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_ I was lucky enough to get on my hands on an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Rogue's Pirate Bride by Shana Galen and I loved it! Let me count the ways...

There are two things I absolutely love in a hero. One is an accent. I don’t think it really matters what country – although Scottish and Irish brogues are hot! – and the second is the pirate factor. I don’t think the hero has to actually be a pirate but if he has any pirate traits (kidnapping, ravishing, adventure on the high seas, cheeky and devilish) then he’s mighty fine in my book. Shana Galan’s Rogue’s Pirate Bride ticks all the boxes for me! This is the third in a series that introduces a family separated by the French Revolution, each believing the others dead. (The Making of a Duchess) Julien and his English mother escape together and set sail for England. (The Making of a Gentleman) Armand was held in a prison for so many years he lost track and became a mute (everyone loves a tortured hero), and Bastien became Captain Cutlass in The Rogue’s Pirate Bride, a privateer (pirate) sailing for the Spanish (or greed really) and terrorising anyone he wanted to but mostly searching for the man who killed his friend and mentor.  

The heroine, Raeven, throws punches, wears breeches, fights with a sword, swears like a sailor and just happens to be the daughter of a British Admiral. She keeps escaping her father’s ship intent on killing Captain Cutlass for the death of her fiancée in a fight between the navy and Cutlass’s ship, the Shadow.

I’ll go off on a tangent here for a sec. I’ve noticed so often in romance novels lately that in the hero’s POV, they almost brag about the number of women they’ve bedded and how beautiful those women were. We all know that a titled man is going to have had a heap of sex. Those were the times that a good deal of titled men met their maker with syphilis and sores in places sores had no right to be. To be honest, I don’t think it needs to be elaborated on and thank the good lord, The Rogue’s Pirate Bride didn’t dwell on that.

What it did have was a hero who unashamedly shot at and wounded men who were after him. He kidnapped Raeven, fired on ships, fought bravely and never apologised for being a pirate. Raeven was equally as bloodthirsty (and not unhappy to be kidnapped) and I liked it! You won’t see any ‘no horses or pirates were harmed in the writing of this book’ in the acknowledgements and it made it more exciting, almost made them even more human (readers everywhere will know exactly what I mean when I say that). If you like a book that you can go “awwwwww” at the end of, then add it to your list. You won't be sorry!

The book comes out early in Feb but you can already preorder your copy wherever good books (Amazon or Book Depository) and ebooks are sold but in the meantime, go and get the first two, The Making of a Duchess and The Making of a Gentleman, and read them in order. You can guess how they’re going to end but I betcha can’t guess what happens in the middle...