I just bought it because of the cover

In the last month or so I’ve been dealing with some mental health issues and just couldn’t bring myself to read anything that required a lot of effort or that had any potential to make me upset. I am also not exactly sure how I got a copy of this book (it’s on my phone, so I might have spent too much time browsing the romance section in iBook), but the promise of a gay bodice-ripper romantic novel was just too good not to pick up.

The premise of the book is simple:

Nathaniel Bainbridge, a young nobleman, is traveling from England to marry a rich heiress and cement his father control of one of the smaller Islands in the Caribbean. On the way there, he is taken prisoner by Hawk, a famous pirate, who wants revenge on Nathaniel father. Somehow, they fall in love, have a lot of sex and manage to defeat Nathaniel father.

Fairly standard historical romance, and not a bad one at that but this is actually the main issue I have with the book!

It just felt like there was no reason for it to be a gay romance, and by all account if you have replaced Nathaniel gender the story will not have changed that much. For example, while the book tries to address issues around being homosexual at those time, at the end of the day there is very little repercussions for Nathaniel and Hawk’s relationship (not that I wanted a tragic end, but I was expecting a little bit more drama around that issue).

Just to be clear, this was an enjoyable read. It was by all account a competently written book that did exactly what it was supposed to do – offer a steamy, and fluffy romance story with a happy ending. It just really feels like it didn’t use it’s premise as well as it should and I could have replaced it with any other historical romance book.

Some random thoughts:

• This is the third time I read a book in which a male romantic interest has learning disabilities, and I am not exactly sure what I feel about it
• I read other books by this author, her contemporary m/m romance books are much better