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one_more_chapter96's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
Minor: Homophobia
amandalachelle's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Homophobia
livi_bunniesandbooks's review against another edition
3.0
1) this book was hard to read for many reasons, the first being the writing. The writing was BEAUTIFUL, like ms Godwin has a way with words, but it was suuuuuuper wordy and while the pirate old time dialogue made the vibe of the book immaculate, it was also tedious and dense and yea very hard to read. Also it was a lot of internal dialogue and I’m more of a fast paced talking dialogue kinda gal, and it was also only 1 POV which I find frustrating as well.
2) holy fuck this book is DARK. Im torn between not liking the use of r*pe to move the story along but also it made the story way realistic cuz thats definitely what would have happened back then, ya know. I also didn’t like that while Bennett physical healing was discussed almost too much, the mental and emotional healing after living through almost three weeks of horrendous r*apes and torture wasn’t even discussed. How am I supposed to believe she went through what she went through and then just bounced back. No way.
3) this book was way too long in my opinion. The first 15% of the book was excellent and drew me in, the last 25% had me staying up all night trying to finish it, but HOLY COW the middle of that book took WWAAAAYYY too long. It was very slow, kinda confusing, and in no way did I believe the budding Romance between Ashley and Bennet (I wonder if that’s because it wasn’t dual POV and so I struggled with understanding Ashley’s character until near the end).
4) okay the last 25-30% of the book was WILD. Bennett could just not catch a break at all like oh my god. One bad thing after the next, and then just when you thought it was over, BOOM another hurt occurred like damnit.
5) I’m not sure I would call this book a spicy romance. In the order of what this book is it’s : pirates, dark, romance, spice, mmf. If that makes sense. And I know the king of libertines novella is where you get to understand the relationship between priest and Bennet but I think that kinda does a disservice to the rest of the book, because you don’t really get the undying unyielding love he has for her without reading that novella … idk kinda wild. And it’s definitely not smut, so please do not go into it thinking it is.
All in all I would say it’s a very unique book that yes I enjoyed the prirating of it all, even though the really dark aspects of the book were really fucked up and hard to read (I know that’s the point of dark romance, I’m not faulting the book for it, just saying) but I went in expecting more of a dark ROMANCE and was disappointed that a majority of the book was not that.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Death of parent
sophiesreadingjournal's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Infidelity, Slavery, and Murder
Minor: Homophobia and Infertility
koistyfishy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This book follows Bennett who has been raised by her mother to fit into the mold of a proper lady. We also find out pretty early on in the book that Bennett is the daughter of a very revered and famous Pirate. Bennett has a secret relationship with her father and absolutely adores him. She would do anything in the world for him and wants nothing more than to run away from her life and have adventures by his side. Unfortunately, Bennett's father is killed and her mother on the same day commits suicide; leaving a 14-year-old girl thrust into the pirate life, with nothing but a ship, a jade necklace, and a compass her father left her as her destiny.
I would describe the experience of reading this as "something"... I had a REALLY great time reading it, but it was also truly frustrating and agonizing but in a good way. Since this was a buddy read I couldn't read this in the manner I normally do - which is being solely dedicated to one book at a time, with no distractions, and no other side hustle books. BUT NOOOOOO - Nenia made me cheat, as to keep this buddy read fair for readers of various speeds - I could only read 50 AGONIZING pages a day. As luck would have it, those 50 pages would end ON EVERY "CLIFFHANGER" chapter imaginable.
I really enjoyed the setting of the book and how it felt really authentic to the history and culture of Pirates in the 1700s. I felt like I was on a ship right there with them and could tell this book was thoroughly researched by the descriptions, the terminology, the way illnesses and wounds are treated, and the general language and behavior of the pirates. Some parts of this history, culture and misogynistic treatment of women can be difficult to read. Pam Godwin did not shy away from making our girl Bennett suffer (in some cases I felt she might have suffered a little bit too much). But in some ways, it felt disgustingly raw and truthful, as the way she was treated is pretty much how I imagine bloodthirsty pirates to behave toward a beautiful half-naked woman.
I love Bennett, she is mostly everything you want to see in a FMC. She is fierce, strong-willed, a fighter, a survivor, and obviously godly beautiful. The way she is able to handle what comes at her is beyond admirable and is inspiring. She is a role model for her strength an willingness to survive all that is thrown at her. But she is also mildly annoying and insufferable at times. I still don't seem to understand why she ran from Priest just because he cheated on her. I get she was angry, but her reaction was childish and overly dramatic and I couldn't understand the motive or narrative behind why she was running (besides the whole needing it for the plot to actually happen I mean).
Ashley and Priest were both characters I absolutely loved. You need to fan a girl down when it comes to these two. Priest was smart, arrogant, cocky and a flirt of note. Ashley was poised, controlling, and commanding. I was rooting for both of them for Bennett as they both seemed to care for her, and would do anything for her - and in my mind, there was no way for this love triangle to resolve itself without one of them dying... Then the last 25% of the book happened and I docked a star for a few reasons.
Firstly I felt everything that had been built for Ashley's character was a lie. We went through quite a ride for the development of Ashley and Bennett's love to develop -
Secondly, the last 25% of the plot felt way way too convenient. I cannot count HOW MANY TIMES I rolled my eyes at the events in the end. The last bit also felt very drawn out, and it was almost like we got numerous epilogues that didn't need to be there. Ultimately I think the end could have wrapped up a lot quicker and a few of the scenes could have been removed.
Overall I would recommend this book if you like the following:
▹Love Triangles
▹Pirate Romance
▹Captor/Captive Romances
▹Dark Romance (in general)
BUT PLEASE PLEASE read the trigger warnings in this before you pick this up, because it does not glorify the life of a pirate and captive pirate at all
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia and Fire/Fire injury
macthekat's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Body horror, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Suicide attempt
prologues_epilogues's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Graphic: Confinement, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
lea_talisa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Slavery, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pregnancy
my_corner_of_the_library's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Is this my favorite book of all time with absolutely no criticism? Not at all. But, did I love every page and did it fill my need for such a book? YES.
So what did I love? A strong, sassy, MC who is fierce and not afraid to be the badass she is. A tall dark and handsome love interest that is smooth talking with eyes for only our MC and will slay the world to get her back. A loyal crew that is more like friends that stand by our MC through the worst of times without question. A second love interest that is poised and beautiful that falls apart for no one else.
What didn’t I love? Well…
I hate talking bad about this book, but there were things I wasn’t a fan of. The biggest one would be Bennet’s time on the HMS Blitz. I was so looking forward to watching how Bennet navigated being part of ship that wasn’t hers and had such a different culture, but instead we spent literally the entire time in the bedroom obsessing over sex. Now I am as horny as the next smut reader, but it just seemed like too much and really started to feel repetitive and like I was missing out on any plot during that time.
Also…I understand this was a smutty book, and I went into it with the expectations of there being a lot…but the entire plot revolved around sex, and by the end it started to feel like too much. How is it possible that throughout the entire time of this book and every situation Bennet found herself in the one and only focus and solution to any problem was sex?
Need information? Seduce, repeatedly.
Get captured? Immediate SA attempt.
Saved from SA attempt and need an escape plan? Seduce
Taken to another ship? Repeatedly assaulted.
Saved from ship? Reward with sex.
Need another escape plan? Sex.
And that’s like…only half the book. I just felt that there could have been some other focus in the book instead of everything revolving around sex.
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail
readyourbookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation