Boston Jacky: A Bloody Jack Adventure

Written by L. A. Meyer

Narrated by Katherine Kellgren

Jacky Faber makes waves, even when docked in her adopted city of Boston to attend to the business of Faber Shipping Worldwide.

With big dreams and perhaps too much exuberance for the Puritan populace, she quickly finds herself at odds with the Women's Temperance Union and a town roiling over the arrival of hundreds of Irish laborers, brought in on Jacky's Lorelei Lee. Thwarted at every turn by her enemies, Jacky is forced to acknowledge her shortcomings and possibly lose her beloved Jaimy Fletcher.

L. A. Meyer received a master of arts from Boston University, and is currently the curator and exhibitor at the Clair de Loon Gallery in Bar Harbor, Maine. He lives in Corea, Maine.

Katherine Kellgren has recorded over 100 audio-books including the Bloody Jack series, which has been the winner of multiple Audie Awards, Publishers Weekly awards, Odyssey Honor awards, and ForeWord Magazine's Audio-book of the Year awards. She is a graduate of The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

©2013 L. A. Meyer (P)2014 Listen & Live Audio, Inc.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Listen & Live Audio
• Release date: Nov 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9781593166625

L. A. Meyer

L. A. Meyer (1942–2014) was the acclaimed writer of the Bloody Jack Adventure series, which follows the exploits of an impetuous heroine who has fought her way up from the squalid streets of London to become an adventurer of the highest order. Mr. Meyer was an art teacher, an illustrator, a designer, a naval officer, and a gallery owner. All of those experiences helped him in the writing of his curious tales of the beloved Jacky Faber. Visit www.jackyfaber.com for more information on the author and his books.  

Reviews for Boston Jacky

[Andrea Zamora · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book. I think I missed something with the series. So now I need to go search more drone the series. However a great listen.

[Tenille Gaines · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Truly love this series, I am on my second listen, and I still feel the nervous anticipation of what is coming.

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not one of the better ones. Miss Jacky catches up with many old friends, dabbles in hallucinogenics and eventually gets spanked.

[hoosgracie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The further adventures of Jacky Faber - this time she's back in Boston and getting into trouble as usual. I really enjoy these on audio, although I am getting a little impatient with the star crossed lover plot. Ah well...

[mikerhode · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not one of the best in the series. Sorting out plot strands in Boston takes up the whole book.

[lilibrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Jacky is back in Boston, tearing up that conservative town with her own brand of mischief and hoping, at long last, to join up with a recovered Jamie Fletcher.

[norabelle414 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

audiobook - Jacky Faber returns to Boston, where she expects her long-lost love Jaimy Fletcher will be arriving any day now. She picks up a few odd jobs to recoup some of the funds she has spent on her friends, and makes the very poor decision to introduce her frenemy Clarissa Worthington-Howe to the great city of New Orleans. In Boston, Jacky is arrested for a wide variety of crimes (most of the accusations well-deserved, of course) and tries to figure out why she is being followed by a mysterious hunchbacked Burmese man.Oh I love you so, Jacky Faber. Though they don't seem as popular, I love the books set in Boston the most. I love Jacky's Boston friends, and the history that is thrown into the stories (women's suffrage and fire brigades, in this one). I was expecting a bit more of a cliffhanger ending, since this is supposedly the second-to-last volume in the series, but it has a typical Jacky Faber ending. I can't wait for the next one!

[fyrefly98 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Summary: Jacky Faber is back in her home base of Boston, and it's a good thing, since Faber Shipping International has business that needs attending to. On a whim, Jacky decides to purchase the Pig & Whistle Inn, but that puts her on the bad side of the Women's Suffrage Movement, seeing as how they are also campaigning for Temperance. It's also the era of rival fire companies that will only put out fires for those who pay them... and may start fires for those who don't, and Jacky is not about to fall prey to that racket. But with enemies piling up on all sides, how long can Jacky really keep herself out of trouble? And where is her true love, Jaimy, supposed to be returning from Asia? Has she really lost him for good this time? Review: I love the Bloody Jack series because they are a good time, with a spunky narrator and plenty of adventure and a fast-moving plot that doesn't take itself too seriously. As the series goes on (this is book 11), they've been getting somewhat less fun, although they're still reliably entertaining. And this book, truth be told, is definitely not one of the stronger entries in the series. I think it's right there in the contrast between the name of the series ("Bloody Jack Adventures") and the subtitle of the book ("Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Taking Care of Business"). The problem is, this is not "taking care of business" in an awesome, swashbuckling, ass-kicking kind of way, it's "taking care of business" in a business kind of way. Faber Shipping's financial issues are just not as exciting as being captured by slavers or boarded by pirates, y'know? I also felt like all the various elements in this book didn't really tie together particularly well. (Other than "Jacky gets in various kinds of trouble in Boston.") The cover makes it look like the rival fire brigades are going to form a central part of the story, but in truth I didn't feel like that storyline really amounted to much in the end, and really, the worst danger Jacky is in during the course of the book is a public lashing.But, even so, I don't really read these books for their complicated plots, I read them because they're fun and light and easygoing, and this book kept me engaged and entertained, even if it wasn't a thrill a minute. My biggest problem with it, in fact, had nothing to do with the plotting or the overall level of action or anything. My biggest problem was Jaimy. He's always been a little dumb, particularly where Jacky was concerned, but in this book he goes off the deep end, flopping from mildly scandalized/jealous over Jacky's flirtateous behavior, to outright hostile and cruel about it, over a comparably minor issue. I went from being tired of him to actively disliking him, which is not an ideal situation for the character cast as the romantic interest of ten books' standing. 3.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: This book is not the best, but the series as a whole is worth checking out for historical fiction fans, particularly the earlier books, which are a ton of fun.

[keristars_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A good Bloody Jack book must contain lots of adventure, shenanigans at open sea, exciting escapes from danger, a little bit of romance, some fast-and-loose playing with historical accuracy (all for the sake of a rollicking story!), and, above all, plenty of opportunities to set the book down for a moment and sigh, in every emotion that it can possibly be sighed, "Oh, Jacky, no!"The last few entries in the series were a bit disappointing on this front, whether due to the lack of time spent aboard a ship or too much historicity or even too much uncomfortable racism and ableism. I'm happy to say, however, that Boston Jacky brings the series back to form even as it brings the story back stateside after two years in Australia, Burma, and then Spain.The first dozen pages are a flurry of sea shanty and meeting people and remembering what all has gone down while Jacky's been away, and Meyer doesn't really let up on the pace until the very end. As might be expected in Boston Jacky, we get a lot of the Boston friends of course, but Higgins and Amy, the usual Jiminy Crickets steering Jacky straight, are unavailable to play their roles. It so happens that instead, Clarissa Worthington Howe gets a story boost to counter Jacky at parts, and I must say that she was completely delightful. Clarissa is absolutely awful and not at all a good person, but she is a wonderful friend-slash-enemy to add to the story, and I adore her.The plot of the book is a bit erratic, and there are a lot of really short scenes that felt cobbled together, almost like non sequiturs in how they didn't really have much to do with the rest of the book. I thought they were unfortunate, since they also didn’t add to the story or characterization in any way, or else were detrimental to it (as when Jacky, disguised as a boy, provides a ship captain's young daughter her first and decidedly innocent romance). But some of the erratic quality is because the story proceeds at a breakneck pace, hardly stopping to slow down anywhere, and that’s one of the things I really enjoy about this series.There are a lot of fun things that happen, from Jacky buying a tavern and opening a theatre to sailing down to New Orleans with a bunch of Miss Bodeen's ladies and getting into a bit of trouble. The anachronisms in the form of the "fire insurance men" and sufragettes rallying for a temperance movement in Boston were a little too ahistorical, but made for an exciting (and at times tense) story that would probably not be able to be told otherwise, since they'd take place when Jacky is a good deal older.The main problem I had with Boston Jacky, though, relates to her dearest Jaimy Fletcher. After he went mad with grief when he thought Jacky had died, Jaimy managed to find his way to Chopstick Charlie, where he was given help to put himself back together. This involved meditation at a monastery and the study of martial arts, so of course when he see him again, Jaimy is now a super ninja type working for Charlie's interests. My friend helped me sum up my feelings on the matter thus: "It’s like making someone a Magical Asian Warrior doesn’t make them a more interesting character and also it is racist."Furthermore, Jaimy is horrible in this book, jumping to conclusions and blaming Jacky for being friends with other men. He's black with jealousy and anger, truly. He also still dreams of marrying her and having her stay at home and have babies while he goes off and does his thing, whereas Jacky very clearly loves being in control of her own life and able to do as she pleases (this is a plot point!). They are unsuited for each other and most likely carry their love only because they rarely actually spend time together. Luckily, Jaimy's role is mostly sideplot and isn't nearly as interesting as other parts of the book.One of the positive things about the racism and misogyny wrapped up in Jaimy is that I had a lot of fun hating him and cursing his very presence in the book. That's one thing about the Bloody Jack Adventures: even as I rail against weird anachronisms that don't make sense, or hate on horrible characters and story elements, I enjoy the very act of reading them, and I just love Jacky herself.I love that Jacky is incredibly squeamish about bullfights, but adores going to the cockfights. She won’t touch a drop of liquor and tends to avoid beer, but she’ll drink wine like anything. She’s faithful and true to her love Jaimy, but has no problems hanging on the arms of or even kissing other men. She loves being the center of attention and giving presents to all her friends, even if it means getting into trouble and going broke. She has no compunctions about getting naked (or nearly so) or doing a bit of bawdy song and dance on the stage, but is totally outraged at the suggestion that she’s not entirely the wholesome type in running a bar…So I guess this is all to say that I am, once again, looking forward to the next installment in Jacky’s adventures, especially if it's more like Boston Jacky than Mark of the Golden Dragon or Viva Jaquelina!

[foggidawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

(Note: this review may contain spoilers for earlier books in the Bloody Jack series.)After her recent harrowing adventures in China, England, and Spain, Jacky is headed back to Boston to check in on her interests there -- Boston is, after all, where Faber Shipping Worldwide is officially headquartered, not to mention home to many of Jacky's friends. Jacky soon discovers that all is not well in her adopted hometown: established residents are hostile towards the influx of Irish immigrants, rival "fire companies" have sprung up and are reputedly setting more fires than they are putting out, an old enemy from Jacky's street urchin days is in town, and the Pig & Whistle, Jacky's favorite old haunt, is on the brink of closure. Jacky quickly buys up the Pig, as well as a building to turn into a theatre, but she must be circumspect -- after all, there will be penalties if Jacky appears in Judge Thwackham's courtroom again. Unfortunately, "circumspect" isn't exactly in Jacky's vocabulary, and by the end of the book, Jacky will have been accused of many things, including disturbing the peace, being an unfit mother to her ward Ravi, and . . . witchcraft?!?I have such mixed feelings about this series at this point. On one hand, this book is a definite improvement over the last book, which I found generally disappointing. It's always nice to catch up with Jacky's old friends, and there's plenty of humor and "Oh, Jacky!" moments to keep the reader entertained. On the other hand, this book doesn't really cover any new ground -- both the setting and the characters are familiar, and Jacky is on land for the bulk of the book, rather than at sea, where she really shines. Also, this book kicks up the raunchiness factor a few notches -- there have always been some slightly naughty bits in Jacky's story up until now, but there's a lot more overt and sometimes distasteful stuff in this one (or maybe I'm just not as forgiving of human nature as Jacky always is). As usual, Jacky makes it through the book with her somewhat tattered virtue still intact, but this is mostly because Jaimy, though on the scene for most of the story, decides to disguise himself and watch from afar, rather than be reunited with his childhood sweetheart. Alas, Jacky and Jaimy's relationship has shifted from a sweet romance to something full of resentment, obligations, and guilt, and at this point I'm not even sure I want to see them get back together.Dedicated fans of the series, if they have made it this far, will probably enjoy this book. However, I find myself wishing that Meyer had planned out Jacky's adventures with a little more care and a definite ending point. Right now, the series seems to be drifting along, rudderless, and I kind of hope that it comes to shore soon.

[eenerd · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

[SPOILER ALERT!!!] Number 11 in the beloved Bloody Jack series clearly illustrates that little Jacky Faber is growing up, as are those closest to her. This book had much more in the way of adult situations (sex and explicit drug use) as well as Jacky's responsibilities as a businessperson and a parent (of sorts). This was definitely geared toward an older audience, which I suppose makes sense, but it kind of bummed me out in a way because it just seemed like a cop out. I really don't believe that all books need that stuff to engage with young adult readers, especially those looking for an authentic character. It so felt like maybe the publishers were like, Mr. Meyer, you need more sex and drugs in these books to sell them, and he was like "sighhhh. FINE." and just threw it in there. [That's me assuming a lot, because I really like Meyer's work and have been a big fan of the series right along.] Jacky is still, somehow, a virgin at the end of it, which harkens back to the rugged individualistic Jacky that I fell in love with, and I was glad of it. But for the most part so much of the story was just rehashing material from the earlier books, it was kind of...I don't know less of a story than a recap with one or two fresh scenes inserted for flavor. Don't get me wrong, the scene with Pigger O'Toole and Glory Wholey after they drank the purple potion was pretty hilarious, but I'm a grown-up, you know? And Jaimy just needs to s*** or get off the pot. His character has morphed into this annoying Twilight-esque stalker, and I've really started to hate him *so* very much. I just think, that perhaps this installment would have been better off as a backstory to some better tale; Jacky is meant to be rollicking on the high seas somewhere or on some grand adventure exploring new and exotic lands. Not putzing around Boston, replaying the highlight reel of all of her past adventures. She's still too young for that.