“If you intend to look like a street urchin and smell like a sow, I shall have to call you something else.” He looked Teach over from head to toe, noting his shabby black hair and beard. “You’re no dandy. I’ll call you Blackbeard. Welcome aboard.”
Title: Blackhearts
Author: Nicole Castroman
Published: February 9th 2016 by Simon Pulse
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Historical
Stars: 4 Content Rating: 2
Synopsis:
Blackbeard the pirate was known for striking fear in the hearts of the bravest of sailors. But once he was just a young man who dreamed of leaving his rigid life behind to chase adventure in faraway lands. Nothing could stop him—until he met the one girl who would change everything.
Edward “Teach” Drummond, son of one of Bristol’s richest merchants, has just returned from a year-long journey on the high seas to find his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesn’t love and sick of the high society he was born into, Teach dreams only of returning to the vast ocean he’d begun to call home. There’s just one problem: convincing his father to let him leave and never come back.
Following her parents’ deaths, Anne Barrett is left penniless and soon to be homeless. Though she’s barely worked a day in her life, Anne is forced to take a job as a maid in the home of Master Drummond. Lonely days stretch into weeks, and Anne longs for escape. How will she ever realize her dream of sailing to Curaçao—where her mother was born—when she’s stuck in England?
From the moment Teach and Anne meet, they set the world ablaze. Drawn to each other, they’re trapped by society and their own circumstances. Faced with an impossible choice, they must decide to chase their dreams and go, or follow their hearts and stay.
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A few WARNINGS about this book: 1) This book is 369 pages. I read it in a day. 2) It is not about pirates. It was REALLY good. In fact I thoroughly enjoyed it. It has been an amazing day. Rainy, but still warm enough to have the windows open. I started this book with some hot chocolate and listening to the rain storm outside. Just a cozy day, cooped up inside reading a book I have been looking forward to for some time now. Perfect.
I feel like I would have loved this book more if I wasn’t expecting it to be about pirates. If my predictions are correct, I would say this book is more of a prequel to the pirate part of the story. BLACKHEARTS is more of a historical romance, and because of this romance Mr. Edward Drummond sets sail and becomes Blackbeard….. AT THE END. I am hoping that book 2 will all be set at sea with the adventure of pirates and more of Blackbeard and Anne’s love story. I’m used to more of a fast paced romance and this one is more of a slow burn. You can tell that they have chemistry and feelings but it is slow paced. Which is nice. The story itself is still a really good one. Obviously.. I read it in a day. Sometimes while I’m reading, I don’t realize I’m that into the book. I’ll take a break and think, “it’s okay.. not what I was expecting, but okay,” only to realize that it was pretty dang good. It kept me coming back for more all day. I literally could not put it down because I was sucked into it and wanting to know what was going to happen next!
I don’t feel like I should go into the love story. I don’t want to ruin any of it. Read the synopsis and that should be enough. Wink, wink. Usually the historical romances are about some wealthy Duke or Earl and finding love somewhere unexpected. This one is about a merchants son loving the sea and setting sail again to find his Anne. The time period is not the usual either. I usually read books set in the 1800’s not 1697. This book was a fun and different read for me and I have really high expectations for the sequel. I’m sure this was the prequel to the amazing adventure that awaits! I’ll be busy digging into BLACKSOULS to find out if you need me!
Thanks for reading!
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