The Raven Saint: (Charles Towne Belles)
by MaryLu Tyndall
- Series: Charles Towne Belles (Book 3)
- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Barbour Publishing Inc.; Reprint edition (January 1, 2014)
- ISBN-10: 1624167241
My Rating: 3.5* of 5.0 *but note all the 5*s at Amazon
Join bestselling author MaryLu Tyndall for a seafaring historical full of romance, intrigue, action, and adventure. Grace Westcott has piously served God her whole life. Captain Rafe Dubois cannot pass up the opportunity to earn more gold toward the hospital he’s building for the poor by kidnapping Admiral Westcott’s youngest daughter. But when the missionary and the mercenary meet, it’s full-sail-ahead into tumultuous waters! Find out what happens when a bitter mercenary who’s sworn off God falls in love with a pious woman determined to change him.
Charles Towne Belles Series:
Book 1 - The Red Siren
Book 2 - The Blue Enchantress
Review:
Grace is the youngest daughter of an Admiral. She is not yet twenty but has decided to dedicate her life to serving God. She is taking baskets to the less fortunate when she is kidnapped by pirates.
Captain Rafe Dubois has agreed to deliver the Admiral’s daughter in exchange for gold to build the hospital he wants to help those less fortunate. Rafe is the son of a nobleman but chose his rebellious life-style after his father’s wealth wooed away Claire, the woman he fell in love with. He has no trust in women, much less God.
Grace is frightened but also finds strength through her faith. She determines that she will face off with the Godless Capitaine and show him God’s love. Grace’s kind manner help her to make a few friends among the crew, most particularly the Captain’s cat, Spyglass, and a disillusioned former Jesuit priest, Father Alers. Others have little kindness for her and some have their own plans to use her in plans of betrayal.
I liked Grace for the most part and particularly liked her strong faith and that she showed kindness in response to evil. She learns lessons about character and pride through her trials. Rafe is a mixed character as he has a soft-heart but his heart is full of bitterness and must show brashness and ruthlessness to control his men. The plot includes Rafe’s father, Claire and more betrayal. The characters are well developed and the plot has action, intrigue and bantering dialogue. The writing is easy to read but I just never warmed to the story.
I started this book the summer of 2014 and finally finished it late summer of 2015. I enjoyed the last 60 or so pages so maybe I just wasn’t in the mood when I started it. However – I have decided I really don’t care for kidnapping pirate themed plots. This is at least the second pirate story I couldn’t get into. There are very positive reviews at Amazon so I think it was just me and my reading tastes.
This was from my TBR shelf as I received this title as a win in October 2010 from Desertrose.
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