Bonus Review: Seduced by a Pirate

Seduced by a Pirate

By Eloisa James

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: October 30, 2012

Sir Griffin Barry is on his way home after spending almost half his lifetime at sea. Married at seventeen shortly before he jumped out a window and out of his new wife’s life, he was a pirate by eighteen. Four years later, he was captain of the feared Flying Poppy, named for the wife he left somewhere near Bath. Fourteen years later, he’s returning with a limp, a blue poppy tattoo on one cheekbone, a pardon from the king who has declared him a privateer rather than a pirate, and a case of nerves almost the equal of those that rendered him impotent on his wedding night. Going home seems to be his only option, but he has serious qualms about the reception he’s likely to receive. 

Phoebe Eleanor Barry, a merchant’s daughter with no desire to live in the style of the class into which she married, is content with her life at Arbor House. She has her friends, her three children, and a comfortable income of her own. Her serenity is shaken when she reads that Griffin has returned to England, but surely a pirate won’t be interested in life in Somerset, she reasons. Pirates go to prison. Perhaps that’s where he is. But Phoebe has scarcely ceased comforting herself with these reminders when two scarred and tattooed strangers arrive at Arbor House and she reluctantly prepares to greet these men who must be friends of her husband.

Griffin and his lady are quite a pair. For fourteen years, he’s thought his wife’s name was Poppy; for fourteen years, she’s thought her husband was short, slight, and unprepossessing. They discover they are both wrong. Lady Barry doesn’t use her title, and she dislikes the name Poppy, infinitely preferring her own name. Griffin at thirty-one is nothing like the boy who left. He’s big and bronzed and dangerously male. He’s also determined that he is going to be a husband to Phoebe. Can he convince his lady that he can stay on the right side of the law and out of other women’s beds? Can she resist the seductive ways of this pirate?

Seduced by a Pirate is the perfect title for this novella. I’m not a fan of pirate romances, and I could count on one hand with fingers to spare the books in that category that have been keepers for me. But I was easily seduced by Griffin Barry. I thought he was a terrific character in The Ugly Duchess and hoped to learn more of him and his Poppy. I cheered when James announced she had written the novella, and it was even better than I expected. I smiled from the first page to the final scene, only stopping when a grin or a giggle replace the smile.

Griffin is a wonderful hero, an experienced adult who knows himself and has come to value honesty and compassion. He has a healthy disregard for nonessentials and a killer sense of humor. Add to that his understanding of children and a sexiness quotient off the scale, and you have a dream of a hero. Phoebe is intelligent, sensible, loving, and as self-knowledgeable as Griffin. Watching them discover one another and fall in love was sheer delight. 

The secondary characters are also richly drawn. I found Griffin’s relationship with his father funny and moving in turn. Shark, a member of Griffin’s pirate crew turned general factotum, and Nanny McGillycuddy are warm-hearted and amusing, and the three children are distinct personalities, all appealing--although I confess Margaret, who is clearly destined for great things, was my favorite. In fact, there was nothing about this novella that I didn’t love.

It will be available in eleven days, and I promise you won’t find more reading joy for a penny less than a buck anywhere. Because this was my #1 fun read of the year, I’m giving away two Kindle copies to two randomly selected commenters (U. S. only). And remember, if you don’t have a Kindle, you can download the app and read it on your computer. As for me, I’m all set to let Griffin seduce me again.


What’s the last book you read that you loved so much you wanted to share it?

Tuesday Review: The Second Seduction of a Lady

The Second Seduction of a Lady

By Miranda Neville

Publisher: Avon Impulse

Release Date: 

October 16, 2012

Eleanor Hardwick is an independent woman with a great respect for common sense and very little respect for the institution of marriage. Thanks to an inheritance from her mother, she enjoys an income of five hundred pounds a year. She spends her money as she likes, and she travels six months of every year for extended visits with relatives. Currently she is visiting in Somerset, having responded to an urgent summons from her father’s second cousin, the Honorable Mrs. George Brotherton, whose detestable character Eleanor can tolerate only because such tolerance is the price she must pay to enjoy the company of her delightful seventeen-year-old cousin, Caroline Brotherton. Eleanor gives an occasional thought to a time five years earlier when, as she was on the threshold of sensible spinsterhood, for a brief time her common sense deserted her and she thought herself as wildly in love as even the romantic Caro could hope for. But no one else knows of the wayward memories that she quickly suppresses when they surface.

Max Quentin is spending a few weeks in Somerset winding up his guardianship of young Robert Townsend, who is looking forward to his twenty-first birthday. Max has spent five years regretting a foolish bet that he accepted against his better instincts because he needed the money. How could he have known that the lady he’d bet he could seduce into granting a kiss would be the very woman whose grace and intelligence seduced him into thoughts of marriage? The lady’s discovery of the bet put an end to Max’s plans for the future, but he has never stopped longing for a second chance.  He just never expected to find the lady of his dreams taking a stroll on Townsend property.

Max may be pleased when he realizes the woman who reminded him of Eleanor actually is Eleanor, but Eleanor wants nothing to do with him. He greets her with open arms; she greets him by shoving him into the river. But even a plunge into cold water is not enough to cool Max’s ardor. Fate has given him a second chance to seduce Eleanor into marriage, and this time he’s determined to succeed. Meanwhile, Eleanor thinks young Townsend is just the person for Caro’s first innocent flirtation, and Max thinks if Robert harmlessly flirts with Caro, Max will have more time in Eleanor’s company. Can they have forgotten how real and impetuous young love can be?

Miranda Neville has become one of my never-fail authors. Both Max and Eleanor are intelligent strong-minded, and imperfect, qualities I associate with most of Neville’s characters. I loved them both and particularly enjoyed that they were a bit older than the typical hero and heroine. Reunion romances are my favorites, in part because I like a hero and heroine who share a history. And this second seduction is marvelous.In fact, the only thing that I regretted about this story was that the reader didn’t see more of the first seduction. “The Second Seduction of a Lady” is a novella, a mere six chapters, and it serves as a prequel to The Importance of Being Wicked, the first book in Neville's new late-Georgian quartet about art collectors. I wanted more of Max and Eleanor. I would have been happy with a full-length novel.

The novella releases today. It’s a bargain read at $1.99, and it includes a two-chapter excerpt of The Importance of Being Wicked, which is set for release on November 27, with Caro as the heroine. I’ve read TIOBW and adored it. That review will be coming soon. For now, I do recommend “The Second Seduction of a Lady.” It’s a delicious souspeçon, an appetizer for the terrific main dish of a story that’s six weeks from release
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Prequel novellas are becoming quite popular. Do you like them, or do they leave you wishing for a fuller story?