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Captive #2
Captive Embraces
Bestselling author Fern Michaels has thrilled generations of readers with her glorious love stories and sweeping romantic sagas. Here is a classic historical tale of passion on the high seas as one woman dares to win back the man who stole her fortune–and her heart. . . .Proud and beautiful Sirena Cordez once commanded her own ship, battling pirates to avenge her sister’s brutal death. But Sirena’s life as the Sea Siren ends when she meets Regan van der Rys. Handsome, ruthless, and as fearless as she, Regan is the only man who can possess her body and soul. Once enemies on water, they become lovers on land until their marriage is shattered by heartbreaking tragedy. Abandoned by her husband and left to face an uncertain future, the Sea Siren hoists sail again, embarking on a passion-filled voyage to reclaim her destiny.
455 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
320 people are currently reading
610 people want to read
About the author
Fern Michaels
424 books6,520 followersFern Michaels isn’t a person. I’m not sure she’s an entity either since an entity is something with separate existence. Fern Michaels® is what I DO. Me, Mary Ruth Kuczkir. Growing up in Hastings, Pennsylvania, I was called Ruth. I became Mary when I entered the business world where first names were the order of the day. To this day, family and friends call me Dink, a name my father gave me when I was born because according to him I was ‘a dinky little thing’ weighing in at four and a half pounds. However, I answer to Fern since people are more comfortable with a name they can pronounce.
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 8, 2019
Sirena is pathetic. Regan is disgusting. I read this and bile rose in my throat. It's not sexy. It's this dumb hoebag acting like a desperate hoebag. What's sexy about a woman chasing after her cheating husband? Not one f'ing thing.
May 14, 2008
This book was so frustrating. Add that to the fact that I didn't know this was a series to begin with. If Sirena was such a "Siren" of the seas, why did she let herself be abused by some stupid idiot and not just kill him? I mean, she's a pirate for goodness sake! This book was just kinda simple and a waste of time except I read the whole thing. Why? I don't know. I guess I wanted to see how many times Serena wore her, and I quote, "abbreviated costume". I haven't read much Fern Michaels, so this book didn't incline me to read more. Then, I read the synopsis for the next one and Serena's daughter has a pet hawk that helps her on her voyages. No, thanks. I like hawks, but come on. Seriously.
October 24, 2014
While I enjoyed the first book, I did not find this one to be as quite as interesting. While the novel overall was good. To bring out the Sea Siren, by bringing Blackheart back in it, was pointless. The battle wasn't really even a battle. But glad that Sirena and Regan were able to reconcile their differences.
February 28, 2008
I read this about 30 years ago and remember that I really enjoyed it...then. But, as sure as God made little green apples, I could not finish it in 2006 when I picked it up to read again. The writing style for the romance genre between then and now is not the same. I cannot tolerate a troglodyte for a main character.
But, 20 years ago, I liked it, so 4 stars from This Reader.
But, 20 years ago, I liked it, so 4 stars from This Reader.
October 27, 2013
This book was better than the first. It had romance, scandal, Infidelity, adventure, horror, cheating, external love, and more. This book I would read again.....
March 26, 2024
This book was 3.5 star for me, slightly better than the first one.
I read the first book in this series, Captive Passions, to follow along with the Bodice Tipplers podcast episode. I liked that book but found it to be more of an adventure novel than a romance, and the same could be said for this installment. Passions was a 3 star read for me, so this sequel I felt was slightly better.
I started off liking this installment a lot better than the first novel, it got off to much more eventful start and really dove right into the action. At first I enjoyed that a lot of action was happening and a lot of moving parts were in play, then the action got to a point where I felt a natural wind-down was in store...and I realized I was only 40% of the way though the book! This was truly a soap opera of a book, when I say that SO MUCH happened and then at the end the characters are more or less exactly where they started. I feel like there were so many tiny threads and mini arcs that just went nowhere or were made null by events that happened immediately after. The two main characters spend essentially the whole book hating each other's guts and making terrible choices to spite each other, only to realize their mistakes and declare their undying love for each other in the last ten pages.
I plan to read the next two in the series to finish it off. I actually really enjoy the pirating/adventure aspects on these novels, I just think the romance factor is not super well done even though these are marketed mainly as romance novels. As other reviewers noted, there are scenes of SA in these novels, so be aware of that.
I read the first book in this series, Captive Passions, to follow along with the Bodice Tipplers podcast episode. I liked that book but found it to be more of an adventure novel than a romance, and the same could be said for this installment. Passions was a 3 star read for me, so this sequel I felt was slightly better.
I started off liking this installment a lot better than the first novel, it got off to much more eventful start and really dove right into the action. At first I enjoyed that a lot of action was happening and a lot of moving parts were in play, then the action got to a point where I felt a natural wind-down was in store...and I realized I was only 40% of the way though the book! This was truly a soap opera of a book, when I say that SO MUCH happened and then at the end the characters are more or less exactly where they started. I feel like there were so many tiny threads and mini arcs that just went nowhere or were made null by events that happened immediately after. The two main characters spend essentially the whole book hating each other's guts and making terrible choices to spite each other, only to realize their mistakes and declare their undying love for each other in the last ten pages.
I plan to read the next two in the series to finish it off. I actually really enjoy the pirating/adventure aspects on these novels, I just think the romance factor is not super well done even though these are marketed mainly as romance novels. As other reviewers noted, there are scenes of SA in these novels, so be aware of that.
August 23, 2021
Start with adultery, tragedy, and abandonment, then add a healthy dash of obstinance and a whole cup of desperation and you have merely the icing for the entire cake that was this novel.
I was sucked in again by Fern Michael’s writing, but I didn’t like any of the main cast of characters…. well, except
Frau Holt and Wren.
I don’t know why I read these, but I just can’t look away. It reminds me of when I was younger and some of my college friends would go back to their apartment for lunch and watch soap operas in between classes. I was not a watcher, but joining them for lunch on a regular basis, I got hooked on the crazy plots and crazier characters.
This series harkens back to my memories of soap operas.
I will read Caleb’s book next because I just can’t look away. 🥸
I was sucked in again by Fern Michael’s writing, but I didn’t like any of the main cast of characters…. well, except
Frau Holt and Wren.
I don’t know why I read these, but I just can’t look away. It reminds me of when I was younger and some of my college friends would go back to their apartment for lunch and watch soap operas in between classes. I was not a watcher, but joining them for lunch on a regular basis, I got hooked on the crazy plots and crazier characters.
This series harkens back to my memories of soap operas.
I will read Caleb’s book next because I just can’t look away. 🥸
August 8, 2018
Captive Embraces
Well, Fern Michaels, you’ve made me a very happy camper! There were books of yours that I’ve read in the past, & I declared them to be your best works, but this book surpassed all of the previous books that I thought were your best works.
The romance, excitement, adventure, intrigue were amazing, & kept me on the edge of my seat. The drama between Sirena & Regan drove me crazy with their cat & mouse games, & I wondered how they would be able to get out of their marriages. Amazing & clever writing! Loved this book!
Well, Fern Michaels, you’ve made me a very happy camper! There were books of yours that I’ve read in the past, & I declared them to be your best works, but this book surpassed all of the previous books that I thought were your best works.
The romance, excitement, adventure, intrigue were amazing, & kept me on the edge of my seat. The drama between Sirena & Regan drove me crazy with their cat & mouse games, & I wondered how they would be able to get out of their marriages. Amazing & clever writing! Loved this book!
August 19, 2021
The second book of Regan and Sirens love, her divorce marriage to Stephen, Regan and Camilles marriage. Caleb and Camilles affair. Dick Blackhearts revenge. Finding Wren.
August 23, 2009
At the time the story was so compelling to me (remember young and dumb) that I read this one as soon as I could find it.
April 23, 2013
Another pirate story I actually liked.
June 29, 2014
I liked this book better then the first!
October 11, 2014
ok read
June 17, 2015
Romantic
This book shows especially the the things people do in the name of love wish there was more action at sea
This book shows especially the the things people do in the name of love wish there was more action at sea
Want to read
April 20, 2010Got this one in a bag of romances from a friend, now I just have to find the first one!
February 9, 2013
Much better than the first.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews