eARC Review: The Rogue Pirate's Bride by Shana Galen

THE ROGUE PIRATE'S BRIDE by Shana Galen
FORMAT: eBook via Netgalley
GENRE: Historical
MASS MARKET PAPERBACK: 384 pages
PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks (February 7,2012)
ISBN: 9781402265557

Revenge should be sweet, but it may cost him everything...

The Marquis de Valère escaped certain death in the French Revolution and is now an infamous privateer. Out to avenge the death of his mentor, Bastien discovers himself astonishingly out of his depth when confronted with a beautiful, daring young woman who has landed herself in a mess of trouble...

Forgiveness is unthinkable, but it may be her only hope...
British Admiral's daughter Raeven Russell believes Bastien responsible for her fiancé's death. But then the fiery beauty crosses swords directly with Bastien, and now she's not so sure she really wants him to change his wicked ways...

With her father and a set of ruthless killers hot on their trail, amidst swashbuckling adventure and constant danger, suddenly Bastien and Raeven's steamy entanglement seems to be the only thing they care about. (source)

Where To Find Shana:  Author Site | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Blogger
Where To Buy: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Nook | Book Depository
Book Extras: Read an Excerpt | Book Page

Go and Buy it NOW!!!

Other Books in Series (click on covers for excerpts):

REVIEW:

Danger, intrigue, betrayal, revenge, swashbuckling action and an unconventional love story between a pirate (okayyy, privateer if you want to get technical) and the daughter of a British admiral set against a Bruckheimer-esque background. You can almost hear faint strains of The Pirates of the Caribbean theme interspersed with the clangs of swordplay as the action and adventure escalates on the high seas. Shana Galen's got this formula down to a science.

There's nothing sexier than a man in shiny black boots, tight breeches, an open shirt exposing the hard planes of his chest, wielding a cutlass and grinning sexily as he parries the thrust of your sword, all the while glaring at him with hatred and revenge in your eyes. Oh, yes. That's the way Captain Cutlass meets Raeven Russell, the one woman who Fate has placed in his path to bring him to his knees and then some.

Captain Cutlass has been on the high seas pirating since the tender age of eleven after his family's chateau was burned down during the peasant uprising in France. He thinks his family is dead and the one man who he considered a father figure was killed by another pirate. Bent on revenge, Cutlass is chasing Jourdain all over the map. He won't rest until Jourdain is dead and this might be chaffing his crew a little. Their days of privateering and gaining profit has dwindled since Cutlass's need for revenge. 

Raeven Russell's former fiance was killed during a skirmish with Captain Cutlass's crew. She blames him for Timothy's death. With her trusted friend Percy, Tim's best friend, in tow, she goes looking for Cutlass. Finding him in a tavern, she challenges him to a sword fight. I was waiting for her to Princess Bride it: "Hello. My name is Raeven Rusell. You killed my fiance, prepare to die." *giggle* Sadly, it was not meant to be probably due to copyright law and such. Of course, Cutlass has to be gorgeous, darn him! And cue in the crescendo of the fighting  music. 

Cutlass is surprised to find the "boy" fighting him turns out to be a girl outfitted in curve hugging breeches and breast hiding shirt. He makes her his cabin girl, planning on teaching her a lesson. Well, Raeven, having grown up on a ship and working alongside men, knows a thing or two about picking locks. She gets away and while doing so, notices all the crates with ammunition getting loaded on the ship. Returning to her father, who has a few choice words for her and Percy, she begs him to go after Cutlass. He was selling weapons to the Spanish and French who could be stockpiling for war. Her father brushes it off since it's not part of his orders.

Six months later, Raeven can't forget the kiss she shared with the insufferable Captain Cutlass and the feelings it evokes in her. She sees Cutlass again, only this time, she's wearing a dress. Some of Jourdain's men try to kill him during a celebration held my the pasha. Raeven still wants revenge for Tim's death. The men chase Cutlass and Raeven through the streets in the dead of night. Being the kick ass heroine she is, she saves him. 

Under cabin arrest, Raeven--the clever girl that she is, picks the lock and coerces Percy into boarding Cutlass's ship in the dead of night. This time, she will not be able to escape. Cutlass is bent on following Jourdain's ship and doesn't give a hoot if he's charged with kidnapping a British admiral's daughter. Time is precious when hunting the pirate and he has no time or the extra crew to send her back aboard her father's ship.

Sultry kisses and touches are exchanged, the sense of adventure is rampant, the truth of Timothy's death is revealed, and someone aboard the ship has betrayed them all. Now, Raeven and Bastien (The Dread Pirate Cutlass) must figure out not only their feelings for each other but who the traitor is that could get them all killed. 

FAVORITE QUOTE: "He'd decided that if his cabin girl regained that blade, he was going to have to seriously consider marrying her." (***quote subject to change in finished copy***)

OVERALL: A stunning, swashbuckling conclusion to the Sons of the Revolution series chock full of witty repartee between the main characters, smoldering attraction, Kindle gripping action (both on the high seas and in the berth *bow chicka wow wow*) and 'whoa! I did not see that coming' moments on the high seas. Shana Galen has once again made me lose an afternoon (in a totally awesome way) with a heart racing, adrenaline pumping, laughter inducing, 'did I just moan out loud?, super sexy read. Hello theme to Pirates of the Caribbean, you and I are forever friends. Out of all the Harcourt men, Bastien's my most favoritest (yes, it's not a word but, for the sake of this review, it is now). Danger! Betrayal! Intrigue! And hot smexing! In Galen fashion, the reader is thrown into the midst of the action from page one. I look forward to what she has next in store for readers.

***requested off Netgalley***

Five Friday Favorites

Happy Friday!!! For me, this week has seen quite a bit of pirates. Yes. Those swashbuckling, totally suave yet sexy men wielding pistols, cutlasses, swigging rum and swiving wenches. But the pirates I'm talking about are one woman men and they're dangerously seductive. Also, the sun decided to come out after a jillion days of fog. At least on the coast. My favorite photographer/author is burning up the Time Travel charts on Amazon of which I'm doing a giveaway of her book. I've reached 200+ followers which might be a drop in the bucket in comparison to the established blogs but I'm also doing a giveaway for that too. Holiday books are showing up at my door, my local Michael's craft store has all holiday decorations 50% off and I bought a half naked man yesterday.

Now on to the good stuff. You can play along too, just leave a comment at the end of the post.

Here are this Friday's favorites:

Gossip Girl on Netflix. The first 4 seasons are streaming and I can't get enough. It's deliciously scandalous and I have a girl crush on Leighton Meester aka Blair Waldorf. I'm catching up on all the seasons I missed, as in seasons 2-4. I discovered the books in high school and totally loved them. I really like that the show doesn't fully go plot by plot according to the books, it's quite refreshing.

Shana Galen's THE ROGUE PIRATE'S BRIDE. For those of you who have access to Netgalley, I recommend on requesting this book. It's just gah! I want to tell you but at the same time I don't. At least not yet. The book release February 2012 so I'll be posting a review a month before. Seriously, the cover is gorgeous, the story is just quite... and there's something about a man named Bastien.

Completely gratuitous. You're welcome.

A shirtless Henry Cavill. What? In case you haven't noticed, I've got a thing for Henry Cavill (rhymes with travel). He's dirty, he's hairy and he's buff. Holy Tudors, is he buff and scruffy. Thank you director of Superman. I'm crossing my fingers for a naked Henry a la Tudors season one episode one. That picture is NSFW. Seriously.And mark your calendars for 11.11.11 because that's when Immortals comes out.

eBay. I love this site. It helps fund my romance book addiction and as of right now, I've got an iPad2 fund going. I'm $200 short so all things Twilight that have been sitting in a box in my closet are going up for auction. Yeah, I went through a phase. Judge me all you want but Edward Cullen is going to get me that new iPad2. I've been DYING for one. Or even a tablet of some sort. I just want it so I can finally read Jenn's book in the way that it was meant to be read or viewed or ogled. (Take your pick.)

Warehouse 13. Oh man. Thanks to Aislynn at Stitch, Read and Cook turned me on to this series. The first 2 seasons are streaming. Basically, these 2 ex-Secret Service agents are transfered to the middle of where South Dakota to search out artifacts that make people do crazy things. I spent 2 days watching the series and am anxiously awaiting for the current season to stream.

What about YOU? Any new books this week that you picked up? How about a new TV show like Once Upon A Time? Share in the comments.