Redheaded Jill

I have an app called cloud library (one word) that I am able to utilize with my State of Kansas library card. It is pretty phenomenal, because it includes audiobooks. AND it is free. (Unlike audible or other apps I have tried…) That can also mean the selection is… lackluster. (Or there’s audiobooks on hold months in advance.)

So when I find an author or narrator I like I listen to everything I can until I either tire of it or reach the end of the list. Unfortunately I am in between authors at the moment. I am tired of regency romance and have been settling for less than stellar stories.

I wish I could say Destiny’s Captive cured my dry spell, but alas… it did not.

I am going to warn you right now, spoilers ahead and trigger warnings for sensitive topics.

This book is about pirates. Kind of. A man is Shanghai’d on his 18th birthday. Apparently this is an act that used to be legal in the states. He was kidnapped and held prisoner on a boat in terrible conditions for weeks. Then when he refused to sign on as a crew member he was left on a prison island for six months where he experienced unspeakable torture. When the captain returned he agreed to join the crew to escape the hell on earth.

Ten years go by and he is a ship captain himself. He has reunited with his family, but is haunted of nightmares from the island. One day, in Cuba, his ship is stolen by a lady pirate who is fighting as a rebel against the Spanish. He swears to get revenge and she sails off to do pirate things.

A short time passes and the ship sinks. The pirate barely survives and her crew is lost. She travels with her mother and sister to Florida, where her uncle is inviting them to live. (She is a hunted criminal at this point.) She attends a party for her uncle and runs into the man she stole the ship from. His name is Noah, I think. Noah has figured out her identity and runs into her by chance. They have a sword fight (very pirate of them) and he tells her if she doesn’t want to get handed over to the Spanish authorities she has to marry him. She agrees after some time and moves with him to California.

They slowly fall in love. This is where the story gets weird. It had such potential and then it just falls flat. You meet Noah’s family. They’re “great” but super annoying. Noah has nightmares but refuses to tell his wife about them. They are seemingly happy and finally admit they love one another.

One day when they’re out on business Noah sees the pirate captain who shanghai’d him. The captain is an old man, he tells Noah’s wife about the first few nights on the island where he endured unspeakable abuse. You can imagine what happened. He finally got a hold of a machete and killed the men who had abused him, but he had to fight for his life for the next six months. Noah freaks out when the captain mentions what happened and beats him almost to death.

This is where I get super mad at this author. Noah’s wife is so mad that the beat up the evil captain. And then she tells his brother what happened on the island, even though Noah has never talked about it and didn’t want her to. He gets so angry at her for telling and his brothers for mentioning it that he leaves for a month. When he comes home his family is all mad at him. They treat him like he’s in the wrong for having big emotions about horrible memories. He is villainized and his wife says she will leave with her unborn child if he doesn’t “get over it”. So Noah charters a ship and goes back to the island to face his demons.

The island has been abandoned. He goes there and cries. Then he comes home “healed”. His family forgives him. They have twins. He is “cured”.

This made me SO ANGRY!!!!!!! Not only did Noah have every right to kill the captain, but he had every right to be ANGRY. He didn’t hurt his wife. He didn’t hurt his brothers. He hurt the man who abused him. And he was made out to be the one in the wrong. I get that it’s a B list romance novel. It isn’t a masterpiece. It wasn’t top shelf quality. But dad gum! The author did this character a great disservice. I want justice for Noah, and I want his family to apologize to HIM. I finished the book because the nonsense really started in the last 20 minutes. But I am definitely removing this author from my TBR list.

1/5 stars.