Booklog 33/2019 - Mary Jo Putney: Once a Scoundrel – Rogues Redeemed #3

Hmmm, perhaps I wasn't in the mood for this book. I'd just finished an engaging Sebasten de Castell, so thought I'd try something completely different. This is a Georgian novel set on the high seas and the Barbary Coast, so yes, pirates, a menagerie, two beautiful English women in danger of being sold into sex slavery via a harem.

Gabriel Hawkins Vance is chucked out of the Navy for some heinous crime (which isn't revealed until well into the book). He does quite well for himself as captain of his own ship, doing a bit of smuggling and blockade running. When Aurora (Roaring Rory) Lawrence and her companion, Constance, are captured by a Barbary pirate while gallivanting around the world, they are offered up for (a huge) ransom, which despite being an Earl, her father can't pay. Captain Gabriel Hawkins (he's dropped the Vance bit along with all family connections) is sent to negotiate their release for a smaller sum. Yes the obvious happens, Gabriel and Rory fall in love instantly.There's a lot of Gabriel's backstory revealed since he has past history with the Barbary pirate in question. It turns out that his heinous Naval crime wasn't heinous. So in fact he was never a real scoundrel at all. In fact he's gentlemanly and honourable throughout the whole book. In general the characters aren't terribly engaging. The women are both a bit annoying since every experience, however dire, seems to give them fuel for the next adventure book they are writing together. There's a rescue that's a bit too easy. Expect pygmy goats, a lion (underused in the plot - like the unfired gun on the mantelpiece) and a ship's cat called Spook.

This was a pleasant enough bit of escapism, if you could ignore some of the dialogue, but not the best of its kind.