Imagine Jade Gone

Book 2 of Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate

Young Adult - Horror
363 Pages
Reviewed on 06/03/2017
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Wray Ardan lives on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with an artist, four cats, and a parrot. She is the winner of the Readers' Favorite 2015 Gold Medal for YA Horror for her novel Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate. Imagine Jade Gone, the second book in the trilogy is now available. The stories were inspired by sculptures her partner in life and business, artist Steven Lee Smeltzer created. Currently she is working on book 3. With a desire to promote teens that are PONO, Hawaiian for "doing the right thing," she set up Dakine Teens+ at dakineteens.tumblr.com

    Book Review

Reviewed by Liz Konkel for Readers' Favorite

Imagine Jade Gone by Wray Ardan is the sequel to Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate. Jaden Lisette thought the worst thing she had to deal with was attempting to get along with her sister. That all changed when she accidentally released her late grandfather's bloodthirsty creations called Mal Rous. Blaming herself for everything that happened, Jaden is determined to fix her mistake and stop the creations. When more creations are set free, Jaden and her family must work together to stop them, at the risk of their own lives. As the creatures become more powerful, the closer she becomes to Briz, and the more strained she becomes with her sister. As the danger escalates, someone may not make it out alive.

In many ways, this is a coming of age story as Jaden conquers her fear and her guilt in order to protect those she loves and fight off these blood sucking monsters. It's refreshing to see each of the characters grow and change by the end. It's not just one person's journey. Jaden is the type of heroine that you want to see succeed and earn her happy ending. Ardan creates a range of characters that aren't perfect, they make mistakes, but they learn and keep going. I sympathized more with Jaden than anyone, but by the end I understood Ava and Briz, and it was nice to see them all grow. Wray Ardan strikes the perfect balance between humor, family and romance with the classic horror elements. The ending is a complete surprise and took me off guard, leaving me desperately needing more of Jaden's story. Classic horror meets teenage angst, and Imagine Jade Gone is suspenseful and gruesome, a thrilling and unique take on the genre with heart, first love, and family connection.

Michelle Stanley

Imagine Jade Gone, Book 2 is from the young adult trilogy: Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate by Wray Arden. While spending the summer in Louisiana, Jaden Lisette and her family are assaulted by hybrid flesh eating Mal Rous mutants created by her deranged grandfather with his DNA. Jaden’s injuries could leave her permanently infected with the Rous’s DNA, especially Datura’s. The family recuperates in the bayou where they’re cared for by the albino sisters. These sisters had brewed potions for Jaden’s grandfather's morbid experiments. Jaden assumed the mutants were killed, but they managed to survive and have returned for revenge. She and Briz, her boyfriend, try to locate her grandfather’s journals containing vital information on the mutants. Unfortunately, Briz is seriously attacked by Quellers, a more vicious mutant species. How can they defeat these deadly, intelligent monsters without the journals' data?

I was impatient to read Wray Arden’s second book, Imagine Jade Gone from the trilogy, Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate. It’s just as gripping as Book 1, which I suggest reading first if possible. This book has never-ending, spine-tingling drama. The author’s writing format continues its strong, imaginative flow that makes this story fascinating. The creatures’ descriptions and their actions are very repulsive, but these make the story even more intense and thrilling. It’s obvious a lot of time and inventive thought went into this book, and it connects to Book 1 so precisely. I’m still convinced that a horror movie can be made, now having perused two novels from Wray Arden’s Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate series.

Sefina Hawke

Imagine Jade Gone by Wray Ardan is the second book in the young adult horror series called Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate. This is a book that would appeal most to an audience of young adults who enjoy horror fiction with cruel, scary creatures and sexy scenes (without sex). Jaden Lisette never imagined that she would live to see her sixteenth birthday, yet she befriended reclusive triplets and a mentally challenged man and managed to survive. Along the way she uncovered her family’s deadly secret, which involuntarily forced her into a completely new world of horror where she has to kill if she wishes to stay alive. Now all she wants to do is get back to her normal life and a future of love with Briz Nolan, but it will not be as easy as she thinks because an old enemy is returning and a new type of creature is unleashed. Will she manage to save herself and those she holds dear or will she perish in the attempt?

Imagine Jade Gone by Wray Ardan was a little confusing for me at the beginning because I did not read book one. However, as the story continued, I quickly found myself catching up and getting into the story. Jaden Lisette is a strong female character that I was able to respect and admire because of her willingness to protect others, as well as her ability to face horror without losing herself in the process. I enjoyed the horror aspects of the book and I felt the author found a good balance between horror and nightmare inducing terror; the romance was well done and felt very real, even without any sexual scenes. Overall, as an adult I enjoyed the book and I feel that I would have enjoyed it even more when I was a young adult!


Liz Konkel

Imagine Jade Gone by Wray Ardan is the sequel to Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate. Jaden Lisette thought the worst thing she had to deal with was attempting to get along with her sister. That all changed when she accidentally released her late grandfather's bloodthirsty creations called Mal Rous. Blaming herself for everything that happened, Jaden is determined to fix her mistake and stop the creations. When more creations are set free, Jaden and her family must work together to stop them, at the risk of their own lives. As the creatures become more powerful, the closer she becomes to Briz, and the more strained she becomes with her sister. As the danger escalates, someone may not make it out alive.

In many ways, this is a coming of age story as Jaden conquers her fear and her guilt in order to protect those she loves and fight off these blood sucking monsters. It's refreshing to see each of the characters grow and change by the end. It's not just one person's journey. Jaden is the type of heroine that you want to see succeed and earn her happy ending. Ardan creates a range of characters that aren't perfect, they make mistakes, but they learn and keep going. I sympathized more with Jaden than anyone, but by the end I understood Ava and Briz, and it was nice to see them all grow. Wray Ardan strikes the perfect balance between humor, family and romance with the classic horror elements. The ending is a complete surprise and took me off guard, leaving me desperately needing more of Jaden's story. Classic horror meets teenage angst, and Imagine Jade Gone is suspenseful and gruesome, a thrilling and unique take on the genre with heart, first love, and family connection.

Rose

"Imagine Jade Gone" is the second book in the trilogy Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate. It was even more captivating than book 1. Loved learning more background about the cast of characters. I am invested in this series! It is unlike any other that I have read. Looking forward to when book 3 comes out.

Celeste

Loved it! "Imagine Jade Gone" rang all the bells and whistles to hold my attention to the very end. I can't wait to learn what happens to Jade and Briz in the next book. I hope the author is already busy at work on getting it published. :) What I enjoy about this authors' talent is the way she creates such colorful word pictures to describe a scene or mood of a character. They allow the reader to create a stronger, more detailed visual in their head about what they are reading, which allows for a richer experience overall. BRAVO!

Lou

Once again this author has proven her skills and talent and wild imagination in writing the sequel to Book 1 Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate- Imagine Jade Gone. The characters are described in such detail you feel as you know them personally. This book does not disappoint, it delivered exactly what I was hoping for, more spine tingling adventure, intricately woven into one harrowing adventure after another, where will it end? Anxiously awaiting Book 3

JaneEyre15

How sad! I'm so glad that there will be a sequel because it simply can't end like this. Well, and not everything is safe yet. I'm pretty worried about the characters left in Belle Fleur, I don't want anything to happen to them and it just might, so please relieve me soon!
I loved this book just as much if not more than the first one.
Even though most of the professor's creatures are mean and deadly, they are fascinating to learn about, too. And not all of them are evil only. I actually started liking Datura. In the end, she just wants a family that loves her, which makes her appear quite human. The Bellibones I've grown quite fond of as well. I especially liked the change they evoked in Hubs.
Ava has managed to surprise me this time. It is revealed why she is acting as nasty as she is doing and there is a very big development she is going through that makes her far more likable but still she remains true to her character which I appreciated very much.
Jaden's and Briz's relationship goes deeper. I loved how they managed that even though there were feral creatures, hormones going haywire and Briz's desire for Ava thrown in their way. This is true love, so I hope they will make it out of this alive and happily together.
My favourite part was when Jaden, Briz, the triplets and Hubs shut themselves into the triplets' house to hide from the Quellers, some sort of poisenous, flesh-eating birds. The tension and fear was touchable then. I've been scared with them, fearing the creatures would find a way in somehow, it was written that well.

BigDee

I enjoyed this book. The pace was biting your knuckles, edge of your seat fast. It's definitely a horror book. I could really see this as a movie. I couldn't really get into Jaden's character. She was a bit of a doormat and all the "I'm sorry" and "All my fault" mantras drove me crazy. As a matter of fact, none of the Lissette women were really likable. So what does that say about Ms Arden's writing that I still can't wait for book number three? She's good. Please don't keep up waiting too long to find out what happens to Jaden, Briz and that not so little matter of the two missing combatants near the end of the book. Have we seen the last of them?

Valerie Padrnos

What an amazing book. The author did a magnificent job writing this story. I absolutely couldn't put this boom down and devoured it as fast as possible.
I felt the storyline and plot were well developed and executed. The author did a splendid job with character development and backstory. I did not read the first book in this series, but I plan to now.
I really couldn't believe the author ended the book the way they did and it left me wanting to read the next book immediately. I can't wait for the next book to be released.
Highly recommended read!

Stacey

I enjoyed Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate so much that I was really looking forward to book 2. Happily, I was not disappointed! I am not one to read slasher type books which is why I so appreciate this author. Somehow, because these are far out "creatures" I get to enjoy the thrill and suspense which I would not if it were a typical slasher story. These creatures are far more interesting and the fear of the torture they can inflict is very real. The character development is really interesting as well in this one as they continue to experience such extreme conditions. Definitely looking forward to book three!!