A pirate captain with a crew of pirates looking to give up their wayward life and settle down; a ship of female convicts bound for Australia and shepherded by a crusading English lady; a not-so-bright idea by said pirate captain of capturing the female convicts and providing brides for his crew - all together a recipe for disaster. Or so some would think.

I enjoyed this story for its escapism mostly. I didn't find it overly romantic in spite of the fact that said Captain Horn spent a lot of his time shirtless. It seemed strange to me that any pirate, even one trying to woo a female convict, would put aside his gruff ways and court said female convict(s). The heroine, Miss Sara Willis, was a bit too demanding for my tastes. She seemed to keep wanting more and more concessions before she would acquiese to the Captain.

A nice change of pace, though, from the usual swashbuckler or Regency period romance. ( )

Living the life of a pirate takes a toll, Captain Gideon Horn known as the Pirate Lord, finally decided to settle down and live his life on an isolated Island. The crew agreed, all they needed was women to make their life complete. Stopping an English women convict transport would be just what they needed. Rescuing the convict women didn't go as planned because of the reformer, do-gooder Sara Willis. She was on board as the teacher of these women, trying to prepare them for going to the prison Island of New South Wales, but in reality, she was the step-sister to a great Lord. Sara was just the type of person to make Gideon's resentment of the English upper class boil over and drive him crazy.

Set in 1818, this is a basic Historical Romance. Very enjoyable, the characters could have had a little more depth. The only one that captured me was Gideon. Mostly it was predictable, the ending was a little bit of a cliche and wrapped up so fast. The build up was great, but the conclusion seemed rushed then the epiloge skipped some conversations that could have been great. This is the 1st in a trilogy, I enjoyed this one enough that I will look for the next one (The Forbidden Lord) and the third (The Dangerous Lord). ( )

I thought this was a cute pirate romance, not my usual thing, but I really enjoyed it!

http://ktleyed.blogspot.com/2009/04/p... ( )

Sara Willis is a step-daughter to a duke and a reformer dedicated to right the wrongs heaped upon the poverty stricken masses of London. Determined to illuminate the atrocities visited upon the convict women being sent to Australia Sara goes undercover as a teacher on the Chastity bound for the colony of New South Wales. What she didn't count on is being abducted by the notorious Pirate Lord and brought to an island paradise for forced marriage.

I've found that I am partial to nautical tales for whatever reason and for that alone I think I would have found this book enjoyable. I also liked the description of an island, sounds like a perfect vacation spot to me! The plot of American pirates determinedly robbing the Lords of England until deciding to settle down was interesting as well. Overall this is a nicely put together, well told story that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to lovers of historical romances. ( )

The Pirate Lord and his merry band of fellow pirates have grown weary of their thieving ways and seek to retire from the business of pirating. They want to set up a utopian community on the island they've dubbed Atlantis, and to this purpose they need women to marry and populate this paradise. Such an improbable premise leads to the capture of a ship carrying convict women to New South Wales. Miss Sara Willis, a woman with a passion for reform, has stowed away on the convict ship in an effort to help improve the conditions of the other women - she plans to take notes on their treatment and then report back to her Women's Committee. So much for the plot. All this set up was rather boring for me, but once Sara is kidnapped by Gideon Horn, the Pirate Lord, and she's carted off to Atlantis with the rest of the convict women, things start to get a little more interesting. There's chemistry between the two, even if Gideon isn't really much of a pirate - he's more of your run of the mill regency hero only he has the dubious distinction of sporting a gold hoop earring and going without his shirt more often than not. Sara is allowed to screech, scold, and make demands to her heart's content, while he comes off as being merely befuddled by all the henpecking. Sara has appointed herself protector of the convict women and does her darnest to see that they aren't forced into marriage with the pirates - even though these pirates are a remarkably well behaved bunch. But still, Sara and Gideon are cute together. They're just very cookie cutter characters, and nothing in their story really snagged my interest. A very average book. ( )