Book Review: The Pirate’s Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke

 

Title: The Pirate’s Wish

Author: Cassandra Rose Clarke

Series: The Assassin’s Curse #2

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Book received from publisher via Netgalley but all opinions are my own.

 

At the end of The Assassin’s Curse, Naji and Ananna are stuck on an island waiting and hoping that Marjani will return to rescue them. They’ve learned that there are three impossible tasks they must complete before the curse can be broken. Ananna knows that one of them isn’t impossible and so believes that the others must be possible somehow too. They fairly quickly make it off the island, but not before gaining a manticore as an ally. We meet up with Marjani, more pirates, Ananna’s parents AND there are talking sharks. Yes, talking sharks.

The Pirate’s Wish definitely feels like the second half of a larger book. I also wish it was just the middle. So much happens in the book and happens fast. They just bounce from one place to the next. The way that everything always works out is a bit disappointing. It just all seems too easy.  

Ananna is more self-assured in this book. That is, except when it comes to Naji. Naji is almost too enigmatic. I really wish that we got into his head, but because the book is in first person, we don’t. He is a very fascinating character and I can see what Ananna sees in him.  There are cracks in his armor that only she sees. 

I have mixed feelings for the end. I did like that it was true to the characters and allowed them to not compromise on what was most important, but it isn’t quite a true happily ever after.  While I didn’t like this one as much as the first book, I still really enjoyed it and will seek out more books by Cassandra Rose Clarke. I think there are also some short stories set in this world that I will have to pick up.

Also, is it just me or do Strange Chemistry/Angry Robot books have covers that are filled with awesomesauce?

Tempestuous Eden by Heather Graham

 

Tempestuous Eden was originally the very first Candlelight Ecstasy Supreme (say that five times fast). It’s been reissued a few time, most recently by Open Road Media, which is the version I read.

The novel opens with a series of memos sent between Taylor and G.M. (also referred to as Chief and is Taylor’s boss). Taylor has just asked “why?”

Taylor--

I have one main answer. CLASSIFIED!

Your orders are concise. Stick with Huntington’s daughter; keep her safe; keep her in the dark; move when told.

G.M.

Craig Taylor is NOT happy about keeping an eye on Blair Morgan (Huntington’s daughter). Currently Blair is working in a Central American country with an aid company focusing on hunger. Taylor is sent in as a new recruit and while Blair is instantly suspicious of him, she can’t say why. The rest of the “Hunger Crew” are instantly enamored with him and find his focus on Blair as innocent romantic interest.

As the two work together, they start to fall in lust (and love). The cover is actually rather accurate since a secluded stream plays a part in their romance. Unfortunately, Taylor gets orders to move Blair out of the country and kidnaps her. As Taylor cannot, and will not, tell her who he really is or what he really is doing, she spends the whole trip thinking he is a terrorist. And Taylor knows he’s in for it when the truth comes out.

This was originally published in 1983 and it definitely shows its age, especially with the smoking habit of the main characters. Yes, I know people smoke, but the casualness just isn’t common in stories today. There are a few other details that escape me that date the book, but once I started to read it as, dare I say it, a historical, I found myself enjoying it much more. I understood why these people fell in love and also what motivated their conflict. So while the middle dragged a bit, I enjoyed reading Tempestuous Eden. I may just search out other early Heather Graham books.

-copy of Tempestuous Eden by Heather Graham was provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Engineering erotica

Ah, husbands and the things they say. So I have an erotic romance menage book sitting around that I won't name due to it being a contest book, but my husband was flipping through it and noticed the phrase "testing the tensile strength of the condom" (due to the force of his ejaculation).

As my husband informed me, if anyone should find that hot, it should be an engineer (which he is) and he most assuredly does not.

Seriously, "tensile strength"?