Reviews

Ugh, I really disliked this book! The 'hero' Sir Sheridan was a complete jerk personality-wise and a cheat. But, worse than that, he thought it was normal for a woman to say "No" while he was attempting to have sex/rape her. Wow, this guy is a catch. Then, you have Olympia who is a complete bore and RIDICULOUSLY naive. I mean, Sheridan actually has to give her the birds and the bees talk. She's 24!!! I got so fed up with the constant references to Olympia's plump figure and her insecurities. Snooze. There was no chemistry, the story was super lame, and the characters were terrible.

abduck4's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

saltycaroline's review against another edition

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4.0

It's all fun and games and baby penguins stranded on an island until the narrative starts delving into intense PTSD and the horrors of war

CW: Sexual content, violence, xenophobia, war, torture, death, PTSD

guiltlesspleasures's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I present to you the entries from my StoryGraph reading journal for this book:

Kinsale is going to have to work reeeaaaallllly hard to make me like Sheridan. What a dick.

I certainly hope Olympia becomes less of a numbskull. Sheridan is being mean to her, but honestly, it would be tempting.

Hm, some consent issues here… “an enticing combination of invitation and denial.” NOPE. She said “Please don’t.”

Ugh, he just left Mustafa and the maid (who he had already let the pirate rape) on the ship when he escaped with Olympia.

[And then everything changes… -Ed.]

Sheridan with the sex-positive facts of life talk! 😍

Olympia discovers Sherry has been feeding an abandoned baby penguin (that he has also put a bandage on). “I do try to be a cad.” “Sometimes,” she said softly, “I don’t think you try very hard.”

Oh dear, just got teary when they’re imagining where else they could be and he says, “imagine… I ask you to marry me” and then tells her he loves her. 😭😭

Yikes, a little much casual racism for my taste.

Oh, poor Sheridan has PTSD.

The wedding scene where she makes her revolutionary statement and then runs, and finds Sheridan in the crowd, is so beautifully written.

“It was raining in Wisbeach, a gentle spring rain that made silver circles on the calm surface of the river and weighted the heavy heads of daffodils with transparent drops.”

Oh, the fuchsia she gave him so long ago, dead in the window! And she’s camping out in his garden!
—
This book wrung me out. So many twists and turns, so many islands and adventures, and cutting slights, and pirates, and penguins… Such a journey from me thinking Sheridan was an irredeemable arse to loving him to feeling so desperately sorry for him.

The island portion of the book was perfection - the place of transformation for Olympia (and Sheridan, too).

I had no idea what to expect going into this book, so I just held on for dear life.

It could have been a five-star read but for the imperialism and super-retro-feeling casual racism on display.

dark_siren's review against another edition

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5.0

A great read. Jam packed full of action and betrayal. Sheridan has not had an easy life and it becomes clear to me he is suffering from some kind of PTSD or Survivors Guilt or something. Despite having lived a soft life Olympia has picked up a few skills that come in handy. Like another reviewer said Sheridan is very much an anti-hero and he doesn't try to hide it. Not too long after meeting Sheridan and Olympia run off together for vastly different reasons and from that point on their world becomes fraught with danger and betrayal. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong. There are assassins, shipwrecks, deserted islands, pirates, convicts, slavery, sword fights, guns, sultans, even a revolution and more. Never a dull moment to be found. A very good book!

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