Pirates and Privateers
The History of Maritime
Piracy
Cindy Vallar, Editor
& Reviewer
P.O. Box 425,
Keller, TX 76244-0425
Books for Adults ~ Romance
A
Kiss in the Wind
The Siren's
Song
A Kiss in the Wind
by Jennifer Bray-Weber
Carina Press, 2012, e-book ISBN 9781426893490, US
$4.99
Trouble follows
Marisol Castellan like a black cloud. Her
father, Alain, is a pirate who brooks no
defiance of his orders, a fact she knows
only too well since she refuses to heed
his command to stay on the ship while in
port. When they dock at Puerto Plata, a
town on the island of Hispaniola, she just
wants to pilfer the secret message that
should provide her with needed information
to track down her younger brother. The
stupid courier has the audacity to fall on
her knife and die. In trying to elude the
soldiers searching for the killer, she
trips into a dashing rogue with a
reputation for pirating and a love for
women. He acts the gentleman, but she
absconds with his pretty trinket, setting
in motion a series of events that will
shake Marisol to her very core and from
which she may not survive unscathed.
Haunted by a past from which he can never
escape, Blade Tyburn tracks down the wench
who dared to pocket his prized cameo.
Catching the thief proves more dangerous
and trickier than he or his men expect,
but they succeed and carry her aboard the
Rissa. Right after, raiders scurry
through the town, setting fire to
buildings, looting and killing anyone who
stands in their way. Blade isn’t one to
run from a fight, but he has orders to
rendezvous with a ship laden with
treasure. Only after they leave port, does
he discover that Marisol doesn’t have the
cameo on her. Until she returns it, she
will remain his prisoner.
As each day passes and they draw nearer to
the rendezvous site, Blade wonders who the
real prisoner is – Marisol or himself.
They discover a ghost ship with her cargo
of silver missing. Men don’t just
disappear, so Blade follows a serpentine
trail and encounters a mysterious ship, a
despicable pirate who just happens to be
Marisol’s father, a hurricane, and a sly
traitor who intends to not only kill
Blade, but also those who betrayed him or
those who interfere with his plans,
including Marisol.
A Kiss in the Wind is a
heartwarming romance filled with humor and
spunk set during the waning days of the
Golden Age of Piracy. Bray-Weber cleverly
intertwines piratical history and
seafaring lore with a fictional tale
filled with adventure, deceit, heartache,
and passion reminiscent of the
swashbuckling movies of the thirties. The
physical relationship between Blade and
Marisol may, at times, have too much
spice, but if you dare to enter the
treacherous waters where pirates lurk, you
will reap a treasure far greater than all
the gold in the Spanish Caribbean.
Review Copyright ©2012 Cindy
Vallar
The Siren’s Song
by Jennifer Bray-Weber
Carina Press, 2012, e-book ISBN 9781426893742,
US $5.99
Also available in audio format
Locked
in the hold of a sinking ship, Gilly
McCoy struggles to get free. She
didn’t escape from the clutches of a
murderer just to die an ignoble
death. Once she gains the weather
deck, she discovers that everyone
else has abandoned the Rowena.
Her only option is to gain the
attention of a nearby vessel, the
one to which the Rowena’s
crew rows.
When one of his men
notices Gilly’s frantic waves,
Thayer Drake can’t believe the
newcomers on his deck dared to
abandon their ship without her. In
spite of the peril, he and his men
go to fetch her. Once Gilly’s
safely in his arms, she jumps
overboard to retrieve her purse,
which has fallen into the raging
sea. Not quite sure why, he
follows and saves her from
drowning.
Gilly has no money to
pay for passage and her only
talent, aside from getting into
trouble, is her sweet voice. His
lucrative wrecking business
provides more than enough gold to
fill his coffers, so Drake seeks a
different fare from her. Each
night she must sing for him, and
each time the bell tolls, she must
kiss him. At first, Gilly believes
these are simple requests, but as
the days pass, the attraction
between them grows. So do the
confrontations, for both Drake and
Gilly have secrets and addictions
and neither is willing to let go
of them.
After plundering the
cargo from the sinking Rowena,
Drake discovers much of it belongs
to his nemesis. Many years ago,
Drake vowed to kill Machete, a
corrupt and brutal tyrant who
wields much power in Cuba – a
place Drake once called home. Now,
he has the means and the skill to
face his nemesis in a final dual
that proves far more treacherous
and dangerous than expected. To
see his plan through, Drake
intends to rid himself of Gilly
once they dock in Havana. She
can’t wait to find passage to
another destination, one where she
will be safe from the murderer and
Drake. Treachery awaits them in
Cuba and puts them both into
perils neither may survive.
The Siren’s Song
takes place in 1727, and from
first page to last, Bray-Weber
hurls readers into a storm-tossed
sea and never loosens her clutches
until the end. The narrative
involves all our senses in such
vivid description that we
experience what her characters do.
Her language is fresh and sometime
humorous, but never does the
nautical jargon intrude. One of my
favorite lines appears while Gilly
is attempting to escape from the
hold: “If she were to get out of
this alive, she would need to stop
falling down like a soused
three-legged mule.” Those who have
read the author’s previous books
will cheer at reuniting with the
crew of the Rissa, which
in this tale belongs to Thayer
Drake. Willie, Henri, and Sam are
wonderful characters who sometimes
steal the show, but have a way of
worming themselves into our hearts
as they spring to life before our
eyes. For readers seeking
adventurous romance with
serpentine twists and clashes that
flare into passions both amorous
and dangerous, The Siren’s
Song is a voyage to cherish.
Review Copyright ©2012 Cindy
Vallar
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