Tag Archives: Stephanie Laurens

Review: A Buccaneer at Heart

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Review: A Buccaneer at HeartA Buccaneer at Heart (The Adventurers Quartet, #2) by Stephanie Laurens
Published by MIRA on April 26th 2016
Genres: Historical
Pages: 512
Goodreads
two-half-stars

FINAL DECISION:  I generally love Laurens books, but this one was almost boring for the first half. The second half (after the hero and heroine meet) was really good, but I couldn’t help but wish that they had met earlier to pick up the pacing.

THE STORY: Captain Robert Frobisher picks up the investigation into the disappearances of people in West Africa. He travels there with the mission to find the camp of the slavers who have been kidnapping men, women and children.  When he arrives, Robert finds another person doing her own search. Miss Aileen Hopkins has come to West Africa searching for her younger brother who is one of the missing.  Robert knows that he has to convince Miss Hopkins to stop her search before she disturbs the wrong person and ends up missing as well.

OPINION:  This book was just so-so for me.  Once Robert and Aileen met and began investigating together, things heated up and the pace of the story picked up.  Unfortunately, that really didn’t happen until halfway through the book.

For the entire first part of the book Robert and Aileen are engaged in their own investigations and the investigation is the central story in the book.  What I really wanted was to know more about these characters, but instead, I got detail about the kidnapping and methods of investigations.  Those items don’t bother me in a Laurens book because the mystery is central to the story, but here, the hero and heroine spent too much time apart on the investigation.

Once Robert and Aileen join forces, the story picked up and I was happily turning pages.  The two are clearly the perfect match and there wasn’t much keeping them apart except for the adventure they are on.  Truthfully, the adventure/mystery itself was much more intriguing and exciting once they joined forces.  If there was more of that in the book and less of them apart, I would have really enjoyed this book.

WORTH MENTIONING: I usually never mention things like covers, but I have to say this one might be one of the worst I have seen.  The expression on Robert’s face on the front creeped me out every time I looked at it.

CONNECTED BOOKS: A BUCCANEER AT HEART is the second book in the Adventurers Quartet.  These book feature a continuing overarching storyline and are meant to be read in order.  That being said, the romance itself is completely self contained.

STAR RATING:  I give this book 2.5 stars.

two-half-stars
Rating Report
Cover
one-star
Overall: one-star

Review: The Lady’s Command

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Review: The Lady’s CommandThe Lady's Command (The Adventurers Quartet, #1) by Stephanie Laurens
Published by MIRA on December 29th 2015
Genres: Historical
Pages: 384
Goodreads
four-stars

“Marrying the lady of his dreams had proved surprisingly easy.  Forging the marriage of his dreams…That, apparently was an entirely different challenge.”

FINAL DECISION: Focused on developing a mystery that will play out between four separate novels, this book features a newly married couple working to develop a marriage that satisfies both of them.  Deftly focusing on the mystery allows for more harmony between the couple than might be expected, but this allows their relationship to grow rather than be mired in pointless conflict.

THE STORY: Captain Declan Frobisher quickly wooed and wed the woman of his dreams.  He knew immediately that she was the one. When a secret mission disrupts his honeymoon, Declan hopes to accomplish his mission and return to his wife in short order.  Lady Edwina nee Delbraith (a duke’s daughter and sister of gambling king Neville Roscoe from THE LADY RISKS ALL) is pleased with her husband but as a strong, definite and strategic woman she intends of building a marriage based on a working personal relationship.  She has no intention of staying home while her husband sails the seas.  She will take risks to show her husband that the two belong side by side.

OPINION: This book is more mystery than romance. The usual romance depicted in similar books happens before this book begins.  This book is about the formation of a marriage relationship.  That being said, I really like books that are about marriage.  There is much drama to be found in two people learning to navigate together and creating a life together instead of merely two lives running parallel.  That is what is at the heart of the romance in this book. Declan and Edwina have to discover what one another want and need in their marriage.  That requires talking and understanding and compromise from both of them.

Initially, Declan expects a marriage that will feature a lady wife to manage his home and children while he sails the world.  This conflicts with Edwina’s vision because she knows that she is not delicate and she is determined to fully share her husband’s life and she intends that the two of them wllll manage their life together.  Her adventurous soul attracted Declan to her and his desire to put her in a box to protect her cannot satisfy Edwina.

That being said, the normal drama and conflict is largely missing from this book.  These two respect and love one another from the beginning and therefore there is some — but not a lot — of conflict between Declan and Edwina.  Instead, there is the beginning of a mystery that will last throughout the four books of the quartet.  Therefore, anyone expecting a solution to the mystery will be disappointed.  This book is the first part of the mystery.  Some secrets are revealed, but there is much left for other couples to discover. Indeed, it is clear that Declan and Edwina still have a part to play in future books.  The mystery itself was well developed.  Regular readers of Laurens will know that she almost always has a serious mystery element in her books. Here, the mystery takes more prominance than in, for example, the Cynsters series.

This book clearly takes place in the same world that Laurens other novels.  Making a prominant appearance is Wolverstone (from the Bastion Club series) and there are mentions of the Black Cobra Quartet. While never overwhelming the current storyline, there are many Easter eggs for fans to find.

The remainder of the series will feature Declan’s brothers and the women they find.  This book has to do the heavy work of introducing characters and developing the ongoing storyline.  This book accomplishes that while giving readers a different type of romance.

WORTH MENTIONING: This book reminds me of the relationship between Penelope and Barnaby Adair in the Barnaby Adair Mystery series that Laurens also writes.  The emphasis on the mystery is also similar to that series.

CONNECTED BOOKS: THE LADY’S COMMAND is the first book in The Adventurers Quartet.  This is a truly connected four book series. Each of the books will build upon the story before and therefore the books are meant to be read together.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in order to provide a review. I was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions contained herein are my own.  I also purchased my own copy of this book.

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four-stars