Never Trust a Pirate

Scandal at the House of Russell #2

by Anne Stuart

A Victorian beauty finds passion…with the man who may have murdered her father.

Madeleine Russell, the beautiful daughter of a shipping magnate, counted on marrying a wealthy husband. Then her father’s disgrace and death left her with no dowry and no suitor. But Maddy and her sisters fully intend to restore their good name. Their first step: find the villain who framed their family. One of her father’s captains, a notorious former pirate, becomes a prime suspect. When Maddy joins the captain’s household disguised as his newest servant, her dark-eyed, charismatic employer soon develops his own agenda: seduction…

Captain Thomas Morgan spent most of his life amassing vast riches and respectability…and keeping his gypsy roots a secret. Now, he just needs to marry his prim, polished fiancée…and resist his intriguing new housemaid. A pirate never falls in love, he reminds himself. As mutual deception leads Maddy and the captain into uncharted territory, the truth could anchor them to terrible heartache…or to passion beyond their wildest dreams.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Pirates, Adult, Historical Fiction, Audiobook

306 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 3, 2013

About the author

Anne Stuart is a grandmaster of the genre, winner of Romance Writers of America's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, survivor of more than thirty-five years in the romance business, and still just keeps getting better.

Her first novel was Barrett's Hill, a gothic romance published by Ballantine in 1974 when Anne had just turned 25. Since then she's written more gothics, regencies, romantic suspense, romantic adventure, series romance, suspense, historical romance, paranormal and mainstream contemporary romance for publishers such as Doubleday, Harlequin, Silhouette, Avon, Zebra, St. Martins Press, Berkley, Dell, Pocket Books and Fawcett.

She’s won numerous awards, appeared on most bestseller lists, and speaks all over the country. Her general outrageousness has gotten her on Entertainment Tonight, as well as in Vogue, People, USA Today, Women’s Day and countless other national newspapers and magazines.

When she’s not traveling, she’s at home in Northern Vermont with her luscious husband of thirty-six years, an empty nest, three cats, four sewing machines, and one Springer Spaniel, and when she’s not working she’s watching movies, listening to rock and roll (preferably Japanese) and spending far too much time quilting.

Anne Stuart also writes as Kristina Douglas.

Reviews

[Robin (Bridge Four) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is ridiculous almost how many passes I give Historical Romances that I don’t give other genres. In any other genre if the hero and the heroine met in a back alley and after rescuing her from some nefarious men the hero pushed her against the wall to plunder her mouth I would roll my eyes and have an internal dialogue about the sheer absurdity of it. But this genre is totally my kryptonite and guilty pleasure and I eat it up.

“Pay attention to the man who’s kissing you,” he said in a low voice.
And his mouth descended again. Oh, God. She’d never imagined it could be like this, the burning hunger that was racing through her body, making her knees weak, and she wanted to sink into him, dissolve into a molten puddle of forbidden longing.

SEE, I should totally roll my eyes there but I don’t I pull the book closer to my face and read on enthusiastically. It didn’t help that this story involved a slightly reformed pirate turned privateer. I mean ever since the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie I have had a slight weakness for pirates especially of the charming and seducing variety.

“Are you afraid of me, little girl?” he murmured. “The big bad pirate, plundering and pillaging? I’ve given that all up for Lent.”

Maddy’s father suspected Captian Morgan of stealing money from his shipping company before he mysteriously died after he was believed to have embezzled money from his investors. To clear the family name Maddy had decided to set herself up as a maid in his house to find information that Captain Morgan stole the money and killed her father. But he isn’t the decrepit old sea captain she expected to find.

“You forget—I’m used to seafaring men. Father used to let me accompany him to his office on occasion, and I met a fair number of the men who captained his vessels, though fortunately not Captain Morgan. He’ll probably be just like all the rest of them. Old and gruff and boring. The man has no wife and apparently never bothered to marry. The ocean probably arouses his passions, not the female sex.”

So far from what she gets when she actually finds him. Morgan is much younger than expected and Maddie is in so over her head. Morgan has never loved a woman actually he was pretty sure he didn’t even have a heart, the sea was his mistress and his only love a boat.

“She’s a grand old boat,” Billy said wistfully. “Only five years old,”
Luca reminded him. “But you’re right. She’s the closest I ever intend to get to loving a woman. If I had a heart it would be pledged to the Maddy Rose.”

When he meets the boat’s namesake all that could change because she is just a fierce and changing as the sea he loves so much.

I had a great time in this series. I actually read the final book in the series first and then when back to read the first two. I enjoyed all the Russell Sisters stories and each book could be read as a stand-alone just fine but I enjoyed the compilation of the stories. Stories like this are really like comfort food to me. I know I shouldn’t love them as much as I do but I just can’t help myself. They are like the hot fudge sundae you know you shouldn’t eat but it is delicious and so you just devour it and deal with the sugar crash later.

Anne Stuart is no one of my go to authors from something light, fun and sexy. Since these are all around 250 pages they are fast reads and just enough to satisfy my craving and not get a belly ache.

[Roma Cordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good as Book I! Loved it.

[Duchess Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
Madeleine Russell follows in her sister's footsteps when she takes it upon herself to find the man who helped to kill her father and leave his daughters homeless and destitute. She infiltrates his home much the same way Bryony did previously, posing as a servant, and much the same as the previous hero, Captain Thomas Morgan figures out her true identity fairly quickly. In order to understand her motives, he keeps mum about his knowledge while fighting his obsessive attraction to the little faker.

Seeing all of the similarities to book one on paper may seem like this has a recycled plot, but that really wasn't the case. Morgan is an ex-pirate, a lover of the sea, a rough and raw man with few social graces and even less tolerance for those in the aristocracy. He was a great character in that he never changes at the core, and in true Anne Stuart fashion, simply falls in love unexpectedly.

My reasons for not rating this higher has more to do with my expectations of an Anne Stuart novel. This series so far reads much like any other Historical Romance with a bad boy, which is a far cry from Stuart's typical uber gamma heroes that I LOVE so much. And I know her devout fans would agree with me. However, I DO think that this series will be much more palatable for the masses, seeing as it conforms to the norm for this genre much more than her House of Rohan series did.

While I will never forget the heroes and heroines of her other novels, for me this series is less memorable. I don't think this will be the case with other readers; in fact, my crystal ball says this could end up being an extremely popular series.

[Caz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in Ms Stuart’s Scandal at the House of Russell trilogy, and it features the middle Russell sister, Madeleine.

Eustace Russell, a wealthy shipping magnate, died suddenly at the beginning of the first book (Never Kiss a Rake), having widely been believed to have embezzled huge sums of money from his company. His death, immediately following the discovery, looked like suicide, but his daughters are not at all convinced – and a scribbled note in their father’s hand warning them not to trust his business partners makes them even more determined to prove that he was murdered.

The girls have been left with nothing, so while Bryony remains in London to investigate her father’s relationship with the Earl of Kilmartyn, Madeleine and Sophie are sent to Somerset to stay with their old nurse, Nanny Gruen.

When the news reaches them of Bryony’s marriage to Kilmartyn, and the couple’s subsequent flight from England, the sisters realise that the earl can have had nothing to do with their father’s death, and Madeleine determines that it’s now up to her to continue the investigation. Taking a leaf out of her sister’s book (Bryony had gone to work as Kilmartyn’s housekeeper), she obtains a position as a housemaid in the home of Captain Thomas Morgan, a man of whom her father had been very fond.

Believing a salty old-sea-dog is going to be somewhat grandfatherly, she is naturally surprised when Morgan turns out to be a gorgeous, dark-eyed half-gypsy with a penchant for open collars (thus flashing heretofore unimagined areas of male flesh) and a gold earring, who isn’t even thirty.

The half-gypsy sea-captain’s name isn’t Thomas or Morgan; he’s Luca, abandoned by his gypsy mother in the streets of London where he did what he had to do to survive, which seems to have included a period spent as a rent-boy. One night, he wasn’t quick enough to evade the press gang, and ended up on board ship where, unusually for a gypsy, he discovered an affinity for the sea. Since then, he’s worked his way up, becoming Eustace Russell’s most efficient and profitable partner, and is now rich enough to have purchased a number of Russell’s ships after the company’s collapse. He is currently negotiating the purchase of the Maddy Rose one of the last clipper ships to have been built by the company – and named after the middle Russell daughter.

Maddy manages to blag her way into the housemaid job and is immediately tasked with doing absolutely everything – cleaning, mending, more cleaning – by the lazy housekeeper who, it seems, does very little other than a bit of cooking. Maddy is permanently exhausted, but being the sort of girl she is – stubborn, and damned if she’ll let a woman like Mrs Crozier get the better of her – determines to do everything to the best of her ability. Even though she’s not used to such hard work, she throws herself into it as she tries to work out how to get into the captain’s study so she can go through his papers looking for evidence of his involvement in her father’s death.
What she doesn’t know is that Luca has recognised her, and after his initial fury at her presence in his house and her deception has abated, decides to wait it out until he can work out exactly what she’s up to.

It’s a decent story, and there’s plenty of sexual tension between the leads but… there’s just something missing in this book and I’m not exactly sure what it is. Luca is very sexy, but he’s not quite in the usual Anne-Stuart bad-boy mould. He’s a ruthless businessman to be sure, and he talks a harsh game when it comes to Maddy (he insists he’ll shag her a few times and then cast her off) – but he’s clearly a decent bloke underneath the swagger, and there’s never any doubt about that. Of course, we all know that a hero – even an Anne Stuart hero – is going to turn out that way, but there’s none of the edginess to him that one has come to expect from this particular author. Of the other hand, he’s clearly had an interesting (to say the least!) past. He and one of his friends made money “servicing gentlemen” and there’s a throwaway line to the effect that he’d been raped – what?! But neither of those things is expanded upon. I’m not saying I wanted him to be angst-ridden and full of insecurities – if there’s one thing Luca isn’t, it’s insecure, and it makes a change to find a hero who is actually pretty well-adjusted.

But Luca’s character isn’t particularly well fleshed-out, and I’m not sure if this is due to lack of space or time, or some other reason.
Maddy is more of a well-rounded character. She’s the beauty of the family, the one who was expected to make a grand marriage, and who, until their father’s demise, was fighting off the young bucks with a stick. Well, all except one, with whose stick she became acquainted before he buggered off to South America the morning after. But Maddy is a tough cookie, and although she’s hurt by the man’s rejection, she doesn’t show it, and gets ready to rejoin the fray that is the marriage mart. Her father’s death changes everything of course, and now, Maddy is left with just the one suitor – a much older man who already has his heir and spare (and more), but he’s an earl, and Maddy hopes he’ll shuffle off this mortal coil fairly soon and leave her a rich widow.

The plot is fairly predictable, and we are once again introduced to the mysterious Mr Brown – now calling himself Griffiths (which, incidentally, is the name of the hero of the next book), who is still suffering from the injuries sustained as a result of his attempts to do away with Kilmartyn and Bryony in the previous book. Now he’s out to get rid of Maddy, although we still don’t quite know why - I imagine the whys and wherefores will be revealed in the final story.
I didn’t dislike Never Trust a Pirate, but perhaps, being the middle book of a trilogy meant that it was treading water somewhat. I also felt that it was narrative-heavy and that there wasn’t as much interaction between Luca and Maddy as I’d have liked. But I'll still be reading Never Marry a Viscount because I want to see how it all turns out.

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has all the ingredients I tend to like - great sex scenes, a well-developed connection between the hero and heroine, even a heroine who isn't (shock) a virgin. I also like the premise: the heroine, Maddy, infiltrates the hero Luca's house because she suspects him of murdering her father.

Things that dragged this story down:

❌ The historical background is basically just so much wallpaper. The story happens in 1869, but it might as well be 1969 for all the attention Stuart pays to it.

❌ The villain is SO obvious ALL THE TIME and this holds true for every single book in the series. Like really, all the heroines have a sixth sense telling them not to trust the villain. Way to kill the suspense.

❌ The ending reached farcical levels of unbelievability.

Otherwise, a decent read.

[Blog] - [Bookstagram]

[Nabilah]

DNF at 19%. This one is a carbon copy of the first book. Unfortunately, the story failed to engage my interest. What a pity! My first book for year 2025 too.

[Missy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

A little better than the first book. I enjoyed the last 10-20% when they were on the ship. The hero was tender with her when she was vulnerable. I have a soft spot for Romany heroes thanks to Cam and Merripen from Lisa Kleypas’s Hathaways series.

@99%

“When did we get married? I don’t happen to recall it.”

“When I stole you away and took you to bed, and then later we were joined by blood. Among gypsies that constitutes a wedding twice over, and you’re now a runaway bride.” He was watching her closely. “And there’s no such thing as a gypsy divorce.”

[Beanbag Love · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second in Anne Stuart’s “Scandal at the House of Russell” trilogy. It’s the best of the three, IMO, even though I went into it with some concern I’d be stuck with a shipboard romance. Bleh.

This is the story of the second Russell sister, Madeline. She’s the brunette beauty of the family and she’s decided to pick up older sister Bryonny’s investigation into the possible villains who killed their father and stole their entire world. Since Bryonny has married and run off with the first suspect, Maddy decides to check out the second, Captain Morgan (I know, I think of the pirate on the rum bottles, too!), formerly a privateer and one of her father’s favorite captains employed by the Russell Shipping company.

The captain’s actual name is Luca and he was sold to a chimney sweep at a young age by his mother. He’s half “gadjo” and half rom, but he’s spent most of his life outside of the gypsy caravans. The best thing that ever happened to him, though, was being shanghaied onto a ship when he was still quite young and falling in love with the sea. Now he’s wealthy and attempting to create a respectable life for himself.

So, Maddy gets herself hired as a maid-of-all-work in his small household in order to investigate. Of course things are not what they seem. For one, she was sure he was going to be a stodgy old salt, but no, he’s a half gypsy stunner who’s engaged to a cold-hearted, privileged, English rose who’s also the daughter of his solicitor. He’s also very attracted to Maddy who also finds him very hard to resist even though his lazy housekeeper and her drunk husband are working poor Madeline to the bone.

This book had some very amusing moments and some very nice romance. Luca is very engaging. I could have used even more time with him even though I didn’t actually dislike Maddy. She didn’t do anything nearly as stupid as Bryonny did and in one scene she’s absolutely inspired.

This could probably be read as a standalone, but the books in this trilogy are not expensive so there’s no harm in getting some more backstory from the first book in the series, “Never Kiss a Rake”.

[Ririn Aziz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed. The plot is almost the same as the first one. And since we all know that the real culprit is not the captain, all these seemed pointless. The villain is unbelievable. Really fortunate, didn't he? And I didn't get the reason(s) why he wanted to kill all those daughters as well since they do not know a thing, don't even have a clue, really. Lost interest since the beginning, just flipped through, hoping I would get a clue somewhere, but hmmm... found nothing.

PS - Linda, agree with your assesment about the hit or miss ;)

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ironically the last of this series that I read, but the second book. I listened to this on audiobook and I loved the narrator Xe Sands. Thomas Luca Morgan is a rogue and that's clear from the beginning. I liked that he immediately saw that Maddie wasn't what she was pretending to be. The villain seemed the most heinous in this book to me, especially for some of the people he hires to get rid of Maddy. Just enough seafaring to make the theme fit the title. Great chemistry between the leads, and I like that Maddy is fairly savvy and sassy and stands toe to toe with Thomas/Luca. Hard to say which book is my favorite, they're all great. I think this one stands out because Maddy is cynical enough to handle a guy like Luca and they felt very well matched to me.

Casting Suggestions:

Aidan Turner as Thomas Luca Morgan

Kaya Scodelario as Maddy Russell

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maddy and Luca's story... I think I've read it some years ago, not quite sure though. I enjoyed it for sure, and I can't wait to read the last book in the series!

[Crista · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars!

Oh…what is going on here? Anne Stuart is one of my very favorite authors and I love just about anything this lady publishes, but unfortunately I am struggling with this series.

Never Kiss a Rake was good, but nothing like the quality I usually ascribe to Anne Stuart’s work. I rated that book 4 stars because it still had many Stuart trademarks: wit, humor, and a hero that made my heart swoon. I had even greater hope for this one as it features a pirate hero…yum!

Unfortunately, this book fell a little flat for me. It’s missing the scorching sensuality that I have become accustomed to, and the hero was just a bit too normal for me. What I love about Stuart heroes is that they aren’t traditionally “nice”. They are dangerous, lethal, and not always easy to read about. They push the boundaries of my comfort lever and I have grown accustomed to this experience. This hero was far too forgettable.

Never Trust a Pirate features a hero who grew up on the streets as a pickpocket and ended up boarding a ship and taking his crimes to the sea by becoming a pirate. He has since climbed his way out a life of crime and now seeks peace and a good name.

These Russell women continue to grate on my nerves. This time it’s Maddy’s turn. Maddy is the middle daughter and one that I was honestly interested in learning more about. Unfortunately, I didn’t like much about her. Like her older sister, Maddy poses as a maid in the hero’s household in order to gain information that hopefully will lead to answers surrounding her father’s mysterious death. This book felt too much like a rerun of the previous book and I found myself skimming pages to reach the (none too climactic) ending.

I love this author and will always recommend her writing, but she has MANY books (and series) that are quite superior to this one: namely her historical Rohan series and her contemporary suspense ICE series.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing this in exchange for an honest review!

[Talitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was a bit hard to rate because I eventually did like the hero, but absolutely loathed something he did early on in the book Maddy is almost raped, and he gets the guys to stop,
but then gives them MONEY so they can go hire a willing girl. I don't know why I adored one book of Anne Stuart's, but this series isn't going so well for me. :(

[Thenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mystery of the house of Russell continues, and the middle daughter Maddy takes over the investigation, following her sister's example and going undercover as a servant in another one of the likely suspects' house, Luca, or Captain Thomas Morgan, as he is known.

The two have an unexpected but memorable encounter before she reaches his house and her disguise is in danger even before she actually starts investigating, but she perseveres.

He is not even close to what she imagined and she is off balance around him, unable to handle the strong feelings he is arousing in her, while he is deliberately unsettling her, trying to make her confess her real identity.



They play cat and mouse for a while, neither giving in, but circumstances in the form of assassins that have come to kill her cause Luca to take matters into his own hands.



Very enjoyable story, which, like the first book, is lacking a proper epilogue, despite the happy ending for the couple.

I look forward to the last book in the series, Never Marry a Viscount and the vain Sophie's story, as well as the final resolution of the mystery.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Ms. Anne Stuart is just one of those writers who I should probably avoid. Every time I read her books, I always like her writing, but have major problems with the plots or characterization. Either the plots are too loose for me or I find the characters unattractive.

This is the 2nd book I read in her Scandal at the House of Russell series. The first book in the book was a no go for me. I read about half of it and gave it 2 stars out of respect of her writing. This book is slightly better for me because I like Madeleine better than her older sister. It is still the same ruse: heroine infiltrating the "enemy's" house as a maid/housekeeper. Captain Morgan, aka Luca, does not seem so much like a sleazeball like the hero in the first book. God knows why. It is all very confusing. I wanted to love the book. For a writer whose writing I can appreciate, it is really a shame that I never warm up to her plots or characters.

The story itself would have gotten 2 stars from me but I am adding one more again, out of respect of Anne Stuart's writing.

I will not be reading the youngest sister, Sophie's book. She seems flightly in her sisters' stories and I prefer my heroines to act like adults.

[Alissa Tsaparikos · Rating 2 out of 5]

*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD* *DO NOT proceed if you have not read Never Kiss a Rake*

*Minor spoilers for Never Trust a Pirate* *TRIGGER WARNING: contains discussion of physical abuse, assault, rape, and other sexual themes*

Never Trust a Pirate is the second book in the Scandal at the House Russell series and sequel to Never Kiss a Rake, a book I enjoyed so thoroughly that my enthusiasm for the next book in the series was very high. However I have to say that overall I was sadly disappointed. This novel, though not necessarily a bad read (I read it very quickly), rubbed me the wrong way.
Firstly, I had a pretty big problem with the repetition of this story. The entire plot was basically a recycled from first book, down to the masquerade as a servant in the house of a domineering, rich, and amazingly beautiful man who is already attached to another woman by rules of society but not by the heart. Of course there were differences in setting, characterization, and plot variations to at least keep some things fresh, but overall it was still a cooky-cutter version of the same story. Another repeat issue was in the dailouge and inner thoughts of the characters. Their thoughts were rehashed over and over, sometime word for word until I was frankly tired of reading the same montage again and again. A little rehash of something is pretty normal throughout a story. It shows characterization and how the mind holds on to certain thoughts, especially when a character is in denial. But when it become noticeably cumbersome, and I as a reader feel like I'm being told something I clearly already know, then there is a problem.
Minorly, I would also like to point out that there was a lot of inconsistency in Luca's character. I thought that Maddie, and her denial, were pulled off very well. I understood the pathways of her back and forth feelings and didn't find them farfetched. With Luca's character however it gave me something like whiplash and didn't seem realistic. One moment he was admitting so much, being so tender, the next he was acting like Maddie was some dockside whore he needed to drop off. It seemed as if Stuart was trying too hard to demonstrate his denial.

Putting aside the writing issues however, I think one of the biggest problems I had with the story was the nature of the romance within it. I am not going to even pretend that there weren't parts of Never Kiss a Rake that weren't problematic in the consensual romance area. In both books there was a lot of the 'domineering male' bending the will of the woman to meet his needs. I let it go in the first book because 1) It wasn't that pervasive, in that Kilmartyn was a little less pushy and callous, and 2) Bryony was a lot more receptive of it all. Also, neither of them were physically harmful to each other. I really enjoyed the shenanigans of that book, enough to not be bothered by morality quibbles.

In Never Trust a Pirate though, I kept getting so bombarded with the abusive undertones of the relationship that I could hardly enjoy the romance. Not only does Luca never remotely understand the word "no" and pushes the boundaries of consent constantly, but he takes it a step further in being physically violent for supposedly "good reasons"... Like, in what way is knocking someone out, kidnapping them, and tying them up for hours something protective and romantic? It isn't!! It is creepy and rapey and stalkerish!!!! Also, news flash, if a girl tries to hit, kick, slap, or knee you in the groin, chances are you shouldn't be pushing sex on her because she actually doesn't want it! I know from the narration that Maddie did very much want it. However it was in that exact set up that lies the detrimental message: the girl is saying no, but what she really means is yes. This is exactly the kind of thing that not only encourages young men to think they are entitled to a woman sexually and that the woman should like it, but it shows women that assault is romantic.

I know the whole point was the idea that the woman is having her sexual awakening and she is afraid of the feelings that are opening up inside her. But I just can't agree with how Luca reacted. In that situation a lover should be patient and caring and give the person time to want what their getting, not forced into sex.

With Bryony and Kilmartyn, the situation felt so different because she actually wanted to be with him. She didn't care about being "ruined" because she never thought she would get married anyway. And at one point Kilmartyn actually walks away from her because he is unwilling to have sex because she is inebriated (granted they get pretty far before he does stop, but he still does stop). For all the times Luca insists, aloud and in his own mind, that he doesn't rape and that forcing "isn't fun", the novel was fraught with dubious consent and situations bordering on non-con. Though Maddie is portrayed as a fiery spirit and a woman who takes charge of her own life, the fighting that goes on between her and Luca only seems to undermine her agency rather than enforce it.

In fear of ranting still more, I'm going to stop myself here and end with saying that between the constant bouts of dubious consent and the abusive overtones, I couldn't properly enjoy this story and it even gave me pause in my pleasant memories of the first novel. I would not recommend this book.

http://findmeintheink.blogspot.com/20...

[nanoreadsxo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.65🌟 This is the third book of Anne I have read, I found I like her morally grey characters of mmc and how headstrong the fmc was. Tho I wished they have more time together, something is missing. Particularly for this book I wished we got a little more long wrap up, Anne tend to make the mc’s declared love and be done with everything in the end

[Μαρία Γεωργοπούλου · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I enjoyed it a lot! It has the same problem with the previous one (a hasty ending) but I liked it!

[anakoluty · Rating 1 out of 5]

TW: kidnap

Worse than the first book.
The villain has plot armor.
and the love interest is rapy despite the author trying to convince us that he's not (no redemption arc for him too).

[BRNTerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this. It's too similar to the first in the series. Heroine gets a job in the home of the hero, whom she suspects of being her father's murderer, hero discovers who she really is but doesn't let her know, hero makes advances toward heroine which she rebuffs over and over again, ect. Same premise as book one.

Maddy is a twenty-two year old nonvirgin and the hero, Luca, aka Thomas Morgan, is half Romany, half English and is twenty-nine. I didn't like their unlikely first meeting on the street. I didn't like that Maddy was being abused a bit by the housekeeper and never told Luca. There was no reason for her not to have told him. I don't like that he has a huge tattoo down his left side, beginning on his shoulder. Yes, I know people had tattoos back then but please leave them out of historicals.

There's another bad character in this story too. They're out to kill Maddy. They sneak aboard the ship that she and Luca are on and almost succeeds in throwing her overboard but Luca comes on the rescue just in time...of course. Him sneaking aboard ship is something I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have done himself. Like previously, he'd have hired someone to do the murder for him. Him throwing her over his shoulder and walking toward the side of the ship where he could be seen by multiple people makes no sense. He brought a bag to put her body in it, should he need to do it, so he should have killed her in the ship's cabin first, put her body in the bag then thrown the bag overboard. Another problem I have is with Maddy coming to the conclusion after her murder attempt that that person is also the one who murdered her father. Where'd that revelation come from?

The thing that bothers me most is Luca basically grew up on the streets. To make money he and his friend were pickpockets who also prostituted themselves. I wanted to know more about that. I wanted to know what Luca thought of having to do it and how it may have effected him as an adult. It was mentioned and that was it. I feel his character was underdeveloped. Him living on the street and prostituting himself is very interesting to me and I want to know more.

This story only spans about a month or so. I don't believe their love is genuine. They hardly know each other yet are in love and get married within a really short time? I don't think so.

I like both Maddy and Luca but the bad outweigh the good in this story. There's to be one more in this series and hopefully it'll be better than this one.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[lost · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's actually ridiculous how much more I enjoyed this book than Never Kiss a Rake.

Never Trust a Pirate features the middle Russell sister, Madeleine. She goes off to Captain Morgan's estate, posing as a meek (ha) maid for the half-gypsy.

At this point, I see a very consistent pattern - Russell sister pretends to be some kind of servant at the home of a handsome and incorrigible rake, said rake immediately knows who she is because of the dark blue eyes that she got from her father, he pursues his attraction to her while wondering what she's doing masquerading as a servant in his home (and figures it out almost immediately), and proceeds to bed the virginal but feisty heroine. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the third book followed the same pattern. But here's the thing...
I didn't mind.

Really, I was able to get over the predictable plot because the characters were so different from Bryony and Kylmartin in the first book. In Never Trust a Pirate, Madeleine is more confident and stubborn, and the captain is sly, cunning and not who he says he is, which makes them the perfect match. I also liked how they met, I found it very HR-y but in a good way, and really funny at the end.

He lifted his head, and then flicked her chin with his long fingers. “Pay attention to the man who’s kissing you,” he said in a low voice. And his mouth descended again.
Oh, God. She’d never imagined it could be like this, the burning hunger that was racing through her body, making her knees weak, and she wanted to sink into him, dissolve into a molten puddle of forbidden longing.
He released her so abruptly she almost lost her footing. “That’s more like it,” he said, staring down at her from enigmatic eyes. “You’d better get going before I totally lose my mind. And watch yourself. Next time I won’t be around to rescue you.” And damned if the man didn’t start whistling cheerfully as he strode away, forgetting about her entirely.
She stood very still. She was at a loss for words for perhaps the first time in her life, and then a clear, sharp, cleansing fury exploded within her. Spinning on her heel, she stalked away, following his directions, muttering imprecations beneath her breath, including the forbidden one he’d dared to use in her presence.
“Fuck it,” she said succinctly, and then she picked up her discarded valise and she was out in the sunshine, feeling strangely better than she had in months.

I think I'm gonna like Never Marry a Viscount the most, especially because Sophie is pretty and silly and I'm excited (or hoping) to see how she grows and wisens up in order to assist her sisters in discovering why their father was killed.

[Sheila Melo · Rating 4 out of 5]

NEVER TRUST A PIRATE is the second book in the Scandal at the House of Russell trilogy. The trilogy tells the story of three sisters who are destitute after their father dies and it is revealed that he has swindled some well-to-do investors. The sisters, however, do not believe that their father is guilty and set out to investigate the chief suspects by entering into service in their households. In the first book, NEVER KISS A RAKE, the oldest sister investigated the Earl of Kilmartyn by becoming his housekeeper. Ultimately, of course, the sister ultimately fell in love with the earl and found that he was innocent.

In this second book, the middle sister, Maddy Russell, sets out to determine if Captain Thomas Morgan (who once was a pirate and is half gypsy) is the villain. She decides to become a housemaid. Captain Morgan has a lot of secrets. For one thing, he was a child of the streets who is actually named Luca. Maddy and Luca strike sparks off of one another immediately.

As was true with the first book in the series, this book is heavy on the plot. There is some explanation of the events in the first book, but I believe that a reader really should read the first book in the series to understand the mystery that threads through the trilogy. There are a lot of plot points and people to keep track of. Having read the first book, I was more easily able to focus on the immediate story between Maddy and Luca. This made the book more interesting to me than the first one where I had to get all the people and plot points into place.

The hero here, is not a typical Anne Stuart hero of recent vintage. Luca is not as dark as those heroes. Instead, he harkens back to some of her older works where the hero is at heart a good person with a dark past. Ultimately, however, he has normal impulses to do right (even if he is a bad boy here). Also, this book (as with the last one) is not as explicitly erotic sexually as some of Stuart's more recent books.

I really enjoy all of Stuart's work and so the change in tone does not bother me, but newer readers should be aware that this is more a traditional (but not old fashioned) romance.

I don't want to give away the plot points here because the surprise is part of what makes this book interesting. I didn't necessarily know where the book was going at times and I enjoyed the suspense.

I did think Maddy and Luca were a good match here. Neither was looking for the person they found but they both are unconventional and ultimately a perfect match.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the conclusion of the series.

[Carrie (Rotten Banana) · Rating 2 out of 5]

First reviewed at Red Hot Books http://redhotbooks.com/2013/12/never-...

This is the second book in a trilogy about three sisters who go into service in the households of very bad men in order to discover who was responsible for their father’s downfall and death. The first book in this series, Never Kiss a Rake, was underwhelming for me for one of my favorite authors but I was hoping it was just a fluke. Sadly, despite promises of a devilish pirate, this one didn’t really work out either.

After her sister Bryony elopes to the continent with the Earl of Kilmartyn, Madeline Russell figures it’s her turn to try and infiltrate the house of the next person on their list of potential suspects of their father’s murder. Her father’s last note prior to dying specifically called out Thomas Morgan, one of his ship’s captains. Following in her sister’s footsteps, Maddy is hired on as house help in Morgan’s house thinking it will be easy to uncover any mysteries an aging dimwitted seaman has.

Unfortunately for Maddy, Captain Morgan (ahem) is a young and handsome man who is adept at keeping secrets. Born Luca, a half-blood gypsy virtually abandoned by his family, he grew up a street urchin on the streets of London. He eventually found his way to the docks and developed a new identity; one that was more palatable by the general public. To complete his respectable transformation, he becomes engaged to his solicitor’s daughter and buys his former employer’s ship, the Maddy Rose. Everything is coming up roses for Morgan until he notices that his new housemaid is not only incredibly beautiful but he is positive she isn’t who she proclaims she is.

Maddy is arrogant and haughty but for all her airs, she isn’t adverse to hard work. She is clearly struggling with her change in fortune and her behavior doesn’t change much throughout the book making her a little tough to take as a heroine. Luca/Morgan, however, was not a typical dark Stuart hero. His hidden vulnerability made him a little more sympathetic character. Their relationship was predictable though well written.

It seems my major issue with this series is lack of dialogue to connect the characters in a meaningful way. I would wager to say that 80% of the book is narrative and that made for a very slow moving book. Perhaps I’m holding the author to standards set by other books she’s written that I adore, but this series just isn’t doing it for me and I won’t be continuing.

Rating: C-

*ARC provided by Montlake Romance via NetGalley

[Anita Bianchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Potete trovare tutte le mie recensioni su http://bianchianita1971.blogspot.it/

Ormai non dovrei più sorprendermi della sua bravura, ma la Anne colpisce sempre nel segno! Il secondo romanzo della trilogia mi è piaciuto ancora più del primo, per varie ragioni:

1 Innanzitutto il capitano Morgan: un bad boy cinico, sensuale e amorale, un uomo che partito dal nulla si è creato una fortuna senza farsi troppi scrupoli; è ciò che è e lo accetta senza inutili rimpianti o rimorsi.
2 Maddy: decisa, determinata e pronta a tutto. Non si fa intimidire dal duro lavoro (lei che fino a quel momento non ha mai alzato un dito in vita sua!), dalle continue sfide che si trova davanti o dal fascino tentatore del bel capitano; inoltre non si piange adosso e si crea da sola la sua felicità.
3 Le scene d'amore...

Che dire di più? L'ho letteralmente divorato, nonostante negli ultimi tempi faccia un pò fatica a leggere gli storici, e, ovviamente, sono già in astinenza, anche perchè la Stuart ci lascia un bel punto di domanda sul cattivo di turno: dovremo aspettare il terzo romanzo per scoprire tutte le carte e svelare finalmente il mistero su cosa è veramente accaduto alla famiglia Russell
Ho notato una cosa che manca, però, in questa nuova trilogia: non ci sono storie secondarie. La storie con protagonisti personaggi secondari, parallele alla trama principale, sono state quasi un marchio di fabbrica di questa autrice per quanto riguarda gli storici, c'erano anche nella serie "The House of Rohan" ma mancano qui... chissà perchè...

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anne Stuart is usually an auto-buy for me. Her books are fun reads with well-drawn characters, and plots that make you keep turning the pages.

While I liked "Never Trust a Pirate," and its predecessor "Never Kiss a Rake," there seemed to be something missing in "Pirate," perhaps because it (re)used the 'lady pretending to be a maid' trope that Stuart also used in "Rake."

Madeline (Maddy) goes into service at the home of Thomas Morgan to see if she can find evidence that he was responsible for her father's death. And..I found that I didn't like Maddy all that much. She's stubborn - almost to the point of being TSTL -- and she runs so hot/cold with Thomas (aka Luca) that I can't believe he puts up with her nonsense.

However, in "Pirate" we do get some additional clues to solve the murder mystery, and it will be interesting to see how Stuart ties it all up in the last installment in this series.

It's not a bad book, and way better than 'just OK,' -- but it's a far cry from Stuart at her best. So...3 stars.

[Firstpella · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of her best...and it shouldn't be...a pirate hero...ick, I'm so not a fan of that...a story in part told at sea...ick, I'm falling a sleep...a hero who may not be a bad guy, bad guy being Classic Stuart Hero Goodness, boring right...a heroine who annoyed me in the first book in this series, ick can't indentify with her...
WRONG.
This book was fantastic. I loved the Hero, pirate and all...he was bad enough to be smokin hot...the sea made sense...and the heroine was terrific. The lovestory was moving and hot. And there was humor. Elements of the ebb and flow and the H and h reminded me a little bit of one of Stuarts best ever, 'Breathless'.
Don't know how Stuart does it, isn't she edging close to 70 years of age, but she is still one of the absolute best creators of love. When I read a new book of hers not only do I typically want to reread it, I want to reread all of books...that's how excellent she is.

[Liz Pacheco · Rating 2 out of 5]

So this is probably my the Anne Stuart book i liked the least. I actually really liked both of the main characters, and there was so much potential there for the couple.

I just don't think that there was enough interaction between the two main characters for me to see why the fell in love.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable characters.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic banter, made me want a gypsy pirate privateer of my own.

[Tully · Rating 3 out of 5]

2nd Book for the three series. I find that Stuart is particularly great at descriptive and thrilling writing. The flow of the book is superb and she's quite creative in her characterization of the characters. It is to my delight, that Luca and majority of the side characters including the villain are quite complex and very 3d in character.

However I am afraid the deduction in stars was due to the characterization of the female lead. She is lovely and strong-willed, and I'm sure alot of readers fancied her character. However, on my part, the more strongly a character is portrayed the less realistic it becomes for me. There were alot of times that I lost focus on the novel because a stray thought such as "Do women really react like this?", "Is it possible for someone who price herself as witty to do something so foolish?" etcetera. It was better if it was toned down a bit especially the way Maddy adapted quite quickly to being a maid. I hardly believe that a shipping magnate daughter, despite her apparent need for perfection and stubborness, would work that hard on the first and second day of her employment. I expected alot of tripping, "Ew"eing, and alot of more grief than just body aches. It was more acceptable for her elder sister as she is quite the manager even before their apparent downfall but hardly for the younger ones.

I'm a bit more biased with the hero though. He is one of the best I've read so far. Still, I find it still unrealistic how Maddy brushed past some of the most traumatic events in this novel. The internal dialogue was severely lacking and I found no reason to believe that she should be used to such events when she's a sheltered lady. The outburst at the end was not enough in my opinion. If the heroine was the daughter of an underground lord, it would make sense to have that type of guts, indifference, and fast recovery but her father was quite the protective and honest man. Their loss and scandal wouldn't make them that hardened. There wasn't enough background story that would lead me to justify her actions and responses to several situations. Also, I feel like the story was too focused on Maddy it left no room for Luca. It was just centered on Maddy's grief and actions and Luca helping her. It was all attraction and battle but no deep connection. They never conversed deeply about Luca's past. I expected his past of servicing men, being a gypsy, would at least be a topic between them so that I can at least, have in my heart, think Maddy cares more about Luca and who he is. But there was nothing like that. She didn't take the time to ask him, to observe his expressions and responses, no downtime for a proper exchange to go about them to even border on love. She was attracted to him because of his appearance and his care for her. I'm a romantic, yes, but even I know it takes so much more for love to bloom between two people. Until now, I am of impression that what they had was attraction not love. I observed the same problem with the Never Kiss a Rake, but they had more substantial interactions and high EQ to make it acceptable.

If I may say so, if Maddy and Luca were put into the real world- their love would shatter to pieces.