One of my oldest books finally finished. And as I feared (and what kept me from reading it for so many years), I felt like I was back in my dreaded history class of 5+ decades ago. There were a few glimpses of romance but not nearly enough to say I enjoyed the reading. Twice I almost DNFed it but I'm stubborn and really hate not finishing what I started. ( )

I bought this after reading "False Colors", hoping for more of the same sort of action adventure. This was, however, primarily a romance with only dashes of swash or buckle. ( )

This book was a page-turner for me, one that I really struggled to put down. I felt I was deep inside Josh's and Peter's world—if I have a criticism about this book, it's the jumps that appeared to be several weeks or months at time. The romance was good but I could have read more about its context. ( )

Joshua Andrews is a Midshipman on the Nimrod, where Captain Walker keeps his crew in a constant state of terror and suspense. The least infraction will land a man in irons, flogged for all the company to see. If Walker knew what Joshua was, he'd be hanged. He avoids the attention, which would grant him deserved promotion, as well the keen eye under which he is sure he'd be discovered. When Peter Kenyon, a lieutenant, arrives to fulfill the lately vacated position, once occupied by the man swinging from a noose upon his arrival, Joshua is immediately captivated and knows this man will be his downfall.

The dangerous journey from Portsmouth to Bermuda, to aid in the fight against pirates and smugglers, becomes increasingly tense as Walker continues to cling to his grasp of power over an increasingly mutinous crew. The only absolution is that when Peter confides in Joshua of his worries over the possible mutiny, Joshua finds he can trust Peter in turn. That, and a pirate ship shows up on the horizon and becomes a good relief for the crew's tension.

Alex Beecroft has written a fantastic story, filled with suspense and tender romance. What I described for you actually only covers about half the story, but I feel if I go to far beyond arrival in Bermuda, I'll be spoiling too much of the story for you. The story does also include some of the terrific problems inherent in romance, the gay sub-genre and historical fiction. Many good reviews have gone into this already, so I'll be going over what really worked and why I'll be reading more from this author. (As soon as my library updates its digital shelves, of course. OverDrive is a wonderful, wonderful thing.)

Joshua is sympathetic, not that Peter isn't either, but we spend slightly more time learning about Joshua's history and his motivations, and as a reader, its easy to connect with him. The action onboard and on the sea is really interesting, most of the nautical terms are used correctly, the only ones I'm not sure about were the ones I didn't know. The twists were interesting, the conflict was a little tired, but brief. I do have to complain about the convenience of some characters appearing when they did. The people Joshua encounters while away from Bermuda, the inexcusable evil of the captain, and the anachronism of the main female character. When I thinking about how lovely everything else was though, I'd read another book similar to this without question.

What about you? Does mustache twirling, convenient plot devices and anachronism rub you the wrong way?

242pp. Samhain. October 2009.

This is at that stage (roughly 60%) more like 2.5* than 3*. Possible spoilers ahead!

Pros

This was edited above average, it had sizable stretches which showed a very engaging prose and the entrance scene certainly was a truly well-written whopper.

Cons

Apart from very short passages I never felt truly immersed in the correct time.

Huge, truly enormous main cause of this was the treatment of the female protagonist Emily. She was a modern woman transposed into the 18th century, effectively grumbling and whinging away at facts which for a middleclass woman of that time would have been entirely normal and not at all noteworthy. Breeches and hopping around in the rigging? Certainly not that either. Alone with a male suitor? Even though the 18th century was less uptight than the 19th I think not at that age and stage in life. In short--Emily was a feminist manifesto screeching consistently at me. I dislike them already in modern fiction, but in a historical? Heh. No.

Second contenders for distraction from immersion certainly are the two men. Either life in the Royal Navy was as hazardous to the health of the average gay man as Josh made it out to be, then Peter would logically have to have been at least rather like him. Or it wasn't, then Josh comes over as a bit unhinged. Given that but 15 years or so later indeed a boy of barely 17 serving in the Navy was publicly hanged, I'd say Peter ought to have been far more conscious of matters and shows an uncharacteristic (for the time and place) unconcern.

Something which really keeps bugging me in gay historicals: penetrative anal intercourse was a real rarity prior to roughly 1910 (when the percentage of PIA among gay men was lower than 10%!). So when in historical romance after historical romance couples have oil at the ready and bugger each other as if it were nothing to them, then my suspension of disbelief evaporates and I begin to wonder whether I mayhaps am actually reading m/f in disguise. It's heteronormative women who see penetration as "real sex".

The saying is "less is often more", however if you leave it almost all out, that's really not so nice. I missed quite a few scenes which would have helped show bonding between the two men, scenes of import (e.g. Peter's flogging, the keelhauling), action was often left either too early or told instead of shown. Unlike other reviewers I discerned but minimal UST and found nothing a turn on, by the way.

On the whole there was too much pulling me out of this story, and too little drawing me into it. I never got a connection with any of the characters and suspect this has to be one of those Marmite books one either likes or dislikes. ( )