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kathydavie's review against another edition
2.0
First in the Sutherland Brothers historical romance series — for feminists!
In 2003, The Captain of All Pleasures won the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Best First Historical Romance.
My Take
There is no lack of action (of all sorts) in Captain of All Pleasures; it's a good story. I just wish there had been more tension and depth.
Both men hate each other but there's no explanation as to why. Even during the race, there's no tension although both ships suffer sabotage — twice for the Bella Nicola. And, okay, it's petty, but at the end of page 45, "Nicole unwillingly drifted to sleep and dreamed that Sutherland said in disbelief,'Her eyes are blue'." So, her eyes are blue. What's the point of this comment? I guess what I'm getting at, in all my pettiness, is that these little anomalies are scattered throughout the book and may well be why the passion has no depth.
Yes, I will read the next in the series, Price of Pleasure, if only because I do like the character of Nicole. Cole did a nice job of marrying Nicole's independence with the mores of her time period.
The Story
Intelligent, bold (and cheeky!) Nicole Lassiter has the best of all Victorian worlds: a father who loves her and can't resist her desire to sail the seas with him and a wealthy estate and marquisate to inherit when her grandmother dies. Yet, at age 21, her faceless sexual dreams are driving her decisionmaking, well, that and her need to help her father in the upcoming race.
Someone is sabotaging the shipping lines and the story concentrates on two of them: Lassiter's (her father) and Sutherland's. Both men are counting on the Great Circle Race to prop up their companies if they can overcome any sabotage. Which is how Nicole meets Sutherland, a man jaded about women with no hope in his future, when he rescues her late at night on the dock from two men intent on bodily harm.
Assuming she's a prostitute having encountered her earlier in a sleazy, dockside pub, Sutherland hauls her off to his ship where Nicole finally has a face for her dreams. I'll just say a connection is made before she escapes him. As you can imagine, all sorts of ruckus occurs, and Nicole sneaks aboard her father's ship, the Bella Nicola, when her father can't get out of jail, so she can play navigator in the race.
In 2003, The Captain of All Pleasures won the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Best First Historical Romance.
My Take
There is no lack of action (of all sorts) in Captain of All Pleasures; it's a good story. I just wish there had been more tension and depth.
Both men hate each other but there's no explanation as to why. Even during the race, there's no tension although both ships suffer sabotage — twice for the Bella Nicola. And, okay, it's petty, but at the end of page 45, "Nicole unwillingly drifted to sleep and dreamed that Sutherland said in disbelief,'Her eyes are blue'." So, her eyes are blue. What's the point of this comment? I guess what I'm getting at, in all my pettiness, is that these little anomalies are scattered throughout the book and may well be why the passion has no depth.
Yes, I will read the next in the series, Price of Pleasure, if only because I do like the character of Nicole. Cole did a nice job of marrying Nicole's independence with the mores of her time period.
The Story
Intelligent, bold (and cheeky!) Nicole Lassiter has the best of all Victorian worlds: a father who loves her and can't resist her desire to sail the seas with him and a wealthy estate and marquisate to inherit when her grandmother dies. Yet, at age 21, her faceless sexual dreams are driving her decisionmaking, well, that and her need to help her father in the upcoming race.
Someone is sabotaging the shipping lines and the story concentrates on two of them: Lassiter's (her father) and Sutherland's. Both men are counting on the Great Circle Race to prop up their companies if they can overcome any sabotage. Which is how Nicole meets Sutherland, a man jaded about women with no hope in his future, when he rescues her late at night on the dock from two men intent on bodily harm.
Assuming she's a prostitute having encountered her earlier in a sleazy, dockside pub, Sutherland hauls her off to his ship where Nicole finally has a face for her dreams. I'll just say a connection is made before she escapes him. As you can imagine, all sorts of ruckus occurs, and Nicole sneaks aboard her father's ship, the Bella Nicola, when her father can't get out of jail, so she can play navigator in the race.
suzeseu's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
isitcake's review against another edition
4.0
This is like what The Flame and the Flower should have been - a captive onboard ship romance minus the rape!
Nicole Lassiter is the daughter of a ship captain who is enemies with a rival captain, Derek Sutherland. Derek mistakes her for a prostitute and takes her back to his ship after he saves her from being chased by 2 bad men (just like The Flame and the Flower), who Nicole caught sabotaging her ship. Rather than raping her, she sleeps and goes back to her dad's ship the next day, but her dad thinks she's been ruined and goes to fight Derek. This lands him in prison, but Derek is secretly the heir to an earldom so as a peer he was released.
However, Nicole is actually Nicole Christina Lassiter, her mother's maiden name was Bannings and she was the most wealthy heiress in England before falling for a lowly ship captain. Nicole's grandmother made a deal with her dad that she could sail with him under the name Nicole but once she was of age she would take her place in the ton as Christina Bannings, marry well and inherit. When Nicole stays with her grandmother, Derek can't find her. There's this big ship race that all the captains in England are to compete in to race to Australia, where the winner is guaranteed fame and business. Derek refuses to leave until he can find Nicole, and Nicole has been trying to get her dad released - someone is putting pressure to keep her dad locked up.
Eventually she decides to race in her father's place, because she's a trained navigator. Derek sees her set sail and follows her. But at sea Derek discovers all of his water has been poisoned, and he saw Nicole hovering near the water barrels. When Nicole's ship sinks after a bad storm, Derek's crew imprison her crew, take as much goods as they can, and Nicole is locked in his cabin (she's injured and has to recover). Then weeks follow where she nearly starves because the crew all think she's the one who poisoned them.
This is like a big misunderstanding. Someone is sabotaging both Derek's and Nicole's ships, but they mistakenly blame each other. It takes months at sea for them to realize it can't be, but their relationship is already damaged. When they finally land in Australia, they've lost the race to Tally-something. Once there they prove that it was the Tally guy who sabotaged both their ships. Derek is declared the winner and he gets tons of goods.
Eventually they all make their way back to England where a depressed Nicole has taken on her identity as Christina Bannings and is trying to land a husband ASAP to get over her heartbreak. Derek realizes she was amazing and is trying to find her but can't. By chance his brother ,Grant, suggets he goes to a ball where he sees Nicole and instantly pursues her until she agrees to marry him. From there it's pretty much HAE as Nicole is insanely wealthy and brings a nice infusion of cash to him and their company.
The other plot / misunderstanding important to the book is that Derek was already married during all this. His older brother died and right after Lucia(?) came to their family saying she was pregnant with his brother's baby. His dad always favored the oldest brother and begged Derek to marry Lucia and claim the baby as his own, so he marries her but of course Lucia isn't actually pregnant. She's just a gold-digger. He never consummated their marriage and while he was sailing the race Lucia gets pregnant with some count. He only let Nicole go since he was convinced that she would be heartbroken if she found out (she did find out, and she was). When Lucia wants the marriage annulled, he happily agrees and goes after Nicole.
However, Nicole is actually Nicole Christina Lassiter, her mother's maiden name was Bannings and she was the most wealthy heiress in England before falling for a lowly ship captain. Nicole's grandmother made a deal with her dad that she could sail with him under the name Nicole but once she was of age she would take her place in the ton as Christina Bannings, marry well and inherit. When Nicole stays with her grandmother, Derek can't find her. There's this big ship race that all the captains in England are to compete in to race to Australia, where the winner is guaranteed fame and business. Derek refuses to leave until he can find Nicole, and Nicole has been trying to get her dad released - someone is putting pressure to keep her dad locked up.
Eventually she decides to race in her father's place, because she's a trained navigator. Derek sees her set sail and follows her. But at sea Derek discovers all of his water has been poisoned, and he saw Nicole hovering near the water barrels. When Nicole's ship sinks after a bad storm, Derek's crew imprison her crew, take as much goods as they can, and Nicole is locked in his cabin (she's injured and has to recover). Then weeks follow where she nearly starves because the crew all think she's the one who poisoned them.
This is like a big misunderstanding. Someone is sabotaging both Derek's and Nicole's ships, but they mistakenly blame each other. It takes months at sea for them to realize it can't be, but their relationship is already damaged. When they finally land in Australia, they've lost the race to Tally-something. Once there they prove that it was the Tally guy who sabotaged both their ships. Derek is declared the winner and he gets tons of goods.
Eventually they all make their way back to England where a depressed Nicole has taken on her identity as Christina Bannings and is trying to land a husband ASAP to get over her heartbreak. Derek realizes she was amazing and is trying to find her but can't. By chance his brother ,Grant, suggets he goes to a ball where he sees Nicole and instantly pursues her until she agrees to marry him. From there it's pretty much HAE as Nicole is insanely wealthy and brings a nice infusion of cash to him and their company.
The other plot / misunderstanding important to the book is that Derek was already married during all this. His older brother died and right after Lucia(?) came to their family saying she was pregnant with his brother's baby. His dad always favored the oldest brother and begged Derek to marry Lucia and claim the baby as his own, so he marries her but of course Lucia isn't actually pregnant. She's just a gold-digger. He never consummated their marriage and while he was sailing the race Lucia gets pregnant with some count. He only let Nicole go since he was convinced that she would be heartbroken if she found out (she did find out, and she was). When Lucia wants the marriage annulled, he happily agrees and goes after Nicole.
romancejunkie1025's review
5.0
a very good historical read. if you've ever read a Kresley Cole novel you will not be disappointed. I saw so many of the traits I've come to love in her IAD characters portrayed in these very human characters. I can't wait to read the next in the series and keep enjoying all the types of wonderful romance Ms. Cole has shared with the world.
ivana_jenna's review against another edition
5.0
Spoiler
She painted over his room
She painted it over
All surfaces
Even his books
She painted over his room
She painted it over
All surfaces
Even his books
jazzrizz's review against another edition
4.0
Like other IAD lovers, I decided to check out Cole's first book. I really enjoyed this book & already have Grant's book checked out from the library.
s4ufos's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly, I was hesitating to read this book after the description and reading some bad reviews. However, if you add boredom and a random selection from my kindle list then you will have this delightful winner.
It was much better that the description led me to believe and I honestly struggled to put it down. Seriously. I stayed up until five in the morning reading this the first day.
I’ve always liked Cole’s work which is why I bought this book when it was on sale. She’s one of the first romance authors I’ve ever picked up (I love her IAD series). This is another great addition and very refreshing if you need something different.
Kudos to her and I will remain an avid fan!
It was much better that the description led me to believe and I honestly struggled to put it down. Seriously. I stayed up until five in the morning reading this the first day.
I’ve always liked Cole’s work which is why I bought this book when it was on sale. She’s one of the first romance authors I’ve ever picked up (I love her IAD series). This is another great addition and very refreshing if you need something different.
Kudos to her and I will remain an avid fan!
meganharnett's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this story! I love all of Kresley Cole's stories. I love how she has the right amount of steamy plus adventure!