The Black Pirate, Temple Hogan

Fighting for Benjamin Franklin in America's war against Britain, Captain Caleb Howard and his crew brave the cold North Irish sea, plundering British ships of their men and supplies bound for the colonies to aid enemy soldiers. Caleb's goal is to rescue his brother and the other prisoners who languish in English prisons by trading the British captives for their freedom.

Life becomes really interesting for Caleb when the morning after a storm his ship comes across the stranded damsel, Mary Cormick, and rescues her from the sea. However, when he mistakes her for an experienced lover and takes what he wants he finds himself taking her innocence. Although Mary allows it she doesn’t understand why she did and finds herself questioning her basic values. But her passion for him leaves her throwing caution to the wind and embracing what only he can provide her even if it can only be a temporary, or can it? Together, they struggle to overcome their adversaries and their own mutual mistrust of each other as they explore a flaming passion that binds them. Together they finds passion and love like they never expected.

I had planned on reviewing another favorite author of mine today but was asked to postpone their review until July. So I grabbed this from my queue mainly because it was a short quick read, not realizing at the time that this is actually book four in the Pirate’s Booty Series. Sorry, Tyra. I have to say having not read the others in the series I do not feel like this one lacked as a stand-alone. Could it have benefited from the lead in? Maybe. But it was good by itself. Having said that this was a fun change from what I have been reading. Although he is not the typical Caribbean “Pirate”, Captain Caleb had all the sex appeal and charisma to stand up to any Captain Jack Sparrow movie. Mary is your typical damsel character but was charming in her own right. My only wish was that there had been a few more scenes prior to them getting together to make their connection more logical. But with the story only being around 90 pages there just wasn’t time. All in all a well written story and one that will lead me to trying out more from this author and the rest of the series. It was a fun read and I’m thankful that I stumble across it. This was a fun piece and an interesting take on life at sea with a yummy Captain!

RATING: Four chocolate dipped strawberries.

This book was given to us by Resplendence Publishing. Many thanks!