With the fabulous Ruby Cross of the Knights Templar in his possession, Thomas Glanville now has the means to turn his dream into a reality. No longer will he work for other men, commanding their merchant ships. Now he will own his own ship and be his own master. At last he will measure up to his older brothers’ successes and gain his father’s long-sought approval. Unfortunately, when he sets sail from London in November 1724, he discovers that the fates have a far different plan in store for him and the Ruby Cross.

Ever since her husband chose to go to sea in search of treasure, Catherine Fry has had to fend for herself, her young son, and her frail mother. The money Peter promises to send home never materializes and now he’s dead. They live in squalor and at the mercy of the denizens who prey on the unfortunate. One of them, a particularly vicious and smug man named Simon Brewer, holds her son and mother hostage. The only way she can pay Peter’s debt is to steal the Ruby Cross. Once she gives it to Brewer, he’ll release her son and mother. Or will he?

No matter the cost, Catherine vows to rescue her family. To do so she enlists the help of her childhood friend and her husband’s pirate-in-arms, Wolfrie Barnet. He convinces his men to follow Catherine, and they set sail to hunt down Thomas Glanville and the gold cross encrusted with rubies. Barnet has ulterior motives; he loves Catherine and, with her husband dead and her being at the mercy of Brewer, Barnet seizes this opportunity to finally get her to marry him.

Once the pirates take Glanville’s ship, Barnet tries to convince Catherine that the only way to get Thomas to reveal the whereabouts of the cross is through torture. She hasn’t the stomach to inflict that type of pain and opts for a subtler approach. Thomas bides his time, waiting for the right moment to turn the tables on the pirates; before long he and Catherine wonder just who is torturing whom. When Barnet discovers what has happened between the two, his jealousy endangers not only Robert but also Catherine and the lives of her son and mother. A slim chance of salvation remains, but it requires Thomas to trust Catherine, the woman who wishes to destroy his dream. Even if they do succeed, there’s no guarantee they will do so in time to save her son and mother.

His Pirate Seductress is the third book in Hughes’ Love on the High Seas series. It is a romance that is spiced far above a sweet love story, with compromising situations bordering on the risqué. The pacing of the story, which takes place over a fortnight – a fact not revealed until near the end of the book – is propelled by riveting action that makes His Pirate Seductress a good swashbuckler. What keeps the book from being a great swashbuckling adventure is its length. A longer tale would have permitted deeper character development to allow readers to get to know and care about the hero and heroine and what happens to them.

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Review Copyrighted ©2015 Cindy Vallar




The Pirate & the Puritan
By Cheryl Howe
Dorchester, 2003, ISBN 0-8439-5274-1, US $5.95

Betrayed by a man she thought loved her, Felicity Kendall retreats into the religion of her mother and becomes a prim and proper Puritan, denying all her passion and dreams. Her temper and penchant for interfering, however, remain strong. When she meets Lord Christian Andrews at her father’s shop in Barbados, he immediately triggers her wariness. He’s a fop up to no good. Her father doesn’t know when to avoid people who might bring him to ruin, so Felicity intends to rescue her father and force Andrews to sever his business ties with her father.

Whenever he visits Barbados, Drew disguises himself as Lord Christian Andrews. It’s 1721, and pirates aren’t looked on kindly in the West Indies. Felicity infuriates and intrigues him, but in spite of her thoughts about him and his intentions, his plans don’t include hurting Mr. Kendall. Drew searches for the man who murdered their business partner and his wife. Rumors say it’s the work of El Diablo, a barbarous pirate, but Drew knows this to be false. Thinking he might find clues to the murderer’s identity, he sets sail for New Providence, a pirate haven.

While searching for the proof she needs to convince her father to make a clean break with Drew, Felicity becomes locked in the wardrobe aboard his ship and is knocked unconscious. Drew’s unexpected discovery of her complicates matters. If she values her life, she must remain locked in his cabin; having a woman aboard violates the pirates’ code of conduct and no woman is safe amid these ruffians. He intends to set her ashore where she can find safe passage back to Barbados, but the capture of another ship changes everything. Those aboard bring news. The real Lord Andrews has come to Barbados and the authorities have arrested Felicity’s father for piracy.

This historical romance takes place in the waning years of the Golden Age of Piracy. Woodes Rogers has yet to take the severe measures that will rid New Providence of pirates. Although the story begins slowly and the characters seem one-dimensional at the start, this changes after Felicity regains consciousness aboard Drew’s ship and the reader becomes acquainted with more of the characters’ background. Sparks fly between the hero and heroine as they struggle along the precipice between hate and love. In the end love and justice triumph, but not without a few missteps and misdirection along the way to pique the reader’s interest. Beware of Hugh! Although this gem of a cabin boy appears in only a few scenes, he steals every one of them.

Review Copyrighted ©2015 Cindy Vallar

 The Pirate Bride
Kathleen Y’Barbo
Barbour, April 2018, ISBN 978-1-68322-497-6, US $12.99

Like her great-grandmother who journeyed to America aboard the Mayflower, twelve-year-old Maribel Cordoba leaves her Spanish home to travel with her father to Havana. This is the most time she has spent in his company, for he rarely had time for her until he announces that her beloved mother and grandfather are dead. Even at sea he often ignores her. Her only solace is her friend, cabin boy and lookout William Spencer, and her cherished book that recounts the exploits of real pirates like Anne Bonny and Blackbeard.

Maribel loves to climb aloft to read or to join William in searching for other vessels. When sails are sighted, he thinks it might be the Ghost Ship whose captain and crew materialize out of thin air to attack Spanish vessels. They take no prisoners, leave no witnesses. Then they vanish. Still, Maribel hopes to finally meet a pirate. William vows to join the Frenchmen, if they’ll let him. Although she scoffs at the idea that the strange ship is a ghost, she decides to join too.

Captain Jean Beaumont takes pride in the legends surrounding him and his men, even if they’re not all true. At twenty-five he holds a privateering license from King Louis XV and even though they attack France’s enemy, Jean never takes his share from the captured prizes. On this particular voyage, he seeks a particular Spanish vessel, the one that carries Cuba’s new Consul General, Antonio Cordoba. The last time their paths crossed twenty years ago, Jean barely survived after Cordoba ordered the captured ship sunk with all hands and passengers on board.

Falling debris knocks Mirabel unconscious during the battle between the two enemy vessels. When Jean boards, he ignores the colorful lump on the deck. He seeks only one outcome: vengeance for the deaths of his mother and baby brother. His second in command, Isaac Bennett, attempts to dissuade Jean because revenge belongs to the Lord. With Jean’s attention momentarily averted, Cordoba fires a hidden pistol and the bullet strikes Israel. Enraged, Jean attacks his nemesis and the two men fall overboard. Cordoba sinks into the depths of the ocean.

Only after Jean returns to his ship does he discover that his crew has brought aboard the wounded Mirabel. Children, especially females, are forbidden, but he has never harmed an innocent and doesn’t intend to do so now. He would ransom her, but since she claims her family is dead, he’s left with the question of what to do with her. Mirabel has the perfect solution. She knows all about pirates, so she shall join his crew. Following orders is not her strong suit, which lands her in the brig after kicking Jean. He soon discovers that this brazen girl has wormed her way into the stalwart hearts of he and his men and, before long, is one of the crew – a temporary inconvenience only.

Contrary to what her father told Mirabel, her mother and grandfather still live. When her grandfather discovers his granddaughter is gone, he vows to find her no matter how long or how much money it requires. On learning that his son is dead and that French privateers have taken Mirabel, he wields the full power of his influence within French circles to have Louis XV declare Jean Beaumont and his men pirates.

Still at sea, Jean remains ignorant that he is now considered an outlaw and that French and Spanish warships hunt the Ghost Ship. They attack another vessel and, during this engagement, Mirabel is swept into the sea. Only later is it discovered that she is missing. After an exhausting day of searching for her, Jean retires to his cabin while Israel and his longboat continue the hunt. He eventually finds an unconscious Mirabel, but can’t return to the ship because it’s under attack. The warship is the victor, and they imprison the pirates and take the Ghost Ship with them to New Orleans. With nowhere else to go, Israel sails to an island where the nuns can nurse and raise Mirabel. In the years that follow, Mother Superior tells her that she only dreams about pirates, but Mirabel knows they are really memories. One day she hopes to reunite with the handsome pirate captain and her pirate friends.

The Pirate Bride is the latest installment in the Daughters of the Mayflower series and takes place in two parts. The first recounts Mirabel’s sea adventures, while the second half takes place eleven years later after she grows up and reunites with her family. Part one, which sets the stage for the romance and underlying mysteries that unfold in part two, interweaves adventure with humor and heartache, and includes several unexpected twists. The characters capture our hearts, much like Mirabel manages to do with the privateers, and transport us back to 1724. The subsequent half of the story provides an intriguing study of how someone raised on an isolated island reenters a world governed by strict rules, proper etiquette, and specific social orders. There are times when the reader feels almost as left out as Maribel does when she leaves Spain. Her reunion with her family isn’t fully explored. We never get a sense that she’s really in danger and the mysteries are too easily solved. Employing the slave trade and its ties to piracy as a means of bringing Jean and Maribel together again is historically accurate and a refreshing theme from usual romances of this type, but the subplots of the second half are told more than shown, which prevents readers from becoming fully involved. As an inspirational romance, The Pirate Bride is a pleasing tale into which the religious aspect is subtly knitted. The author’s note provides a good summary of the political relations between France and Spain during this time period, which helps explain how a privateer can be deemed a pirate even if he never violates the law.

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Review Copyrighted ©2018 Cindy Vallar




Pirate’s Prize
by Lena Nelson Dooley
Heartsong Presents, 2005, ISBN 1-59310-609-2, $4.95

Having spent the past few years living with her grandparents in Spain, Angelina de la Fuente Delgado is eager to return home to Florida to see her father. French pirates attack her ship, however, and she finds herself at the mercy of their captain, Etienne Badeau, who wants to make her his bride. The Angelina Star’s crew is murdered and the ship destroyed, so no trace of her will be found. Badeau imprisons Angelina in his home in the far reaches of Louisiana, where he attempts to woo her. Angelina does whatever she can to protect herself and her aunt, but wonders if it will be enough.

Brian O’Doule comes to Spain to fetch Angelina home at her father’s request. He secretly loves her, but she is too much a lady for the likes of him. His passion for her interferes with his duty as the ship’s lookout, which allows the pirates to sail so near that the Angelina Star can’t escape. Racked with guilt, Brian pleads with God to give him a second chance and let him save Angelina. His ability to speak Spanish, when Badeau doesn’t, saves Brian’s life. As translator for the pirate, Brian has daily contact with Angelina. As he waits for the opportune moment to put his rescue plan into effect, their friendship blossoms. He only hopes that one day she will forgive him.

Contrary to the normal pirate romance, Lena Nelson Dooley portrays pirates as they truly were rather than as romantic heroes. Instead, she chooses a hardworking man who believes in God to assume that role, and she accomplishes this with adeptness. Brian has his failings, but never loses his faith and even if he might never marry the woman he loves, he intends to save her from the peril they face. Adversity strengthens Angelina, and she matures into a woman who finds comfort in the Lord while she awaits her rescue. One minor problem with the story is that it unfolds in Spanish West Florida rather than Louisiana; Spain ceded the Louisiana territory to France in 1800. The realistic portrayal of pirates and the prominence of the power of love, both God’s and man’s, make this an easily overlooked flaw. This is a heartwarming historical for readers who enjoy inspirational romance.

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Review Copyrighted ©2006 Cindy Vallar

Pirates of Desire
Book By You Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1-894407-06-7, US $35.95

Two privileged young ladies of the Count’s court crave adventure. Well, at least one does; her friend tags along. All the heroine wants is to go to sea and have swashbuckling adventures, but two gentlemen upset her plans at the Count’s first public celebration of his birthday in twelve years. Instead of sailing aboard a merchant vessel, the ladies are confined to their room until they learn the proper comportment. Like most rebels, they find a way to thwart their punishment only to discover they’ve boarded the wrong ship. This one will be gone far longer than the two days they were told. It isn't long before their absence is discovered. Complicating their plight are pirates!

Sea Wolf gains his reputation as a privateer, but now attacks only the Count’s ships. His men follow him without question, even though his clothes and manner are those of a gentleman rather than a rogue. His attack on the merchant ship doesn’t quite go as planned; neither he nor his men expect to find two lovely maidens. That’s trouble he doesn’t need. After all, he already has a price on his head and, sooner or later, the Count will demand a reckoning.

Pirates of Desire isn’t your typical romance novel. When you purchase this book, you personalize it by answering questions. This entertaining novel doesn’t require the reader to keep track of who’s who or what’s what, and you’ll probably figure out the romance and truth about Sea Wolf early on. Nor is it the gold packaging that swaddles the book in the mailing envelope that makes this a must read romance. What is special is the principal characters are your creations and you can spend an afternoon escaping from the mundane tasks of life to enjoy a daring adventure with “friends.” The price is steep for a paperback, but Pirates of Desire* is a great gift idea for that special someone.

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Review Copyrighted ©2008 Cindy Vallar




Pleasures of a Tempted Lady
By Jennifer Haymore
Grand Central Publishing, 2012, ISBN 9780446573160, US $7.99
Also available in e-book format

William Langley, captain of the Freedom, hunts for an elusive smuggler in the Irish Sea. Although Will and his first mate, David Briggs, have uncovered little evidence so far, they are determined to discover the smuggler’s true identity and destroy his network. When they spot a jolly boat adrift in the water, Will never imagines one of its passengers is Meg Donovan, the woman he loved and lost after she fell overboard on her way home to Antigua. David, however, is suspicious of Meg and believes she may be in league with the smuggler.

Plucked from the Atlantic, Meg expects the captain of the rescue ship to see her safely home. Instead, the pirate imprisons her and forces her to teach his wife how to be a lady. Emotionally and physically abused during her captivity, Meg learns to reveal only what she needs to. While Meg loves William, she dare not tell him about the past two years of her life. To do so will only endanger his life and the lives of her sisters, who now reside in London. When Will mistakes the boy in the jolly boat for her son, she allows him to believe this lie. She will give her life to protect Jake, the pirate’s son, from his despicable and sadistic father.

The pirate captain has no intention of letting Meg go. Once he finds her, he will kill her and take back his son. The pirate's brother, who ranks high among the English nobility, is more than willing to assist him. Will Meg learn to trust Will, to believe that he can protect her from this evil, even if he must die in the process? Can Will discover the truth about the pirate captain and succeed in, once again, winning Meg’s heart? Or will the secrets they both keep destroy their love forever?

While the title of this book remains a mystery, this historical romance takes place in the 1820s and combines the infancy of steam-powered ships with vessels propelled only by the wind. Jake, who demonstrates autistic traits, tugs at the heartstrings, and the budding romance between Briggs and Meg’s youngest sister provides wonderful counterpoints to the strained relationship between Will and Meg and Meg and her family. Even though this book is part of a series, the reader need not have read the earlier titles. Haymore writes a captivating tale whose characters rise from the page and share their foibles and strengths until readers find themselves caught in a spidery web of danger and intrigue from which they cannot escape until the story ends.

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Review Copyrighted ©2012 Cindy Vallar




Prisoner of Desire
By Mary Wine
Samhain Publishing, 2011, print ISBN 978-1-60928-316-2, US $15.00
e-book ISBN 978-1-60928-274-5, US $5.50

Soon after her mother’s burial in 1831, Lorena St. John discovers she is to ship out on the morrow’s tide for Bermuda where she will wed Commissioner Mordaunt. A strict and frugal upbringing provides her with the stiff backbone to abide by her stepfather’s wishes. Inside, she’s devastated, not only by her recent loss, but also because she will be separated from her beloved sisters (her only true family). Still, she yearns to set foot on a ship again, something she hasn’t done since her father died. The strict rules the British captain enforces on her make the voyage no better than a prison.
            
Warren Rawlins, a Boston merchant and captain of the Huntress, comes across a ship in distress. Going to her aid, he discovers she is one of his family’s ships. He learns that the British attacked her and imprisoned a number of her crew, including his two younger brothers. Warren sets sail for Bermuda, where he reconnoiters the fort and develops a plan to rescue his brothers before they die from being used as slave labor or from the commissioner’s torture.
            
Within minutes of meeting her future husband, Lorena discovers he is not the man she hoped. Rules and regulations define Mordaunt. He has worked hard to achieve his current position and to gain a bride whose dowry includes a third share in a profitable shipping business. When Lorena defies him, he slaps her and forces her to remain outside his home through the hottest part of the day without food or drink.
            
Warren’s plan to kidnap Lorena doesn’t go quite as planned and guilt consumes him after he injures her. Once she understands why she’s aboard the Huntress, he treats her kindly and she finally experiences the joy of sailing and the freedom denied her most of her life. With Mordaunt in pursuit of his bride, there’s a good chance none of them will reach Boston.
            
I did a brief search and discovered Anglo-American relations weren’t at their best at this time, but how much fact is intertwined in the story is impossible to determine since Wine chose not to include an author’s note. Unfortunately, she concentrates so much on the romance, the villain remains one-dimensional and his pursuit of the lovers and the danger they face never seems more than surface. Lorena’s fear that her choices may endanger her sisters is a great enticement, and the story certainly offers the opportunity for sequels, but this book ends without an edge-of-your-seat climax, which is disappointing. Even so, Prisoner of Desire is a fast-paced voyage filled with love and humor that lures readers in and, once captured, they will find the book hard to put down.

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Review Copyrighted ©2012 Cindy Vallar

Savage Winds
By Michelle C. Reilly
Wild Rose Press, 2018, e-book ISBN 978-1-5092-1938-4, US $5.99
print ISBN 978-1-5092-1937-7, US $18.99

Ana Salvatore, a marine biologist, and her uncle return to his boat after scuba diving off the coast of Grand Bahama only to confront two armed strangers. Born into one of the leading mob families, she has tried hard to distance herself from the unsavory ties that eventually killed her parents, but now they are after her beloved Uncle Louis, who raised her. In the ensuing struggle, an explosion flings Ana into the depths of the Caribbean. When she comes to, she finds herself in a captain’s cabin, although not aboard her uncle’s vessel. This is a ship of wood and sails where the captain has a strange English accent and he and his men wear outfits from the past. At first, she assumes they are reenactors, but soon discovers that she has traveled back in time to the early 19th century.

Jacen Stirling has little time to deal with the beautiful woman whose unfamiliar words and skimpy outfit puzzle him. His country is in the midst of a war with Great Britain, and he must determine whether Jean Laffite’s offer of assistance is real – a pursuit that requires him to infiltrate the pirate enclave at Barataria. To gain Laffite’s trust, Jacen pretends to be a fellow buccaneer and must arrive at the pre-arranged rendezvous before time runs out. Rescuing Ana and having her aboard a ship full of men is a complication he doesn’t need, yet he cannot spare the time to see her safely ashore and still make his appointed destination.

A brief stop at Nassau to take on supplies adds to the urgency of his mission. Amassing in the harbor is a fleet of many Royal Navy ships, most certainly the invasion fleet bound for New Orleans. Jacen assigns Ana the duties of a ship’s surgeon, which leads to some comical situations when 21st-century medical practices clash with 19th-century proprieties.

Wary of being on her own in a time where she doesn’t belong, Ana insists on going with Jacen when they arrive off the coast of New Orleans. To earn Laffite’s trust, he agrees to do the pirate’s bidding. To ensure that Jacen obeys, Laffite keeps Ana as collateral. Should Jacen fail, she will be delivered back to his ship . . . dead. In his absence, she ministers to the slaves on a nearby plantation. She also befriends both their children and the master’s rebellious daughter, as well as engaging in risky business of her own: teaching slave children to read.

Savage Winds introduces Reilly’s new series, Savage Times, time-travel romances where heroes and heroines forge bonds while confronting dangerous situations in unaccustomed surroundings and historical periods. Her intriguing portrayal of Jean Laffite combines dangerous and deadly with charismatic and courteous, differing from the usual impression of the descriptor “gentleman pirate.” She also adheres to the belief that Dominique You is one of the Laffite brothers, although the Jean Laffite journal and Stanley Arthur Clisby’s biography state that You was the oldest, rather than the youngest, of them. There are several historical inaccuracies. Tricorn hats were not part of American military uniforms of this period; holystones, used to scrub the decks of wooden ships, were blocks of sandstone, rather than bristle brushes; and in 1814, William Claiborne was governor of the state of Louisiana, not the territorial governor.

For the most part, these are minor slips when examined from the perspective of the entire story. Ana’s unfamiliarity with society and history provides both comic relief and grim awakenings between the world she knows and the new one in which she finds herself. Getting back to her own time period never seems a priority, perhaps because there is no simple answer of how one travels through time when disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle and she has no family left to go back to. This makes for a more believable story. For me, the second time-slip is much stronger, fantastically portrayed in a way that makes us look anew at our own world and the technology we take for granted.

This spicy romance successfully intertwines humor and drama to spin a web of intrigue and danger. Aside from the historical aspects of the story, I am drawn to the sketches that Jacen draws. The reason for their inclusion remains unclear until the final pages, which then makes perfect sense but kept me guessing (not an easy feat to achieve). As the historical events of the War of 1812 unfold, disparate forces must work together to protect the fledgling United States, while Ana and Jacen struggle to keep both themselves and their burgeoning love alive.

Review Copyrighted ©2018 Cindy Vallar

Siren
by Cheryl Sawyer
New American Library, 2005, ISBN 0-451-21377-7, US $6.99 / CAN $9.99

Léonore Roncival intends to carry on her father’s work as a privateer sailing the Caribbean. Then Jean Laffite invades her island sanctuary. Sparks fly between these two headstrong people, but both bide their time to achieve their goals. In the end, it is Léonore, with the help of her faithful followers, who hands Laffite an ignominious defeat, and he departs vowing never to return.

Jean Laffite, a notorious gentleman privateer from New Orleans, finds himself strangely captivated by the mysterious woman often called Madame Ching. He doesn’t expect their paths to cross, but before long he finds himself matching words and wit with the lady as they negotiate who gets what prize after the privateers capture two vessels. Then he spies her on the streets of New Orleans, and before long, love blossoms.

Theirs is a stormy affair, fraught with distrust and interference from friends, enemies, and a mysterious masked woman. To complicate matters, relations between America and Britain are on the verge of war, and rumors abound that the English or the Spanish intend to claim Léonore’s island for their own. Can their love survive betrayal and war?

Siren begins as a historical romance, but ends as historical fiction. The majority of the tale unfolds prior to the War of 1812, and draws the reader into the fiery passion of two people attracted to each other. Once the War of 1812 begins, the reader is kept at a distance because the author tells rather than shows the events. Ms. Sawyer weaves the known facts about Jean Laffite with the legends, creating a realistic portrayal of a man whose past is shrouded in mystery. Two minor historical inaccuracies place the jail that imprisoned the Baratarians underground when in fact the cells were located behind the Cabildo, and steamboats weren’t a rarity in 1814 since they had offered passage to citizens between Natchez and New Orleans for two years. The comparison of the heroine to Cheng I Sao, the legendary Chinese woman who commanded nearly 20,000 pirates, is a stretch. At times the use of pronouns instead of characters’ names makes it difficult to know who says what. For those readers with an interest in Jean Laffite and women who step outside the bounds of normal society, Siren will entertain and take you to a time and place long ago.

Review Copyrighted ©2018 Cindy Vallar