Actual rating: slightly lower than 5 stars -- but only because of the slightly underwhelming ending.
I love pirate stories, they just fascinate me. The adventure, the action, the unique world of piracy. And although I don't often read romance, I'm all for a romantic plot if it's written well. So, when I saw this book, I knew I had to give it a go.
It was a great read. This is historical fiction done right -- where the historical setting acts as a rich and interesting backdrop to the story, not overriding the actual plot. The reader doesn't have to be an expert on the time period to understand the story, yet enough historical knowledge is skilfully interlaced throughout the book to make it satisfactory for those who are quite knowledgable about the time period. The pirate element allows for some awesome events and aspects that just make the story feel more complete; it's not just a tale of a girl stealing a guy's heart out at sea, but it's about belonging, responsibility and honour.
Kincade is the Pirate King and there is a lot that comes with that title. He has to fullfill his role for reasons you learn later in the story, but he is conflicted between playing King and looking after the young woman, miss Ana, who his crew kidnapped from Portobelo because of her important title, who also continues to surprise him with her personality. They both have many secrets and hidden intentions, but will their complex developing relationship cause them to open up to each other, or forever guard their true selves from one another?
Not once throughout the entire book did I feel that the writing waned, and the author managed to add excitement and tension to every chapter. The pacing was perfect -- just fast enough to keep the reader on the edge of their seat, but not so rapidly-paced that you lose track of what is going on. The characters were great, they all felt real to me. The only fault for me was the ending which fell a little short of my expectations because certain characters were seemingly left out of the light, and in my opinion, a great opportunity for a particularly emotionally intense scene was missed. However, this is but one fault out of an otherwise perfect book, and so my rating is still very high.
Yes, I would definitely recommend this to pretty much anyone. Don't be put off by the idea that this is just a bad-boy pirate romance, because it is much more than that. I would not have read it if it wasn't.