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Blackstone Trilogy #1
Sea Fires
Spirited, impetuous Miranda Chadwick arrived in the untamed New World prepared for any peril. So when the notorious pirate Jack Blackstone kidnapped her, she was certain she could somehow make the insufferable golden-haired rogue surrender to justice. But Miranda soon found that she was the one surrendering — to the shameless desires that the scoundrel's bronzed, lean body and demanding caresses ignited ... and her own reckless hunger for more!
Jack Blackstone regarded the furious Miranda Chadwick with a triumphant grin. He would hold this feisty wench just long enough to fulfill his secret plans, then he'd toss her back and return to the sea. But he'd reckoned without the temptation that made him fall under the spell of her deep blue eyes, hunger again and again for her meltingly soft, slender body, and yield to an all-consuming passion from which he could never escape!
Jack Blackstone regarded the furious Miranda Chadwick with a triumphant grin. He would hold this feisty wench just long enough to fulfill his secret plans, then he'd toss her back and return to the sea. But he'd reckoned without the temptation that made him fall under the spell of her deep blue eyes, hunger again and again for her meltingly soft, slender body, and yield to an all-consuming passion from which he could never escape!
430 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1992
5 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Christine Dorsey
36 books25 followersChristine Dorsey is an award-winning, best-selling author who writes historical romance at its best.
Known for her strong characterization, non-stop action and romantic love stories.
Christine loves giving her many readers happy endings.
Note:Pen name Christine Elliott
Known for her strong characterization, non-stop action and romantic love stories.
Christine loves giving her many readers happy endings.
Note:Pen name Christine Elliott
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 1, 2021
***ETA*** April 30, 2021
I've been doing so much this month I haven't had time to seriously read or put anything on GR. As I'm doing some major Spring cleaning and getting rid of stuff, I came upon this book and gave it a quick re-read before deciding whether to hoard it longer or sell it. And y'know what I thought? "What the hell crawled into my panties the first time I read this book to make me so irritable?"
I'm upping my 3-star rating of this book to 4 stars, because I did like the cuteness factor of the book, contrary to my original review. I enjoyed Miranda's relationships with the crew members, and, especially, her saucy relationship with Jack. The book was cutesy. So what? Sometimes a cutesy story is what you need. I don't know why I feel more inclined to favor this book now, but it was nice to read this last night. April has always been a crazy hell of a month and Sea Fires was a pleasant diversion from it all.
I'm not deleting this review, though, as it does a decent job summarizing the plot, it was just snarky in tone.************************************************************************
Christine Dorsey’s “Sea Fires” features bookish, yet feisty Miranda Chadwick as the heroine, embarking on an ocean voyage home to the colonies. Her only interest is in her microscope (which had specially ground lenses designed by the Leuwenhoek himself, la-di-da!) and examining the animalcules of various flora and fauna. (If I ever have to hear that irritating word animalcule again, I swear I will cut somebody up bad--sorry, I just never want to hear that word again).
Our dashing hero is Captain Gentleman Jack Blackstone who has to avenge the death of his family at the hands of the evil Spanish. (Sigh, I’ve seen that plot before, many TIMES over. Why can’t other folks be the bad guys in these pirate stories? Oh, well.).
Miranda’s father has some shady dealings with Jack and convinces him to kidnap Miranda for several weeks until the magistrate leaves town. Miranda is such a do-gooder that she won’t think twice about ratting out Jack, thus exposing his—and her father’s—pirate enterprise. But Jack’s no villain. Jack is a pirate, but he was forced into the life to seek revenge. His soul was destroyed and he can never hope for a genuinely happy life. He never wanted to be a pirate. He says this over and over so often that…Gar! Enough! I had visions of Jerry Seinfeld in a ruffled white shirt whining repeatedly, “But I don’t wanna be a pirate…”
Miranda battles wits with Jack as they fight their attraction. Miranda spends much of her time on the ship getting to know the individual men who make up the crew: tough grizzled sailors with names like Scar, King, and Phin. But no, these aren’t rough buccaneers, just solid, salt of the earth guys who got into a bad situation and appreciate an elegant lady on board. She educates them on biology and they are charmed by her beauty and brains.
Despite the well-worn setup, this one isn’t so bad. The love scenes were mildly erotic and a tart sense of humor shone throughout the book. It was funny at times, but a little too cutesy for me to consider it a stellar read.
This is the first in a series of a generation of sea-faring Blackstones. I might give them a try (I've read other Christine Dorseys which were quite entertaining); hopefully, those will have a little more bite and swashbuckling excitement than "Sea Fires."
I've been doing so much this month I haven't had time to seriously read or put anything on GR. As I'm doing some major Spring cleaning and getting rid of stuff, I came upon this book and gave it a quick re-read before deciding whether to hoard it longer or sell it. And y'know what I thought? "What the hell crawled into my panties the first time I read this book to make me so irritable?"
I'm upping my 3-star rating of this book to 4 stars, because I did like the cuteness factor of the book, contrary to my original review. I enjoyed Miranda's relationships with the crew members, and, especially, her saucy relationship with Jack. The book was cutesy. So what? Sometimes a cutesy story is what you need. I don't know why I feel more inclined to favor this book now, but it was nice to read this last night. April has always been a crazy hell of a month and Sea Fires was a pleasant diversion from it all.
I'm not deleting this review, though, as it does a decent job summarizing the plot, it was just snarky in tone.************************************************************************
Christine Dorsey’s “Sea Fires” features bookish, yet feisty Miranda Chadwick as the heroine, embarking on an ocean voyage home to the colonies. Her only interest is in her microscope (which had specially ground lenses designed by the Leuwenhoek himself, la-di-da!) and examining the animalcules of various flora and fauna. (If I ever have to hear that irritating word animalcule again, I swear I will cut somebody up bad--sorry, I just never want to hear that word again).
Our dashing hero is Captain Gentleman Jack Blackstone who has to avenge the death of his family at the hands of the evil Spanish. (Sigh, I’ve seen that plot before, many TIMES over. Why can’t other folks be the bad guys in these pirate stories? Oh, well.).
Miranda’s father has some shady dealings with Jack and convinces him to kidnap Miranda for several weeks until the magistrate leaves town. Miranda is such a do-gooder that she won’t think twice about ratting out Jack, thus exposing his—and her father’s—pirate enterprise. But Jack’s no villain. Jack is a pirate, but he was forced into the life to seek revenge. His soul was destroyed and he can never hope for a genuinely happy life. He never wanted to be a pirate. He says this over and over so often that…Gar! Enough! I had visions of Jerry Seinfeld in a ruffled white shirt whining repeatedly, “But I don’t wanna be a pirate…”
Miranda battles wits with Jack as they fight their attraction. Miranda spends much of her time on the ship getting to know the individual men who make up the crew: tough grizzled sailors with names like Scar, King, and Phin. But no, these aren’t rough buccaneers, just solid, salt of the earth guys who got into a bad situation and appreciate an elegant lady on board. She educates them on biology and they are charmed by her beauty and brains.
Despite the well-worn setup, this one isn’t so bad. The love scenes were mildly erotic and a tart sense of humor shone throughout the book. It was funny at times, but a little too cutesy for me to consider it a stellar read.
This is the first in a series of a generation of sea-faring Blackstones. I might give them a try (I've read other Christine Dorseys which were quite entertaining); hopefully, those will have a little more bite and swashbuckling excitement than "Sea Fires."
September 18, 2015
I'll be honest with you :
I'm a jaded romance reader.
But Sea Fires reminds me where the love of the genre springs from in hearts everywhere.
Surprisingly filled with great humor, I didn't expect to chuckle, and even on one occasion laugh so loud and long by son started interrogating me. Dorsey clearly has a great sense of humor that's a refreshing change. I grew tired of the heroine's overly inquisitive mind at times, but Captain Jack's almost continuous exclamation, God's Blood!, made my cheeks sore from grinning. The man's impatience was hysterical, this was clearly a man who has as bad of luck as I do.
Not that it was constant giggles, though. The backstory is a pretty gruesome, cold one, if not stereotypical. The man wishes to avenge his slain family. How often had we heard that before? Still, the heroine Miranda was refreshing. She had never even thought of marriage and kiddies, raised by a grandfather enamored by science and exploration. Raised as an intellect and never being exposed to fancy balls or parties, she instead was hooked on her microscope, a device she paranoidly accused everyone of trying to steal from chapter one.
When the pirates of the ship become enthused in their backwards way with the little 'animals that float in the water' they drink, good times roll. Her approach may have been overdone sometimes to the point where it wore thin, but she was still a great character because she - and her background - were so different. Her mother was dead and her father left them, but she sought him out when her grandfather passed on. Independent and strong, not weighed down or the least concerned with modern day (then) society, she innocently ventures forth into one disaster after another.
Sex wise, clothes fly off pretty early on. She doesn't have the typical reaction by far the encounter of, how she points it, fornication. It even grew annoying at times but the romantic scenes were sensually written. They weren't so hot your socks melted off, or even where the heart beat changed much, but they were enough.
Thankfully her beauty is not gushed over, and instead we get the impression she may be a bit plain, and that beauty is in the eye of beholder. Jack never sits and stares at her doe-y eyes all day, thank God! The story is complex for this sort, with the father Henry helping Jack and Miranda get into trouble every step of the way. Sure the ending is a little predictable, but with this kind of novel who cares? We always know the romance flourishes and the heroine/hero wins, that's what we read it for.
Written back in 92, it's one of the better historicals I've read in the past few years. It's a re-read for me, where I forgot the point to where it's absurd (my memory's really that faulty, folks), but I'm glad I revisited it, and it's certainly earned a life on my shelves. I'm curious to read more of this authors' work.
I'm a jaded romance reader.
But Sea Fires reminds me where the love of the genre springs from in hearts everywhere.
Surprisingly filled with great humor, I didn't expect to chuckle, and even on one occasion laugh so loud and long by son started interrogating me. Dorsey clearly has a great sense of humor that's a refreshing change. I grew tired of the heroine's overly inquisitive mind at times, but Captain Jack's almost continuous exclamation, God's Blood!, made my cheeks sore from grinning. The man's impatience was hysterical, this was clearly a man who has as bad of luck as I do.
Not that it was constant giggles, though. The backstory is a pretty gruesome, cold one, if not stereotypical. The man wishes to avenge his slain family. How often had we heard that before? Still, the heroine Miranda was refreshing. She had never even thought of marriage and kiddies, raised by a grandfather enamored by science and exploration. Raised as an intellect and never being exposed to fancy balls or parties, she instead was hooked on her microscope, a device she paranoidly accused everyone of trying to steal from chapter one.
When the pirates of the ship become enthused in their backwards way with the little 'animals that float in the water' they drink, good times roll. Her approach may have been overdone sometimes to the point where it wore thin, but she was still a great character because she - and her background - were so different. Her mother was dead and her father left them, but she sought him out when her grandfather passed on. Independent and strong, not weighed down or the least concerned with modern day (then) society, she innocently ventures forth into one disaster after another.
Sex wise, clothes fly off pretty early on. She doesn't have the typical reaction by far the encounter of, how she points it, fornication. It even grew annoying at times but the romantic scenes were sensually written. They weren't so hot your socks melted off, or even where the heart beat changed much, but they were enough.
Thankfully her beauty is not gushed over, and instead we get the impression she may be a bit plain, and that beauty is in the eye of beholder. Jack never sits and stares at her doe-y eyes all day, thank God! The story is complex for this sort, with the father Henry helping Jack and Miranda get into trouble every step of the way. Sure the ending is a little predictable, but with this kind of novel who cares? We always know the romance flourishes and the heroine/hero wins, that's what we read it for.
Written back in 92, it's one of the better historicals I've read in the past few years. It's a re-read for me, where I forgot the point to where it's absurd (my memory's really that faulty, folks), but I'm glad I revisited it, and it's certainly earned a life on my shelves. I'm curious to read more of this authors' work.
November 20, 2021
Fun and cute read.
March 24, 2024
I need to be ravished by a pirate asap
May 23, 2013
I could pretty much write the same review for this novel as I did The Renegade. The author made the obnoxious, arrogant, priggy bookworm heroine obnoxious on purpose to play her for laughs. It has a fairly fresh and original plot instead of just the same old, same old. Again the trials and tribulations grow the childish brat into a human being but again the hero falls in lust with her too soon before enough transformation takes place and the heroine was still too puke-worthy. All in all a pretty good book if the author had let the romance develop more naturally as the brat grew up instead of rushing the lust.
October 15, 2013
This is a very fun interesting read! From the first moment they meet you can tell it is going to be a very interesting story! I love the different twist on the pirate character, Gentleman Jack Blackstone. He is not your typical pirate for sure! Adding to that, an educated woman scientist, it makes for some quite funny moments! I am looking forward to reading the next in the series! A Book Junky's Obsession - http://myopenlife2001.wordpress.com/2...
June 27, 2012
When I first read this I must have been in high school. Since then it has become a favorite of mine. I don't know if it's the pirate fantasy that captain jack sparrow/johnny depp inspired or not but I must have read this at least 3 times.
Want to read
June 7, 2017Free today on Kindle. :)
December 18, 2012
Free, so I'm surprised I finished it bc I didn't really like the characters.
January 30, 2013
Is a great book to read
May 10, 2014
This was a great pirate romance with lots of plot twists.Although I felt it was a little too long.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews