The Infamous Rogue by Alexandra Benedict

Readable but forgettable romance

3 stars

Seven years ago, Sophia Dawson had a heated affair with the infamous pirate Black Hawk until one day her heart was broken and she disappeared from his life. She’s managed to turn her life around and is now ready to take her place in society by marrying an earl who knows nothing of her scandalous past.

Everything is going well until Black Hawk, now a respectable sea captain, re-appears in her life with only one thing on his mind – revenge. James Hawkins is determined to make Sophia pay for abandoning him all those years ago and he’s going to use every trick in the book to make her surrender.

To begin with, I was really engrossed with this book – it was engaging, interesting and the writing style made you want to keep reading. After a little while the story got a little boring and repetitive with Sophia and James simply snipping at each other.

There was a lot of references to Sophia and James’ torrid past but despite the build up, I felt that the eventual sex scenes were without emotion or passion.

There were times when the story picked up and I again got engrossed but the storyline really fluctuated between interesting and dull. In the end I felt a little let down by the ending as it didn’t seem real and again lacked depth of emotion.

Overall, it’s not a book I would necessarily pass on but it’s definitely not the best I have ever read. I’m also not going to give up on Alexandra Benedict as I enjoyed her writing style but would only give this effort 3 stars.

For the Love of a Pirate by Edith Layton

Engaging but slow-paced historical novel

4 stars

Lord Constantine Wylde is the perfect gentleman - there's not a black mark to his name or character. When it comes times to find himself a wife - he needs to find someone as well-bred, well-behaved and proper as he is. But all his perfectly laid plans go awry when a fierce, aging pirate bursts into his home with some shocking news: Constantine is already engaged to the pirate's lovely granddaughter, Lisabeth.

Lisabeth has dreamed of pirates and wild romances since she was a child and this nobleman standing before her is far removed from every girlish dream she's ever had - she will not marry him. Yet as they spend more time together she realises he may have a wild side that he's yet to discover and Constantine soon finds himself acting like the lusty pirate he never thought he'd be.

I'll admit that I wavered between giving this book 3 stars and 4. It was a very character driven book with the plot focussing mainly on how both Constantine and Lisabeth coped on their journey towards true love.

Constantine was a very well written character - so much so that I genuinely didn't like him at the beginning when he was so stiff and formal. But he grew on me as the book went on. Lisabeth was a very genuine, down to earth kind of girl and not nearly so wild as I had imagined she would be. Together they worked well although I didn't feel the passion and chemistry was as electric as I would have hoped.

The writing itself was excellent and the book was engaging enough to hold my interest throughout. I think the main reasoning behind my indecision between 3 and 4 stars was due to the book's title. With a title like 'For the Love of a Pirate', I was expecting pirate ships, heroic buccaneers and lots of wild action-adventure. When it wasn't there - I guess I was slightly disappointed. But that doesn't mean to say that the book wasn't very good in its own way, which is why I opted for the 4 stars.

All in all, if you enjoy a good, character-led romance which is well written and keeps you interested, you can't go wrong with this one. Just don't expect a high seas action adventure romance.