Series: Heroes of the Sea, #10
Traits & Tropes: friends to lovers
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; England, 1814
Publication Date: 07.28.20
Heat Rating: 2/5
Rating: 2/5
Lady Grace Fairchild is known for being impetuous and a bit wild and with her mother on husband number four, she’s a bit tired of the instability. She’s determined to catch the attention of handsome navy Captain Ponsonby and thinks the way to do so is to earn his admiration of her heretofore nonexistent sailing skills. To accomplish this goal, she searches for a skilled mariner to teach her.
Captain Delmore Lord is a serious-minded rule-followed and as such is eager for a bit of a break from his duties whilst attending the wedding of his Vice Admiral’s sister in England. When he rescues the admiral’s feisty niece from a near-drowning, he’s dismayed to find his heart interested in the lady, especially since she’s obviously set herself after another man. When she enlists Del to teach her about sailing, he agrees, quickly becoming Grace’s friend and confidant. But Del wants much more than friendship, if only Grace would open her eyes to the obvious connection between them.
First off, I must say this author is responsible for some of my favorite books (specifically steamy scenes) ever, therefore I had high expectations for the long-awaited story of Delmore Lord. He’s been a quiet, steady presence in previous books, and I have so looked forward to his turn to finally be noticed and to seeing his devotion and passion channeled into a relationship. And yet, I was left disappointed. Potential spoilers from here as I get out all the feels. I’ll round the stars up for Del, but Grace killed this for me. She was insipid, fickle, and at times just stupid, repeatedly asking the same questions over. I never understood what her fixation on Ponsonby was about or why she was so blind that or willfully oblivious that she couldn’t see that he didn’t care about her in the slightest and that he wasn’t a particularly good man. Then she tried to justify her fixation by saying her family expected her to marry Ponsonby despite the fact that no one even really liked him or encouraged the match. I’m not a fan of other man/woman drama in the first place, but this was extremely excessive and drawn out, with Grace still actively pursuing the wrong man, even after she had acknowledged to herself that he was the wrong man, and willfully stomping on poor Del’s heart multiple times all the way up till about 80% of the book. Not only that, but there was all this build up of tension, at least from Del’s side, and then when he and Grace finally wound up together…nothing. No passion, no heat, very little steam. It was a letdown and I think Del deserved so much better than Grace. Besides that, I did love Del and found I his Bible reading and praying to be especially endearing, but, otherwise I felt like Del received too much belittling; he had a very prestigious position and wasn’t given nearly enough credit for it. Grace’s behavior was downright farcical and her constantly being referred to as “the girl” was rather off-putting, although, to be fair, that reference definitely fit her maturity level, which was sorely lacking for a woman of 21. Ned gets a special mention as my favorite supporting character and quite possibly the most intelligent of the lot. Del deserved to have a hero moment like the other heroes of this series and to not be overlooked for once and that just didn’t really happen here. I have loved the other books in this series and perhaps that’s why this fell short for me, but it just didn’t quite work.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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