Customer Reviews

Bridal Jitters (Ghost Hunters)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have great fun reading JAK's Lost Colony books. "Bridal Jitters" takes place on Harmony as do "After Dark" and "After Glow" which are also alot of fun.

Being a very short story this book starts after Virginia Burch and Sam Gage have decided to merge their businesses and their lives in a "marriage of convenience". Virginia is a para-archeologist and "detangler" of traps. Sam is a security expert and "ghost hunter." Their friends have thrown them a night before Halloween engagement party. Virginia has fallen in love with Sam but he just talks of business and seems very cool so she has little hope for romance. Sam, of course, is in love with Virginia but doesn't want to "scare her off" -- Men can be so dumb in real life too!!

Sam and Virginia have their first joint client who has his personal ghost hunter take them to a waterfull of psi energy trap that is preventing him to clear a tunnel in the old Dead City. The very real dangers, humorous and romantic situations that ensue make for a fun read!

Light but enjoyable!

For any of you who have loved Jayne Castle's psychic/ paranormal world of the Dead Cities which were so enjoyable in Zinnia & Amarilss, Bridal Jitters is a little snack between meals. With her new book Ghost HUnter coming out shortly, Bridal Jitters is a little reminder not to forget the world which we love.

In this short story, Virginia Burch, a psychic archeologist, has recently become the new tenant of ghost hunter Sam Gage. Not only that but the two are becoming business partners & husband & wife in a marriage of conveniance. Virginia is just about ready to run! While she gets hot & bothered everytime she sees Sam he is aloof & the pressure of so many new partnerships in her life is becoming a crushing burden.

Sam has been in love & lust with Virginia since he saw her the very first time. Now as an enemy attepts to do the pair in on their very first business deal he has to keep his bride-to-be safe & by his side. Not just for the time being but for the rest of their lives.

Jayne Castle's other books in this extra-planetary series has been interesting, with that little touch of the supernatural. Bridal Jitters continues the good work. It's a shorter story but shows Jayne's typical sense of humor and fun.

I have enjoyed all the stories about Harmony and look forward to more. There are still lots of mysteries about the old cities and the prior residents of the planet that require solutions.

"Bridal Jitters" was originally published as part of the anthology "Charmed" and was then bundled with "After Dark" in the book "Harmony", so this story has turned up a number of times. I originally owned it as part of the "Charmed" anthology and it was head and shoulders above the other stories in that book.

Those who are familiar with Jayne Castle's full-length books set on the planet of Harmony, "After Dark", "After Glow" and "Ghost Hunter" ("Ghost Hunter" was not yet published when I wrote this review), will recognise the setting of "Bridal Jitters". The action takes place in the Dead City of Cadence where Virginia Burch, a Trap Tangler, has found herself engaged to Sam Gage who is a Ghost Hunter. The engagement is entirely a matter of financial sense and convenience to both of them - there are significant benefits to being married for business purposes, and they have agreed to take part in a "marriage of convenience" which automatically lapses after a year unless renewed. Ghost Hunters and Trap Tanglers have different but complementary skills, both of which are generally required for excavation and exploration work in the tombs underground on the planet of Harmony. The previous alien race built huge underground cities but left various booby traps ("ghosts" and "illusion traps") which require people with special psychic powers to remove.

Virginia, of course, has fallen in love with her fiancé but she's concerned he just sees their future marriage as the business arrangement, and vows to call the wedding off rather than subject herself to such an emotional situation. This is a multi point-of-view book so we know some of Sam's feelings on the subject too - he's afraid of the same thing as he virtually tricked Virginia into the engagement because he does want to marry her. Knowing the author, you know at the beginning it's going to work out OK, the fun is seeing how they get there.

The central event in this book is the near-disaster that they face underground and it allows Jayne Castle to use, once again, her titillating sub-plot that also appeared in "After Glow". Apparently after a Ghost Hunter has fought a really big ghost they become exceptionally sexually-motivated for an hour or so and then crash out fast asleep for a couple of hours. In "After Dark" we heard about this phenomenon from Lydia's friend who was dating a Ghost Hunter, in "After Glow" Lydia discovers it for herself, and in "Bridal Jitters" it's the pivotal event which Sam and Virginia experience in order to make them see sense.

Although a short story, this didn't feel rushed at all - in fact, it seemed quite a meaty story. It can be read entirely on its own, without reference to any of the other Harmony novels, although it does make a very good complement to those books.

I have never read anything else by this author, but this little teaser will have me seeking her work out. I would like to see moreof her characters of this strange world. Not al all what I expected, it is light and sweet. The happily ever after is there, but a taster is what will come in her full length books I hope!

Quick read - entertaining (predictable if you have read her other books, but fun). I enjoy this series and get a kick out of the dust bunnies.

This book and it's storyline could have been written by my 13-yr-old (without the sex). I couldn't even stand to read beyond pg 5.

This book still have the magic and mysticism of a distant planet, but is rather insipid and simplistic. Very low-reading.