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Pirates
Justin Alexander Taylor had always dreamed of a life at sea. Living on the tip of England’s coastline, Justin escaped one night from his abusive father and stowed away on a ship. What Justin didn’t realize was the sloop, His Revenge, was a pirate ship, out for a broadside and gold. Captain Richard Jones escaped his own life of hell with the British Royal Navy. Leading the group of ragged men to their next adventure, Captain Jones never expected a stowaway to emerge from the bowels of the ship whil
223 pages, ebook
First published February 1, 2009
8 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
G.A. Hauser
267 books515 followersAbout the Author Award-winning author G.A. Hauser was born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, USA and attended university in New York City. She moved to Seattle, Washington where she worked as a patrol officer with the Seattle Police Department. In early 2000 G.A. moved to Hertfordshire, England where she began her writing in earnest and published her first book, In the Shadow of Alexander. Now a full-time writer, G.A. has written over eighty novels, including several best-sellers of gay fiction. GA is also the Executive Producer for her first feature film, CAPITAL GAMES. For more information on other books by G.A., visit the author at her official website. www.authorgahauser.com G.A. has won awards from All Romance eBooks for Best Author 2010, 2009, Best Novel 2008, Mile High, and Best Author 2008, Best Novel 2007, Secrets and Misdemeanors, Best Author 2007.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 24, 2009
Suffice it to say that at one point in this book the young heroes name is misprinted from Justin to Justine and I think that tells me something. I would not be surprised to find that this was originally a m/f book and the heroes name was changed to make it m/m and barely anything else. I have not seen a twinky hero cry this much in a m/m book ever.
The Captain, Richard, was nothing if not a total hypocrite. He has sex with his cabin boy, Justin, (who acted about 14 but was 18) every chance he gets for 4 months. He returns to his fiancé and freaks out completely when he finds out that she was tricked into an affair with someone else while he is at sea. The tirade was a rant to behold and a lesson in unmitigated self-righteousness.
The pirates on the ship at one point are molesting Justin and he is going to let them rape him out of guilt (I can’t even begin to explain this) and they see he has scars on his back. They ask him where they came from and he tells them his dad used to beat him. They all get outraged at this (yes, the would be rapists are outraged at this) and let him go. Saying he has had enough pain in his life….honest this is part of the book!
It was hard to read. I think I only read it to the end hoping Justin would grow up and throw Richard away...but of course that doesn't happen.
The Captain, Richard, was nothing if not a total hypocrite. He has sex with his cabin boy, Justin, (who acted about 14 but was 18) every chance he gets for 4 months. He returns to his fiancé and freaks out completely when he finds out that she was tricked into an affair with someone else while he is at sea. The tirade was a rant to behold and a lesson in unmitigated self-righteousness.
The pirates on the ship at one point are molesting Justin and he is going to let them rape him out of guilt (I can’t even begin to explain this) and they see he has scars on his back. They ask him where they came from and he tells them his dad used to beat him. They all get outraged at this (yes, the would be rapists are outraged at this) and let him go. Saying he has had enough pain in his life….honest this is part of the book!
It was hard to read. I think I only read it to the end hoping Justin would grow up and throw Richard away...but of course that doesn't happen.
September 10, 2016
Spoiler Ahead This was a pretty good book that I read for two challenges that I am doing. Justin Alexander Taylor had always dreamed of a life at sea. Living on the tip of England’s coastline, Justin escaped one night from his abusive father and stowed away on a ship. What Justin didn’t realize was the sloop, His Revenge, was a pirate ship, out for a broadside and gold. Captain Richard Jones escaped his own life of hell with the British Royal Navy. Leading the group of ragged men to their next adventure, Captain Jones never expected a stowaway to emerge from the bowels of the ship while they were at sea. Richard is on his last voyage on His Revenge wanting to go back to his beloved fiancée back home, but before he is able to do that he must hit one last time to the waters and make his fortune. I don't usually read pirate tales but this one was pretty good and held my interest from the beginning. Richard decides to keep Justin under his protection, but this innocent boy finds the handsome Captain a temptation as well and can't help himself but to seduce him. But while Richard and Justin are in the throws of passion there are those willing to separate them out of jealousy and lust. This book had some really good sex scenes in it. I love reading m/m and this was my first time reading this author but not my last. This book was very well written with no errors in grammar or spelling. I am looking forward to read more from this author
July 18, 2012
Oh, God. This was the biggest waste of time ever. What a crappy story, crappy plot, crappy characters, crappy mentality...it was just plain crap, and I LIKE G. A. Hauser. I'm hoping this level crappiness was a fluke, because I don't intend to stop reading her books.
I mean, come ON. The older hero prefers women, and yet takes Justin's innocence quickly enough. Bah! Poor Will. Poor, foolish Will, dying like that. And worse, that poor pilot. I hated that part most of all. God! Oh, and in the end, the captain chooses a wife and kids over Justin (waiting for him to grow up and choose him then? Not likely. He just wanted to get kids, the idiot). And then, as some weird form of 'happy ending' Justin gets back to him 5 years later. What, the captain decided to abandon his wife and kids after realizing that Justin was all he really needed? Genius. A seriously shit ending if I ever read one. It would have been better if Justin had died and the captain had spent the rest of his life feeling like the fool he is. Jeez.
I mean, come ON. The older hero prefers women, and yet takes Justin's innocence quickly enough. Bah! Poor Will. Poor, foolish Will, dying like that. And worse, that poor pilot. I hated that part most of all. God! Oh, and in the end, the captain chooses a wife and kids over Justin (waiting for him to grow up and choose him then? Not likely. He just wanted to get kids, the idiot). And then, as some weird form of 'happy ending' Justin gets back to him 5 years later. What, the captain decided to abandon his wife and kids after realizing that Justin was all he really needed? Genius. A seriously shit ending if I ever read one. It would have been better if Justin had died and the captain had spent the rest of his life feeling like the fool he is. Jeez.
September 1, 2017
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand I loved reading about Justin and his adventures on board His Revenge. The crew was filled with characters and I didn’t care much for a lot of them most of the time, occasionally one would step up but they were almost all a little more than questionable, including the captain.
As a matter of fact, I don’t think I really cared for Captain Jones at all, especially after his confrontation with the woman he left back home in England. He was hypocritical and expectant without being communicative himself. I don’t want to spoil it but it carried through all the way to the end. If I had known that it would end with his life being just as ambiguous with Justin as it started I’m not sure I would have gone on the journey.
As a matter of fact, I don’t think I really cared for Captain Jones at all, especially after his confrontation with the woman he left back home in England. He was hypocritical and expectant without being communicative himself. I don’t want to spoil it but it carried through all the way to the end. If I had known that it would end with his life being just as ambiguous with Justin as it started I’m not sure I would have gone on the journey.
April 3, 2023
"Pirates" by GA Hauser reads more like a fanfiction than a novel (starting with the very suspiciously named protagonist, Justin Alexander Taylor, whose characterisation is more than a little reminiscent of Justin Taylor from TV series "Queer as Folk").
You can tell that zero research went into the writing of this book when the characters casually mention "walking the plank" like it was a real thing, when they use expressions such as "blimey" (which was first attested in 1889, so about one hundred years or more after the generic "eighteenth century" setting of this book), and when a young man aged 18 is refused employment on board a ship with the excuse that he's too young (eighteenth-century cabin boys would normally have been 13-16 years old, sometimes even as young as 8; Blackbeard's *first mate* was 16, for goodness' sake!).
Still, I wouldn't have minded the historical inaccuracies too much if the story had been good, but it's not. It's nothing but a jumble of clichés and stereotypes of the worst possible kind.
The writing is so inflated that you can't even call it purple prose anymore--that'd be an insult to purple prose.
Just an example from chapter two:
"His red and white knee socks were faded to brown and yellow, and no shirt did he wear to cover his furry obesity."
I mean, seriously?
You can tell that zero research went into the writing of this book when the characters casually mention "walking the plank" like it was a real thing, when they use expressions such as "blimey" (which was first attested in 1889, so about one hundred years or more after the generic "eighteenth century" setting of this book), and when a young man aged 18 is refused employment on board a ship with the excuse that he's too young (eighteenth-century cabin boys would normally have been 13-16 years old, sometimes even as young as 8; Blackbeard's *first mate* was 16, for goodness' sake!).
Still, I wouldn't have minded the historical inaccuracies too much if the story had been good, but it's not. It's nothing but a jumble of clichés and stereotypes of the worst possible kind.
The writing is so inflated that you can't even call it purple prose anymore--that'd be an insult to purple prose.
Just an example from chapter two:
"His red and white knee socks were faded to brown and yellow, and no shirt did he wear to cover his furry obesity."
I mean, seriously?
November 14, 2025
A really brilliant and enjoyable read, the historical and cultural heritage is brilliant I couldn't put it down until I finished it 😀 👏 👍
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2015
Hilariously bad. SO bad, it's good. I did have to abandon it when, about 2/3rds into the book, a whole other plot was introduced, and I could no longer take such ridiculously behaving characters.
Everyone was just so theatrical and emotional, in a flowery, purple prose way. Their behaviors changed quickly and unbelievably, and everyone was so one-dimensional. Good golly, it was funny.
There were a few turns of phrase that had me highlighting my ereader. For example, one character moved as "elegantly as a cloud carries water from the sea to the valley," but most of it was repeated cries of "Oh Captain, my Captain!" or chuckles (in a very Junior High writing way), "Oh what a lad, what a lad." Pfffft. Too funny. Such over dramatization! * puts hand to forehead, throws back head and turns dramatically *
But it gets tiring. When Katherine (the only character with a literal vagina) finally arrives on scene about 75% of the way in, I just couldn't take the Captains ridiculous behavior any longer and had to snicker and set the book aside for more compelling and true humans created by other writers. I was actually shocked this was written by Hauser, as her "To Have and to Hostage" is extremely riveting and believable for the most part, with characters that are likable, fallible, and completely compelling persons.
Everyone was just so theatrical and emotional, in a flowery, purple prose way. Their behaviors changed quickly and unbelievably, and everyone was so one-dimensional. Good golly, it was funny.
There were a few turns of phrase that had me highlighting my ereader. For example, one character moved as "elegantly as a cloud carries water from the sea to the valley," but most of it was repeated cries of "Oh Captain, my Captain!" or chuckles (in a very Junior High writing way), "Oh what a lad, what a lad." Pfffft. Too funny. Such over dramatization! * puts hand to forehead, throws back head and turns dramatically *
But it gets tiring. When Katherine (the only character with a literal vagina) finally arrives on scene about 75% of the way in, I just couldn't take the Captains ridiculous behavior any longer and had to snicker and set the book aside for more compelling and true humans created by other writers. I was actually shocked this was written by Hauser, as her "To Have and to Hostage" is extremely riveting and believable for the most part, with characters that are likable, fallible, and completely compelling persons.
November 24, 2012
SlashReaders: Alright so here is my opinion. Read this book if you like the following:
So recap, wimpy men, cliche, plot that doesn't work and can we say wimpy men again? So if you like that kind of thing, enjoy this book. It is a quick read and there are a few nice parts to it but overall... Sorry, it just really doesn't work.
If G.A. Hauser's work has improved since this point, feel free to let me know but she is currently on my never again, list.
So recap, wimpy men, cliche, plot that doesn't work and can we say wimpy men again? So if you like that kind of thing, enjoy this book. It is a quick read and there are a few nice parts to it but overall... Sorry, it just really doesn't work.
If G.A. Hauser's work has improved since this point, feel free to let me know but she is currently on my never again, list.
March 21, 2012
Young Justin Taylor stowaways on the pirate ship His Revenge, eager to have the seas between him and his abusive father. On board a ship of 60 lonely men, Justin's pretty face and youthful body place him in danger. Captain Richard Jones makes it his duty to protect the teen, and takes him to stay in his cabin. From the first, Justin is smitten with his handsome captain, and soon seduces him. Through the long journey to the Caribbean, the two men are lovers. Only when they return to England, Richard is intent on marrying his waiting Katherine, and what will become of Justin?
This story is primarily written from Justin's point of view, though we do get glimpses of Richard's thoughts, he's mostly portrayed by his words and actions. For the times this book is written, Justin is a tad too naive but it lends well to the story and the trouble he gets himself into. Richard is a brave man who captain's his crew with a fair and firm hand, allowing the men to vote on matters that affect their fate. While there is definitely M/M love scenes, these are not overly explicit and suit the tone of the book. I enjoyed this very much.
This story is primarily written from Justin's point of view, though we do get glimpses of Richard's thoughts, he's mostly portrayed by his words and actions. For the times this book is written, Justin is a tad too naive but it lends well to the story and the trouble he gets himself into. Richard is a brave man who captain's his crew with a fair and firm hand, allowing the men to vote on matters that affect their fate. While there is definitely M/M love scenes, these are not overly explicit and suit the tone of the book. I enjoyed this very much.
December 27, 2010
I started reading this book as part of a reading challenge because historicals aren't really my cup of tea. I love most of G.A. Hauser's books, but this one was so/so for a couple of reasons other than the historical aspect of it: there was dialogue and thought processes that seemed inconsistent with the time period; actions and personality that didn't quite seem to fit the ages; and an ending that totally left me feeling like a major issue was left completely unresolved (the fact that Richard wanted kids and that's why he felt like he couldn't be with Justin and was going back to the little woman before she betrayed him).
If you don't mind historicals, this isn't a bad read - again, just not really my genre.
If you don't mind historicals, this isn't a bad read - again, just not really my genre.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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January 18, 2013Okay so I did like the characters, time period, and theme. The only thing that made this book bad was the conflict dragging out. I hated kath because she didn't really fit in the book. I also hated the ending, it was dull. Captian makes a huge drama to marry and have kids, yet when justin returns he's not married has no kids. He and Justin just carry on like it hasn't been five years, and like the captain didnt really reject justin.
December 17, 2014
This was definitely not my cup 'o grog. I had many issues with the story...mainly (I do acknowledge) is likely my personal preference and style but although the book was set in the 18th century, it seemed very far fetched to me. I groaned every time I read "Blimey", "Argh", or "Shiver me timbers!". It felt a bit forced to me and whiny.
Not my favorite book.
Not my favorite book.
October 25, 2015
2009 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews