My Bonny Light Horseman: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, in Love and War (Bloody Jack Adventure Series #6) »

L. A. Meyer is the award-winning author of the Bloody Jack Adventures, a series praised for its spirited heroine and rousing sense of adventure.The series includes Bloody Jack, Curse of the Blue Tattoo, Under the Jolly Roger, In the Belly of the Bloodhound, Mississippi Jack, My Bonny Light Horseman, Rapture of the Deep, and The Wake of the Lorelei Lee. He lives in Corea, Maine. www.jackyfaber.com

The irrepressible Jacky Faber is captured by British Naval Intelligence and forced to spy against France in order to save her friends.

KLIATT

Like most of Jacky Faber's adventures, this one could probably be read on its own. It's Meyer's wit and intelligence that bring the reader along in these totally improbable but entertaining epics. For example, as Jacky is offered a deal by British Secret Intelligence to save her life (condemned as a traitor and pirate) by becoming a spy in France for England, she chooses her name to be Jacqueline Bouvier. This Jacqui must pretend to be a dancer and a courtesan, to get secrets from the military officers in Napoleon's army and report back to English operatives. How she protects her virginity while pretending to be a prostitute is a marvel in itself. Fairly quickly, she is back to being a boy, disguised as an American sympathetic to Napoleon, pretending to be a courier in Napoleon's army, taking dispatches between generals. Yes, she meets Napoleon himself. She commands a small band of French villagers who have enlisted, and her sympathies are compromised: how can she betray these new friends and cause their deaths? In this battle, Napoleon is fighting Prussians, not the British, so that decision isn't so hard for Jacky. She celebrates her 16th birthday somewhere in this story, and she still longs for Jaimy, her one true love (sort of), even while flirting with a handsome young Frenchman. So you see, all very complicated, and I've just begun to relate the many adventures. At the end of this sixth book in the series, I see an opening to end the series because the story wraps up neatly as Jacky is reunited with Jaimy and her beloved crew, safe for the moment. No other series for YAs is like this one! Reviewer: Claire Rosser