geleeregina's review against another edition
3.0
Occasionally when I read this, I kept picturing Johnny Depp as Jack which probably added to the overall like of this novel. The dialogue/banter is still as witty as in other MacGregor/Kenyon novels, but I just couldn't get into the "pirate" feel. Maybe I've just been reading too much paranormal/contemporary/urban fantasy. This was a good quick read, but I prefer Kenyon's other works.
ioana_dra's review against another edition
5.0
This book was beyond wonderful! The characters were well written. The pirate Jack Rhys was my dream man put into words. He was so kind but also mysterious and dark. Lorelei Dupree was a strong woman who could easily handle Jack and was very funny. The story line was exciting and sweet and the book sizzled. One of the best books i have ever read!
megatza's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Pirate blinders are real.
ravenwolf_waf's review against another edition
5.0
Not sure why I ever doubted that I'd like anything from Ms. MacGregor (being as how she's also Ms. Kenyon). Whatever the name she uses, I love her strong female characters, men with a little mystery, and a lot of passion mixed in with the story.
lpcoolgirl's review against another edition
5.0
So loved this book, there was romance, fighting, painting, the shrunken heads, and yeah, it was really, really great, and how he thinks the name that she gave him was not masculine enough. Hilarious!
daphne2000's review against another edition
1.0
I’m gonna be honest and say that I’m kind of embarrassed to have this book on my “read” shelf. It’s not because it’s a romance book – though that’s not my preferred genre but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it – but that title combined with the atrocious cover kind of makes me cringe. To make things worse, this book kind of sucked so the embarrassing cover wasn’t worth my while.
I’ll start off with the pros of this book since there aren’t many. (1) This book was fast-paced, especially compared to the other romance book I’ve read. Despite this being a romance, there weren’t too many scenes that were just relationship-building. This made the romance suffer, but at least it wasn’t boring. (2) Parts of this book were funny! I’m 99% sure that this was unintentional and only due to bad writing, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. (3) My friend annotated this for me, so the annotations were fun to read.
Other than those three things, the book sucked. My thoughts on this are so jumbled that I’m actually just going to write bullet points/random paragraphs about what I disliked instead of a properly formatted review. I also don’t want to think about this book any more, so I’m not going to re-read my review. Considering that practically no one reads my reviews, I think that’s fine. Plus it kind of fits for this book. I mean, the book wasn’t well-written, so why should this review be? (hidden cause of spoilers)
- Why was Lorelei (the heroine) basically never bothered that she was kidnapped? Literally less than 12 hours after she’d been kidnapped, she decided that she had the hots for Jack (the love interest). She genuinely seemed to not give two shits that she was forcibly taken onto a pirate ship and was help captive. This just doesn’t make any sense?
- On a similar note, I question how intelligent Lorelei is. First off, I don’t understand how she didn’t realize that Justin was the worse. He was basically going to sit and watch her get physically/sexually assaulted because he was too chicken to help her and he treated servants like dirt. Second, she was always doing to stupidest things. This girl literally jumped off a life boat into the storming ocean because Jack, a sailor with much more swimming experience than her, left to go rescue something. So, instead of rescuing his original target, Jack had to save her dumb-ass. She also decided to pick a fight with an evil, armed pirate for no good reason.
- I find it infuriating that Jack is a blonde while the model on the cover is a brunette. Someone went to the trouble of making that god-awful cover and they couldn’t even be bothered to find a model with the right hair colour?
- I don’t understand why Jack was so obsessed with Lorelei. There was some serious insta-love going on and they never really progressed beyond that. Aside from Lorelei being mildly good at wordplay and painting, she has no endearing qualities. I guess she was so not-like-other-girls he had to fall for her.
- I’m pretty sure Jack was supposed to be charming, but I honestly didn’t like him too much.
- The author really wanted the reader to understand that Jack was a great-guy™. It was mentioned on basically every page. I don’t understand why the author bothered writing a pirate romance when all the pirates are amazingly nice people that don’t do anything bad ever. Jack could have been a regular sailor and the plot of this book basically wouldn’t have changed.
- Lorelei never had to deal with anything difficult. She was kidnapped, but Jack and the crew were great. She’s marooned on an island, but it turns out that’s actually the island she was heading to. She doesn’t want to marry Justin, and he’s completely cool with that. She wants to marry Jack, and it turns out that he’s actually the son of a rich guy who’s about to die and give him a bunch of money. Seriously, does this author not know how to write any conflict?
So ya, I was not a fan of this book. Part of me wants to give this 2 stars since it was significantly more entertaining than the other romance book I’ve read, but this was also much, much worse than other books that I’ve given 2 stars. So, I think I’m sticking with a 1 star rating. Sorry to people that liked this, but this was kind of the worst.
It was interesting to finally get around to reading historical romance, and I had fun annotating them, but I don't think I'll ever pick one up just for fun.
I’ll start off with the pros of this book since there aren’t many. (1) This book was fast-paced, especially compared to the other romance book I’ve read. Despite this being a romance, there weren’t too many scenes that were just relationship-building. This made the romance suffer, but at least it wasn’t boring. (2) Parts of this book were funny! I’m 99% sure that this was unintentional and only due to bad writing, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. (3) My friend annotated this for me, so the annotations were fun to read.
Other than those three things, the book sucked. My thoughts on this are so jumbled that I’m actually just going to write bullet points/random paragraphs about what I disliked instead of a properly formatted review. I also don’t want to think about this book any more, so I’m not going to re-read my review. Considering that practically no one reads my reviews, I think that’s fine. Plus it kind of fits for this book. I mean, the book wasn’t well-written, so why should this review be? (hidden cause of spoilers)
Spoiler
- Why was Lorelei (the heroine) basically never bothered that she was kidnapped? Literally less than 12 hours after she’d been kidnapped, she decided that she had the hots for Jack (the love interest). She genuinely seemed to not give two shits that she was forcibly taken onto a pirate ship and was help captive. This just doesn’t make any sense?
- On a similar note, I question how intelligent Lorelei is. First off, I don’t understand how she didn’t realize that Justin was the worse. He was basically going to sit and watch her get physically/sexually assaulted because he was too chicken to help her and he treated servants like dirt. Second, she was always doing to stupidest things. This girl literally jumped off a life boat into the storming ocean because Jack, a sailor with much more swimming experience than her, left to go rescue something. So, instead of rescuing his original target, Jack had to save her dumb-ass. She also decided to pick a fight with an evil, armed pirate for no good reason.
- I find it infuriating that Jack is a blonde while the model on the cover is a brunette. Someone went to the trouble of making that god-awful cover and they couldn’t even be bothered to find a model with the right hair colour?
- I don’t understand why Jack was so obsessed with Lorelei. There was some serious insta-love going on and they never really progressed beyond that. Aside from Lorelei being mildly good at wordplay and painting, she has no endearing qualities. I guess she was so not-like-other-girls he had to fall for her.
- I’m pretty sure Jack was supposed to be charming, but I honestly didn’t like him too much.
- The author really wanted the reader to understand that Jack was a great-guy™. It was mentioned on basically every page. I don’t understand why the author bothered writing a pirate romance when all the pirates are amazingly nice people that don’t do anything bad ever. Jack could have been a regular sailor and the plot of this book basically wouldn’t have changed.
- Lorelei never had to deal with anything difficult. She was kidnapped, but Jack and the crew were great. She’s marooned on an island, but it turns out that’s actually the island she was heading to. She doesn’t want to marry Justin, and he’s completely cool with that. She wants to marry Jack, and it turns out that he’s actually the son of a rich guy who’s about to die and give him a bunch of money. Seriously, does this author not know how to write any conflict?
So ya, I was not a fan of this book. Part of me wants to give this 2 stars since it was significantly more entertaining than the other romance book I’ve read, but this was also much, much worse than other books that I’ve given 2 stars. So, I think I’m sticking with a 1 star rating. Sorry to people that liked this, but this was kind of the worst.
It was interesting to finally get around to reading historical romance, and I had fun annotating them, but I don't think I'll ever pick one up just for fun.
dckollros's review against another edition
5.0
Black Jack Rhys and Lorelei - Pirate Adventure and Romance, Will read again.
ash_and_books's review against another edition
4.0
3.5/4 stars
Haven't had a pirate historical romance in a while and I definitely want/need more of them in my quickly growing collection. Quick query about the cover. Why is it a dark haired man when Jack is blonde? Just why cover designer?!
Quick, fun read that I will re-read in the future and I look forward to reading more of Kinley MacGregor's word
Haven't had a pirate historical romance in a while and I definitely want/need more of them in my quickly growing collection. Quick query about the cover. Why is it a dark haired man when Jack is blonde? Just why cover designer?!
Quick, fun read that I will re-read in the future and I look forward to reading more of Kinley MacGregor's word
jacqueline1989's review against another edition
5.0
I almost get tired of complementing her books, so yes indeed...once more Sherri has proven herself the amazing author she truly is at heart.
One of the most entertaining qualities within Sherrilyn's novels is the fact that her two main characters are not what I often call "blanket white." Both the male and female leads have a past that is significant and influential to the character in the present. Often times, for the male role, their past is generally rather horrific. Such was the case for Jack Rhys. His childhood and early adult years were heart-wrenching. And yet the ending demonstrates a resilience and moving forward.
The other dominate theme that exists in most of Sherri's books is her typical standard of taking the character who seems past all hope, and at the end of the book, transforming them into a state of seeking forgiveness and change. I LOVE this aspect, for it shows that while people are often evil at heart, change is not beyond reach. Such was the case for Jack's father, who he harbors extreme anger and hate towards, and at the end of the novel, ends up establishing a peace that benefits all.
Overall, another amazing, 5-star rater that I enjoyed profoundly.
One of the most entertaining qualities within Sherrilyn's novels is the fact that her two main characters are not what I often call "blanket white." Both the male and female leads have a past that is significant and influential to the character in the present. Often times, for the male role, their past is generally rather horrific. Such was the case for Jack Rhys. His childhood and early adult years were heart-wrenching. And yet the ending demonstrates a resilience and moving forward.
The other dominate theme that exists in most of Sherri's books is her typical standard of taking the character who seems past all hope, and at the end of the book, transforming them into a state of seeking forgiveness and change. I LOVE this aspect, for it shows that while people are often evil at heart, change is not beyond reach. Such was the case for Jack's father, who he harbors extreme anger and hate towards, and at the end of the novel, ends up establishing a peace that benefits all.
Overall, another amazing, 5-star rater that I enjoyed profoundly.
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