Once a Pirate

By: Diana Bold

Narrated by: Louise Barnes

The earl of Sutcliffe has a problem - his son, Daniel, prefers men to women. After two years of marriage to Lady Kathryn Sinclair, Daniel hasn’t produced an heir. Desperate to continue his bloodline, Sutcliffe turns to his illegitimate son, Talon Montgomery. Knowing the prosperous American privateer will never do as he wishes, Sutcliffe arranges for his son to be falsely arrested for piracy.

Talon is devastated when he believes his entire crew has been executed. When he discovers Sutcliffe has interceded on their behalf, Talon is willing to do her anything to keep them safe - even seduce his sister-in-law.

Can her tender heart survive the love of a pirate?

©2017 Tracy Seybold (P)2018 Tracy Seybold

enjoyable listen, but not perfect

I am writing this honest review in exchange for a free copy of the audiobook. To start off, this was definitely an enjoyable listen. for the most part, the narrator was great, however she doesnt vary her voice enough between characters and at times I struggled to tell who was talking. there is also a line about 3:30 in that is repeated over and over (my guess is that this was an editing oversight).

The book itself started off strong and immediately captured my attention, the ending seemed a bit forced and honestly was cliche. I thought the brother had too many changes of heart and the villain did not have enough depth.

I would recommend this book to someone who wants something to listen to while they go about their day and I do not regret spending the time listening to it.

Not your typical historical romance

This comment is based on a complimentary review copy of the
audiobook. A devious earl abuses and manipulates his two sons.
The story starts slowly, with the bastard son, Talon, who's spent
life as a privateer, serving time at Newgate prison. The earl
arranges Talon's release, on one condition. Talon must impregnate
his half brother Daniel's (the earl's heir) wife, Kate, to continue the
bloodline. The story has several twists and turns including an ocean
voyage, a Castaway (Tom Hanks movie) like segment, lots of sinful
taboo sex, on the way to its violent conclusion. The book is an excellent
listen, but two themes that are prevalent in this genre, detract from
its plot. The first is that the male lead can't tell the woman he loves
that he loves her, despite the female lead's having done so. The second
is the female lead's unwillingness to listen to the male lead's explanations.

Favorite.

I’m in love with this book. As an author myself, I can see the mastery it was written with. I hope to write something half as good as Diana bold. Thank you for this gift.

Wonderfully complex Regency romance!

Once A Pirate is a wonderfully complex Regency romance written by Diana Bold. It had everything that I enjoy in a great book - action, adventure, and intriguing characters.

The story begins when the Earl of Sutcliffe bails out his illegitimate son Talon from prison after being found guilty of piracy and treason. As the Earl’s motives are suspect, Talon is reluctant to be released, but he does so on the promise that he will be reunited with his crew of about 30 men who are supposedly working at one of Earl’s properties in the Carribean. In exchange for his release, Talon must do the unthinkable - sleep with his half-brother’s wife and produce an heir. The Earl’s legitimate son, Daniel, is gay and he hasn’t consummated his marriage in over two years. The sister-in-law, Catherine, is clueless as to Daniel’s sexual orientation and instead just thinks that her husband doesn’t desire her. For the past two years she’s been left alone to live in the country while Daniel enjoys the company of his boyfriend in London.

Nevertheless, the Earl manages to manipulate Talon, Daniel, and Catherine - some by force - and ships them off to a plantation in America. Along the way, Catherine and Daniel become friends (like siblings), and Talon truly falls in love with Catherine. There is much turmoil thrown into the mix, including a hurricane, and many machinations of the Earl to unravel. The ending was very satisfying with all loose ends coming full circle.

I listened to the Audible version of this story narrated by Louise Barnes. She did an excellent job providing different voices for all the characters. Once A Pirate is such a wonderful listen that I hope more audiobook fans find their way to it. It is highly recommended!

Loved!

I loved this story. Maybe it’s because I haven’t read or listened to anything “historical” in a good while… I don’t know. But it was entertaining, and I’d love to listen to more by this author/narrator combo.

The narrator did a beautiful job; I loved her accent/voice. One issue I found was relating to editing, though. The sentence “You’ve been cooped up on this ship for two weeks with the man but that doesn’t make a marriage” was repeated six different times. Obviously that was a mess up.

Questions/Comments:

When Daniel was writing to his lover, why had he only mentioned Talon getting land in exchange for seducing/impregnating his wife as opposed to saying anything about Talon wanting to save his men?

Sorry, but performing oral sex on anyone who hasn’t showered, washed up, or cleaned in any way for several weeks is gross! Sorry, but kissing anyone who hasn’t brushed their teeth in several weeks is also gross!

Daniel mentioned how Johnny, the cabin boy, ended up helping him when the storm was going on. Then he was in Daniel’s rooms when Daniel brought Kathryn back to his hotel. What happened to him after he went looking for Talon? It’s like he disappeared.

I received a free audiobook code in exchange for an honest review.