Title: The Scent of Jade
Author: Dee DeTarsio
Genre: I'm not sure what genre to put this novella in. It's labeled romance, but I think it's more woman's fiction
Publisher: Just Publishing
Number of Pages: 148
Source: Sent to me by the author to read
I'll be honest-I spent the first half of the book thinking this was going to be a romance-adventure type book. Once I realized it was not a romance, I started enjoying it a lot more. Julie Fraser is tired of her same old boring routine and decides to surpise her husband with a visit while he's on a business trip in Costa Rica. He was surprised alright~she finds him with another woman at an ancient temple, and for some reason steals a jade stone that was there. Julie is so shocked at finding her husband with another women that she takes off with the stone and heads into the jungle. She soon realizes that the resort is far behind her and has no clue on how to get back. Of course she didn't bring her cell phone and has to rely on her wits to survive.
While she can't find her way back to the hotel, she does manage to find a monkey and a field of pot. Julie then has very long conversations with herself and the monkey. This is when the book began to lose me for a bit, but then Julie runs into the owner of the pot filds-Blonde Juan while on the run from some helicopters who shoot at her, but thinks it's because she's in their pot field until she talks to Juan and finds out that the field belongs to him, and they were shooting at her because of the stone she stole. It turns out that she didn't just steal any old jade stone. She stole a jade stone that was vital to Costa Rica and just might hold the key to global warming. After Juan finds her, he promises to take her back to the resort. Julie soon realizes that he wants the stone for himself, and tries to get back to the resort herself. What follows next is a game of cat and mouse and she has to figure out just who she can trust.
This was a quick, fun read and a bit different then most books that are out there. While I didn't agree with all the choices Julie made, I really liked her as a heroine. She had me laughing all the way through till the end. I could just see myselfs saying and doing some of the stupid things she did while she was out in the jungle. The Scent of Jade was just a nice change of pace for me, though I wish I had realized it wasn't really a romance earlier on in my readings so I could enjoy it more.
Favorite quotes:
From one of the scientists to Julie:
Jakub cleared his throat. “With all due respect, Julie, you do not have the gravitas to pull off
dialogue from Mr. John Wayne.”
Julie to Colin, her husband: “You really think you get a free pass?” I couldn’t believe his audacity. “You should write your own book, The Audacity of a Dope,” I babbled.
Other Reviews: Ramblings From A Chaotic Mind
