A Star To Sail By Action Adventure, Gay Romance, Historical Fiction
Independent
Aug 30, 2023
Kindle
342
Amazon
Kidnapped by pirates, a naval officer is torn between duty and desire.
Billy knows no greater joy than the life of a pirate, where no man is his master and his destination is the horizon. Aboard the most beautiful ship to sail the seas, he revels in his freedom. But his world changes when his captain tasks him with an unexpected duty—guarding the naval officer they've compelled to join their crew. Billy’s hatred for the navy burns stronger than the Caribbean sun.
Crispin Merrick's deepest yearning has always been to command a vessel in the Royal Navy. Stripped of his duties after the war, he’s reduced to serving on a merchant ship. When marauding pirates board the vessel and abduct him, his dreams of naval glory have never seemed further away.
When disaster strikes the pirate ship, Billy and Crispin face a desperate fight for survival. They must set aside their animosity and join forces. But trust is a precious commodity, and it's in woefully short supply when they loathe everything the other stands for.
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Wow a trip at sea on a pirate ship and I learned more about sailing the open seas and being a pirate than I ever had before. Crispin Merrick was once a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, now a second mate on a merchant ship the Eurydice. His ship was decommissioned right along with him, but his dream is to once again find himself back with the Royal Navy, but that dream will face many trials and tribulations in addition to facing what his true dream really is or was it always a dream of his mother’s.
The merchant ship would be unable to protect themselves in the event of a pirate attack; she had an escort for their protection, an escort that disappeared after a violent storm. Now Eurydice and its crew were on their own when pirates appeared, and the captain surrendered. His belief was to let them take what they want and leave everyone alive. It didn’t sit well with Crispin, he believed in at least trying to fight but it wasn’t his call to make.
The captain of the pirate ship Hermione didn’t believe in violence unless it was necessary, so he gave the crew of the Eurydice a choice to stay or join the pirates and become one of them. A few were happy to join but unfortunately, Crispin was taken against his will since he had navigational skills. While the other crew members who joined willingly signed on agreeing to sharing in any profits Crispin refused, signing would indicate that he was joining in attacking ships for their goods which would be something he could never get over and would keep any hope alive of joining the Royal Navy an impossibility.
Billy the Master Gunner resented Crispin, his hatred of the Royal Navy was something he couldn’t hide and when he was given the responsibility to watch over the very man, he hates he was not a happy camper, but the captain’s orders are the gospel and there was no fighting the order. Now Crispin and Billy find themselves sharing a cabin, something neither was happy about. Crispin saw Billy as a man with no morales and Billy saw him as everything he hates and everything he ran away from in his past.
Over time the two were able to set their hatred aside and with fresh eyes saw who they really were and that their original hatred was not warranted. It is hard to be around someone twenty-four seven and continue a course of hate. The crew has begrudgingly accepted Crispin’s presence, but he is always in danger. While planning how he would escape, not easy when you are in the middle of the ocean something far worse happens, the captain is challenged and lost his position putting in place a pirate known to be cruel and who is anxious to throw Crispin overboard.
The only thing saving him is the fact that they need someone to fill in when the navigator is having one of his headaches or is too drunk to see in front of himself. The situation is not any better for Billy but the two stick together and try to hold on till they reach Nassau, a pirate’s haven and not a place Crispin has any chance of escaping from. As the Royal Navy ex-lieutenant and the pirate own up to being gay, they finally give in to their feelings. Billy has no trouble being open about his feelings of liking men more than women Crispin as we say today was way in the closet. It was only after experiencing what it felt like to be with Billy that Crispin came to accept that it was a relationship he cherished and now it is his mission to escape and take Billy with him.
I am not going to go into too much detail on what occurs on the Hermione and what decisions are made between Crispin and Billy because it is something you would have to read for yourself to truly enjoy it.
Billy’s hatred for the Royal Navy was both shocking and sad and, in his case, made being a pirate a way to have peace and try to bury his past, which unfortunately he is unable to.
Surprise, betrayals, cruelty, sex, secrets and ordeals surviving onboard a ship involve. I have a new appreciation for what life on the sea was like and it was hard, dangerous and sometimes deadly.
Crispin and Billy were amazing characters and I loved them and kept waiting to see if there would be a HEA for them, a well-deserved HEA, but another thing I won’t reveal. If you enjoy historical books where the lead characters are gay, and one is a pirate then run to get this one it has it all.
