bkwrm22's review
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
The Captive Vixen: 4 out of 5 Stars
The Lady and the Privateer: 4.5 out of 5 Stars
The Stormswept Stowaway: 3.75 out of 5 Stars
The Bruce’s Angel: 5 out of 5 Stars
Marooned: 4.75 out of 5 Stars
The Pleasure of a Pirate: 5 out of 5 Stars
The Lady’s Guide to Escaping Cannibals: 2.75 out of 5 Stars
Falcon: 5 out of 5 Stars
The Dark Heart of the Sea: 4 out of 5 Stars
Jilted & Kilted: 3 out of 5 Stars
Runaway Duke: 5 out of 5 Stars
Rescued by Passion: 3 out of 5 Stars
An Imperfect Scoundrel: 1 out of 5 Stars
The Spinster’s Guide to Piracy & Plunder: 5 out 5 stars
Pirate’s Treasure: 4.75 of 5 Stars
Shieldmaiden: DNF
katy's review
5.0
Once upon a pirate
Overall: I read Pirates Passion and Plunder first. These stories are much tamer. No sex checklist or spanking. There are several companion stories here to ones in the other collection, but most are standalone. There is more variety here in terms of time periods, nationalities, and locations. There are a lot of great stories here. I think the only one I would warn people away from is An Imperfect Scoundrel (see why below). Editing is more solid than in the other anthology, with fewer errors. This collection is generally not clean, but not as extreme as in Pirates Passion and Plunder. Even stories by the same author are cleaner in this one.
The captive vixen: This is the conclusion to the trio of novellas about the Marlowe sisters. When last we heard about Lettuce, she had been forced to marry Pigge. Well that’s going exactly as badly as she expected as she crosses the Atlantic with him. Their ship is taken by pirates. Reluctantly. But things are looking up for Lettuce...A fun ending to that set of Merry Farmer stories.
The lady and the privateer: these feel like characters I should know from another book, but I couldn’t find them. Lady Calliope is accompanying her uncle to Mauritius in search of dodo bird fossils. She has been nicknamed Lady Calamity due to her history of clumsiness and bad luck by the ton and is resigned to life as a spinster. Even her family wants her to keep her bad luck away from them—only her uncle seems to care for her. Until she meets the privateer who saves their ship from his nemesis...I really enjoyed this one.
The stormswept stowaway: Penny stows away to try to get to her uncle in Boston and escape a forced marriage. She thought she was stowing away on a merchant ship. She was wrong about that. I liked these two characters so much, I think they deserve another story—what will they be up to in 5 years?
The Bruce’s angel: Finally, the girl is the pirate! After reading the 17 stories in Pirates, passion and plunder, and the first three here, finally we get a story where the girl is the pirate. This one is set much earlier than the others, in the Scotland of Robert the Bruce.
Marooned: Danish widow is leaving St Thomas after her husband’s death but the ship is attacked by Puerto Rican pirates. She and the pirate captain survive a hurricane but find themselves on a deserted island.
The pleasure of a pirate: An agent who occasionally plays pirate if it helps a mission is sent to retrieve the kidnapped girl he fell for at a dance. This one is very light and silly, but fun.
The lady’s guide to escaping cannibals: Girl goes to the Solomon Island to look for her brother. Asks not-exactly-pirate to take her to the island where he was last seen. Adventures abound. Not a run of the mill pirate story, but interesting—enjoyed this one.
Falcon: This is the companion story to Raven in Pirates Passion and Plunder and if you don’t mind stuff a bit (!) raunchier than these stories, you should read that one just to appreciate the surprise endings for that story’s characters. Mayor’s wife is rescued from a slave ship, but she has amnesia due to her injuries. Her rescue pirate decides to keep her. But once she figures out who she is and what happened, she is on a revenge/justice mission...The pair of stories together make for a good overall story.
The dark heart of the sea: this is the companion story to The Blond Devil in Pirates Passion and Plunder. The pirate cousin of the other story’s pirate finds his other half. If you want the whole story, you should read them both, but this one can also work solo.
Jilted and kilted: pirate father wants a better life for his daughter and arranges a marriage to an Admiral in Queen Elizabeth I’s navy. Daughter decides she has other plans involving a Scottish pirate earl...
Runaway Duke: ok, first, no pirates to speak of here. Second, this one has a lot of grammar/usage errors that make it less enjoyable. It seems like this is a small installment in another story, since it ended so abruptly. English girl sails off to New York to find the father of an acquaintance’s illegitimate daughter. The Duke of the title comes along to try to win her during the trip. This author also has a story in the other set, but it’s completely unrelated to this one.
Rescued by passion: this is the other half of the story of Thomas and Hannah in Taken by Sin started in Pirates Passion and Plunder. Thomas’ brother Luke (pirate) rescues Hannah’s sister Rose from a worse pirate and they make their escape from the pirate life. These two stories should probably be read together, although Hannah and Thomas do a lot more in and out of bed in the other story than anything that happens in this story.
An imperfect scoundrel: this is a tough one. Alana is sent by her brother to America for her own safety but her ship is attacked by pirates almost immediately after departure. She pretends to be a man to survive the attack, but throughout the story she is pretty much constantly beaten and injured in other ways. The physical abuse and violence against Alana is excessive and hard to read. The story seems as though there should be more to come but the author info doesn’t mention anything. If you skip this one, you might be better off.
Spinster’s guide to piracy and plunder: girl pirates! And a grandma pirate
Overall: I read Pirates Passion and Plunder first. These stories are much tamer. No sex checklist or spanking. There are several companion stories here to ones in the other collection, but most are standalone. There is more variety here in terms of time periods, nationalities, and locations. There are a lot of great stories here. I think the only one I would warn people away from is An Imperfect Scoundrel (see why below). Editing is more solid than in the other anthology, with fewer errors. This collection is generally not clean, but not as extreme as in Pirates Passion and Plunder. Even stories by the same author are cleaner in this one.
The captive vixen: This is the conclusion to the trio of novellas about the Marlowe sisters. When last we heard about Lettuce, she had been forced to marry Pigge. Well that’s going exactly as badly as she expected as she crosses the Atlantic with him. Their ship is taken by pirates. Reluctantly. But things are looking up for Lettuce...A fun ending to that set of Merry Farmer stories.
The lady and the privateer: these feel like characters I should know from another book, but I couldn’t find them. Lady Calliope is accompanying her uncle to Mauritius in search of dodo bird fossils. She has been nicknamed Lady Calamity due to her history of clumsiness and bad luck by the ton and is resigned to life as a spinster. Even her family wants her to keep her bad luck away from them—only her uncle seems to care for her. Until she meets the privateer who saves their ship from his nemesis...I really enjoyed this one.
The stormswept stowaway: Penny stows away to try to get to her uncle in Boston and escape a forced marriage. She thought she was stowing away on a merchant ship. She was wrong about that. I liked these two characters so much, I think they deserve another story—what will they be up to in 5 years?
The Bruce’s angel: Finally, the girl is the pirate! After reading the 17 stories in Pirates, passion and plunder, and the first three here, finally we get a story where the girl is the pirate. This one is set much earlier than the others, in the Scotland of Robert the Bruce.
Marooned: Danish widow is leaving St Thomas after her husband’s death but the ship is attacked by Puerto Rican pirates. She and the pirate captain survive a hurricane but find themselves on a deserted island.
The pleasure of a pirate: An agent who occasionally plays pirate if it helps a mission is sent to retrieve the kidnapped girl he fell for at a dance. This one is very light and silly, but fun.
The lady’s guide to escaping cannibals: Girl goes to the Solomon Island to look for her brother. Asks not-exactly-pirate to take her to the island where he was last seen. Adventures abound. Not a run of the mill pirate story, but interesting—enjoyed this one.
Falcon: This is the companion story to Raven in Pirates Passion and Plunder and if you don’t mind stuff a bit (!) raunchier than these stories, you should read that one just to appreciate the surprise endings for that story’s characters. Mayor’s wife is rescued from a slave ship, but she has amnesia due to her injuries. Her rescue pirate decides to keep her. But once she figures out who she is and what happened, she is on a revenge/justice mission...The pair of stories together make for a good overall story.
The dark heart of the sea: this is the companion story to The Blond Devil in Pirates Passion and Plunder. The pirate cousin of the other story’s pirate finds his other half. If you want the whole story, you should read them both, but this one can also work solo.
Jilted and kilted: pirate father wants a better life for his daughter and arranges a marriage to an Admiral in Queen Elizabeth I’s navy. Daughter decides she has other plans involving a Scottish pirate earl...
Runaway Duke: ok, first, no pirates to speak of here. Second, this one has a lot of grammar/usage errors that make it less enjoyable. It seems like this is a small installment in another story, since it ended so abruptly. English girl sails off to New York to find the father of an acquaintance’s illegitimate daughter. The Duke of the title comes along to try to win her during the trip. This author also has a story in the other set, but it’s completely unrelated to this one.
Rescued by passion: this is the other half of the story of Thomas and Hannah in Taken by Sin started in Pirates Passion and Plunder. Thomas’ brother Luke (pirate) rescues Hannah’s sister Rose from a worse pirate and they make their escape from the pirate life. These two stories should probably be read together, although Hannah and Thomas do a lot more in and out of bed in the other story than anything that happens in this story.
An imperfect scoundrel: this is a tough one. Alana is sent by her brother to America for her own safety but her ship is attacked by pirates almost immediately after departure. She pretends to be a man to survive the attack, but throughout the story she is pretty much constantly beaten and injured in other ways. The physical abuse and violence against Alana is excessive and hard to read. The story seems as though there should be more to come but the author info doesn’t mention anything. If you skip this one, you might be better off.
Spinster’s guide to piracy and plunder: girl pirates! And a grandma pirate
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