February 2, 2016

The Book Barista Reviews: Locked and Loaded by Jade C. Jamison

By Stefter

Title: Locked and Loaded

Series: Bullet, #6

Author: Jade C. Jamison

Release Date: February 1, 2016

Is it too much to believe that someone keeps returning to your life because it’s meant to be?

Zane Carson is an idealistic young man with one big skeleton in his closet when he first meets Jennifer Manders in college. They date only to break up soon after. The sexual attraction is like an electromagnet but they fight like alley cats. The relationship just isn’t worth it.

Zane’s band Fully Automatic breaks big about the same time Jennifer finishes college. One summer afternoon, they meet for coffee and sparks fly once more. It’s off again, on again, but they just can’t make it work and break it off for good, deciding it’s not worth the effort.

But Zane is drawn to her and, during a break in the music action, he tracks her down again, willing to change himself for her and needing to give her one last try. The attraction is as strong as ever, but now Jennifer is hiding something from Zane—something big, something that threatens to extinguish the spark for good. When Zane discovers her secret, will he be able to forgive her or will that be the end?

It’s no secret that I’ve really loved Jade C. Jamison’s books. Bullet was my very first Jade book. It’s bittersweet to see this series end. It’s been a great ride and I am sad to see the end.

I’m having trouble writing this review without any spoilers. I will just say that I was surprised. Throughout the series, I thought that Zane was a bit more level-headed than the other guys, except for Brad – NO ONE is as level-headed as Brad. So I was a bit blown away when in fact he was not. He had unresolved issues with his past and some other problems he now has to face and deal with if he wants his relationship with Jen to progress beyond the on-again-0ff-again it’s been for so many years.

I liked Jen. A LOT! I was a bit angry at her for a while but at the end of the day, she had to do what was right for her life. As I read, I came to side with her. She needed Zane to get his act together. Loving him wasn’t enough anymore.

I took this ride with Zane and Jen and I felt hope, I felt unease and trepidation and I felt excitement. Jade took me on this journey with these characters. Have I mentioned that I love her? I know that authors do research for their books but Jade made me feel that she really went above and beyond with this one (as she did with Rock Bottom).

I gave Locked and Loaded five strong and delicious espressos. Prior to this book, Rock Bottom was my favourite in the series. I’m thinking this one might be squeezing up there for a tie.

If you’re interested in the other books in the series, here are the links

Bullet Box Set (Books 1-3)

AMAZON | AMAZON UK | B&N | KOBO

Bullet Box Set 2 (Books 4-5)

AMAZON | AMAZON UK

Bullet

Rock Bottom

Feverish

Fully Automatic

Christmas Stalkings

Slash and Burn

“Oh, Zane, this place is amazing. Why haven’t I ever heard of it before?”

“I can tell you exactly why. Three reasons.” She raised her eyebrows as he raised his index finger. “One, it’s almost downtown, and I know you avoid downtown like the plague. If I recall, you said something about rather losing a limb than walk the Sixteenth Street Mall again.”

“I said that?”

“Yeah.”

“Well…maybe that was a little drastic.”

“Yeah, probably.” He lifted the bottle of Dos Equis and then said, “Two, it’s a little hole in the wall. It doesn’t advertise like some of the bigger restaurants—no billboards, no newspaper ads, shit like that.”

Jennifer nodded. “Okay, yeah. And what’s number three?”

Zane leaned over the table and whispered. “It’s kind of a dive.” Jennifer couldn’t help but giggle. “But in a good way.”

She laughed out loud at that. “Yeah, definitely.” She picked up a chip and dipped it in the warm queso next to Zane’s bottle. “The food is amazing so far.”

“Just wait.”

The waiter came by with a pitcher. “More water, señorita?”

“Please.” After the waiter was back on his way, she said to Zane, “I love it. I love the people and I even love that stupid TV in the corner.”

Zane glanced over. “Yeah, well…”

“No, seriously. They don’t have the sound on, but it somehow makes it feel like home in here, you know? Lights and movement, but the sounds are coming from the kitchen and some weird soundtrack.”

Zane breathed through his nose, putting on a look of mock horror and said, “What if it’s our soundtrack?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if this is our movie? A movie about our lives…and that’s the soundtrack?”

“Three things.”

Zane grinned. “What?”

“One…if this is our movie, it’s pretty damn boring. No car chases, no sex scenes, no snappy dialogue—”

“Says who? My dialogue’s plenty snappy.”

“Two, the soundtrack sucks.”

“Well, don’t be telling them that.”

“And…I don’t have a three. I guess just two.”

A smirk covered Zane’s face. “And we can take care of the sex scene later.”

Jade C. Jamison was born and raised in Colorado and has decided she likes it enough to stay forever. Jade’s day job is teaching Creative Writing, but teaching doesn’t stop her from doing a little writing herself.

Unfortunately, there’s no one genre that quite fits her writing. Her work has been labeled romance, erotica, suspense, and women’s fiction, and the latter is probably the safest and closest description. But you’ll see that her writing doesn’t quite fit any of those genres.

And Jade is a-okay with that!

Jade is very accessible on social media (and is so lovely to speak to). She has so many links that I thought I’d just link you to her social media links on her website. So go ahead and click HERE to get in touch with her.