Customer Reviews

Stormy Surrender

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

Wish I could give 0 stars instead of 1 for this one.

Lady Barbara Grandison is sailing from England to Lisbon to meet her horrible fiance, Colonel Aubrey Fortney --- arranged by her horrible father --- when she is taken prisoner by an American ship. In time, Captain Jasper Trent (hero #1) attacks her (I'm being euphamistic here) and she ends up liking him somewhat somehow.

Hard upon the heels of all that, the ship is captured by pirates and soon Barbara is attacked by Captain Nicholas Devon (hero #2) and over time she ends up liking him somewhat somehow. At this point, I'm wondering why I ever started reading this book (oh yeah, I blindly ordered it over the internet with no idea of the plot.) But I digress.

To continue: After some time passes during which Barbara is sufficiently abused by Nick, Trent escapes and takes Barbara with him and they escape to New Orleans. There follows a lot of historical plotting and so forth with the fate of the city and Lafitte or something but I wasn't really paying attention because I was so annoyed already.

Then Barbara finds she is pregnant with Nick's baby and Trent promptly marries her. Then Aubrey appears. Then Nick appears. Then Barbara and Trent discover they love each other and live happily ever after.

All in all, I'd say that this story has less to do with romance than, say, acceptance in the face of terrible misfortune but that's just me.

Let me start by saying that I agree with the only other reviewer of this book, and in fact I disliked it so much that I had to put in writing for posterity. I have really enjoyed other books by this author, which is why I tried to read this one. The book was full of unlikeable heroes; it should have been presented as a prime example of Stockholm syndrome. I don't know that I would have enjoyed it more had it been portrayed so, but I would not have had to ask myself why the heroine was moderately/strongly attached to these muscular losers (considering that she was supposed to be moderately intelligent). And even though New Orleans was a very interesting place at the time, and the Lafitte brothers were very interesting characters (Jean was chock full of charm and wit), NOLA and the Lafittes are not the least bit interesting in this book. I have to admit, I skimmed through the last third - I just couldn't take anymore. Your time would be better spent rereading one of Janette Radcliffe's novels that you actually like.

I picked up STORMY SURRENDER for a few cents, in a used bookstore, knowing nothing about it, just the back cover description which sounded intriguing: Lady Barbara Grandison, on her way to Portugal circa 1812, to marry a man her father has picked for her, has the ship sunk from under her & is taken captive by an American privateer. (He's different from a pirate - he's actually a man who's been searching for pirates, to take revenge on them for the loss of his brother and fiancee).

So far, so good. The story started well, with Barbara feeling the frustration of having a marriage arranged for her to a man she doesn't love and who she knows will be unfaithful. The author expressed quite well the despair a woman like Barbara, of that era, would feel with her situation. Barbara realizes she's had it better than most in terms of material possessions, but also feels heartache for the fact that her two brothers and her father really don't care about her at all. In the beginning of this book, she's a fully realized heroine with realistic feelings and longings. The author's rendering of this section of the story rates my one-star.

Enter Captain Jasper Trent, and later, the pirate captain Nick Devon, and their characters are so -- not just 'alpha male', not just 'tortured heroes', but brutish swine who use Barbara and turn her well-written, attractive, decent female character, into a typical 1980's-style-romance novel cypher. She loves Jasper; no she hates him -- she loves Nick; no she hates him -- and meanwhile they're raping her and abusing her. Ugh! The plot and the characters went downhill very quickly. I for one could not understand how an intelligent woman who only wanted to be loved, would "fall in love" with Jasper, who takes her virginity in a rape, won't ever listen to her when she asks him repeatedly to bring her on to Portugal when they are so close, and brings her into even more danger by selfishly proceeding into the Atlantic to pursue pirates, all due to his lust for revenge! With two women on board his ship. What a loser!

Definitely not recommended, even if you spot it cheap in a used book store.