Closet Geeks and Slow Mo

3.5Stars

I took a good while to get into this book. In the beginning it felt like a classic pirate romp movie. The characters all felt a bit cliche... and I was quite sure I was in for a tab bit of a disappointment.
This is the first book I read by Bowman. So I wasn't sure what to expect. The only thing that did keep me going in the beginning was the writing style and very soon the witty dialogues as well.
So about a quarter in I had resigned myself to a well written book with great banter but sadly characters that were to stylistic for me. Still a good book mind you....
THEN...
...slowly there were layers added to all the characters and as the story went on, I got to see different sides to them and somehow I found myself endeared to them. In fact I adore the entire cast. Well most of them anyway. Bowman did an excellent job building the MCs characters and most of the support cast. While at first sight it seems the usual usual, she added details, surprising tidbits that made them feel more real and unique. There is depths to most of the support cast as well. The only character that did come out flat in my opinion was the villain. Though that is probably connected to the story line.
By the way will there be a book about Grim?

The story line went from pirate romp to cute historical romance and back to privateering.
I loved the sections that were set in London. But the privateering bits? Not so much, which is funny, because I probably would have told you the opposite before if asked before hand. The thing is that the adventure bits of the book felt a bit rushed. There was this careful buildup in London, slow emotional connections and great character building, then it changed to lots of smut, the big show down.. and the happy ending. I felt a bit let down by the show down to be honest. It felt a bit anticlimactic.

Never Trust A Pirate is the seventh book in the series. As I mentioned I have never read a book by Bowman before this. It does work as a standalone. I might have take a bit longer to get into because of that however, I'm not sure, just saying it could be. What I am sure of however I will read the next book in the series and I will read the previous books as well. Definitely a series I could get into.

Note: Since reading and reviewing this, I have read another one of the books. Two things are clear, I will read all of the books in this series AND I would advise anyone who hasn't read the series to start with book 1.. not book 7 like I did. I was right with my previous assessment quite a lot fell into place reading the previous book. Besides that, you going to end up reading them all any way ;)



A well written historical romance, with some action and lots of fabulous banter. Definitely advisable for lovers of the genre.