The Dreamer by May Nicole Abbey

Synopsis:
A dream in the night. A leap of faith. A quest for truth and treasure. From term papers and instant coffee to blood-thirsty pirates and buried treasure, Rachel Madera, a gifted university professor, finds herself travelling through time on a journey of discovery and danger, all because of a simple dream. Despite the threat, Rachel is undaunted, certain she holds the keys to unlock the mystery of a Pharaoh’s treasure … and alter the course of history. The only thing that stands between her and peril is Captain Mallory Tucker, a man with a tragic past and intractable moral code. Born of the sea, he is among the leading mariners of 18th century Europe. But the derelicts who make up his crew and the capriciousness of the ocean have taken their toll, and Captain Tucker is tired and jaded. The last thing he needs is a precocious young woman dropping onto his ship and creating havoc. But he’ll fight to the death for her honor, her beliefs…and her love.

Review:
I had my doubts about this when I first started; I didn’t hit it off with our main character Rachel. But, I knew my good friend Deb loved it, so I buckled down and before I knew it I was sucked into the story. I loved The Captain. He was a great lead and he really kept me wanting to read more. I also loved the pirate Captain Fredericks, he was hilarious. I even thought the villain was well done. My only problem with the book was Rachel; I just didn’t care for her. Luckily, as the book progresses she gets better. I did think that she had good chemistry with the captain and I enjoyed their scenes together. I thought it had a fun plot and was well written.

 Content:  Clean.

The Pirate Ruse by Marcia L McClure

Genre: Historical Fiction-Romance
Publication Date: October 2010
One Word Review: Great
Author Website: www.marcialynnmcclure.com

Kathy’s Review: This is my favorite McClure book! I love a good pirate story and thought she did a great job creating a realistic storyline with very likable characters. I admit, sometimes I find her books a little cheesy with too much focus on romance on not enough on plot. That wasn’t the case here, there was a good back story and while there was still a great romance there was a lot of other things going on as well. I really liked Cristabel, she stood up for herself and didn't fall for the charms of the very handsome pirate Navarrone, at least not right away. Navarrone was a great character as well and their relationship moved at a believable pace. I had a hard time putting the book down; I thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely be re-reading it. If you haven't read a McClure book before, I would recommend starting with this one.

Bookworm Rating: 5, PG

Similar Reads:
The Guise of a Gentleman by Donna Hatch
To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker
The Pirate and the Puritan by Mary Clayton
Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer

The Pirate and the Puritan by Mary Clayton

Genre: Historical Fiction-Romance

Publication Date: September 2007

One Word Review:

Author Website: www.monyamaryclayton.blogspot.com

First Line: “At first glance the pirate captain looked as staid a man as any Puritan Mercy Penhall knew.”

GoodReads Synopsis: 1704 - Dangerous times, when the colonies of the Americas are threatened by Queen Anne's War. It is not the French but a pirate who captures Mercy Penhall, mute Puritan spinster. In fear for her life and virtue yet drawn to the captain in spite of herself, Mercy has unknowingly begun on a course of adventure, heartbreak that will test her courage to the utmost. And in the end the secret she carries in her soul threatens to prevent even the small chance of happiness inherent in an impossible love. Edmund Gramercy is an unwilling pirate, forced to join a hostile crew to save his life. He defies them to spare the lives of the vanquished and the virtue of the women. But the mute Puritan girl tempts him like no other. It is best to set her free and never see her again. A pirate's life is a short one - for her own sake he cannot claim her. Yet their paths cross again, then again. He is drawn to her but his passion is hopeless. He is a wanted man. To love a decent woman is impossible. And there is a strange shadow behind her brave blue eyes... Can the impossible become possible for the pirate and the Puritan?"

Kathy’s Review: This wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I suppose I thought it would be similar to the book I just read, Guise of the Gentleman, with a pirate tale and high-sea adventure, and of course romance. While this does have the pirate and romance angle, it was very different from that book. It is definitely a historical fiction, with a heavy emphasis on history. The history lessons were woven into the story, which I liked, but at times it felt a little bogged down. So much happens throughout the story between Mercy and Edmund; being pushed together and torn apart so many times I lost count. By the end I was just plain frustrated with Mercy (I’ll explain more later). I was a little skeptical of how the story would play out with Mercy being mute; it only added another level to the story and surprisingly for me didn’t take away too much, although I am huge fan of conversation and dialog in books. Mercy was a good heroine, I liked that she had strong convictions, but trusted herself to make her own way. I liked Edmund as well and that he kept her strong and thought they were a good couple. Although, I still have a hard time with people that “fall in love” when they’ve barely said two sentences between them, I think their relationship grew throughout and ended where I believed them as a couple. It is a fairly clean romance, but some of their intimate times get a little heated, mostly just kissing, but kind of pushes the limit a little.

So this next section contains spoilers. I was somewhat confused at the very end when Mercy became convinced that she could not marry Edmund because she thought of herself as a witch. Of course we know throughout the entire story that her mother had been hanged during the Salem witch trials and that others worried that Mercy may also be a witch, but Mercy never thought of herself as a witch and until the end never thought of her mother as one either. Maybe I misremember what happened earlier in the book, but with everything they had gone through you’d think she would feel comfortable enough to tell him about her past. AND, when she leaves I was stunned that he just let her go so easily. Of course, another situation arose and things played out a little better, but I just had a hard time believing he would just let her go like that. Just too many partings and reuniting for my taste.

Anyway, I did enjoy the story. I learned a lot about the time period that I didn’t really know and although it was a bit too serious it still kept me entertained and was happy with how everything ended up.

Bookworm Rating: 3.5

Similar Reads:
To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker
The Guise of a Gentleman by Donna Hatch

I'm new to the pirate genre, any suggestions for some clean pirate adventures?

The Guise of a Gentleman by Donna Hatch

Genre: Regency Adventure

Publication Date: March 2010

One Word Review: Swashbuckling-fun

Author Website: www.donnahatch.com

First Line: “Lady Standwish was a traitor.”

GoodReads Synopsis: The widowed Elise is a perfect English lady living within the confines of society for the sake of her impressionable young son. Her quiet world is shattered when she meets the impulsive and scandalous Jared Amesbury. His roguish charm awakens her yearning for freedom and adventure. But his irrepressible grin and sea-green eyes hide a secret. A gentleman by day, a pirate by night, Jared accepts one last assignment before he can be truly free. Elise gives him hope that he, too, can find love and belonging. His hopes are crushed when his best laid plans go awry and Elise is dragged into his world of violence and deceit. She may not survive the revelation of Jared’s past…or still love him when the truth is revealed.

Kathy’s Review: This was definitely different from your typical regency novels. It starts out kind of the same, the first half of the book takes place in regular society, but then things take a turn and Jared’s pirate life takes on a much bigger role. I really enjoyed the story, it was fun and adventurous. I really liked Elise and Jared. Elise is witty, brave and very ladylike. Jared brings out a different side in her and she does the same for him. He’s kind of a rake without really being a rake, which I liked. I really liked that he had a lot of respect for Elise and even though there was mutual attraction he was still a gentleman and I think it made their relationship stronger. There is a lot of chemistry between the two, and lots of kissing, but a really sweet romance.

I accidently read this book not realizing it was the second book in the Rogue Heart’s series. Book one is about Jared’s brother Cole and Alicia. Knowing them from this book I am excited to go back and read their story. I am also hoping there will be books for his other brothers Grant and Christian, I felt like they each had some secrets that I’d like to find out.

Bookworm Rating: 4.5

Rouge Heart Series:
Book One: The Stranger She Married
Book Two: The Guise of a Gentleman

Similar Reads:

To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker

The Pirate and the Puritan by Mary Clayton

To Catch a Pirate by Jade Parker

“When Annalisa Townsend’s ship is set upon by pirates in search of her father’s treasure, one of the crew, James Sterling, discovers her in the hold. When he moves to take her necklace, she begs him not to, as it is all she has left of her mother. He accepts a kiss in exchange for the necklace. “A fair trade, m’lady,” he tells her afterward, before disappearing. A year later, with a forged letter of marquee, Annalisa is intent on hunting down the wretched James Sterling and reclaiming her father’s treasure from him. But now she’s in danger of him stealing something far more valuable this time: her heart.”

Okay, so this book kept popping up on my Amazon recommendations and I finally got around to picking up a copy from the library. I was actually surprised by how small it was, at only 226 pages and pretty large print it turned out to be a pretty quick read.

Since it was so short a lot was crammed in and unfortunately a lot of things were left out, such as character development. I just kept wishing throughout that this had been a full-blown novel. The skeleton of the story was great, and I felt a lot more time should have been spent on character and plot development. I was hooked after the first chapter, and it would have been fun to travel with Anna throughout that year to see her prepare to captain her own ship as well as her other training. In the meantime, we also could have seen what James was up to on his deserted island and other conquests. We could have learned more about his background and what made him become a pirate, and show that although he is a pirate he is also a good guy. Then when they finally do meet up again, a lot more time could have been spent on their adventure together and build a much stronger relationship. I felt like Anna fell for James a bit too quickly, and there wasn’t quite enough tension between them. The love-triangle was not developed near enough, and I think the author really missed the boat on that one. The end was a little disappointing. With the betrayal, and justice being served, to the final “happily ever after”, it all came together a bit too quickly and felt a little too rushed.

For what it is, I think it’s a fun book. It hooked me at the beginning and I was entertained throughout the story. So, if you’re looking for a quick, entertaining read filled with adventure, pirates, love and betrayal then this is your book!