Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (The scenes were a bit light with the explicitness)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person from hero and heroine

Should I read in order?
There is a prequel novella titled Loving Lieutenant Douglas: A Brethren of the Coast Novella that I didn't pick up before starting this (book 1) but I didn't feel like I missed anything

Basic plot:
Revenge drives Trevor to steal away Caroline onto his own ship, not knowing her true identity.

Give this a try if you want:
- Georgian time period (1810)
- half this book takes place in London, half on the ship
- Kidnapped heroine (Hero takes the heroine and keeps her aboard his ship)
- Forced proximity
- Compromised heroine
- Captain/Earl hero
- Revenge plot – the hero uses the heroine in his revenge
- Heroine nurses hero to health
- Surprise virgin
- Secret identity
- Medium steam (3-4 scenes though the explicitness is light)

My thoughts:
So I’ll admit this book wasn’t for me. I never warmed up to the hero and was ultimately disappointed in him right up until the end. I won’t reread this book – BUT this book had a number of things I really liked in romance and I will definitely try her again to see if I like another by Devlin more.

This book featured so many tropes I’m into – kidnapped (pretty much) heroine taken by a sea captain. Lots of time spent on the ship. Surprise virgin. Compromised heroine. Those are MY JAM. And I liked a lot of parts of this story, but kept wanting the hero to just….suck a little less and be worth the heroine.

I will say I immensely appreciated a super angsty, gut wrenching all is lost moment towards the end of the story that stems from a bit of secret keeping/miscommunication. I gosh, I loved it. I. LOVED. IT. It touched my heart so bad and kicked it around a bit which is what I always want in romance since I’ve been a bit deranged in this way since reading Judith McNaught when I was 12 haha. So I bumped it to a solid 3 for me.

I think if you like these tropes and are tolerant of heroes that definitely need to work there way to loving their heroine you might enjoy this one!

Quotes/thoughts:

I loooove when the hero orders the heroine to come to him.

“Come here.”
“No.” She shook her head.
“Come here.” He repeated in a low voice that dared her to defy it.

----

A small crimson stain on the sheets caught his attention.
“Perhaps you should clean yourself.”

I HATED the above scene. He fucks her and takes her virginity then orders her to clean herself??? After he’s been skating on thin ice with being a jerk so far in the book that was just another notch in the ‘hero sucks’ category.
---

“Good heavens.” Trevor wrinkled his nose. “What have you done with your hair? Is this a new fashion? Surely you have not cut it.”
“Do you not like it?”
“Well I suppose it will grow back.”

Ugh he’s just so unlikable.
---

“But I have never had trouble with doxies.” Trevor tugged at his shirt collar.
“You would equate your lady with a whore?”

He’s such an idiot.
---
After he comments on a flower to the heroine’s
“That is a lovely bloom you have there.” God help him. He was discussing flowers. Could anything be more humiliating for a man of the sea?

ohhhh you poor thing, big bad man of the sea lowering himself soooo far for this woman eyeroll
---

“You know I believe marriage might not be quite so tortuous after all.”
“What?” She sat back and cast him an irresistable pout. “Do you consider matrimony a punishment.
“Relax, darling.” He pinched her bottom and she humped. “No man in his right mind would confess to being happily leg shackled.”

And at 60% this hero’s attitude is still just depressing.
---

When they parted their bodies, she glanced down and froze.
“Oh.”
“Here, my dear.”
In a reflex action born of years of experience he withdrew his hankerchief and offered the lace trimmed square.
“Take this for your needs.”

WHY WON’T HE CLEAN HER OFF????
---
I seriously feel so bad for this heroine

“Do not fear.” In an attempt to calm, to soothe, Caroline set her palm to the flat of the blade and pushed it aside. She had to reassure him, had to dispel his palpable terror. “I will never leave you.”
“I beg your pardon.” Trevor threw his sword to the ground, stormed forward, clutched her shoulders, and shook her once. “You think to make me an emotional cripple. To bend me to your will like some addled fop from the school room.”
“No!” Realizing her mistake too late, that he misread her actions as manipulation, she framed his face in her hands. “I only want to be your wife.”
“Here me well.” He speared his fingers through her hair and their noses were mere inches apart. “I had a good life before I met you. And I do not need you.”

I appreciate this heart break, this angst. I do! I love this stuff. But this hero hasn’t endeared me to him and I’m not feeling his gut wrenching turmoil here I’m just feeling the heroine’s confusion and her constantly trying to assuage his fragile ego and make him believe he is in control of it all. It’s just so sad!
---

Trevor opened his mouth in a silent scream and froze.
Afterwards, he collapsed atop her.
Puzzled, aching from an as yet unfulfilled hunger, she tapped his shoulder. “My lord?”
“Mmm hmm?” He mumbled incoherently.
“Are you finished?” She gazed at the ceiling.
“For now.” With a chuckle, Trevor raised his head and stared at her. His smug expression and self-satisfied smile faltered. “Did you-”
“No.” And how she ached.
“Bloody hell.” He collapsed once more. “Sorry, love. I promise to do better if you will give me a few minutes to recover.”

Okay – we are almost 90% of the book and this is happening. I am ALL FOR bad sex occassionally. Eloisa James does it so well. But, I didn’t like this at all. This hero is so clueless and doesn’t even realize how bad the sex was for her?? He has an arrogant self satisfied smile?? Like the entire book so far, he’s selfish and just childish and not worthy of her. And then it kind of implies that he made it up to her but it’s not clear at all honestly and I’m convinced she had to go take care of it herself later.
 

Content warnings:

- Some sex shaming (view spoiler)
- There’s a scene where the hero spanks and shakes the heroine because she ‘put herself in danger’ aboard the ship
- Murder, violence and death on page

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

 
8% - kiss
11% - light body kiss
14% - kiss
20% - kiss
23% - 🔥 kisses that lead to fingering for her, oral for her, missionary, her on top (on the ship)
46% - kisses
48% - kisses
50% - kisses
59% - 🔥 kisses, breast play, sex in the orangery
69% - 🔥 oral for her, missionary
73% - alluded to sex
79% - kiss
87% - sex where she doesn’t finish – he does, I guess we could count it?? I don’t want to count it because I’m petty and don’t like him :P