the French plans. Finding a position as a model in the studio of the famous artist Goya, she makes new friends and adds to her amazing list of adventures.

Oh Jacky! Again men just can’t help being drawn to her! I think my favorite part is when she eats the mushrooms and has a whole conversation with Brother Frog and of course since our Jacky is always thinking and after she comes down from her high she saves some of these mushrooms to use at a later time. And when she does it is hilarious!!! She ends up being the inventor of Purple haze!Our Jacky also finds herself in her own version of the Girl with the Pearl Earring and running with the bulls. Oh and gets herself caught up in the inquisition too! I think Jacky found her long lost family in the gypsies too she fit in so well with them!As usual Jacky finds herself caught in bad situations and meets famous people, but there was something different about this book, Jacky seemed a bit more mature and although she does want to get to Jamie it isn’t all encompassing as it has been in past books, and Jamie was a bit more secondary in this one. She meets a lot of new people, yes she still runs into people she knows but not as many as in past books and she didn’t have Higgins with her which I missed. And the ending was very abrupt but it sounds like everyone is headed to Boston so I guess we will see if Jacky & Jamie ever do get together. I love this series but I think I do see the end in sight which is sad but I’d hate to see this series run into the ground by having too many books, this is a series that you can read over and over again so it’s not like I can’t go back and visit Jacky anytime I want to.Katy Kellgren makes these books even better with her perfect narration and singing, yes, lots & lots of singing and in many different languages & styles and she pulls it off with seeming ease. It's a rollicking good time and as always Katherine Kellgren's narration is perfection!Loved it as usual but I want the next one NOW!4 ½ Stars

Viva Jacquelina! is the tenth book in the Bloody Jack series. This review contains some mild spoilers, so if you are a fan of the series and have not yet read the book, you may want to read it before reading this review. To tell the truth, this is the first Bloody Jack book that I have been less than satisfied with. Part of the problem may have been that Jacky spends most of the story on land (she's always at her best when she's at sea) and separated, not just from Jaimy (par for the course), but also from Higgins and all of her other friends. Naturally, she meets a few more notable historical figures of the time period -- I'm not going to quibble at that; sure, it's over-the-top, but the tall-tale feel is a stylistic decision on the part of the author, and is consistent with the rest of the series.My other problem with this book was that I didn't feel any heat between Jacky and Jaimy. This problem actually started in the previous book, with Jaimy's temporary insanity and Jacky spending a whole lot of time with the charming Lord Richard Allen -- I got the feeling that Jacky was only rescuing Jaimy from himself out of a sense of duty (it was, after all, her supposed death that drove him mad), and that if she had her choice at that point, she would have taken Lord Richard. In this book, Jacky spends a lot of time leading on a boy several years younger than herself -- I felt badly for him, since it seemed to me that Jacky never made a point of telling him, as she was so fond of doing with other boys in previous books, that she was Promised To Another. (I cynically wonder if she chose this boy to toy with because he was not much of a threat to her virtue, or what remains of it.) Jaimy, meanwhile, is off successfully resisting Seedra's charms in Rangoon, and planning on getting back to Jacky, but in achieving a state of Zen he loses some of his typical ardor. In real life, I would expect Jacky and Jaimy to grow apart, especially since they never get to see each other or spend much time together, but so much of the dramatic tension of the series rides on Jacky and Jaimy's romance that it seems a little anticlimactic for them to drift apart as they seem to be doing.There were certainly things that I enjoyed in this book -- it's not lacking in the old Jacky Faber charm -- and I'll certainly continue to read the series. I'm just starting to wonder if it might be time for the series to start drawing to a close. . . .

Once again, my favorite heroine Jacky Faber has another book out. Jacky is now in Spain spying for the British, flirting with every available male and studying with the famous artist Goya. This wonderful series that started 10 books ago with Bloody Jack is just as funny and clever as the first book. L.A. Meyer has created a character that can charm her way out of prison, a girl's finishing school, being captured by Chinese pirates, Napoleon and bandits on the Mississippi all while just missing her true love Jaimy in her world travels. The books all include actual historical characters and events mixed in with a dose of craziness. You will cheer on Jacky in Viva Jacquelina! up to the last page !

Summary: Jacky Faber is sent by the British Intelligence Service to act as an aide and spy for the general currently directing the war against the French in Spain. For Jacky, though, things are rarely so simple, and soon she finds herself far from the battlefield and taking up residence in household of the famous painter Francisco Goya, as a servant, model, and occasional student. But the attention of the younger men in the studio earns Jacky yet another enemy, and she will have to face charging bulls, a band of gypsies, and - right when she least expects it - the Spanish Inquisition. Meanwhile, her true love Jaimy is yet again on the other side of the world from Jacky, recuperating in Rangoon.Review: The Bloody Jack books are, in general, good solid fun in an interesting and vivid historical setting. They've got some issues - which I'll get to below - but even so, I can typically rely on them to be an engaging and enjoyable few hours' read. This was true of Viva Jacquelina! as much as any earlier books in the series; in fact, this installment was relatively free of a lot of the problems that had bothered me about earlier books. Specifically, while this book is just as episodic as ever, the transitions from one episode to the next felt smoother than usual, and the whole thing felt more self-contained. It was also nice that most of the secondary characters in this book were new to this story; I've complained in the past about Jacky being unable to go anywhere without running into eleven people she knows (but that I can't remember very well, since they were introduced six books ago.) One downside of this was not enough of the familiar characters that I like - namely Higgins - but that's a relatively easy price to pay.Meyer also did a very good job of establishing Jacky's age - seventeen - right up front, almost as if he'd registered my confusion (and annoyance about Jacky's immaturity) from the last book. Jacky's still a free spirit, and her constant flirting and scheming and disregard for consequences still makes her feel a little immature, but it's much more realistic and forgivable in a 17-year-old than someone in their 20s. (The flip side of that is that she's had a ludicrous number of adventures - 10 books' worth! - in only three years.) Jacky's hijinks, especially in regards to attractive members of the opposite sex, do tend to get a little repetitive, and although part of me finds this tiring, it's also part of what makes these books such a good quick break for when I'm tired or stressed or burned out on more serious reads. 4 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: There's a lot of series continuity in these books, but the plots are independent and episodic enough to be read on their own. Still, the first four books are the best, so if you're looking for a fun, funny, and fast historical fiction series, I'd recommend starting with Bloody Jack.