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A review by bookworm097
Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman
3.0
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. When I first heard about this, I was sold on the concept of Blackbeard. This book seemed to have all the components I love. I adore pirates, I'm always willing to I've a pirate book a try. I especially love origin stories. I am HERE for the origin stories. I'm also a big fan of retellings/reimaginings. I especially think it's cool to take a historical figure (specifically one we don't know a whole lot about) and give them a story. This book had all of that - an origin story about Blackbeard the pirate. I was definitely expecting more pirates in this book. I was pretty disappointed, however, once I realized this first book was more of an origin story, it makes sense that the pirate part won't come until the next book. I still wish the story had progressed a bit more or been set up differently so there were more pirates.
Insta-love, my mortal foe. I detest thee. The author specifically confirmed there was NO INSTA-LOVE in this story. WRONG. The love interests know each other for all of 2-3 weeks tops and they are in love and planning to get married. Don't even TRY to tell me that's not insta-love. I am a huge fan of ships that hate each other and slowly fall for each other over a long period of time, like 3 books. I am also a fan of a less-than-morally-upright character falling for a more morally-upright character and slowly chaining their dastardly ways. Basically, I'm a fan of the slow burn. I thought this book would utilize at least one of those templates, but no. At first, we are led to believe it's going to be a hate-each-other type deal, but then the instant attraction beings. I was not impressed and found myself bored by the romance. Maybe I'm just cynical and need to read some books without romance to recharge a bit, but I wasn't impressed.
I also wasn't a big fan of Edward going by "Teach". Yes, I get that Blackbeard used the name Edward Teach, and how he gets the nickname and uses it makes sense, but come on. Teach isn't a name and I felt stupid reading it throughout this book. Not a huge deal, but still, it took away from the experience.
The POV situation was weird. Generally, I tend to dislike multiple POV's, because it can be hard to distinguish the voices, depending on the author. In this case, I had to turn back to the beginning of the chapter multiple times to figure out who's chapter it was. I would have preferred it if the two POV's had different voices, such as Anne's being in 1st person and Edward's being in 3rd. But I suppose that's just a preference thing.
All in all, this wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't at all what I was promised. The ending left me intrigued enough that I'm willing to give the second book a try. If only for the pirates I came for. It was a pretty quick read for me, so I don't feel like it was a massive waste of time. It was definitely more historical fiction/romance than it was action/adventure.
The author did say if you are a fan of Poldark, this series will probably appeal to you. I love Poldark as much as the next girl, trust. And I wouldn't compare the two at all. They are completely different, while they are both historical fiction, Poldark has an actual storyline and really lovable characters. This book's storyline dragged at times for me, and the characters weren't incredible likable or relatable. This wasn't a bad debut, but I have read much better. Hopefully the author has learned and grown as a writer and the rest of this series will show that.
Insta-love, my mortal foe. I detest thee. The author specifically confirmed there was NO INSTA-LOVE in this story. WRONG. The love interests know each other for all of 2-3 weeks tops and they are in love and planning to get married. Don't even TRY to tell me that's not insta-love. I am a huge fan of ships that hate each other and slowly fall for each other over a long period of time, like 3 books. I am also a fan of a less-than-morally-upright character falling for a more morally-upright character and slowly chaining their dastardly ways. Basically, I'm a fan of the slow burn. I thought this book would utilize at least one of those templates, but no. At first, we are led to believe it's going to be a hate-each-other type deal, but then the instant attraction beings. I was not impressed and found myself bored by the romance. Maybe I'm just cynical and need to read some books without romance to recharge a bit, but I wasn't impressed.
I also wasn't a big fan of Edward going by "Teach". Yes, I get that Blackbeard used the name Edward Teach, and how he gets the nickname and uses it makes sense, but come on. Teach isn't a name and I felt stupid reading it throughout this book. Not a huge deal, but still, it took away from the experience.
The POV situation was weird. Generally, I tend to dislike multiple POV's, because it can be hard to distinguish the voices, depending on the author. In this case, I had to turn back to the beginning of the chapter multiple times to figure out who's chapter it was. I would have preferred it if the two POV's had different voices, such as Anne's being in 1st person and Edward's being in 3rd. But I suppose that's just a preference thing.
All in all, this wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't at all what I was promised. The ending left me intrigued enough that I'm willing to give the second book a try. If only for the pirates I came for. It was a pretty quick read for me, so I don't feel like it was a massive waste of time. It was definitely more historical fiction/romance than it was action/adventure.
The author did say if you are a fan of Poldark, this series will probably appeal to you. I love Poldark as much as the next girl, trust. And I wouldn't compare the two at all. They are completely different, while they are both historical fiction, Poldark has an actual storyline and really lovable characters. This book's storyline dragged at times for me, and the characters weren't incredible likable or relatable. This wasn't a bad debut, but I have read much better. Hopefully the author has learned and grown as a writer and the rest of this series will show that.