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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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:
Complicated
STARS 5 stars
SPICE 0 - no graphic scenes/just inuendos
CHEMISTRY good chemistry
ANGST medium angst
SLOW BURN no
CLIFFHANGER no
FAVORITE QUOTE/QUOTES
She had a world of options. But I was the one she'd chosen.
A LITTLE ABOUT THE BOOK/HOW DID IT MAKE ME FEEL
This was such a quirky book in all the right ways. There was lots of fun witty banter. But then there were some pretty heavy situation. And then there was this beautiful book about self discovery and what we can do for love. When the impossible just seems possible.
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THE CHARACTERS
I loved that they were both better together. That Lynn had believed in Darren even when Darren couldn't.
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THE BOOK
I have not read many books with this many layers. I loved how everything came together.
MY FAVORITE PART- IF IT IS NOT TOO SPOILERY
The moment that Lynn is explaining why she is willing to sacrifice and that Darren not wanting this to happen. But Lynn saying it is her choice and she won't allow anyone to tell her what to do. And then figuring out why it was so important to her
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Nothing really. But I was getting frustrated that I wasn't putting the pieces together. But it was not about not liking it. I just usually can figure things out faster.
TROPES
Pirates, Sapphic, Mystery
SPICE 0 - no graphic scenes/just inuendos
CHEMISTRY good chemistry
ANGST medium angst
SLOW BURN no
CLIFFHANGER no
FAVORITE QUOTE/QUOTES
She had a world of options. But I was the one she'd chosen.
A LITTLE ABOUT THE BOOK/HOW DID IT MAKE ME FEEL
This was such a quirky book in all the right ways. There was lots of fun witty banter. But then there were some pretty heavy situation. And then there was this beautiful book about self discovery and what we can do for love. When the impossible just seems possible.
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THE CHARACTERS
I loved that they were both better together. That Lynn had believed in Darren even when Darren couldn't.
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THE BOOK
I have not read many books with this many layers. I loved how everything came together.
MY FAVORITE PART- IF IT IS NOT TOO SPOILERY
The moment that Lynn is explaining why she is willing to sacrifice and that Darren not wanting this to happen. But Lynn saying it is her choice and she won't allow anyone to tell her what to do. And then figuring out why it was so important to her
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Nothing really. But I was getting frustrated that I wasn't putting the pieces together. But it was not about not liking it. I just usually can figure things out faster.
TROPES
Pirates, Sapphic, Mystery
4.5 stars. Smart aleck characters, fisticuffs,a pirate queen, stuffy aristocrats, and love on the high seas. Seriously, what more could you ask for?
This was a delightful tale recommended to me by a friend, to get over the slump of less than (ie bad) books I had been reading. Boy, am I glad for the always stellar recommendations!
This was a delightful tale recommended to me by a friend, to get over the slump of less than (ie bad) books I had been reading. Boy, am I glad for the always stellar recommendations!
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A fun adventurous book with emotional depth beneath the piratey humor and outrageous behavior from Lynn in the beginning.
So, I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when I started this book, but it certainly wasn't what I got. There were several times where I would stop, chuckle and then say, "what the hell am I reading?"
In the beginning I found it strange, Lynn's banter mostly. But I kept with it and I'm glad I did.
There were a few typos here and there, and oftentimes things were so off the wall that it almost turned me off. But the typos were easily ignored and after a while you just learn to go with the weirdness. Kind of like Darren does.
The story was cute, though I kind of wish the romance had been a little more in depth. But that's neither here nor there cuz over all I really enjoyed this book.
In the beginning I found it strange, Lynn's banter mostly. But I kept with it and I'm glad I did.
There were a few typos here and there, and oftentimes things were so off the wall that it almost turned me off. But the typos were easily ignored and after a while you just learn to go with the weirdness. Kind of like Darren does.
The story was cute, though I kind of wish the romance had been a little more in depth. But that's neither here nor there cuz over all I really enjoyed this book.
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
This is a delightful story with tongue-in-cheek humour and vivid characters.
This is also a redemption story - one about how an abuse survivor regains control of her life, finds love and inspires others along the way.
If the above isn't enough to convince, well --> lesbian pirates with swords!
This is also a redemption story - one about how an abuse survivor regains control of her life, finds love and inspires others along the way.
If the above isn't enough to convince, well --> lesbian pirates with swords!
Most people I had met in my life were like rotten logs, who crumbled into maggots and dust as soon as I rapped them. Darren had yet to crumble, though, no matter how hard I rapped, and I was beginning to suspect that she might be solid all the way down to the heartwood.
3.5 stars. Is there such a thing as incompetence porn? Is that a thing? I feel like Darren in this book could make it a thing. I don't mean that necessarily in a bad way, but the writing of this had me going up and down, in terms of what I thought about its treatment of the characters. We're following a young woman from a small fishing village who gets picked up by a pirate captain who's just trying to do some good in the world. Lynn, the young woman, pretty much makes herself Darren's slave, and then paradoxically starts running the show.
And that's pretty much why I really enjoyed this book for the most part. Lynn took a while to grow on me, because it was hard for me to work out her motivations, and she seemed to have a lot of inexplicable experience for someone of her age and circumstances. She's keeping a lot of secrets, and we do find out a lot more about her, but even so, I didn't find all of her knowledge and experience and aptitude entirely credible. But still, I enjoyed this so much. I love the way she was bossed Darren around, took the reins so completely, ingratiated herself with the entire crew, all while maintaining this supposedly meek and subservient role. When the reasons for her behaviour eventually come to light, it's so heart-wrenching, really understandable, and just really hit a chord with me. I love narratives like that, about people who take control without ever needing to put themselves at the top of the hierarchy; who take control because it's been denied to them so thoroughly in the past. I really adored Lynn for that, and I loved how that manifested in their (fade to black) bedroom dynamic, with her happily being submissive, but still very much holding the reins.
I also really like Darren, but I wasn't in love with the way that she was written. Her incompetence was obviously being used for humorous effect, but at a certain point it was like... okay, how did she even get to where she is if everyone around her is controlling things for her, is so much better at everything than she is? At certain points, it seemed like all Darren ever did was yell ineffectually, while the officers and sailors and Lynn did all the real work. Again, it's part of the humour of the book, but I really wanted her to step up a little bit more? That is part of her character arc and her growth, because she does have to come to terms with a lot, and even though she has pulled away from her aristocratic roots, there's more that she needed to unlearn. I get that it's part of her personality. But I guess after a while it wasn't that funny to me. Towards the end, she does sort of make some strides, and kind of take things in hand, so there was at least that. But I wanted to see more of her and Lynn moving effectively as a team, instead of Lynn always having to tell Darren what to do.
Spoiler
At a certain point, I was so sure that the book would end with Darren quitting the pirate lifestyle, because it really didn't seem like she was very happy or invested in it. I honestly might have been happy for her, if that was what she chose. So I was kind of surprised when the book ended with her still being the pirate queen, a title she only got because of Lynn's work. I know that's sort of the point of it all, because Darren had to be that way for Lynn to be able to shine like she does and I LOVE Lynn. But again. I really wanted there to be more opportunities for Darren to pull her own weight. Midway through rescuing Lynn, it felt like Lynn had to take over and start rescuing herself. Which, to be clear, isn't a bad thing! Lynn is so strong and wonderful! Just... I feel I'm repeating myself. I just wanted Darren to be a teensy bit less of a buffoon. It might have even been enough to feel like she was complicit in becoming the pirate queen, instead of it just being something that was thrust upon her by Lynn's machinations. And I mean it's clear that Darren doesn't exactly mind being told what to do, and Lynn loves her as is, so that isn't really my problem. I just wanted there to be more... something from Darren. Okay, I need to stop talking myself in circles.I still loved a lot about it. I always love a found family on a ship, and the nature of the main relationship, at its core, really spoke to me. This isn't a very typical romance book, because the characters get together pretty early on, and the plot doesn't always focus on the romance? But it was deeply enough woven into events that I still feel comfortable labelling this a romance. Darren and Lynn don't iron things out completely between them until the very end. I do think I would have enjoyed this more if it had been a bit more concentrated on the growing relationship between Lynn and Darren, and if we had gotten to see some more of the earlier moments between them. However, I did really enjoy how the book treated with abuse, survival, and recovery. It took its themes really seriously, even amidst the humour and silliness that surrounded other elements of the plot.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Em Grosland and Blair Baker and it was a lot of fun. Their voices were pretty different, but similar enough that it felt natural when they had to read each other's character. There's a lot of humour in this book, and they brought it out perfectly. This was really interesting, and far from the usual take on a pirate romance, so I'm glad that I took the chance on it. I liked the author's wit and style most of the time, and look forward to checking her out again.
Content warning:
Spoiler
physical and emotional abuse, tortureIt doesn’t matter whether you’ve earned a beautiful moment, she said, just take strength from it if you can. If you don’t love the world, she said, you won’t fight for it.