*Title was free on Amazon at time of posting*
Title: A Pirate’s Life for Me Book One: Captain & First Mate
Series: Pirates of Anteros, #1
Author: Tricia Owens
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novella (100 pages)
Publisher: Tricia Owens (23 Jan 2012)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3.5Hearts
Blurb: After breaking up with his girlfriend, Lucas is eager to get away from reminders of their failed relationship so he answers an ad to join a pirate show in the Caribbean. What he doesn’t learn until he gets there is that there are two shows: one gay and one straight, and he’s been hired for the gay show.
Determined to stay, Lucas vows to ‘play gay’, but he hasn’t counted on becoming the target of the show’s pirate captain, Adam, and his first mate and lover, Tyler. Adam will only let Lucas stay in the show if he plays by Adam’s rules. But Adam wants more than a good performance from Lucas, he wants Lucas to surrender to an attraction he’s about to learn he can’t resist.
ASIN: B0071CGJMS
Product Link: Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Pirates-Life-Me-Book-One-ebook/dp/B0071CGJMS
Reviewer: Prime
Review: This is a very sexy, very erotic story which kicks off the 3-book series, Pirates of Anteros. However, I am left with very mixed feelings between liking and loving this one.
This is about Lucas. He’s a straight dude who is desperate to find a job to get him away from Chicago and his ex-girlfriend. The job he gets ends up being adult entertainment for a gay pirate crew. There he meets a group of men, including Adam, the captain and Tyler, the first mate and the main crew for the pirate performance.
There were a number of elements that I really liked about this book. I liked the steamy sex and the general all-around erotic feel of the entire story. The sexual tension and attraction is also excellent. Lucas is desperate to keep his job so reading about a very straight man try to be gay, was somewhat entertaining, though he quickly finds himself fighting attraction.
The secondary characters also are wonderful on the whole. All the characters are very fleshed out (Tyler is a right proper bitch) and you can tell that there is depth to these guys. This, though, leads me to what I really did not like.
Firstly, I didn’t feel the flow of a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. This is more like the first half of a book – or maybe the first third since this is the first book in the series. I suppose you can say that there is a beginning and middle, but there is no proper ending. Yes, you have to go to the next book because things are just left hanging, but even books in a series tie up some minor loose ends and leave the major storyline as a cliff hanger.
Okay, that rant went longer than I expected. Just a couple more points I want to make. This entire story is predicated on a straight man “finding himself”. I have to admit that I found myself disturbed by it somewhat. It didn’t feel like it was a big, fun epiphany for Lucas, it seemed like he was dragged from the bisexual closet kicking and screaming and by the end of it he still wasn’t comfortable (I know, going back to my former rant).
So we get to some of the erotica. Perhaps I am too sensitive, but some of the sexual-play involving Lucas, because he is kicking and screaming, feels like he is forever avoiding being raped. Maybe it would be easier to comprehend if the story felt more complete but the fact that Lucas doesn’t have any form of resolution when it comes to his newly discovered sexuality made me uncomfortable at points.
Regardless of my misgivings, this is fun and sexy and I wouldn’t mind finding out what happens to Lucas. I just want to be able to read him finally comfortable in his own skin, perhaps even a bit of a HEA.
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *