Review: "Jaq's Harp" by Ella Drake

Jaq's Harp by Ella Drake

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Jaq's Harp is a sci-fi romance that pays hommage to the old tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, adding a little twist to make things more interesting. Jack and the Beanstalk has never been one of my favorite children's tales, but that didn't affect my take on this story.

Agent Jacqueline Robinson is on a mission - and this time, it's personal. Jaq's sister is severely ill and Giant Corp, the company responsible for her wasting illness, holds the cure hostage. So Jaq plans to infiltrate the company's headquarters to steal the cure, even though she's wary of running into Harper English, a fellow agent and, most importantly, the man who's left her to go deep undercover at Giant.

Harp thought he was doing the right thing when he left Jaq, but he realizes his mistake as soon as he sees her again. He wants her back, this time for good, but she doesn't trust him anymore. Now, if only danger wasn't all around them and they could escape Giant Corp safely, he would have time to win her heart again. Or would he?

This is a short story and, as expected, character development and world building were a bit overlooked at times, but the overall result was satisfying. I cared for Jaq and Harp, even though the TSTL moment he had (*) made me want to slap him and tell him to snap out of it, I believed they loved each other, which is always a must in a romance book, and I liked the action scenes. Jaq could kick some serious ass! It was great to see the heroine saving the hero for a change. *cheers*

(*) Harp's timing was oh-so-bad... I really don't think that getting naked, lying on his bed and telling Jaq to join him for a quickie when their lives were in great danger was one of Harp's smartest moves. Yeah, he was so overwhelmed at seeing her again after all those months that his brain stopped working, but come on, he was supposed to be a hardass agent! Thank the gods Jaq put a stop to his nonsense.

All in all, this was a quick, nice read. I wish it was longer, and that's a good thing because I'm only happy with the short length of a novella when I don't like the story.

Note: I received this eARC from Carina Press via NetGalley. That had no influence on my review/rating.



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