A Pirate's Love

I felt I needed to put a review because so much controversy was given to this story. There is no mis-treatment of the heroine in this story by the hero. The heroine is a hot headed young girl who is a trifle spoiled. Lots of reviews were dedicated to the "rape of the heroine" on amazon I noticed and really there isn't any rape or violence in this book. Our heroine from the start desired the hero and admits her desire for the hero she is just immature and dramatic and uses the word rape indiscriminately in the beginning of the book. Rape is a terrible offense that generally most women don't recover from. It breaks a woman's spirit and traumatizes a woman & most normal woman can't have normal relationship with men once exposed to this violence, they certainly don't desire and crave their offender as our heroine does. This girl was immature and spoiled so after her seduction by the hero she threw the word rape around a lot. She was never scared of the hero and in fact was a willing participant in their intimate relations on most occasions. My only issue is that she seemed like a really poorly sketched out character in the beginning of the book she threw so many childish fit I felt like putting her in time out. Thank god ms. Lindsay gave her personality more dimension in the second part of the book when she became likable and more in tune to her feeling. I am glad this was not a story about rape since it is every woman's worst nightmare. This story was about a beautiful spoiled girl seduced by a hot forceful alpha male. He basically tamed her. I think every woman likes a man who is over bearingly seductive but caring and kind at the same time. This hero was all these things and more. Please don't let the reviews put you off if you like ms. Lindsay's work. This book was sweet and there was no violence in it at all (except when the heroine punched or hit the hero really does this sound like he was abusing her). I think fans who read historical novels are looking for the forceful alpha male types more of this era. That's what makes these stories yummy and fun. I don't know if the people who left bad reviews finished the book to see how these two people grew to love each other and bloom into a mature relationship the second half of the book clearly shows the heroine growing up and figuring out her feeling towards the hero. Lastly if you are abusing the heroine you don't set her mother up in the same house. So something got lost in translation for the people who left the bad reviews the girl was not used or abused and she got her happily ever after. Maybe less use of he word rape would have helped the story. Rape is a strong word the elicits strong negative emotions thats all I can think because the reviews are very different from person to person. Regardless this is a sweet story and not offensive in anyway. I like romances with a strong male lead and this falls into that category. Hope this review helps the readers.

I think the book is decent because it is very realistic for attitudes. Tristan is a pirate. He acts like one. You can't expect a pirate to act like a schoolmaster. It wouldn't make any sense. The only thing that I will say about the book that is annoying is that the heroine is particularly childish. She argues, she argues, she argues, she argues. She is screaming down the stairs how much she hates him. She is screaming in his face. She is trying to stab him. It would make sense if there were a few incidences of her responding that way, but she continues to do so no matter how ineffective her approach to the situation is and even though she has no better options. On chapter 23, I nearly threw the book because the childishness of both characters hit the ceiling. Bettina is really immature and her more mature male captor is emotionally abusing her because he is smarter, extremely jealous, and has few scruples. I think it is a good book though because it keeps your interest. It is fairly well written, and, even though the heroine is very immature, you can still identify with her feelings well enough to be able to relate to the circumstances of the book. Obviously, Tristan is badly behaved to keep the reader interested in what he is going to do next to get what he wants. I think people may have trouble with the concept of an abuser who is loyal to his partner, but the book is very realistic. He abuses for a reason, and that is true of abusers. Sexual ethics do not easily apply to the time period because Bettina's original situation is not ethical. Tristan is a hero because he saves Bettina from a relationship he already knows is worse than living with him (because he more mature), but he uses bad methods to accomplish a good goal. He is a pirate.

I read this book a long time ago when I was a teenager and I enjoyed the book. It's funny how people's outlook change. Back then most of the popular historical romance authors wrote rape scenes into their stories, take Rosemary Rogers (though she stopped, thank goodness in her more recent books, even the great Kathleen Woodiwiss and Rebecca Brandewynne. It was like a mine field trying to avoid them, because a lot of the heroines were raped by either someone other than the hero or by many other men, shown semi-graphically- I say this because sex scenes they wrote back then would be tame by today's standards). I couldn't stand it, but back then rape or "forced seduction" by the hero was the theme of the day. Now we know better.I hate that people attack this book because of the forceful seduction or rape by the hero. This book is so much better than what we're getting now with boring, formulaic, historical romances. No wonder historicals are on the decline. Historicals written today are fluff and many of the authors don't even take time out to thoroughly research their period. The characters are unrealistic because they're written with a 21st century mentality and not the mindset of the time they are supposed to take place in. I go on about this because historical romance has always been my favorite genre, but now I'm frustrated because I can't find one book that gives me that feeling of being back in time, like books by Laurie McBain, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Shirlee Busbee, Patricia Rice, and I can name a dozen more.Times change, I get it and I even remember back in the 80's when there was a public service message against romance books (that they were just fiction). Romance books were even blamed for spousal abuse, so the industry changed. Historical romance books have now become formulaic, boring and unrealistic, even pornographic (I don't see much outcry against the pornography we get today). People have now turned other romance genres like paranormal books, because they were allowed to be different and don't depend on realism, but now they're getting standardized. Without these early authors, the romance industry wouldn't be what it is, and we would all believe that everybody in history, of all types were polite, understanding, civilized and caring. Myself, I like to read historicals for a bit of realism.People should read the copyright cover page to see when the book was originally published, because many of the longer lasting historical romance writers have books out there that have been reprinted several times.I do agree with AngelMimi's review and this was more of a "forced seduction", and I know I will get a lot of boo's out of this, but remember this is fiction. I do not condone rape and I'm all for women's rights and glad I'm not living in the past but let's not get hot and bothered with something that was written before we all "knew" better.

One of my favorite. For those stribgly opposed to non consensual in fantasy land then don't read. It is after all HISTORICAL and not real. I loved it.

Delivery time is great and I would buy again.

I usually never write reviews...however after reading all the negative feedback from this book. i was hesitating buying this book, turns out i had nothing to fear.The fact that this book was based around the 1600 and a "pirate" kidnapped a young woman SHOULD show that he has means to use her for pleasure. after all pirates rape and pillage or so they have been made out in history books and so forth. So what did the readers expect? that she would willingly want to have sex with her captor? NOPE. then a majority of reader disregard the book and say it was rubbish and unrealistic. One reader even wrote as a headline "Is Rape Really So Different in the 1600's?"...WELL YES IT WAS. women were OBJECTS and property of men. the only use a woman had then was to conceive an heir and for pleasure. Even when married your husband could force you to have sex with him because it is his right as a husband. the girl (Bettina) in the book is a spoils of war, meaning he (the pirate- tristan) could do anything he pleased with her. women raped back then were not considered a victim, however the woman would be forced to marry her rapist and he would have to pay a fine for damaged property (breaking her maiden head-virginity). Don't let flimsy stories of true love and all that lead you to assume life in the 1600 was all romance and fairy tales.I personally liked this book. Although I was a little worried during the rape scenes i felt more assured that he meant her no harm because he never raised his hand to her. He only ever physically forced her to have sex with him when she was being completely unreasonable, yet he did try to make it less unpleasant for her...but she spoiled that option herself causing more pain than necessary.the characters lacked depth for me...however i liked the fire they had in them.my main concerns about this book was trying to decide if it was love or stockholm syndrome. i suppose like all women that were forced on a man back then, you simply grew to love your husband/captor. He did treat her well and he never really harmed her. so i guess it can't really be explained.The end of the book was very fast paced for my liking. All in all i enjoyed the book and it was easy to read.if a reader plans to read this i think they should know that the rules of the law on rape now are different when they were back then, even so this book has a sweet ending so they should just grin and bear it. it gets better.

its not so much the raping and hating of each other that goes on throughout the book right up to the end but what bothered me more is that even if we were expected to think thats a pirate in the 1600s where was there once a description by either one of them going crazy in each others arms that would slightly make this bearable when the got together it was the same spark as brushing ones teeth sad this one even if youre looking for an escape sth different you dont get that even read karen robards island flame exact same story but so sensually written!!!!!!!!!!

I found this book uninteresting. It did not captured my imagination in the least. I kept reading as I thought it would getbetter but it was apparent at the half way point that there was no hope of that. The language in the book was awful and the way women were portrayed as helpless and needed a man to protect them did not sit well with me.