Genre: Pirate Romance
You’ll like this if you like: Gorgeous Prose, Eloquent Descriptions, an Exciting Plot, and Pirates.
Hero Type: Virtuous Hero
Hope runs away from her home, hiding aboard a ship in order to be with Lord Falkland, the man who has professed his love for her. Apparently, he has a wife that he neglected to tell her about, and he gives her over to the captain of the ship, who sells her as a slave. Nathaniel, a merchant from her hometown, recognizes her and gives up one of his merchant ships to purchase her and save her. He used to love her passionately, but after constantly being snubbed by her, gave up on pursuing her. Now, he’s shocked by her foolishness and disgusted by his attraction to her beauty, though he intends to take her back to her home, seeing it as his God-given duty.
Mary Lu Tyndall is amazing. I’m positive her stories are woven with magic. This book sweeps you along like a strong wave, and it’s difficult to break free of its tug. The plot is exciting. There’s always something going on, so you never have a chance to be bored. Between the big events, there were drops in tension. I definitely wasn’t bored, but I think the book could have been even more enchanting if foreshadowing were used for exciting plot events. I also love the passion and tension brewing between Nathaniel and Hope. What I love even more is that the romance isn’t purely passion. It’s built on admiration for each other and—eventually—their relationship with God forms the foundation. All of the characters are so three-dimensional. Mary Lu Tyndall makes them pop off the page (or screen, if you’re reading on Kindle), using vivid physical descriptions, unique personalities for each, backstories, and motivations. Altogether, it was a fantastic read, and I can’t wait to snatch up whatever book she writes next.
This is part of a series, but you can easily read it without any knowledge of past books. All the information and backstory you’ll need is covered in this book, so you could read it as a stand-alone. If you’re interested, the next book in the series is The Raven Saint.
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What is your favorite era for historical novels? Are there any other authors you know of who write clean pirate romances?
Hannah
August 5, 2016 - 2:29 pm ·I can tell you like pirate romances. 🙂 My favorite historical time period is hard to determine. I love pretty much any setting in Europe, Egypt, the Middle East, or Japan from ancient times until guns, world travel, colonization, etc. (~1500s and forward), although there are plenty of exceptions to that rule. The American Civil War, WWI and WWII in America or Britain are also great.
I have to admit, I haven’t actually read any pirate books. I don’t like pirates. I find their rough culture off-putting and the ship setting highly limited, and it falls right into my least favorite time period: the 18th and 19th centuries. However, I do have to admit that I haven’t had much experience with pirates, so I might actually like some pirate books, but in general I would rather stick to fantasy and Sci-Fi since I know I like them. 😉
Elizabeth Newsom
August 13, 2016 - 8:35 pm ·I am a fan 😉 Mostly because that’s what Mary Lu Tyndall writes. All of those are interesting eras. Do you think you’ll ever base a fantasy world off of one of them?
So you don’t like the ship setting either! I totally get what you’re saying about fantasy and sci-fi 😉