Stockholm Syndrome, Anyone?
As a lover of historical romance, I occasionally enjoy a good pirate one. Unfortunately, this book was not good. The heroine is essentially kidnapped by the pirate “hero” who hopes to get revenge on her grandfather. While on his ship, he treats her pretty terribly, threatening physical intimacy and keeping her locked in his cabin. He doesn't give her many options or choices, including not letting her bathe or change her dress for two weeks. Despite his callow and callous treatment of her, the heroine inexplicably starts to fall for him nearly immediately. Other than I knew this was a romance, and so this must happen, I saw no justification for that. Seriously, a man might be handsome, but if he treats you little better than desirable pond scum, how could you fall for that? (Oh, and she seemed VERY knowledgeable about intimacy even though she’s a supposed innocent.) Adding to the creepiness factor is how much he clearly desires his captive. I got so many “ick” vibes from this book that I'm not quite sure why I kept listening. In the end, he even forces her to marry him. The narrator was not good either. She couldn't pull off the southern accent needed for the heroine. I also wasn't wild about the revisionist history aspect of this. Authors want their characters to be likable, so they give them modern sensibilities. We all know that slavery was and is reprehensible, but giving abolitionist leanings to a southern belle set to inherit a slave-run plantation in a few years is just not believable. If there were so many plantation owners in the pre-Civil-War South who wanted to free the slaves, as depicted in modern books set in the era, slavery would not have existed at all!
I received a promo code for this audiobook, but that did not affect my review.