Customer Reviews

Home is the Sailor

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This volume is a lovely continuation of the secret love story of Will and Davy. How can one go wrong with a rapidly escalating mystery set in a patrician manor in the English countryside? I couldn't put it down, hoping all the while that the couple would finally find some peace in which to build their relationship. The ending has more than one surprise. I highly recommend this book and the entire series.

A wonderfully written period romance, full of the sights and sounds of the British countryside in the early 19th century. A page turner from the first line to the last. The highly anticipated fourth book in the Royal Navy series, Will and Davy continue to intrigue and delight. The characters have such tremendous depth, and the landscape and relationships truly come alive in Lee's writing.

I enjoyed seeing the heroes on their fourth adventure that took them to Davy's home. It gave insight into his background, but also provided a murder mystery and a vile villain. The interactions between Will and Davy were well written and I felt true empathy for their plight because the author spoke from both their perspectives. I enjoyed meeting some new characters and found myself chuckling over the surprise Davy's sister gave him at the end of the story. Can't wait to see what happens next.

The Royal Navy series by Lee Rowan is a terrific series of 4 books that also each would do well as stand alone novels. Great guys star in all four -the same two, Davy Archer & Will Marshall. These stories take place in the late 18th century-early 19th & with the Royal Navy of Great Britain. The author Lee Rowan is very skillful with nautical details & depiction of life aboard British war ships and a trading/merchant ship. The 4th book Home Is the Sailor takes place on land & is a very good detective story. I love historical novels & the two brave guys that Lee Rowan has created. Their emotions & desires are depicted well -very good character development -one can easily sympathize with either & admire their abilities, as well as their love & repsect for each other. This is a wonderful series where being gay definitely was a danger, yet also an exciting time -a time two heroic young men find each other & a few others who are understanding & supportive. I highly recommend this series ~ Eldon

At the fourth book in the series there is always the risk that the story becomes "ordinary"; actually for some readers this can be even a good point, many readers like to be familiar with the heroes, like to know a lot about their life and love. I think Lee Rowan did a trick with this novel to satisfy both types of reader.

Home is the Sailor is again, and always, the story about Davy and Will, and as always, is the story about their forbidden love. This is a point Lee Rowan respected in all her novels about these men, and I think respected even according to the period in which this novel is set, beginning of the XIX century: very seldom Davy and Will allow their love to be freely expressed, and actually they are more the times they need to hide than when they can share a moment alone; strangely enough, the most daring places, like a riding carriage, is probably the place where they can be more safe, since no one would expect from them to do such things inside.

But to renew the plot, Lee Rowan decided to shift the setting from the sea to the mainland: and actually in doing so, she not only adds novelty to the intercourse between Davy and Will, she also shifts the balance and brings back the reader to the very beginning of this series, when Davy and Will first met. In the course of the series, Will gained "strength" on Davy for his harsher experience, and also since he self-proclaimed himself Will's protector. But actually Davy's social status is a step, or maybe two or three, above Will, and when they need to go back to Davy's family home, that void they filled up with their love, open again. Davy has responsibility that Will has not; Will can allow himself to be an unmarried old sea wolf, but Davy probably not. With the shift in setting there is also a little change in the subtheme; more or less the previous three books were romance/adventure stories, this last one instead have also a little bit of mystery in it.

What I probably liked best, of this novel but also of all the series, is that the author allows to her heroes to be men in love, and so there is the romance, without taking decisions that are not realistic; even the end of this novel (probably not the end of Davy and Will's adventures) is a mix of happiness and bittersweet feeling: true, Davy and Will will find a way to be together, but actually it's not a totally pink perspective; the need of secrecy still lingers and Davy and Will have yet another little bickering right at the last page, so that the reader is enticed to search for a following story to know if they will find an agreement.

The relationship between Davy and William is wonderfully developed at this point and they are both growing as characters and lovers. These are not the same men that were in Ransom or even at the beginning of Winds of Change. Davy especially is light years away from unsure and tentative youth we saw get kidnapped and abused. The writing and editing are spot on. Too often M/M romances are in dire need of help in those areas.

I didn't give it 5 stars (more like 4.5) simply because of William's character. He just seems stuck to me since the beginning of Eye of the Storm. He's not willing to sacrifice any of his goals to be with David, and his own problems are what is keeping them form serving on the same ship again. He can't seem to grasp there are other options and priorities now, even when they are presented to him in a logical manner. David certainly has made compromises, why can't William after all this time?

In the end he starts to show glimmers of who I hope for him to be, but he still hasn't sacrificed much to this relationship. He's pulled away numerous times in this series to protect himself while slapping on altruistic motives to cover up his fear, but that's really it. Davy keeps making most of the effort to keep the relationship going. Well now Davy truly is out of options, and I'd like to see William rise to the occasion and make some sacrifices of his own career. Like I said in the end William admits that his priorities have changed since he became a midshipman, or even a Commander. Maybe I'll get my wish if there is another book.

History says the Napoleonic wars lasted about 20 more years though so I don't know if our gentlemen will get that much of a break. This is a solid series by a good writer with a great balance of romance, plot, and sex. I don't hesitate to recommend all four books. Let's hope the next installment sees William finding wisdom in sticking closer to England from now on.