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Exley & Dyer #1
Reckless
When pirate Henry Dyer’s ship captures the French frigate Sans Souci, nobody seems to know why Captain Buckler has been chasing such a neglected and unprepossessing prize ship. The puzzle only gets more perplexing when they take the ship and find an English girl in leg irons.
It’s an old and popular love story – the pirate and the virgin who steals his heart away, only this time the pirate is the virgin and the girl isn’t a girl at all. She is James ‘Jem’ Exley, thief, molly, occasional actor and full time transvestite. Jettisoned to the New World in order to spare his aristocratic family any further disgrace, Jem is glamorous, flamboyant and fascinating to Henry, a former quiet country boy who became a pirate when his merchant vessel was robbed.
At only nineteen, Henry is determined to prove himself a man one way or the other, and is astonished to find that nothing makes him feel like more of a man than his increasingly reckless passion for Jem. As their love leads them into trouble, the mysterious circumstances of Jem’s capture lead Henry deeper into a mystery that not only upends his whole world, but sees them running for their lives across the Caribbean.
Stolen jewels, scheming Captains and devious drag artists collide in this steamy eighteenth century romp from the author of These Violent Delights and Going Sasquatch.
It’s an old and popular love story – the pirate and the virgin who steals his heart away, only this time the pirate is the virgin and the girl isn’t a girl at all. She is James ‘Jem’ Exley, thief, molly, occasional actor and full time transvestite. Jettisoned to the New World in order to spare his aristocratic family any further disgrace, Jem is glamorous, flamboyant and fascinating to Henry, a former quiet country boy who became a pirate when his merchant vessel was robbed.
At only nineteen, Henry is determined to prove himself a man one way or the other, and is astonished to find that nothing makes him feel like more of a man than his increasingly reckless passion for Jem. As their love leads them into trouble, the mysterious circumstances of Jem’s capture lead Henry deeper into a mystery that not only upends his whole world, but sees them running for their lives across the Caribbean.
Stolen jewels, scheming Captains and devious drag artists collide in this steamy eighteenth century romp from the author of These Violent Delights and Going Sasquatch.
403 pages, ebook
First published November 7, 2017
48 people are currently reading
286 people want to read
About the author
Jess Whitecroft
24 books129 followersJess Whitecroft was born and educated in the UK, where she was once voted 'Most Likely To Think That Writing A Romantic Comedy About Bigfoot Is A Good Idea'.
After serving an apprenticeship with the late, great Black Lace books, and after many genres and many pseudonyms, she returned to romance, with a fondness for telling unconventional stories about unconventional lovers.
After serving an apprenticeship with the late, great Black Lace books, and after many genres and many pseudonyms, she returned to romance, with a fondness for telling unconventional stories about unconventional lovers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
March 6, 2020
3/6/20 Currently FREE via Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Reckless-Jess-...
5 Swashbuckling Stars
I wear glasses. I am a terrible swimmer. I get seasick just looking at watercraft…However, after reading this marvelous story I am ready to join a pirate crew just to remain with Henry and Jem a little while longer.
This story has a little of everything: action, adventure, romance, mystery; but, it is Henry and Jem who make the tale worth reading. Henry is young (19), a virgin, and has been a pirate for the last two years. Jem is older (23), sexually experienced, and…well, let’s just say he is complex. Henry is a sweetheart, but Jem has my admiration and respect. Jem is a survivor, and I love his scrappy nature. Together, these two are kindred spirits despite their myriad differences.
I originally read this story through Kindle Unlimited, but I love it so much that I bought a copy to keep as my own treasure. This is my first Jess Whitecroft story, but I am eager to read more by this talented author. Highly recommend!
5 Swashbuckling Stars
I wear glasses. I am a terrible swimmer. I get seasick just looking at watercraft…However, after reading this marvelous story I am ready to join a pirate crew just to remain with Henry and Jem a little while longer.
This story has a little of everything: action, adventure, romance, mystery; but, it is Henry and Jem who make the tale worth reading. Henry is young (19), a virgin, and has been a pirate for the last two years. Jem is older (23), sexually experienced, and…well, let’s just say he is complex. Henry is a sweetheart, but Jem has my admiration and respect. Jem is a survivor, and I love his scrappy nature. Together, these two are kindred spirits despite their myriad differences.
I originally read this story through Kindle Unlimited, but I love it so much that I bought a copy to keep as my own treasure. This is my first Jess Whitecroft story, but I am eager to read more by this talented author. Highly recommend!
August 30, 2021
3 Stars
I’m by no means an expert on pirate stories, but I thought this was a decent tale. This centers on young Henry, newbie but thriving pirate who has aspirations of commanding his own contingent in due time, and how his life is upended when his captain captures a foreign ship of questionable value. There, Henry encounters prisoner transvestite Jem, who opens his eyes (amongst other things) to all sorts of revelations.
The blurb does an excellent job at describing what’s going on. Henry soon finds himself neck deep in subterfuge where he can’t really trust anyone (let alone his venerable captain) as suspicious going-ons put many lives at stake. At the center is Jem, who stirs all the feelings (mentally and physically) in Henry that he has long denied.
As these two not so successfully hide their attraction to each other, they must work together to stay alive and come out on top with the most epic treasure known to man. Can they do it? What do you think?
This was filled with instalust, instalove, some historical homophobia and the need to be secretive, along with some gory violence, bouts of uncomfortable prostitution, and don’t you worry - a big win for our two heroes! This was rough around the edges but not enough to dissuade me from reading the sequel. I’m sufficiently confident that lovers of pirate MM romance will enjoy this romp!
I’m by no means an expert on pirate stories, but I thought this was a decent tale. This centers on young Henry, newbie but thriving pirate who has aspirations of commanding his own contingent in due time, and how his life is upended when his captain captures a foreign ship of questionable value. There, Henry encounters prisoner transvestite Jem, who opens his eyes (amongst other things) to all sorts of revelations.
The blurb does an excellent job at describing what’s going on. Henry soon finds himself neck deep in subterfuge where he can’t really trust anyone (let alone his venerable captain) as suspicious going-ons put many lives at stake. At the center is Jem, who stirs all the feelings (mentally and physically) in Henry that he has long denied.
As these two not so successfully hide their attraction to each other, they must work together to stay alive and come out on top with the most epic treasure known to man. Can they do it? What do you think?
This was filled with instalust, instalove, some historical homophobia and the need to be secretive, along with some gory violence, bouts of uncomfortable prostitution, and don’t you worry - a big win for our two heroes! This was rough around the edges but not enough to dissuade me from reading the sequel. I’m sufficiently confident that lovers of pirate MM romance will enjoy this romp!
May 31, 2020
If you fancy a good ‘old-fashioned’ swashbuckler, then this is it.
Pirates galore, a 'damsel' in distress and one serious treasure are the main ingredients to this fun pirate novel.
Henry and Jem are cute, sweet and very enthusiastic with each other, grabbing the chance of love even if it is ‘highly unconventional’ in the late 1700 to see two men together.
I particularly loved Henry’s firsts and Jem’s sassiness. And finding out about the history of molly houses and the likes was quite fascinating.
Only niggle – the ILYs come far too early or me. I would have preferred more relationship development before that. Still – this is a great, entertaining read!
Pirates galore, a 'damsel' in distress and one serious treasure are the main ingredients to this fun pirate novel.
Henry and Jem are cute, sweet and very enthusiastic with each other, grabbing the chance of love even if it is ‘highly unconventional’ in the late 1700 to see two men together.
I particularly loved Henry’s firsts and Jem’s sassiness. And finding out about the history of molly houses and the likes was quite fascinating.
Only niggle – the ILYs come far too early or me. I would have preferred more relationship development before that. Still – this is a great, entertaining read!
August 28, 2023
Reviewing on re-read.
Jess Whitecroft seems to be one of those love-her-or-hate-her writers, and I love her.
The romance in Reckless is wrapped up in a caper novel, but although the book's hilarious and the sex is insanely hot, I wouldn't exactly call the story lighthearted. The pirates -- Henry Dyer included -- are murderous; Jem Exley is, as he himself puts it, a thief, a molly, and a whore, whose noble family has thrown him out on account of the second characteristic. People don't bathe nearly as much as one might like. There's an explicit description of a hanging.
But, well. The love between Jem and Henry is magnificent, breathtaking, throw-everything-away-for-its-sake all-consuming. It's a grand passion at Paolo-and-Francesca pitch; Jem more or less believes they're going to Hell, in fact, and:
Jem swallowed hard. "We're going to die young, aren't we?"
"Almost definitely." [Henry says.]
Jem's fingers tightened even more, hard enough to stop the blood. "Then we must live," he said.
Jess Whitecroft seems to be one of those love-her-or-hate-her writers, and I love her.
The romance in Reckless is wrapped up in a caper novel, but although the book's hilarious and the sex is insanely hot, I wouldn't exactly call the story lighthearted. The pirates -- Henry Dyer included -- are murderous; Jem Exley is, as he himself puts it, a thief, a molly, and a whore, whose noble family has thrown him out on account of the second characteristic. People don't bathe nearly as much as one might like. There's an explicit description of a hanging.
But, well. The love between Jem and Henry is magnificent, breathtaking, throw-everything-away-for-its-sake all-consuming. It's a grand passion at Paolo-and-Francesca pitch; Jem more or less believes they're going to Hell, in fact, and:
Jem swallowed hard. "We're going to die young, aren't we?"
"Almost definitely." [Henry says.]
Jem's fingers tightened even more, hard enough to stop the blood. "Then we must live," he said.
July 27, 2021
3.5 Stars
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life… is maybe not for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good swashbucklin’ tale of adventure and romance on the high-seas, and this one was certainly all that, but I’ll be honest and admit I spend a lot of my time reading stories like this—historicals and/or fantasy tales—fixating on how dirty everyone must be. As strange as that may be to some, it’s an element I personally get stuck on to a worrying degree at times. I like things and people to be clean and hygienic, so reading a gritty and (possibly) fairly historically accurate portrayal of the lives of pirates at the turn of the 18th century left me cringing at certain moments throughout the plot, as to the cleanliness or downright filthiness of the characters and the things they were getting up to.
But I digress…
Personal quirks aside, Whitecroft has crafted an engaging M/M pirate romance here. Featuring a young, soon-to-be pirate Captain, named Henry Dyer, and a mouthy thief and prostitute looking to change his luck, by the name of James ‘Jem’ Exley, this story weaves a tale of action and intrigue, with these two young men forming a romantic bond at its centre, as they work together to unveil a duplicitous pirate captain’s plans to covet an extremely prized treasure.
I enjoyed myself while reading this story and I liked following Henry and Jem through their romantic highs and treacherous lows. I felt their connection was formed, perhaps, a little too fast to be completely compelling for me, but I liked the pair nonetheless. They were polar opposites who complemented one another perfectly, which went a long way to proving they were meant to be.
If you enjoy a good swashbuckling adventure, mixed with some quality scheming, sassy leads and a dash of pirate romance, then this might be right up your alley.
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life… is maybe not for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good swashbucklin’ tale of adventure and romance on the high-seas, and this one was certainly all that, but I’ll be honest and admit I spend a lot of my time reading stories like this—historicals and/or fantasy tales—fixating on how dirty everyone must be. As strange as that may be to some, it’s an element I personally get stuck on to a worrying degree at times. I like things and people to be clean and hygienic, so reading a gritty and (possibly) fairly historically accurate portrayal of the lives of pirates at the turn of the 18th century left me cringing at certain moments throughout the plot, as to the cleanliness or downright filthiness of the characters and the things they were getting up to.
But I digress…
Personal quirks aside, Whitecroft has crafted an engaging M/M pirate romance here. Featuring a young, soon-to-be pirate Captain, named Henry Dyer, and a mouthy thief and prostitute looking to change his luck, by the name of James ‘Jem’ Exley, this story weaves a tale of action and intrigue, with these two young men forming a romantic bond at its centre, as they work together to unveil a duplicitous pirate captain’s plans to covet an extremely prized treasure.
I enjoyed myself while reading this story and I liked following Henry and Jem through their romantic highs and treacherous lows. I felt their connection was formed, perhaps, a little too fast to be completely compelling for me, but I liked the pair nonetheless. They were polar opposites who complemented one another perfectly, which went a long way to proving they were meant to be.
If you enjoy a good swashbuckling adventure, mixed with some quality scheming, sassy leads and a dash of pirate romance, then this might be right up your alley.
October 5, 2018
There was a lot to like about this Pirate Henry a mere nineteen with his innocence and simple goodness of character. Jem; thief, molly, transvestite far from a virgin, a sassy bundle of curls, bows and trouble. There's plenty heat, some sweetness and a cat.
3.5* Definitely worth reading to meet Jem. Shameless, proud of who is he is and a plucky survivor beneath the make-up. A terrific character. There's also something wonderful about stalwart Henry's infatuation and his joy and open pride in the association.
There's adventure, a little action and quite a bit of silliness about the plot.
And PIRATES. Why shiver me timbers an' avast me hearties, discovering this just past talk like ye Pirate day seemed a destiny of delightful arrrrggghhh's, a gallon of rum and the odd walk ye plank to ole Davy Jones. But there I was disappointed, there was little maniacal Pirate glee to this. While ones nature was painted dark it was off-page with nothing to back the rhetoric, removing danger from the threat. There was no Pirate talk, certain phrases were strikingly modern for this undisclosed time period. Would have loved more of a Piratical flavour to the story, the authors note at the start was off-putting in it's seriousness leading me to expect historical accuracy to be paramount.
These for the most part felt rather civilised pirates. There's mention of 'articles' without explanation, I have a narrow grasp on the concept but they're given such consequence felt it could have done with more clarity within the book.
Well worth a read, Jem is as stated a treat to meet. Don't expect any peg-legs or Parrots but it's a decent romp.
3.5* Definitely worth reading to meet Jem. Shameless, proud of who is he is and a plucky survivor beneath the make-up. A terrific character. There's also something wonderful about stalwart Henry's infatuation and his joy and open pride in the association.
There's adventure, a little action and quite a bit of silliness about the plot.
And PIRATES. Why shiver me timbers an' avast me hearties, discovering this just past talk like ye Pirate day seemed a destiny of delightful arrrrggghhh's, a gallon of rum and the odd walk ye plank to ole Davy Jones. But there I was disappointed, there was little maniacal Pirate glee to this. While ones nature was painted dark it was off-page with nothing to back the rhetoric, removing danger from the threat. There was no Pirate talk, certain phrases were strikingly modern for this undisclosed time period. Would have loved more of a Piratical flavour to the story, the authors note at the start was off-putting in it's seriousness leading me to expect historical accuracy to be paramount.
These for the most part felt rather civilised pirates. There's mention of 'articles' without explanation, I have a narrow grasp on the concept but they're given such consequence felt it could have done with more clarity within the book.
Well worth a read, Jem is as stated a treat to meet. Don't expect any peg-legs or Parrots but it's a decent romp.
probably-not-but-freebie
September 21, 2018Freebie at amazon.com right now: https://smile.amazon.com/Reckless-Jes...
June 26, 2019
Oh, I had such a blast with that book! And it's from a new-to-me author with a back-catalogue. Lovely!
So, this is a historical romance with pirates! And cross-dressing thieves! What's not to love?
Okay, so now I reached my allowed limit of four exclamation marks in one review.
Let's get my teeny-tiny little niggle out of the way first - there could have been more world building. I've read quite a number of age-of-sail and pirate books so I didn't consciously notice gaps (because I filled them in by myself) but for novices there might be some confusion about things like e.g. the articles on a pirate ship but really, the context should clear things like that up. I suppose it's preferable to the alternative which I've also encountered where every little nook and cranny on the ship was called by their first, last and middle name and my mind translated this to "thingy that does thing". So there is that.
Otherwise, I loved it. Jem and Henry are such treasures as MCs. I loved that Jem is such a tiny, fierce and feisty example of perseverance, strength and a healthy dollop of cynicism (combined with a strong love of women's clothes). In contrast, there is Henry, who is basically just a really good guy. And a pirate. And big and strong. And teaches the whores he spends a lot of time with (to keep up appearances), how to do sums so they won't get swindled out of their income by the madame. Did I mention that he's a good guy?
I'm out of exclamation marks but I can still *swoon*.
;-)
Also, they are both not always smart but really intelligent and that is an experience that I noticed, historical romance sometimes robs the reader of. People in the past were people. They may have not possessed the (potential) knowledge we have today but that absolutely doesn't mean they weren't every bit as intelligent as we are today.
There is a tiny bit of drama because of sexual orientation in the beginning, but really, pirates, right? Let's say it's not overly drawn out.
The supporting cast could have been developed a tiny bit more, but again, I'm suffering on a very high level here.
As for the plot, of course there was the love story, but there was a really solid side plot that kept the ships moving. The writing is tidy and well-paced and imbued with the kind of dry wit that I just adore.
Highly recommended!
*wince* extra exclamation mark. Sorry about that.
So, this is a historical romance with pirates! And cross-dressing thieves! What's not to love?
Okay, so now I reached my allowed limit of four exclamation marks in one review.
Let's get my teeny-tiny little niggle out of the way first - there could have been more world building. I've read quite a number of age-of-sail and pirate books so I didn't consciously notice gaps (because I filled them in by myself) but for novices there might be some confusion about things like e.g. the articles on a pirate ship but really, the context should clear things like that up. I suppose it's preferable to the alternative which I've also encountered where every little nook and cranny on the ship was called by their first, last and middle name and my mind translated this to "thingy that does thing". So there is that.
Otherwise, I loved it. Jem and Henry are such treasures as MCs. I loved that Jem is such a tiny, fierce and feisty example of perseverance, strength and a healthy dollop of cynicism (combined with a strong love of women's clothes). In contrast, there is Henry, who is basically just a really good guy. And a pirate. And big and strong. And teaches the whores he spends a lot of time with (to keep up appearances), how to do sums so they won't get swindled out of their income by the madame. Did I mention that he's a good guy?
I'm out of exclamation marks but I can still *swoon*.
;-)
Also, they are both not always smart but really intelligent and that is an experience that I noticed, historical romance sometimes robs the reader of. People in the past were people. They may have not possessed the (potential) knowledge we have today but that absolutely doesn't mean they weren't every bit as intelligent as we are today.
There is a tiny bit of drama because of sexual orientation in the beginning, but really, pirates, right? Let's say it's not overly drawn out.
The supporting cast could have been developed a tiny bit more, but again, I'm suffering on a very high level here.
As for the plot, of course there was the love story, but there was a really solid side plot that kept the ships moving. The writing is tidy and well-paced and imbued with the kind of dry wit that I just adore.
Highly recommended!
*wince* extra exclamation mark. Sorry about that.
December 11, 2021
THIS WAS A GIVEAWAY ON AMAZON. THANK YOU.
My Review: Among the many possible variants of “surprised by love” that exist, this one is a less-than-ordinary choice to use. Henry Dyer, pirate, is not the usual hero; Jem Exley, “damsel” in very deep distress, is not the usual heroine. I’m not sure that a pirate in eighteenth-century Caribbean waters would’ve known the word “transvestite” but it’s clearly a concept any moderately immoral character would’ve encountered long ago, so I’ll go with its being used in this context without crabbing too much. The response to it in the flesh was as reasoned and reasonable as I’d’ve expected it to be.
But the molly herself? That backstory! What a way to make a character fly off the page and into my heart! The stakes couldn’t possibly be higher than “being myself would cost me my life but there is no one else I could be so, so be it.” There’s a huge softness in my readerly heart for characters who take agency and act with decision to make their Otherness into a way of being in the world that wants them to fail.
While making myself comfortable in this world, I was often thinking, “what is it here that Author Whitecroft is trying to tell me in the choices?” Usually that means I’m insufficiently wrapped in the story; here, I was reasonably sure I was being led somewhere but not sure enough of where to simply sit back and enjoy the ride. But, as the story unfolds, there is simply nothing for it but to…simply sit back and enjoy the ride. I was all up in this story from chapter two forwards. The action, my dears, simply does not let up. Whee!
The reason that elicits a "Whee!" from my ever-darkening heat-pump (can't rightly call it a heart anymore) is that I am all about quests, mysteries, puzzles in my fiction. I am also an avid follower of Ma'at, I like order. Just not the order most of y'all like...conformity ≠ order. Sameness is not safety. Look at the burgeoning problems presented by monoculture: Cavendish bananas, the ones in your grocery store, are going extinct because they're clones, identical plants, and they've been targeted by a rot that is unfixable. The precise same thing happened to the Gros Michel bananas of my childhood. (BTW the reason artificial banana flavor tastes like it does is that they were aiming for the more powerful taste of the Gros Michel variant.)
Bananas? What the hell...oh right, sameness. Anyway, this book demonstrates a strong affinity for Ma'at in her "spirit in which justice was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules" sense. The spirit of Justice demands that Jem get his Henry into bed, into the strange and ever-shifting constellation of acts and demands and solutions that make up a transvestite prostitute thief's life in a time where the mere determination that those things constitute an identity not a pathology was inconceivable. Since this story represents a modern take on the topic, they *do* end up constituting an identity. And do you know what? I am just fine with that. As a gay man of a certain age, whose own family contains other gay men even older than I, it's not in the least inconceivable (and I do know what that word means) that people very like Henry and Jem existed and throve despite their absence of trace evidence in the historical record.
The resolution of this story's plot leaves me disposed to seek out the sequel in hopes that the author's wells have not run dry regarding the Life Piratical of Jem and Henry.
My Review: Among the many possible variants of “surprised by love” that exist, this one is a less-than-ordinary choice to use. Henry Dyer, pirate, is not the usual hero; Jem Exley, “damsel” in very deep distress, is not the usual heroine. I’m not sure that a pirate in eighteenth-century Caribbean waters would’ve known the word “transvestite” but it’s clearly a concept any moderately immoral character would’ve encountered long ago, so I’ll go with its being used in this context without crabbing too much. The response to it in the flesh was as reasoned and reasonable as I’d’ve expected it to be.
But the molly herself? That backstory! What a way to make a character fly off the page and into my heart! The stakes couldn’t possibly be higher than “being myself would cost me my life but there is no one else I could be so, so be it.” There’s a huge softness in my readerly heart for characters who take agency and act with decision to make their Otherness into a way of being in the world that wants them to fail.
While making myself comfortable in this world, I was often thinking, “what is it here that Author Whitecroft is trying to tell me in the choices?” Usually that means I’m insufficiently wrapped in the story; here, I was reasonably sure I was being led somewhere but not sure enough of where to simply sit back and enjoy the ride. But, as the story unfolds, there is simply nothing for it but to…simply sit back and enjoy the ride. I was all up in this story from chapter two forwards. The action, my dears, simply does not let up. Whee!
The reason that elicits a "Whee!" from my ever-darkening heat-pump (can't rightly call it a heart anymore) is that I am all about quests, mysteries, puzzles in my fiction. I am also an avid follower of Ma'at, I like order. Just not the order most of y'all like...conformity ≠ order. Sameness is not safety. Look at the burgeoning problems presented by monoculture: Cavendish bananas, the ones in your grocery store, are going extinct because they're clones, identical plants, and they've been targeted by a rot that is unfixable. The precise same thing happened to the Gros Michel bananas of my childhood. (BTW the reason artificial banana flavor tastes like it does is that they were aiming for the more powerful taste of the Gros Michel variant.)
Bananas? What the hell...oh right, sameness. Anyway, this book demonstrates a strong affinity for Ma'at in her "spirit in which justice was applied rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules" sense. The spirit of Justice demands that Jem get his Henry into bed, into the strange and ever-shifting constellation of acts and demands and solutions that make up a transvestite prostitute thief's life in a time where the mere determination that those things constitute an identity not a pathology was inconceivable. Since this story represents a modern take on the topic, they *do* end up constituting an identity. And do you know what? I am just fine with that. As a gay man of a certain age, whose own family contains other gay men even older than I, it's not in the least inconceivable (and I do know what that word means) that people very like Henry and Jem existed and throve despite their absence of trace evidence in the historical record.
The resolution of this story's plot leaves me disposed to seek out the sequel in hopes that the author's wells have not run dry regarding the Life Piratical of Jem and Henry.
February 18, 2025
I quite enjoyed this while I was reading it, especially Jem's character (Henry was, I'm sorry to say, a bit dull by comparison), even though it was WAY too insta for my tastes. But I also put it down about 50 pages in and devoured an entire 860-page fic, and then remembered I was reading it and managed another 70 pages or so before doing a KJC re-read, so . . . 3 stars, I guess? Good, but not good enough to keep me from reading 1000+ pages of other stuff along the way.
Interesting the way it was left, though. [She writes, cryptically.]
Interesting the way it was left, though. [She writes, cryptically.]
January 8, 2024
Shoulda loved it--
actresses and whores, pirates,
Whitecroft--but just meh.
actresses and whores, pirates,
Whitecroft--but just meh.
November 27, 2023
I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, it made it into my top favorites list for naval-themed 1600/1700 MM romance books because of the characters and the plot but on the other hand, I had issues with nearly every aspect of the story which meant I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I could have. These issues included inconsistent characterizations, repetitive smut scenes, a disjointed plot and worst of all - zero attempt at historical authenticity when it comes to the dialogue, which was a big distraction for me.
As usual, first I'll discuss the positives.
I loved Jem and the way the author crafted his characterization. The only part of his backstory that I had issues with was how easily he went from being a brokenhearted actor to becoming a happy prostitute. It felt like the author equated prostitution with rebelling against society, which made me uncomfortable. If Jem had just become promiscuous, that would have made the point. But equating prostitution with a desire for rebelling against society felt a bit disrespectful. Anyway, I loved everything else about Jem's character and in particular, I loved having that type of character in a historical romance. Flamboyant characters are rare in historical romance anyway but if they're present, they're usually vain and immature. In Jem's case, he was intelligent, ruthless and cunning. He reminded me a lot of how 90s-era badass heroines were depicted in TV shows and movies. The way Jem embraced the sexy nature of women's clothes to enhance his own self-confidence was also a brilliant choice. Overall, I loved Jem as a character and he's a rare find in the world of MM romance, never mind historicals.
While I didn't like Jem's take on prostitution (ie, he viewed it as a form of rebellion and as a form of having control over his own life), I loved that the author depicted life in the Nassau brothel realistically, both for the time period and the way brothels operate. In many romance novels that involve a brothel, the authors romanticize them. Everybody associated with the place - prostitutes, pimp, clients - all love being there, they love each other and they're one big, happy family. The prostitutes gossip and giggle together as they braid each others hair in between spreading their legs for customers. The pimp (male or female) is always a kind, parental figure to the prostitutes. The worst offender of this that I've come across was Iris Foxglove's The Traitor's Mercy but there are many others.
Unlike those books, this one depicted life in a brothel accurately. The prostitutes (including Jem) are only there because they have no other skills or options that would keep them fed, clothed and a roof over their heads. They hate the idea of selling their bodies to strangers night after night, but it's either that or starve in the streets. Their pimp is a ruthless woman who views the prostitutes as money-making tools. She provides them food and a place to live and in turn, they will earn as much money as she demands of them or she throws them out. She has no sympathy or love for any of them - she treats them the same way she treats the furniture in her brothel. As for the other prostitutes - they view each other as what they are: competition. They aren't one big happy family who sit around braiding each other's hair. They steal from each other, badmouth each other to clients and basically do anything that will ensure they make as much money as possible. When Jem arrives, the girls see him as even higher competition than each other because he provides a different type of service that they can't replicate. They're also just as homophobic as many of the clients and in an ironic twist, the people most accepting of Jem are the drunk, horny clients who enjoy the way Jem flirts with them. Jem's life while at the brothel was miserable, filthy and difficult and that's exactly the reality of what a life like that is and I really appreciated that the author didn't romanticize the whole thing as most others do.
I also loved the author's depiction of life on the various Caribbean islands that the story takes place in (Nassau, Port Royal and Tortuga). While the story does revolve around pirates and pirate-themed plotlines, barely any of it takes place on pirate ships. Instead, the author explored how the presence of pirates and other criminal individuals from the Western world have changed and impacted these Caribbean islands. I got angry so many times at the amount of garbage and filth that the Westerners have brought to these places, basically turning these beautiful islands into the same disgusting heap of garbage that London was during this same time period. This is an aspect of pirate MM romances that's rarely explored so I enjoyed that.
Lastly, I loved the twists and turns in the pearl plotline. I won't spoil anything and the actual execution of it was poorly done (more on that below) but the idea behind it was really cool and I loved many of the small details that went into it (for example, when we find out where the pearls have been hidden throughout most of the story).
Now onto the negatives.
Small Issues
There were many small discrepancies and issues that annoyed me. For example:
+ Women weren't allowed on ships, mostly due to superstition but also for other reasons. The author seems to forget this fact when .
+
+ No explanation is provided for how . (I hope you appreciate the effort I took in limiting the amount of spoilers in that spoiler!)
+ Random SPAG errors. There are some instances of the wrong word usage and also some cases of random word repetition.
+ Once the MCs start having sex , there are way too many repetitive sex scenes. I was especially annoyed about this because the plot desperately needed more breathing room (more on that later). Also - there was instalove. The MCs decide they're 'in love' when they start having sex and from then on, they're constantly exchanging ILYs. Like the smut scenes, this used up precious page space that should have been used for other things.
+ The author makes a tiny reference to matelotage, which was great. What wasn't great is that the tiny reference is deliberately framed to promote the idea that all matelotage = homosexual romantic relationships, which wasn't the case (matelotage relationships involved economic partnerships, platonic friendships, pedophilic abuse or actual homosexual romantic partnerships and the latter isn't historically supported as being the dominant group). Just like the misconception that the Romans were big LGBT supporters when they weren't, it annoys me when readers walk away with the wrong idea about a certain time period.
A Disjointed Plot
While I liked many of the individual plotlines, it felt like the author wasn't working off an outline. Characters would come and go at random and the author would act like we should be familiar with these characters and care about them, as if she forgot that the character hadn't been fleshed out enough beforehand. Plotlines would randomly get introduced in the middle of other plotlines, only to be dropped and picked up at some other random point. The whole pearl situation was a great example. The entire story felt like it was telling two separate stories: Jem and Henry's personal and romantic journeys in Nassau, and the pirate-themed pearl situation. The author would randomly interrupt Jem and Henry's plotline to advance the pearl thing but that plotline involved characters who were barely in the story and had nothing to do with Jem and Henry until the final arc. For example, I was so confused at . This pattern was repeated over and over again and I wish the author or somebody had helped her to smooth things out. Both plotlines were very interesting and the individual plot beats were great but the way the plotlines were woven together wasn't well done.
Inconsistent Characterization - Henry
I loved Jem but I felt like the author spent too much time focusing on Jem's character and not enough on Henry's. Henry starts out being a quiet, 19 year old kid who grew up in the country in England and ended up becoming a clerk on a merchant ship. When the ship was attacked by pirates, Henry was 'kidnapped' by Captain Buchanan and his crew because they needed a clerk. Such things really did happen during this time period so I loved this explanation. I felt I had a good handle on Henry's character - an introverted, kind hearted guy who uses an 'ignorance is bliss' approach when it comes to his clerk duties for the pirate crew. He's also a virgin who has no clue how to deal with Jem's advances, which made the whole thing more adorable.
However, the author would randomly switch gears to portray Henry as a confident, aggressive pirate, which didn't fit with his characterization at all. For example, . That was such a jarring change from how Henry was depicted earlier and I'm sure the author only did it so Jem could 'save the day' by using manipulation and verbal cohersion to get the carpenter to do what they wanted. The Jem part worked really well at showcasing Jem's strengths but in order to do it, the author had to make Henry act in a way that didn't align with the rest of his character.
I also felt it was ridiculous that Captain Buchanan suggested having It made no sense.
If the author's intent had been to show Henry's growth from a quiet, law-abiding clerk to a ruthless, violent pirate with leadership abilities, I wish that had been the main point of the story. Instead, Henry's change from one characterization to the other had to be rushed because the author's focus was on showing off Jem's abilities and advancing the pearl plotline. Henry's progression could have been epic and I wanted to cheer when Jem calls him Captain Dyer for the first time, but it wasn't earned and it wasn't realistic so I felt nothing.
Inconsistent Characterization - Captain Buchanan
Captain Buchanan was the other character who suffered from this lack of consistent characterization. At times, he's depicted like a violent, ruthless pirate and at other times, he's acting like a long-suffering parent of a bunch of children. I know exactly the type of character the author was trying to portray, but she didn't pull it off. Here's what I don't want from a pirate captain who is known for literally crushing people's skulls:
+ whining and complaining to Henry (who's just a random clerk)
+ tolerating people being annoying with parental-like patience (when Jem comes onto him, the Captain tolerates it with amusement, which is absolutely not how a heterosexual pirate captain would respond to such a thing in the year 1712)
+ reacting with kindness and concern when faced with people who are intimidated by him (like when )
+ complaining about having to go out plundering and acting as if the only reason to do so is because his crew spend money too freely (ie the implication being that he'd stop plundering if they found a good investment opportunity in the Caribbean, which isn't how pirates operated)..
All of these things would have made sense if the guy was in charge of a merchant ship, but he's a PIRATE CAPTAIN who is known and feared around the Caribbean for his violence. None of it worked for me.
Lack Of Historically Authentic Dialogue
The author has a note at the start of the story, explaining in detail what historical aspects she focused on and what tiny things she changed to fit the story better. This created the impression that the author would be fully committed to historical authenticity in this piece and that the story isn't meant to be a farce (keep that in mind). So imagine my disappointment when I realized the author couldn't be bothered to even try for authenticity with one of the most important aspects of a story: the dialogue.
Nearly every single line of dialogue in the first 85% of the story was based on modern, 21st century speech patterns. The author made zero attempt (ZERO!!) to remove modern profanity or modern slang. I know this is a difficult skill and learning how to properly replicate speech patterns from hundreds of years ago can take an author years of practice. But there's a simple shortcut that can be used by anybody and it barely takes any effort: remove all obviously modern terminology and use formal speech as much as you can. It's not hard. In fact, it's relatively easy to go a step further because the internet provides FREE resources listing terminology from any time period. It took me 15 seconds of googling to find a list of pirate phrases used in the late 1600s and early 1700s and I instantly found a page that told me the expression 'blow me down' was used to express surprise or shock. So there's no excuse for having multiple surprised characters saying 'what the fuck!' or 'fuck me!' in a book set 300 years in the past! None. Here's just a taste of the ridiculous dialogue that the author couldn't be bothered adjusting even slightly:
"Jesus. What the fuck?"
"Yeah, I'll just get disembowelled by a cutlass instead. Good times."
"Which old fashioned love song were you thinking of, just out of interest? The timeless ballad of Oops, I Seem To Have Your Ball Sac In My Hand?"
(really? A Britney Spears song reference in a story set in 1712??)
"What the sweet merry fuck do you think you're doing to my fucking ship, you maniac?"
The above aren't specific examples - they're just random lines that I picked out because this type of speech is how nearly the entire book is written.
Oddly enough, the final 15% of the book has noticeable less modern slang than the rest but this was too little, too late. Why on earth did the author do this? It makes no sense to me. She wrote a book that's full of meticulously researched details, yet the entire impact is ruined because the characters sound like they're 21st century actors in a TV show set in the 1700s.
Conclusion
This had the potential to be a 5 star read, no question. The characters and plotlines were amazing and the author clearly understood this time period much better than the majority of MM romance authors who tackle the golden age of piracy era. Unfortunately, there was too much messiness in terms of plotting and characterization and there was minimal effort at having the characters sound like they lived in 1712, which meant this was a miss for me.
As usual, first I'll discuss the positives.
I loved Jem and the way the author crafted his characterization. The only part of his backstory that I had issues with was how easily he went from being a brokenhearted actor to becoming a happy prostitute. It felt like the author equated prostitution with rebelling against society, which made me uncomfortable. If Jem had just become promiscuous, that would have made the point. But equating prostitution with a desire for rebelling against society felt a bit disrespectful. Anyway, I loved everything else about Jem's character and in particular, I loved having that type of character in a historical romance. Flamboyant characters are rare in historical romance anyway but if they're present, they're usually vain and immature. In Jem's case, he was intelligent, ruthless and cunning. He reminded me a lot of how 90s-era badass heroines were depicted in TV shows and movies. The way Jem embraced the sexy nature of women's clothes to enhance his own self-confidence was also a brilliant choice. Overall, I loved Jem as a character and he's a rare find in the world of MM romance, never mind historicals.
While I didn't like Jem's take on prostitution (ie, he viewed it as a form of rebellion and as a form of having control over his own life), I loved that the author depicted life in the Nassau brothel realistically, both for the time period and the way brothels operate. In many romance novels that involve a brothel, the authors romanticize them. Everybody associated with the place - prostitutes, pimp, clients - all love being there, they love each other and they're one big, happy family. The prostitutes gossip and giggle together as they braid each others hair in between spreading their legs for customers. The pimp (male or female) is always a kind, parental figure to the prostitutes. The worst offender of this that I've come across was Iris Foxglove's The Traitor's Mercy but there are many others.
Unlike those books, this one depicted life in a brothel accurately. The prostitutes (including Jem) are only there because they have no other skills or options that would keep them fed, clothed and a roof over their heads. They hate the idea of selling their bodies to strangers night after night, but it's either that or starve in the streets. Their pimp is a ruthless woman who views the prostitutes as money-making tools. She provides them food and a place to live and in turn, they will earn as much money as she demands of them or she throws them out. She has no sympathy or love for any of them - she treats them the same way she treats the furniture in her brothel. As for the other prostitutes - they view each other as what they are: competition. They aren't one big happy family who sit around braiding each other's hair. They steal from each other, badmouth each other to clients and basically do anything that will ensure they make as much money as possible. When Jem arrives, the girls see him as even higher competition than each other because he provides a different type of service that they can't replicate. They're also just as homophobic as many of the clients and in an ironic twist, the people most accepting of Jem are the drunk, horny clients who enjoy the way Jem flirts with them. Jem's life while at the brothel was miserable, filthy and difficult and that's exactly the reality of what a life like that is and I really appreciated that the author didn't romanticize the whole thing as most others do.
I also loved the author's depiction of life on the various Caribbean islands that the story takes place in (Nassau, Port Royal and Tortuga). While the story does revolve around pirates and pirate-themed plotlines, barely any of it takes place on pirate ships. Instead, the author explored how the presence of pirates and other criminal individuals from the Western world have changed and impacted these Caribbean islands. I got angry so many times at the amount of garbage and filth that the Westerners have brought to these places, basically turning these beautiful islands into the same disgusting heap of garbage that London was during this same time period. This is an aspect of pirate MM romances that's rarely explored so I enjoyed that.
Lastly, I loved the twists and turns in the pearl plotline. I won't spoil anything and the actual execution of it was poorly done (more on that below) but the idea behind it was really cool and I loved many of the small details that went into it (for example, when we find out where the pearls have been hidden throughout most of the story).
Now onto the negatives.
Small Issues
There were many small discrepancies and issues that annoyed me. For example:
+ Women weren't allowed on ships, mostly due to superstition but also for other reasons. The author seems to forget this fact when .
+
+ No explanation is provided for how . (I hope you appreciate the effort I took in limiting the amount of spoilers in that spoiler!)
+ Random SPAG errors. There are some instances of the wrong word usage and also some cases of random word repetition.
+ Once the MCs start having sex , there are way too many repetitive sex scenes. I was especially annoyed about this because the plot desperately needed more breathing room (more on that later). Also - there was instalove. The MCs decide they're 'in love' when they start having sex and from then on, they're constantly exchanging ILYs. Like the smut scenes, this used up precious page space that should have been used for other things.
+ The author makes a tiny reference to matelotage, which was great. What wasn't great is that the tiny reference is deliberately framed to promote the idea that all matelotage = homosexual romantic relationships, which wasn't the case (matelotage relationships involved economic partnerships, platonic friendships, pedophilic abuse or actual homosexual romantic partnerships and the latter isn't historically supported as being the dominant group). Just like the misconception that the Romans were big LGBT supporters when they weren't, it annoys me when readers walk away with the wrong idea about a certain time period.
A Disjointed Plot
While I liked many of the individual plotlines, it felt like the author wasn't working off an outline. Characters would come and go at random and the author would act like we should be familiar with these characters and care about them, as if she forgot that the character hadn't been fleshed out enough beforehand. Plotlines would randomly get introduced in the middle of other plotlines, only to be dropped and picked up at some other random point. The whole pearl situation was a great example. The entire story felt like it was telling two separate stories: Jem and Henry's personal and romantic journeys in Nassau, and the pirate-themed pearl situation. The author would randomly interrupt Jem and Henry's plotline to advance the pearl thing but that plotline involved characters who were barely in the story and had nothing to do with Jem and Henry until the final arc. For example, I was so confused at . This pattern was repeated over and over again and I wish the author or somebody had helped her to smooth things out. Both plotlines were very interesting and the individual plot beats were great but the way the plotlines were woven together wasn't well done.
Inconsistent Characterization - Henry
I loved Jem but I felt like the author spent too much time focusing on Jem's character and not enough on Henry's. Henry starts out being a quiet, 19 year old kid who grew up in the country in England and ended up becoming a clerk on a merchant ship. When the ship was attacked by pirates, Henry was 'kidnapped' by Captain Buchanan and his crew because they needed a clerk. Such things really did happen during this time period so I loved this explanation. I felt I had a good handle on Henry's character - an introverted, kind hearted guy who uses an 'ignorance is bliss' approach when it comes to his clerk duties for the pirate crew. He's also a virgin who has no clue how to deal with Jem's advances, which made the whole thing more adorable.
However, the author would randomly switch gears to portray Henry as a confident, aggressive pirate, which didn't fit with his characterization at all. For example, . That was such a jarring change from how Henry was depicted earlier and I'm sure the author only did it so Jem could 'save the day' by using manipulation and verbal cohersion to get the carpenter to do what they wanted. The Jem part worked really well at showcasing Jem's strengths but in order to do it, the author had to make Henry act in a way that didn't align with the rest of his character.
I also felt it was ridiculous that Captain Buchanan suggested having It made no sense.
If the author's intent had been to show Henry's growth from a quiet, law-abiding clerk to a ruthless, violent pirate with leadership abilities, I wish that had been the main point of the story. Instead, Henry's change from one characterization to the other had to be rushed because the author's focus was on showing off Jem's abilities and advancing the pearl plotline. Henry's progression could have been epic and I wanted to cheer when Jem calls him Captain Dyer for the first time, but it wasn't earned and it wasn't realistic so I felt nothing.
Inconsistent Characterization - Captain Buchanan
Captain Buchanan was the other character who suffered from this lack of consistent characterization. At times, he's depicted like a violent, ruthless pirate and at other times, he's acting like a long-suffering parent of a bunch of children. I know exactly the type of character the author was trying to portray, but she didn't pull it off. Here's what I don't want from a pirate captain who is known for literally crushing people's skulls:
+ whining and complaining to Henry (who's just a random clerk)
+ tolerating people being annoying with parental-like patience (when Jem comes onto him, the Captain tolerates it with amusement, which is absolutely not how a heterosexual pirate captain would respond to such a thing in the year 1712)
+ reacting with kindness and concern when faced with people who are intimidated by him (like when )
+ complaining about having to go out plundering and acting as if the only reason to do so is because his crew spend money too freely (ie the implication being that he'd stop plundering if they found a good investment opportunity in the Caribbean, which isn't how pirates operated)..
All of these things would have made sense if the guy was in charge of a merchant ship, but he's a PIRATE CAPTAIN who is known and feared around the Caribbean for his violence. None of it worked for me.
Lack Of Historically Authentic Dialogue
The author has a note at the start of the story, explaining in detail what historical aspects she focused on and what tiny things she changed to fit the story better. This created the impression that the author would be fully committed to historical authenticity in this piece and that the story isn't meant to be a farce (keep that in mind). So imagine my disappointment when I realized the author couldn't be bothered to even try for authenticity with one of the most important aspects of a story: the dialogue.
Nearly every single line of dialogue in the first 85% of the story was based on modern, 21st century speech patterns. The author made zero attempt (ZERO!!) to remove modern profanity or modern slang. I know this is a difficult skill and learning how to properly replicate speech patterns from hundreds of years ago can take an author years of practice. But there's a simple shortcut that can be used by anybody and it barely takes any effort: remove all obviously modern terminology and use formal speech as much as you can. It's not hard. In fact, it's relatively easy to go a step further because the internet provides FREE resources listing terminology from any time period. It took me 15 seconds of googling to find a list of pirate phrases used in the late 1600s and early 1700s and I instantly found a page that told me the expression 'blow me down' was used to express surprise or shock. So there's no excuse for having multiple surprised characters saying 'what the fuck!' or 'fuck me!' in a book set 300 years in the past! None. Here's just a taste of the ridiculous dialogue that the author couldn't be bothered adjusting even slightly:
"Jesus. What the fuck?"
"Yeah, I'll just get disembowelled by a cutlass instead. Good times."
"Which old fashioned love song were you thinking of, just out of interest? The timeless ballad of Oops, I Seem To Have Your Ball Sac In My Hand?"
(really? A Britney Spears song reference in a story set in 1712??)
"What the sweet merry fuck do you think you're doing to my fucking ship, you maniac?"
The above aren't specific examples - they're just random lines that I picked out because this type of speech is how nearly the entire book is written.
Oddly enough, the final 15% of the book has noticeable less modern slang than the rest but this was too little, too late. Why on earth did the author do this? It makes no sense to me. She wrote a book that's full of meticulously researched details, yet the entire impact is ruined because the characters sound like they're 21st century actors in a TV show set in the 1700s.
Conclusion
This had the potential to be a 5 star read, no question. The characters and plotlines were amazing and the author clearly understood this time period much better than the majority of MM romance authors who tackle the golden age of piracy era. Unfortunately, there was too much messiness in terms of plotting and characterization and there was minimal effort at having the characters sound like they lived in 1712, which meant this was a miss for me.
December 23, 2017
Surprised by this story- very enjoyable, likable MC’s
October 22, 2019
4.5 stars
Loved this romp!
Loved this romp!
July 27, 2018
Gee, Jess Whitecroft is a good author. Really good. Another era and style within genre, another fabulous story. More wonderful characters - Jem and Henry. Just gorgeous.
One of a select few auto-buy authors for me.
It was one thing to pack your son off to have his speech fixed by an actor, quite another to have your son laced into a dress and taken for a girl.
A pirate at sea was a creature to be feared, but a pirate ashore was a thing so entirely dedicated to pleasure that one might think they had all been possessed by demons of Lust and Gluttony. Oh, and Wrath. There was quite a bit of that, too.
Longer and NSFW review on the blog
One of a select few auto-buy authors for me.
It was one thing to pack your son off to have his speech fixed by an actor, quite another to have your son laced into a dress and taken for a girl.
A pirate at sea was a creature to be feared, but a pirate ashore was a thing so entirely dedicated to pleasure that one might think they had all been possessed by demons of Lust and Gluttony. Oh, and Wrath. There was quite a bit of that, too.
Longer and NSFW review on the blog
June 24, 2018
Good, but, given how much better the other book I'd read by this author was, disappointing. Lots of editing issues, almost to the point that I'm not sure if one was done. Henry was referred to as Harry by the main "villain", is that common? Because I originally thought it was another editing issue. Plus, it was supposed to be historical, but there was a lot of modern speech and no real time appropriate usage. I loved Henry (although I forgot he was supposed to be nineteen constantly) and Jem was an absolute, well, gem! They were very sweet together and I liked that Jem, the much smaller of the two, was never presented as weaker or less.
Mixed bag, that with good editing, could be a wonderful book. Still worth the read.
Mixed bag, that with good editing, could be a wonderful book. Still worth the read.
Read
December 17, 2018Stayed up way too late to finish.
November 30, 2022
Maybe the perfect pirate book? And after all that the very end was the most stressful part! 😭 This was so good, I expected it to be good but it was really excellent.
February 3, 2019
The wicked delicious 😋 and real Pirates of the turquoise sea
I wasn't expecting to enjoy Reckless as much as I did when I first started reading it. I mean, I haven't read a Pirate Romance book since I was a teenager reading Harlequin typical and corny stories . But there is nothing corny or ordinary in this Pirate story. Oh no, this is a brand new wicked delicious 😋, provocative, layered, original, unexpected , flesh out and closer to the real pirates and their shenanigans than any other book in this genre that I have read.
This is my second book by Jess Whitecroft, the other was These Violent Delights and both book are spectacular . I am getting addicted to this author comedic timing, witty dialogue, unexpected and rousing story lines and distinctive and unique writing style.
I laughed, cringed , got hot and bother and even shed few tears while reading Jem and Henry adventures and there is one thing for certain, I loved them both.
I wasn't expecting to enjoy Reckless as much as I did when I first started reading it. I mean, I haven't read a Pirate Romance book since I was a teenager reading Harlequin typical and corny stories . But there is nothing corny or ordinary in this Pirate story. Oh no, this is a brand new wicked delicious 😋, provocative, layered, original, unexpected , flesh out and closer to the real pirates and their shenanigans than any other book in this genre that I have read.
This is my second book by Jess Whitecroft, the other was These Violent Delights and both book are spectacular . I am getting addicted to this author comedic timing, witty dialogue, unexpected and rousing story lines and distinctive and unique writing style.
I laughed, cringed , got hot and bother and even shed few tears while reading Jem and Henry adventures and there is one thing for certain, I loved them both.
May 8, 2018
Very entertaining engaging tale about pirates sailing into the New World. But I had a major quibble - I am not a hard-line stickler for verisimilitude in all historical reads but the language in this one really bothered me. It's supposed to take place in the 1700s. Jem is from England as is, I believe, Henry but you'd never know it from the language. When I read historicals, I like to completely immerse myself in the time period in which the book takes place. That includes the setting, ambiance and the way the characters speak. "Henry shrugged. Just saying. Probably not a smart move to steal anything from a man like that." Just saying??!! "They got Buckler, Henry. He's fucked." Sounds a little too much like 2018 vs 1700. Give me some "ayes" and other pirate like utterances and I would have enjoyed it more. What stood out for me is Jem's up front in your face dressing. He wears his dresses, his ribbons, his hennaed hair and lace with pride and doesn't give a hoot about the insults coming his way. He owns it!! Similarly, Henry's love for Jem never wavers and though he's a virgin, he knows who he loves and never feels embarrassment about that. Story gets a little cock-eyed around the 65% point with the odd sort of mystery thrown in. Got a little lost with the carpenter side story and rolled my eyes about the silliness, but the remaining pages were still engaging. Well written aside from the lack of time period-specific use of language. A few typos - "nextdoor" instead of next door. This is a new to me author. Think I'll search out others from her - but maybe not the historicals :)
June 12, 2019
I truly don't know where to start with all the things I LOVED about this book. Sheer joy from start to finish.
Update 7/6/19 - this was even more delicious a second time round. Virgin pirate and a cross-dressing definitely not a virgin thief. UUGGHH. The plot is lots of fun, but the true brilliance of this book is in the two main characters, Jem and Henry. Let me be frank: I WOULD DIE FOR JAMES EXLEY. Much like Henry would, I should think. Reading them fall in love and find a home in each other, where neither of them ever thought they would quite fit, is both heart-wrenching and heart-warming all at once. I LOVE THEM! I LOVE THIS BOOK! I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THE SEQUEL THIS WEEKEND.
Update 7/6/19 - this was even more delicious a second time round. Virgin pirate and a cross-dressing definitely not a virgin thief. UUGGHH. The plot is lots of fun, but the true brilliance of this book is in the two main characters, Jem and Henry. Let me be frank: I WOULD DIE FOR JAMES EXLEY. Much like Henry would, I should think. Reading them fall in love and find a home in each other, where neither of them ever thought they would quite fit, is both heart-wrenching and heart-warming all at once. I LOVE THEM! I LOVE THIS BOOK! I CAN'T WAIT TO READ THE SEQUEL THIS WEEKEND.
April 1, 2018
One of my best in 2018
March 26, 2018
5 "fuck it we're pirates" stars
I adored the characters of Jes and Henry. Jess Whitecroft can turn her her to any trope, I'm absolutely sure. Can't wait to read her next vision.
I adored the characters of Jes and Henry. Jess Whitecroft can turn her her to any trope, I'm absolutely sure. Can't wait to read her next vision.
April 25, 2020
3.5
Not sure how I feel about this one. The characters were great and yay for gay pirates sailing the high seas, falling in love and narrowly avoiding death. I loved the descriptive writing and atmosphere, but the dialogue was very modern and it was a bit too instalove for my tastes. A fun quick read.
Not sure how I feel about this one. The characters were great and yay for gay pirates sailing the high seas, falling in love and narrowly avoiding death. I loved the descriptive writing and atmosphere, but the dialogue was very modern and it was a bit too instalove for my tastes. A fun quick read.
May 17, 2022
Pretty 0-100 on the 'must be together forever' front, but the characters were super lovable and the story was chaotic, piratey fun.
April 9, 2023
things I am currently annoyed by (I am 31% in):
stop using the words corset and stays interchangeably. corsets won't exist for over a hundred years!
i do not think that men and women's sweat smells different, like inherently.
uhhh 1712 was not a tightlacing era. like, nobody cared if your waist was 18". one, that wasn't the shape people were going for back then and two, the that wasn't really what stays were doing at the time. the vibe ain't right, folks.
also the wrong time for muslin gowns, my friends.
this man better not be wearing his stays against bare skin. jesus christ what has the world come to.
uh yeah the breeches would be knee length. we don't need to point that out.
men were not wearing drawers at this time.
i am going to dnf because i think i will combust if i have to read any more crimes against clothing. some parts of this book were obviously well researched but the clothes were uhhh... not. and then they were mentioned too much for me to forgive that. oh whale, can't win em all
stop using the words corset and stays interchangeably. corsets won't exist for over a hundred years!
i do not think that men and women's sweat smells different, like inherently.
uhhh 1712 was not a tightlacing era. like, nobody cared if your waist was 18". one, that wasn't the shape people were going for back then and two, the that wasn't really what stays were doing at the time. the vibe ain't right, folks.
also the wrong time for muslin gowns, my friends.
this man better not be wearing his stays against bare skin. jesus christ what has the world come to.
uh yeah the breeches would be knee length. we don't need to point that out.
men were not wearing drawers at this time.
i am going to dnf because i think i will combust if i have to read any more crimes against clothing. some parts of this book were obviously well researched but the clothes were uhhh... not. and then they were mentioned too much for me to forgive that. oh whale, can't win em all
April 15, 2018
** 3.5 Stars **
June 7, 2019
I WILL DIE AT HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS BOOK.
Read it, just READ IT.
Read it, just READ IT.
September 30, 2020
All her usual fun, plus gender-fuckery and pirates, and Caribbean history that isn't white-washed.
January 2, 2020
The two really great main characters are by far the best part of this book. Jem in particular is excellent, but I like Henry's quiet complexity too. One interesting thread running through the book is shame--what you should and shouldn't be ashamed about, what you will and won't be shamed for--and it didn't go exactly where I expected. I was reading some commentary about "period-typical homophobia" lately, and how that's sometimes used to pile angst on characters in situations where queerness wouldn't have been treated as harshly in real life, so I appreciated that, for most of this book, the two main characters are treated as unusual but not unusually criminal. The two MCs are the only two really well-drawn characters in the book, I think--understandable since they spend most of their time together--but I appreciated that the female characters were a bunch of different character types, too, even given their limited screen time for the most part.
I didn't exactly love the plot, which felt a little disjointed, and there were some prose choices I probably wouldn't have made (we have 3 POV characters--the two MCs, and then the villain for one inexplicable scene). But I enjoyed spending time with the two MCs so much that I liked it overall, and I'll be picking up the next in the series for sure.
I didn't exactly love the plot, which felt a little disjointed, and there were some prose choices I probably wouldn't have made (we have 3 POV characters--the two MCs, and then the villain for one inexplicable scene). But I enjoyed spending time with the two MCs so much that I liked it overall, and I'll be picking up the next in the series for sure.
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