CBR15 Books 70-71: "Daughter of the Pirate King" and "Daughter of the Siren Queen" by Tricia Levenseller

Total page count: 672 pages

Daughter of the Pirate King: 3 stars

Daughter of the Siren Queen: 4 stars

Alosa is a famous pirate captain in her own right, leading a crew of almost exclusively women. She also happens to be the only daughter of the Pirate King, who rules the seas with cruelty and intimidation tactics. Her father has one piece of a legendary treasure map, which will reveal the location of untold riches to the one who can locate and unite the missing pieces. Alosa needs to get herself taken prisoner by a rival pirate crew, so she can sneak around the ship at night and try to locate the missing piece for her father. 

Draxen, the pirate captain, and most of his crew are generally dismissive of Alosa, she’s only a woman after all. Only Riden, the captain’s younger brother and first mate, refuses to let his guard down around Alosa. He observes her closely and suspects that she’s hiding things (he’s not wrong), but none of the rest of the crew seem to heed his warnings. 

In Daughter of the Siren Queen, Alosa has succeeded in her mission, and her father, the Pirate King, seems pleased with her for a change. She’s located and united the three pieces of the legendary treasure map, and defeated not only Draxen, the pirate who held her prisoner in the first part of her quest, but Vordan, another rival pirate captain who held Alosa and Riden prisoner and tortured both of them. Riden is fully aware of Alosa’s siren abilities now (I would spoiler warn, but the title of the book is a pretty big clue as to the identity of her maternal parent), which seem to frighten him, yet he seems determined to serve her loyally as part of her crew. The handsome young pirate is proving both a help and a distraction. When Alosa seems in danger of being overwhelmed by her siren powers, merely a word or a touch from Riden can bring her back to herself. 

While unable to lie, because he was enthralled by Alosa’s siren powers, Vordan revealed certain facts about Alosa’s father. Taking Riden and a few trusted crew mates to snoop around the Pirate King’s quarters, she discovers that not only was Vordan right about her father hiding something that gave him an advantage against other pirates, but it’s also a much bigger secret than Alosa ever expected and she won’t be able to lie to herself about her father and his lifelong abuse of her, which according to him was only to make her the strongest and most fierce she could be. Alosa can no longer allow her father to be the first to reach the fabled treasure and sets off to beat him there, even if it might endanger her own life and that of her crew.

Daughter of the Pirate King is Tricia Levenseller’s debut novel, and it reads a bit like it. None of the characters feel that well developed and while there is promising world-building and some good chemistry between Alosa and Riden, Alosa is quite an unpleasant character early on, and clearly still very much conditioned by the harsh upbringing she’s had at her father’s hands. I was surprised at how dark some of the plot went for a YA novel, but it also made the story more entertaining. 

Daughter of the Siren Queen is a much stronger book and where Alosa really comes into her own as a character. After spending a lot of her life either trying to deny or fight not to be overpowered by her half-siren side, she learns to control it while working closely with Riden (because this is a YA novel and the young woman hasn’t really known much love or affection from anyone) it obviously takes her WAY too long to figure out why he’s the only person who seems to keep her connected with her human side. Some of the siren stuff Alosa can do is very cool and that aspect of the world-building I really enjoyed. 

Alosa’s pirate crew isn’t really a major part of the first book, since she spends a lot of time onboard Draxen’s ship, trying to find the piece of the treasure map. Her crew of swashbuckling women, the few men who are also accepted on the ship, not to mention the surprisingly non-annoying child onboard, were all fun characters and I gather that there’s a third book recently published, set in this world, focusing on two of the other crew members. I’m probably not going to rearrange my TBR to read it any time soon but will be open to buying it if I see it in an e-book sale in the future. 

Judging the books by their covers: The new covers for this series are SO much prettier than these (look them up), which are cartoony and rather simplistic and I'm really not excited about them. At least I only own the books in e-book format, so I don't actually see the covers very often. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

#CBR9 Book 118: "You're the Earl That I Want" by Kelly Bowen

Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Heath Hextall has made his fortune in trade, but has inherited an earldom after a distant relative died, and now feels that it's his duty to to find a nice, well-bred and quietly competent woman to be his wife, to help him keep his life and household orderly. He asks his good friend, the Duke of Worth to help him find a suitable candidate.

Lady Josephine "Joss" Somerhall, the Duke of Worth's younger sister, is back from an extended stay abroad and while she can't really fault his choice, but is rather taken aback that Hextall is looking for a wife. She's loved Heath since she was a little girl, trailing after him and her brother, but as she's never intending to marry, and is also the exact opposite of what Heath is looking for in a wife, she will need to continue to keep her feelings hidden.

When the two are unexpectedly pulled into a mystery involving armed mercenaries, a dying Bow Street Runner, a file of encrypted documents and a possible plot by Napoleon-sympathisers to get the deposed emperor back in power, their close proximity to one another makes it very difficult for them to ignore their strong and mutual attraction.

I first discovered Kelly Bowen last year, when I read Duke of My Heart, and earlier this year I read the rest of her Season for Scandal books. I was very impressed with all three books, but this one was a let-down compared to them, possibly because the romance seemed almost secondary to the rather over the top mystery, which culminates in a truly elaborate plot, involving a huge number of people and among other things, involves blowing up a ship. Nor did I really feel I got a good impression on who the protagonists really were and it seems like Ms Bowen seemed to think that since they'd known each other since they were young, she didn't need to spend a lot of page time on establishing their romantic relationship as adults. They're wildly attracted to one another, and clearly very comfortable in each other's company, having known each other for so long. Yet Joss doesn't want to get married, because her parents' marriage was miserable and she doesn't want to be tied down. Hextall is conflicted about lusting over his best friend's sister, and feels guilty towards the woman he's nominally wooing (this part of the plot was resolved in almost too tidy a fashion - wouldn't want to think badly of our hero, after all).

It's established that even as a child, Joss was unusually precocious for a young girl and very interested in things not necessarily considered feminine. While I love a well-read heroine, there is a limit to just how much experience you can get through book learning (there didn't seem to be a thing they came across that Joss hadn't "read in a book"), and it seems like she'd been able to travel and explore the world a lot more than a young, single woman of noble birth should have been able to in early 19th Century. Even though she's clearly lived a life that would be considered rather scandalous, she's welcomed with open arms in society - and I'm not sure that would be the case, even for the sister of a wealthy duke.

If you asked me to characterise Hextall, my only mental image is "business man". It's been little over two weeks since I finished the book, and without going back and skimming parts, I don't really remember much about him, except that he's dutiful and conscientious, clearly in love with Joss long before he's able to admit it to himself and he really wants to do well by his family? Something like that. He owns a lot of ships, but has never allowed himself to travel with any of them.

As a mystery/adventure book, this wasn't so bad, but I really didn't think it delivered in the romance department, and there was a little bit too much in the "tell, don't show" in the description of Joss and how progressive and unusual she is as a heroine. If this had been my first Kelly Bowen book, I would not have been as quick to rush out and try more of her books. I certainly hope this book isn't indicative of the rest of the Lords of Worth series, of which I still have two books and a novella to read (because once I finished the last Season for Scandal book, I made sure to buy everything in her back catalogue) - all set previous to this book. It would be sad if her first series is so much weaker in plotting and characterisation than her second.

Judging a book by its cover: I'm pretty sure that an evening gown for an unmarried lady in the Regency era would be quite so low cut and daring in the back, even for a daring and unorthodox lady like Lady Josephine. If the cover model was really supposed to look like her, though, they should have made the artist give her short hair, not long tresses swept up in an updo.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR9 Books 99-100: "Fortune Favors the Wicked" and "Passion Favors the Bold" by Theresa Romain

Page count: 368 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Benedict Frost is a celebrated lieutenant in the Royal Navy, but is forced to leave his naval career after an illness leaves him incapable of serving on a ship. He's hoping to supplement his not very generous pension by having a book of his memoirs published, but that proves more difficult that he initially thought. He wants the money to provide a dowry for his younger sister, so when he hears that a large shipment of gold from the Royal Mint has gone missing, and there is a sizable reward offered, he decides to use the skills at his disposal to try to locate the missing treasure.

His hunt leads him to Derbyshire, where a high born friend has given him a letter of introduction to stay with the local vicar. He meets the mysterious and charming Charlotte Perry, who turns out to be rather more than the proper and demure vicar's daughter she presents herself as in the village. Charlotte is also looking for the missing gold, intending to use the gold to secure a respectable future for herself and her niece. While she and Benedict begin as rivals, they quickly figure out that it will be much easier if they work together, using Charlotte's local knowledge and Benedict's experience from his travels to locate the treasure.

I have read a number of novels by Theresa Romain, and while they've all been perfectly ok, none of them have really stuck in my memory for very long. I'm happy to say that this is the first book of hers that I was really impressed by and I was thoroughly entertained throughout. While the treasure hunt is the device that brings them together, the romance between Charlotte and Benedict is clearly the most important plot element here and they're such an interesting couple. Benedict was forced to leave the navy after he was struck blind after an illness. He's only been blind for about four years, and has clearly worked very hard to compensate for his lack of sight since he was forced to retire. Due to his changed circumstances, he gets a fairly small pension and lives in tiny quarters as a Naval Knight in Windsor Castle. He's done independent travel since he was blinded, and hoped to publish his memoirs, but is told by the publisher that unless he publishes his book as a work of fiction, it's not going to sell. No one would believe a blind man went on the adventures he's been on. He needs money to provide for his younger sister, who is about to turn twenty-one and is currently living on the charity of relatives in the living quarters of the book shop their parents owned before they died.

Benedict first runs into Charlotte in the local pub in the village where she grew up. She's heavily veiled in a corner, and he is intrigued by her presence and the clearly assumed name she gives him. They are both there to listen to the ever more dramatic tales of a young barmaid who was given one of the missing gold sovereigns as a tip. When Benedict comes to stay with the local vicar, he's surprised to discover that Charlotte is in fact their spinster daughter, who has been away for much of the last ten years "doing virtuous works". The truth is that after Charlotte fell in love and was ruined by a young man, she went to London and made a very lucrative career as a sought-after courtesan, La Perle. Rather disillusioned with this life, she needs the money to retire somewhere comfortable and take care of her orphaned niece, currently being raised by Charlotte's parents. Charlotte is obviously trying very hard to not have the respectable vicar's daughter connected to the infamous courtesan, a task made more difficult because of an arrogant noble patron determined to track her down.

While neither Charlotte nor Benedict are much into their thirties, it was still nice to read about characters who had some actual worldly experience and who felt a lot more mature than a lot of the normal protagonists you find in romance. They communicate very well together from the start, and there was surprisingly little drama between them, even as they are struggling to figure out a way to reconcile their wishes for the future. The book also briefly introduces both of the protagonists of the companion novel - Benedict's good friend, Lord Hugo Starling (who writes him the letter of introduction to Reverend Perry, with whom he's been corresponding for years) and younger sister, Georgette, who is a bit sick of feeling like a financial burden to all her relatives and is more than ready to go off to make her own way in the world.

Judging a book by its cover: I think this cover is pretty great, actually. The cover model is clearly not in the first blush of youth, which would have been very inappropriate anyway. The dress she's wearing is gorgeous, just look at that embroidery! The rural landscape she's standing in also feels very on point - and there are no partially undone laces, or skirts that go on for days or any of the rubbish that you so often see on historical romances. Just a pretty lady in a pretty (and period appropriate dress).

Page count: 368 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Georgette Frost's parents are dead, and though the bookshop they ran when they were alive was sold to some cousins, it was stipulated in their will that Georgette be allowed to live there until she turned 21, an event that is only a few weeks away. Helping out in the bookstore and trying her best to help raise all of her cousin's many children isn't exactly anyone's dream, and when Georgette gets a letter from Derbyshire from her brother, and figures out that he is off hunting for the missing gold and the Royal Reward, she decides that living on the charity of relatives is all well and good, but making your own way in the world is better.

She disguises herself as a boy and intends to go find her brother, but is quickly found and intercepted by Lord Hugo Starling, her brother's best friend. Lord Hugo is the younger son of the Duke of Willingham and met Benedict Frost when they studied medicine together in Edinburgh. While a duke's son being a doctor is unusual, Hugo rejected family and society expectations to become one after his twin brother died tragically several years ago. Hugo is convinced his brother could have survived if he had a properly trained doctor, not just the most prestigious and recommended by other nobles. He is more or less estranged from his family, and struggling to find funding for a new and innovative London hospital. Hugo wants to leave Georgette with his mother, but she promises she'll just run away again. She also persuades him that if he's involved in finding the missing gold sovereigns, the publicity he'll get will no doubt help him secure the funding for his hospital.

Hugo therefore reluctantly agrees to escort Georgette to Derbyshire, as he can't let her travel alone. They haven't been long underway when they discover that the gold has clearly been divided up, as there are rumours of unusual gold transactions as far north as Northumberland. Posing as husband and wife, Hugo and Georgette, pursued by a dogged Bow Street Runner named Jenks end up on the estate of a rather befuddled baronet, who Georgette has claimed is her uncle. Sir Frederic Chapple doesn't really like the nosy Jenks, and is rather bored, so happily plays along when Georgette implores him not to give up their true identities. While staying on his lands and trying to figure out where the gold is hidden, Hugo offers up his medical knowledge to the local tenants, and Georgette acts as his nurse and assistant.

As with every single story involving a couple pretending to be married, Georgette and Hugo obviously fall madly in love with one another. Georgette has always desperately wanted somewhere to truly belong, even when her parents were alive, her scholarly parents were so engrossed in each other and the books they sold, that they barely noticed her. Her older brother was always away at sea, and after he was blinded, he mostly stayed away. She wants to be part of a proper family unit and seen and appreciated, even loved for herself. Having grown up in a book shop, she's intelligent and opinionated and even against his better judgement, Hugo is always persuaded by her in the end.

Hugo lost his beloved twin brother and feels both guilt and anger because of it. He's a living reminder to his parents (and himself, every time he looks in a mirror) of what was lost, and he cannot forgive his father for not listening when Hugo insisted the doctors were less than useless, and possibly even hurried along his brother's death with their antiquated methods. He refused to join the clergy, as expected of him, and trained himself to be a modern and progressive doctor. Hugo wants to build the hospital in London to care for patients of all classes, not just the wealthy (which is why he's finding it so hard to find funding). Tending to the various patients in Northumberland, he also comes to discover how nice it is to help people at a local level, and begins to doubt whether his hospital is the best way to move forward.

Once again, this was a Theresa Romain book that I genuinely enjoyed, and the treasure hunting plot is really just the maguffin that throws the couple together. Part road trip, part detective story, the main focus is again the couple spending lots of time together and as a result, falling for each other. As in the companion book, set at roughly the same time, the protagonists are both really nice people who suit each other well. While there are external complications and even some danger, there is very little drama between the two of them, and it feels very satisfying when they realise their feelings for the other.

I now feel somewhat bad that these two books have languished on my TBR shelf for so long. I'm very glad I finally read them, and will no doubt revisit both in the future.

Judging a book by its cover: Once again, a fairly simple cover. Pretty cover model in a rural landscape. I really like the outfit, which fits the description of one Georgette wears over the course of the story, having tied a yellow shawl around her dress to make it more colourful and vibrant. The publishers have once again found a model that at least vaguely looks like the character inside, and there isn't a lot of fuss and muss, just an elegant Regency lady and some lovely nature. I wish more romance covers took this approach.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read