“The Continuing Adventure of Jackson and Kit!
Detective Jackson Forge can hardly wait to marry the street-sly swindler who’s turned his life upside down. Kit Turner is equally excited to wed the handsome detective, and what better way to show her love than providing him with a gift any man of the law would love? She determines to bring to justice the men who years ago maimed his brother—despite Jackson’s warning to leave the past in the past. As she digs into the mystery of what happened, she unwittingly tumbles into her own history and endangers her future happiness with Jackson.
Detective Jackson Forge can hardly wait to marry the street-sly swindler who’s turned his life upside down. Kit Turner is equally excited to wed the handsome detective, and what better way to show her love than providing him with a gift any man of the law would love? She determines to bring to justice the men who years ago maimed his brother—despite Jackson’s warning to leave the past in the past. As she digs into the mystery of what happened, she unwittingly tumbles into her own history and endangers her future happiness with Jackson.”
Series: Book #2 in the “Blackfriars Lane” series. (Possibly a duology as this is the sequel to “The Thief of Blackfriars Lane”, review Here!)
Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Church going, sermon, & benediction; Talks about God, hope, forgiving, & justice being in His hands; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of churches, church going, sermons, choirs, & vicars/reverends; Mentions of blessings & being blessed; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A few mentions of a prayer book; A few mentions of Heaven, eternity, & eternal rest; A couple mentions of sins; A mention of the Saviour’s crown of thorns; A mention of Godspeed; A mention of spiritual counseling; A mention of a nun;
*Note: Phrases like: ‘saints above!’ (x1), ‘by all that was holy’ (x1), and ‘by all that was right and good!’ (x1) are said or exclaimed; Mentions of devils (regarding calling others a devil, making decisions, calling rats little devils, Jackson calling cucumbers a green demon, and making peace with a demon); Mentions of demons tormenting someone; Mentions of hellfire clubs & their rituals bordering on the occult (including a “prayer” and when they ask Jackson if he’d like to join, he says yes but thinks in his head that it’ll only be for the night and asks God to forgive him); A couple mentions of Jackson’s devil-may-care hair & Kit’s devil-may-care recklessness; A mention of questioning the devil himself for some answers; A mention of a gaze that would make the devil himself and confess; A mention of the possibility of the name of a place opening the cage of demons; A mention of a man being in the pit of hell; A mention of a branding iron being as red as the flames of hell; A mention of the ungodly weight on someone’s shoulders; A mention of a man saying that the bottle (drinking) was his salvation; A mention of making yourself a god (*Spoiler* Kit realizes she’s done this to Jackson in regards of only telling him what she thinks he should know *End of Spoiler*); A mention of a statue of a Greek goddess.
Negative Content- Minor cussing (& British exclamations) including: a ‘bloomin’’, a ‘bosh!’, a ‘cod’s heads!’, a ‘fiddlesticks!’, a ‘goodness and light!’, a ‘hang it all’, a ‘heaven and earth!’, a ‘hounds a’fire!’, a ‘pish-posh’, a ‘rot!’, a ‘scab-nippity!’, a ‘stars and banners!’, a ‘stars and glory!’, a ‘what a load of balderdash’, a ‘what the blazes’, two ‘botheration’s, two forms of ‘caring a fig’, two ‘egad!’s, two ‘gads!’s, two ‘kipes!’s, two ‘pah!’s, two ‘posh’s, two ‘scads!’s, two forms of ‘stupid’, two ‘thunder and turf!’s, three ‘blasted’s, three ‘dash and rot’, four forms ‘blast it/blast *someone’s name*’, four ‘drat’, four ‘pish’s, four ‘thunderation’s, five ‘bah’s, six ‘what/why the deuce’s, seven ‘how/what/why the devil’s, and ten forms of ‘dash it all/dash *someone’s name*’; Mentions of curses (said, not written); A bit of eye rolling; Seeing a death by a wagon wheel (blunt, barely-above-not-detailed); Lots of Fighting, Knocking others out, Being held at knife-point, Being choked, Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, & Blacking out (up to semi-detailed); An explosion & pain (up to semi-detailed); Threatening harm against another; Close calls with alligators, a viper, & rats (up to semi-detailed); Jackson is forced to drink goldfish & is paddled on his backside (up to semi-detailed); Kit feels guilt for a making up a story in the pursuit of justice (she thinks that Jackson and probably God as well would not approve of such means to an end); Jackson later lies about his identity for a plan and doesn’t like doing so; Seeing others drinking (up to semi-detailed); All about many mentions of thieves, thefts, stealing, & stolen items; Many mentions of murders, accidental murders, deaths, how they happened, & finding a skeleton (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of fighting, fights, pain, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deception; Mentions of suicides, how they happened, hangings, & bodies/corpses (including Kit wondering if these emotions were why her mother committed suicide, *Spoiler* It’s revealed towards the end that her mother didn’t commit suicide but passed away after birth complications while being locked up *End of Spoiler*, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of the possibilities of getting stabbed, shot, or thrown into a river with your hands tied; Mentions of a brutal beating that left a young man not the same (mentally), other children being beaten up, & the bullies; Mentions of an abduction/kidnapping, ransom, deaths, & the possibility of a spouse planning it for the insurance money (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of prisons, prisoners, arrests, gangs/mobs, thugs, criminals, crime scenes, & crimes; Mentions of grave robbers; Mentions of an explosion, explosives, & a gas leak; Mentions of threats; Mentions of a men’s club’s rituals of being paddled on the bum (Kit thinks of it as perverse), being branded by a hot iron, drinking champagne with goldfish in it, & possibly drinking monkey’s blood (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & drunks (including side characters drinking); Mentions of smoking, pipes, & tobacco (including a suggestion to smoke to keep away mosquitoes); Mentions of gambling & swindling those with money; A few mentions of a young boy slipping rat poison into his father’s drink & killing him; A few mentions of fires & deaths; A few mentions of hired killers/assassins; A few mentions of a husband beating his wife and child when drunk; A few mentions of a snake bite (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of manure, urine, & a man soiling his trousers A few mentions of dog & chicken fights; A couple mentions of evil men forcing little boys into slavery; A couple mentions of opium dens; A couple mentions of gossip; A mention of starvation;
Sexual Content- An almost hand kiss, three (barely-above-not-detailed) hand/wrist kisses, two cheek kisses, two head kisses, three barely-above-not-detailed kisses, a border-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss, and a detailed kiss; Recalling kisses & embraces (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Snuggling, Nearness, & Hand holding (up to semi-detailed); Noticing & Smelling (including curves and muscles, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Kit wonders about their upcoming wedding night (this part mentions about Jackson removing her dress and her not being sure about “men and their needs, what should or shouldn’t happen on a first night together” other than what’s she’s heard on the streets; also a comment from Jackson that he’s looking forward to “finishing what he started” and that her virtue is safe with him until they’re married); Three men lustfully ogle Kit, stare at her body and bodice in an uncomfortable way, & try to proposition her (one keeps touching her hands and knee & gives her a hand kiss; the second touches her thigh, he says he would like to see a more of her (implied in a sexual way) and she asks if he’d like to see “bit o’ skin” and then threatens him with a knife; and the third one says that she would change her mind about men after “a tumble” with him); Mentions of men paying attention to Kit in an unwanted and lustfully way; Mentions of brothels, prostitutes/strumpets, their “services”, mistresses, & men wanting a certain woman for his “personal pleasure”; Mentions of kisses & kissing; A few mentions of a Jackson’s desire and longing for Kit; A few mentions of chasing skirts (women) or referring to a woman as a skirt (instead of her name); A couple mentions of flirting; A couple mentions of a young girl probably being propositioned by men with lust and greed; A couple mentions of doxies; A couple mentions of feminine wiles; A mention of a possible out-of-wedlock pregnancy; A mention of a man telling Jackson to marry Kit and bed her; A mention of the weather being like “a mistress, calling seductively to lovers”; A mention of dalliances being saved for after a wedding; A mention of a married man calling his wife a cow and that she knows nothing of his dalliances; A mention of a wife lying in her husband’s arms in their bed; A mention of wondering if a man has a penchant for fine women; A mention of jealousy; Love, being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Kit says she won’t be dominated like a common scullery maid by her husband & does not like the “obedience card” that Jackson brings up about a wife vowing to honor and obey her husband; A few mentions of a mother passing away after birth complications (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of the Elephant Boys’ name denoting the fact they were all male members; A mention of a punch to a man’s nether region; A mention of twisted men at a hellfire club wanting Jackson to wear a pair of knickers with a red target on the backside.
-Katherine “Kit” Turner
-Jackson Forge
P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 1885 (Final Chapter set in 1886)
320 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Like many books I’ve read lately, I have many thoughts and am not sure where to start.
I think I could summarize that this book simply wasn’t for me because of the romantic angst. I never thought I would say that about a book—especially the sequel to a book I mostly enjoyed, but here we are.
Content wise, it was about the same as the first book (with a lot less noticing of the other’s physical attributes but about the same with men propositioning Kit), but the murders and crimes felt heavier to me. Perhaps that’s because it was and there were more sensitive parts regarding those elements to play on my heartstrings.
If you read and enjoyed the first book tremendously, you would probably be okay with the content found it this one.
I, however, was quite frustrated with the lack of communication between Kit & Jackson. They are to be married and are so in love, but an important element for the first third of the book is them trying to understand the other and what a marriage-life will be like for them. The first bit of the story, I was finding the difference enjoyable. They weren’t falling back on the oh-so-common “we’re in love, so our differences don’t matter” thread I see often between two characters of very different upbringings and viewpoints in books. It was fascinating to see, for the first third of the book. But then harsh words are spoken and I was full of angst for nearly the entire rest of the story. This was my main problem with this book. And I’m really quite sad about it. I honestly wanted to lock the two of them in a room and make them talk and quit being petty towards the other! Their pride and stubbornness took over the story and honestly ruined this sequel for me, sadly.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Barbour) for this honest review.
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