Format: ebook
Published: August 1st, 2022
Age: Adult
Genre: Historical/Time Travel Romance
Goodreads
Rating: 3/5 Stars
First things first; I got this book via the Romance Bookworms fantastic Stuff Your Kindle Day, and I cannot recommend this event enough if you love romance books. There are currently no 2024 dates, but sign up for their newsletter to keep up to date!
Pirate’s Prize is a fun, relatively light hearted time travel romance. Emily is obsessed with pirates and ships, and after discovering she has been scammed by her boyfriend, she wants nothing more than to enjoy the Tall Ships festival. But when she and her best friend put on a pair of necklaces, Emily finds herself trapped on a merchant ship in 1715, alone.
When the vessel is attacked by pirates, Emily is stuck, trying to get her necklace back from the sexy pirate captain who has claimed it. With the crew and captain under the assumption Emily is a man, she goes along with it, but finds herself growing closer to the dangerous captain. She agrees to sign up, knowing it’s the only way to get hold of the necklace, but all too aware that if someone discovers her secret, it could mean her death.
This is a relatively short book at 282 pages, and although it initially grabbed me, I soon found myself bored by Emily. Pirates are apparently her obsession, but she seems shocked they murder and steal, and doesn’t know anything about being a pirate, just some names of famous captains. The romance scenes between her and the captain were good, but I soon grew frustrated with how often Emily’s ‘problems’ are repeated. Her ex scammed her, we’re reminded frequently. The pirates might kill her, she needs to get the necklace back, but fumbles every opportunity she has to do so. And why does she repeatedly make decisions that will get her killed? I was definitely questioning why the captain seemed to keen on consistently helping someone who seemed to have no desire to help themselves.
I think if Emily had actually been made a bit more interesting, her actions on the boat more believable (she’s a retail clerk, but with enough medical knowledge to end up saving lives. It’s not that it’s particularly, hugely unbelievable, but it could have been more interesting if Emily was a trained nurse or similar), if her best friend wasn’t so quickly forgotten by Emily, who initially looks for her then shrugs and decides she can’t be bothered, and the ending wasn’t so rushed, this could have been a solid book. As it was, it’s kind of average, and a touch forgettable. I might give the second book a go, as it would be interesting to see what happened to Angela, and whether she gives more thought to her lost friend than Emily gave to her.
Unwrapping Words 