February is Pirate/Privateer month on my blog.
And I'm starting with a keeper! The Pirate and the Pagan is a
wonderfully complex tale of deception and love set in 17th century
in the Restoration period when Charles II ruled England.
Lady Summer St. Catherine is an innocent, but
not very lady-like. She was raised on the Cornish coast with her younger
brother, Spencer (nicknamed Spider). Their mother is dead and their father is a
wastrel, who spends all their money and all his time in London. The two are
left quite alone and cannot afford food, much less a servant. When Summer and
Spider stumble into a smuggling opportunity, they take advantage of it in order
to survive.
Soon after, their father dies and Summer goes to
London to stay with their aunt (a wonderful character). There, Summer learns
her father has mortgaged away their beloved home, Roseland. Her aunt, who is
teaching her to be a lady, convinces her the way out of her troubles is to
marry a wealthy man. Summer takes on the role of a lady and sets her cap for
the neighboring Cornish lord, Ruark Helford, a friend of the king. She manages
to win Ruark’s affections and both fall in love. Ruark has no idea his new bride
is a smuggler and when she confesses, his violent temper destroys their
relationship. But Ruark’s younger brother, Rory, a pirate, will come to
Summer’s rescue providing her all the love she can no longer have from
Ruark.
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| Original cover |
Henley weaves an intriguing story of love and
deception in an interesting time in the history of England. And she does it so
well. She includes many rich historical details of the court of Charles II,
including some infamous characters and lots of steamy love scenes. Summer is a
clever, courageous heroine who must deal with Ruark’s over-the-top temper—and
does. I loved this book.
Henley is a master of historic romance. Few
romance writers today bring such rich (and accurate) historical detail to their
novels. This is a well-told pirate tale and I highly recommend it.
Buy on Amazon.
My mom is totally in love with historical romance. This book will definitely take all her free time to read it as fast as she can, just to find a new one to read)
ReplyDeleteYou cannot go wrong with Virginia Henley. She is also on my Top 20 list.
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