Customer Reviews

A Pirate's Love

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(65)

 

 

The book starts with Bettina finding out of her betrothal. Soon after she is on a ship headed to her betrothed. The ship is attacked by pirates and she and her maid are taken prisoners on the pirate ship. Bettina is immediately brought to the Captain's cabin. The Captain is, of course, our "hero" Tristan. Tristan tells Bettina that they have taken many of her ship hostage and they will be slowly tortured to death unless she submits to him without physically fighting him....

Towards the end of the book, Tristan is fighting with the man who raped his mother and murdered his parents. When this man points out their similarities Tristan responds "I may have raped her,(Bettina) but I did not kill her husband in order to have her, nor did I share her with my crew or kill her afterward. I kept her, and she will bear my child and become my wife." Don't sentiments like that just make you all warm and gushy inside?

This is really a book I would have been much happier not reading. I've read other Lindsey book and enjoyed them. Now I'm hesitant to pick one up with her name on the cover. It surprises me that anyone would think that women want to read about a girl being continually raped and sexually assaulted as fun entertainment.

To each his or her own, for those that liked 'A Pirate's Love'. But what I will never understand is this argument that because this story didn't occur in the here and now, readers should just 'go with the flow' and accept that part of the 'romance' of this book, was rape.

Is rape really any different in any century?

The story is about this poor, pretty 19 year old named Bettina Verlaine, who has been ordered by an uncaring father to marry a man named Compte Pierre Lambert. He owns a sugar plantation in the Caribbean. Bettina has to go by a ship the Compte has paid for, and she is to take her nanny, a woman named Madeline or 'Maddy'.

Bettina makes the mistake of drying her wet hair on deck. The fact that she wanted to do this at all causes some upheaval on the ship, since the captain doesn't want his men lusting after Bettina.

Well, Bettina is almost raped by some crew guy on the ship. He is punished by being whipped. THEN the ship is captured by pirates, specifically because the pirate captain saw her from afar and has decided he wants her for himself. And his name is Tristan Matisse and he's 26.

Every reader is going to get something different out of this story. Bettina and Maddy are kidnapped. Maddy is just locked up in another room. Bettina is the one that had to bear the brunt of everything. Meaning Tristan tells her to submit so he won't 'have to rape her'. Bettina knows good and well, especially in the year 1667, that if she 'submits', that means she'll become his whore. And she's not interested in that becoming her path in life. So she fights him.

What she gets in return are bruised wrists(she's held down everytime), painful penetrations, guff from a rape free Maddy, who tells her to submit because Tristan is handsome, a lot of physical grappling with this slob, who doesn't wipe down after each rape...a lot of incessant prattling from Tristan...etc..etc..etc..also, stressed out Bettina is always trying to get him to assault her quickly, so that he gets no pleasure. Because in her mind, if he thinks she likes it, he'll be on her morning, noon and night. If it's not good for him, maybe he'll leave her in peace.

Bettina tries to run off twice and fails, since she's still not really interested in living as some obsessed pirate's mistress. So by now, she discovers that Pierre isn't interested in marrying her, her mother(who was captured by Tristan and can prance around Tristan's house rape free as well) agrees with Maddy and thinks she should just give in. And to make matters worse, she is now pregnant with her rapist's baby and is trapped by her circumstances.

Then from page 286-287, Bettina falls in love with him.

This story needed another hero. Someone else to save Bettina from Tristan. Someone that could have taught her the difference between lovemaking and rape. And someone that wouldn't have held what happened to her at the hands of a pirate, against her. Who WOULD have been nice, is dashing hero Clayton from Judith McNaight's 'Whitney, My Love'. But we're talking about two different periods...different people. But he would've made Bettina a great husband and first lover.

I was seduced into reading this...this foray into the unpredicatable world of romance fiction by the promise that it was the worst novel ever written. The worst? Not quite. I think Johanna Lindsey could write a state driver's manual in such a way that it would be enjoyable. But this is the story of an irritating little girl who is forced to have sexual intercourse without her consent (that is, rape) with this pirate who needed a ship to keep his ego afloat--but somehow by the last page, they are forever and a day in love.

At least the Lindsey driver's manual would be plausible.

The plot is thrown together cliche by cliche, held together with bubble gum, and easily blown over by the slightest breeze. I mean we've got childhood trauma, childhood trauma II, the wise and gentle nursemaid, the lust for a woman (little girl) because she's the most beautiful creature ever created and nevermind her sour demeanor, the wise sidekick, the nefarious fiance, everything but a petulant pet. I think there's a theme here--Bettina will give her heart to a man she has never met. Unfortunately, this happens only after she's had to give over a lot of other things to Tristan, every man's varsity pirate. Don't mind the characters as there really aren't any--they have as much depth as the print on the page.

On to the big issue--can a woman fall in love with a man who continually raped her? I suppose one could argue that it was the manifestation of fate with a timing somewhat odd to human readers. Maybe one could argue that Bettina was somehow sexually repressed and needed to be taken by Tristan to attain her true womanhood. But please, these arguments are out on a limb. Tristan's treatment of Bettina as nothing but a body to relieve his lust upon is disgusting. Since this isn't the disgusting genre, I'm left to conclude that Lindsey wandered astray with this particular work.

When I first read this horrible book, I was a teenager, and the rape scenes between the "hero" and the heroine were extremely upsetting to me. So, years later, I decide to try it again to see if the book is as bad as I thought it was when I was young. MY GOD, IT IS EVEN WORSE NOW.

This story is actually a really good portrayal of a nightmarish horror story. The heroine is continually raped by the hero, fights him again and again and again, and cannot get free, cannot keep him off of her, gets tied down, and when it's over is rebuffed by other women in the story, being told, in sum, "Hey, it could be worse, be thankful! He's an okay guy! Accept your lot in life! What you want doesn't matter!"

The hero is disgusting. He does not care at all about the heroine, about what she wants, about the fact that she in no way wants to have sex with him. She's hot, so he'll have sex with her, and the person she is doesn't matter. He took her, he forced himself on her, she is helpless. She is just an empty body for him.

Then, somehow, the two fall in love at the end, and the heroine has his kid. Stockholm Syndrome, anyone?

Horrible, nightmarish tale of a woman who is raped repeatedly and then finally comes to love her kidnapper and rapist. Why can't we rate something zero stars on this site?

I am no feminest but hey - since when is rape aceptable as a sign of love. Tristan was a maliscious rapist who thought he had the right to violate and control woman.Forcing Bettina to become his sex slave just to satisfy his lust , not even considering her feelings . This book was so disguting and frustating filled with hate . I was wondering when was it going to end . The book would have been alright if seduction was used in place of rape , the setting was very good ,but I have never read of such an evil man before as the hero.

Believe the hype! Don't do it! The "hero" in this book RAPES the heroine. Repeatedly. Do you really need to know more? Because while I know some people have fetish-ized rape and think it's hot and sexy or whatever, NO ONE has ever tried to suggest to me, with a straight face, that rape is in any way romantic. As in, should be the basis for ROMANCE in a novel.

The story begins with Bettina, a bubble-headed rich girl. She's 'the most beautiful creature in the whole wide world' or whatever and kind of an idiot, but she still is generally unobjectionable. She's married off by her father and heads out to sea with her nurse maid to her new home. The ship gets taken over by pirates headed by Captain Tristan and Bettina and her maid are captured. The rest of the story goes like this:

Tristan: I'm going to rape you.
Bettina: Please sir! Please do not rape me!
Tristan: Take your clothes off.
Bettina: I beg of you sir! I beg you please do not rape me!
Tristan: I'm raping you but if you hold still while I'm doing it, I won't torture your ship's crew.
Bettina: Oh sir! Please! I don't want to be raped!
Tristan: Silence! You said you wouldn't struggle.
Bettina: Fine! I hate you!
[Tristan shoves into her painfully and finds his own pleasure]
Tristan: If you hadn't sassed me, maybe I would have let you enjoy it.
Bettina: You're right, sir. BTW, I think I may love you.

Fin.
There. I just saved you 8 bucks. You can thank me later.


I have never been more repulsed, horrified or traumatized by a romance novel. And I have NEVER given a book one star before. And really, if I could give it negative stars I would. There is no way to establish a romance on rape. And spending the next several hundred pages trying to justify it was more sickening than the rape itself. Or should I say the 'Rapes (Plural) themselves'. I have read Lindsey's books before and have never been a huge fan but this one takes the cake. I'm steering clear of Lindsey after this.

Also, some reviewers noted that this book was published in the 80's but this book was RE-published with a shiny, contemporary looking cover and readily available at bookstores. Most people don't check to see when a book is published. I didn't know until I came on here. So many people will just think Lindsey is an insensitive, misogynistic crazy person. I don't know what the heck the publishers were thinking. The publishers know times have changed and I have no idea why they thought this was appropriate or something modern women would like. Frankly, they were wrong.

I have been a huge fan of Johanna Lindsay's novels for a long time, especially the Mallory novels. But this book offended me so much that I wonder if I will ever be able to view her the same way. The "heroine" was repeatedly raped by her captor - and it was not the typical sex where the woman has to be persuaded and then it is wonderful. This woman was repeatedly RAPED, screamed through it and had bruises on her wrists to show for it. Then for some reason which is not apparent to the reader, the "heroine" falls in love with her captor. If you are a Lindsay fan, SKIP THIS ONE!

Lindsey, I realize must be a rape or abuse victim. She often has the hero abuse the heroine. While in some books, Fires of Winters for example it is upsetting but given the historical context and a sufficiently repentant hero one can kind of understand. In this book the hero raped the heroine repeatedly. It was sick. I can't even recall when she consented? So what if she enjoyed it, it is still rape. On top of that he had some serious issues, telling her he wanted to beat her constantly, including when she was pregnant! Seriously, this guy is terrible and there is NOTHING charming about him. Ugh. I bought this book for entertainment on my train ride down for Christmas to my parent's house, I will throw it away as I don't want anyone to believe I enjoy this rubbish.

Wow. I have 50 MORE Johanna Lindsey books saved on my kindle at this moment. Since reading this horrible book, I may just delete them all today.

SPOILER ALERT!

He rapes her repeatedly, admits it and NEVER regrets it.

He refuses to marry her for a long stretch of time.

The twists and turns were just irritating.

He abandons her right when she is about to give birth and to cheer her up says. "Well the next time we see each other you will be slim again. In the meantime you will have the child to occupy you." WHAT????

Then,she is abducted right as she is about to give birth.

She is put into a bad position for the baby to be born and is told that the baby should die. AND if she screams during childbirth that she will probably cause her "hero?" to be killed.

Besides the fact that Johanna Lindsey is long winded and never knows when to leave a decent plot alone. The "love?" scenes did NOTHING for me.

Just a terrible book. Johanna Lindsey is fired for me.

Johanna Lindsey has been a favorite author of mine since I first read, "Say You Love Me". I've taken in to consideration that this book is supposedly one of her earlier writings. All in all, the book was a fair read. The plot was interesting enough but I soon tired of the interaction between Tristan and Bettina. Granted, a lot of readers were turned off by the whole "rape" thing but having been made an avid reader of historical romances after reading "The Flame and The Flower" and "The Wolf and The Dove" by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, I was able to understand that this was a theme found in quite a few romance books written during this time frame. What did bother me was that, unlike the characters in the novels I mentioned before, most of the interaction between the two main characters in this book consisted mainly of rape and the author didn't seem to take the time to show how the two developed feelings towards one another as time went on. It was more like..."I'm going to rape you." "I hate you." "I'm going to rape you". "I hate you." "I'm going to rape you." "I think I may be falling in love with you." WHAAAT???
The storyline has enough to keep you reading but one reading was enough for me. I'll not likely be pulling this one out of the bookcase again any time soon.