Beloved Embrace

by Cassie Edwards

In a romantic adventure set on the high seas, savage pirates attack a ship carrying a beautiful young woman. Pirate Brandon Seton realizes that resisting this jewel of the sea will surely drive him mad unless he can win her heart.

Genres: Historical Romance, Pirates, Romance, Historical

492 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1987

About the author

Edwards began writing romances in 1982 and released her 100th novel, Savage Skies, on August 28, 2007. Although her earlier books were classic historical romances, the vast majority of her novels involve Native American tribes. Edwards's grandmother was a full-blooded Cheyenne. Her first 99 books sold a combined 10 million copies as of August 2007, with her more recent novels averaging sales of 250,000–350,000 copies.

Edwards has won the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award and the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award, as well as being named one of Affaire de Coeur's top ten favorite romance writers. Edwards has a reputation for meticulously researching the proper anthropological backgrounds of each tribe she writes about.

Edwards and her husband Charles, a retired high school biology teacher, have been married for over 50 years. They have two sons, Charles and Brian, and three grandchildren. The family lived in St. Louis, Missouri for over thirty years, but now reside in Mattoon, Illinois.

Reviews

[Magdalen Kligerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little Orlando bloom pirate moment. Had sus vibes about step siblings, Mexicans and Native Americans. Soooooo that was weird

[AJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

actually one of the worst books I’ve ever read :)

[Blueglass · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cross between a pirate and a western romance. I liked the plot mostly, though it was overly complicated and the characters were entwined in a weird, coincidental way. For instance, the younger pirate, Brandon was kidnapped by the older pirate, Cyril, when he was only 10 years old. Brandon and Cyril grew close over the years on the high seas and Brandon decided to stay with him after he was grown. Brandon and Cyril attack a ship and capture its' bounty. Brandon takes beautiful passenger, Leanna Rutherford, as his "special" prisoner. She was on her way to the Seton ranch in Texas where her stepfather and stepbrother were building a new life. It just so happens that her stepfather is the father of the pirate Brandon! Weird, right? She heard the name Brandon and thought almost immediately that it might be her stepfather's long lost son. I mean, really? Maybe Brandon was a very unusual name. Anyway, small world.
From the very beginning, the two were in love and wanted to be together. However, it was Brandon's love of the sea that seemed to stand in their way. Well, that, and attacks by other pirates, Comanches, Mexicans and arguments with her stepbrother, Matthew. It was just one thing after another. Leanna decided that after her parents died that she would buy a hotel and run that business. Not only that, but add a general store and saloon. This annoyed me because she had no business sense and just took her jewels to buy it from the corrupt General Rufino. She thought that she would get over on him because he was always drugged with opium, but she did not get a contract signed. Also, there was no actual show of her working. The hotel seemed just for show - as a plot point.
So I liked this one, mostly for the plot and adventure of it. The characters were a little blah. As a pirate, Brandon was kind of tame. Leanna was overly confident in her abilities to protect herself and put herself in constant dangerous situations. She never seemed to learn.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing itself was good, but too many squick factors. I admittedly didn’t finish reading the book. After 2 occasions where 15 yr olds were sexualized (and yes- based on the time period- I know there was a good chance they could have been married already) and then talk about being molested by a step brother and then a pirate talking about how they give the women to other pirates… no thanks!

[ann_zack_cee_am_ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF-ed halfway through the book. Echoing sentiments of some of the readers here that plot became a rather convoluted mess with unnecessary characters, making it a quite hard for me to follow through till the end.

[Danette · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. got to pg. 235 and just wasn’t interested with this plot.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brandon was kidnapped by pirates when he was 10 years old, over the years he had many chances of leaving the pirate ship to go back to his family but he chose to stay with the pirates because he fell in love with the sea and the adventures of a pirates life. over the years he established a bond with the pirate captain,loving him like a father. one day they mistake a ship as a mexican ship filled with arms, they take on prisoners with whom Brandon meets a young lady and falls in love. as the story goes on we discover just how small this world is and how chance meetings end up being related to you in ways you never thought of.

this story is full of twists and turns and adventure. Im use to reading Cassie Edwards Indian Romances so this one was a bit different for me, reading her story about pirates. the story itself was good just not as good as her indian romances. I felt it dragged on a bit and she did get a little bit of indian stuff in the story.

still a very good read....

[Slayermel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book up to about page 300 and then it just kind of lost my interest and I had to force myself to pick the book up to finish it. I'm not sure if the author just had too much going on in the story line to keep up with, but I found the characters behaviours started to change and the story became very predictable. Which is a real shame because I actually really enjoyed the characters up to that point. So I'll give it 3 stars based on the first 3/4 of the book. I will give Cassie Edwards another try as the book was not horrible, I just hope the next book is more consistent.

[Keri]

I didn't know!!! I was just a kid!

[Denise Koopman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites in this type of book. It is wonderful.