Diane H. (njoybeing) -
Helpful Score: 4
This book is m/f erotica comprised of 2 short stories: "Torrid Tarot: Crossed Swords" and "Sea Hawk's Mistress". Early in the first story there is "reluctant consent" (not quite dubious!) the rest has some very light bdsm overtones. The stories do NOT connect to each other.
Plot Summaries: Crossed Swords features a pirate, Frederick Thorne, who takes the virginal daughter of an English Governor hostage, this is Arabella. He is a bad boy longing to be good and she gives him the motivation to do so.
Sea Hawk's Mistress features a pirate, Jason Flint, who after sinking a Spanish Galleon comes across Shelley, who has traveled back in time via a magical slave bracelet. Thinking she is a sex slave he uses her as such (she is more than willing) and then loses her to a rival pirate captain and seeks to get her back.
Main Characters: Both heroes, Frederick and Jason are alpha bad boys (pirates) who WANT to be good guys. Maybe it's just me, but I wanted them to stay bad boys!!! Bad boys becoming respectable didn't do it for me. Still, they are both sexy and very possessive and protective. The heroines were quite different: Arabella was raised a lady and had the concerns about her loss of "purity" that would have been natural in her time. Shelley, who was from our time and already sexually active was a bit more easy to identify with. Both heroines were fairly wimpy: fiery in spirit, pathetic in carry through.
Best About This Book: Love pirates! The premise of both stories was good, the sex was hot, the characters were generally likable for the most part, but certainly not among my favorites. I wanted to keep reading, even through my eye rolling at times. I did like the fact that both heroines were (or became) very sexual... they didn't deny their feelings through the entire book which I find irritating.
Worst About This Book: Some of the euphemisms were a bit painful. The words "nubbin" and "cream" were used liberally and made me cringe. The "redemption" of the pirates was not something I liked, but others might enjoy. Quite a few eye rolling moments (many of the pirates in these two stories were as wise as therapists and more like a stereotype of gentlemen than pirates). Convenient plot devices abound.
Summary: Worth a credit if you like pirates and like erotica. Sex was steamy at times (despite bad euphemisms at times) and the plots were fun, despite the obvious flaws.
Plot Summaries: Crossed Swords features a pirate, Frederick Thorne, who takes the virginal daughter of an English Governor hostage, this is Arabella. He is a bad boy longing to be good and she gives him the motivation to do so.
Sea Hawk's Mistress features a pirate, Jason Flint, who after sinking a Spanish Galleon comes across Shelley, who has traveled back in time via a magical slave bracelet. Thinking she is a sex slave he uses her as such (she is more than willing) and then loses her to a rival pirate captain and seeks to get her back.
Main Characters: Both heroes, Frederick and Jason are alpha bad boys (pirates) who WANT to be good guys. Maybe it's just me, but I wanted them to stay bad boys!!! Bad boys becoming respectable didn't do it for me. Still, they are both sexy and very possessive and protective. The heroines were quite different: Arabella was raised a lady and had the concerns about her loss of "purity" that would have been natural in her time. Shelley, who was from our time and already sexually active was a bit more easy to identify with. Both heroines were fairly wimpy: fiery in spirit, pathetic in carry through.
Best About This Book: Love pirates! The premise of both stories was good, the sex was hot, the characters were generally likable for the most part, but certainly not among my favorites. I wanted to keep reading, even through my eye rolling at times. I did like the fact that both heroines were (or became) very sexual... they didn't deny their feelings through the entire book which I find irritating.
Worst About This Book: Some of the euphemisms were a bit painful. The words "nubbin" and "cream" were used liberally and made me cringe. The "redemption" of the pirates was not something I liked, but others might enjoy. Quite a few eye rolling moments (many of the pirates in these two stories were as wise as therapists and more like a stereotype of gentlemen than pirates). Convenient plot devices abound.
Summary: Worth a credit if you like pirates and like erotica. Sex was steamy at times (despite bad euphemisms at times) and the plots were fun, despite the obvious flaws.
Stephanie N. (VoraciousBookivore) reviewed Pirate's Mistress: Crossed Swords / Sea Hawk's Mistress on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Torrid Tarot - Crossed Swords By Marianne LaCroix Arabella Prescott's dreams of marriage were shattered when her fiancee was murdered by pirates. When she is kidnapped by the roguishly handsome Captain Fredrick Thorne, Arabella is determined to fight him with every inch of her being. She will not become the pirate's lover no matter her body's unexpected desires. Fredrick quickly discovers Arabella's weakness him. Her feisty spirit amuses and her sweet innocence inflames, and when she resists his seductive touch, he forces her to submit to his desires awakening intense passions even he had not foreseen. But with her sensual defeat comes a price neither are prepared to pay. At the news of her kidnapping, Arabella's father, Governor Prescott, begins the hunt for Thorne's ship, Neptune's Sword, to save Arabella and finally capture the most dangerous pirate upon the Caribbean. He will stop at nothing to see Thorne pay for his crimes at the end of the hangman's rope.
Sea Hawk's Mistress By Marianne LaCroix On summer vacation from grad school, Shelley Hanover takes part in a modern-day treasure hunt on a newly discovered Spanish galleon off the Florida Keys. During the dive, Shelley finds a silver bangle, and when the clasp opens, she is swept into a sudden water vortex and into the arms of a sexy-as-sin pirate. Captain Jason Flint finds a woman floating in the wreckage of his latest victory, strangely dressed and wearing a sex-slave band. He decides to keep her as his private pleasure captive, and they enjoy each other's hot flesh as they sail the cool Caribbean waters. But when a rival captain kidnaps Shelley, Jason realizes he's lost something greater than any pirate treasure.
Sea Hawk's Mistress By Marianne LaCroix On summer vacation from grad school, Shelley Hanover takes part in a modern-day treasure hunt on a newly discovered Spanish galleon off the Florida Keys. During the dive, Shelley finds a silver bangle, and when the clasp opens, she is swept into a sudden water vortex and into the arms of a sexy-as-sin pirate. Captain Jason Flint finds a woman floating in the wreckage of his latest victory, strangely dressed and wearing a sex-slave band. He decides to keep her as his private pleasure captive, and they enjoy each other's hot flesh as they sail the cool Caribbean waters. But when a rival captain kidnaps Shelley, Jason realizes he's lost something greater than any pirate treasure.
