Sea Romance 1 lively and quick but not remembered ( )

Well, this was an interesting read! Interesting because it certaily was not on my radar and I only chose it because I "have to" read a historical adventure title for my upcoming Readers' Advisory meeting. This title was on the list that our chair provided of alternate historical adventure titles and it was one of few that sounded even vaguely interesting to me- but even then I was not expecting very much. ::Opens mouth, inserts foot:: I liked this much more than I expected to. The plot was very well-paced, not fast and not slow (which may disqualify it as adventure...but we'll see what the group has to say about that) and rather enjoyable. I liked that the story was told from alternating perspectives. I really liked both of the main characters almost instantly and all the other character were very well written. There is a little bit of romance, you know there has to be if I picked it up, but I would not qualify it as a Romance-with-a-capital-R at all. It was a very important part of the story, and a part I really enjoyed, but doesn't qualify it as something I would reccomend to romance fans. I am not really sure who I would reccomend it to, honestly. Historical fiction fans, probably. I'll be looking for some insight into that and hopefully I can update this review after the meeting. As for whether or not I will be continuing the series...I don't know. This took me a while to read and had a somewhat satisfying conclusion, no edge-of-your-seat gimmicky cliffhanger. If I find myself wanting to visit the characters again, which I can defintely envision happening, then I probably will. ( )

Sea Witch by Helen Hollick is a historical adventure and romance story that combines pirate lore with a fantasy element. Jesamiah Acorne was forced by his stepbrother to leave home and fend for himself at an early age. He took to the sea and became a pirate. Tiola Oldstagh is a fifteen year old white witch with a talent for midwifery and healing. She senses that she and Jesamiah are fated to love one another and their struggles to be together leads to many adventures both at sea and on land.

Jesamiah is an appealing and interesting character with his good looks and his tortured childhood. Tiola also suffered in her childhood but I found her character was less developed than than of Jesamiah. Of course this is the first book of three so I expect there are many more aspects about these two characters yet to be revealed. There were a couple of heinous villains that kept interfering with the couple and I am sure that at least one of them will make more appearances in the succeeding books.

I love reading about pirates so this book was right in my wheelhouse. The touches of magic that Tiola brought to the story added to the enticement of the story. I will definitely be reading more about these characters as I have the next two books on my shelf. Sea Witch was a great escape read with it’s swashbuckling adventure and it’s light touch of magic.

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Pirates, oh yes, pirates. This book introduces us to Jesamiah who became a pirate when he was young, because he half-brother was a total ass (trust me, an ass, but then we also learn why during the book. In the end I even understood his madness).



Jesamiah does have standards, no rapes so that makes me like this pirate. Since pirates in the end were not very nice people. But he is a good man and when he falls in love he becomes an ever better man. Even if he loves the sea way too much.

The heroine of this book is Tiola, a white witch who escaped England so no one would find out what she is. A pirate is bad, but a witch is worse. She is really sweet and wants to help everyone from puppies to a certain wounded pirate. I am sure her witch powers will come back and bite her in the behind one day but for now I admire her strength. As for the love story, she knows they are meant to be from the moment she sees him.

This book is all about Jesamiah being out to sea, loosing ships, getting new ships and taking over other ships. He loves what he does. But after these two fall in love the book becomes more. Someone else wants her and he has power to see it happen. Then there is Jesamiah's evil brother too, oh and do not forget everyone else who do not like pirates (that is a lot of people.)

This book has a lot of adventure and romance and truth be told I have not read that many pirate novels. Ok sure harlequin ones but they are always so pretty while this one is real. Life is hard, especially for a pirate.

Conclusion:

A good historical fiction book with lot to offer. Hollick knows her history and there is also a list of words at the end for those of us who has no idea what anything on a ship is called. ( )

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I really enjoyed Helen Hollick's trilogy about King Arthur, and I love Pirates, so I had very high hopes for this historical fantasy. Therefore, I was extremely disappointed that I couldn't even get past chapter five of Sea Witch. The story and the characters seemed promising, and I know from past experience that Ms. Hollick tells a good tale, but the writing was so badly done that I couldn't continue. I had to keep re-reading paragraphs in order to understand what was going on. It's not that I don't understand nautical language -- I have read and loved all 21 of Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander series. Rather, horribly constructed sentences completely distracted me from the story.

The book was published by Discovered Authors and printed by BookForce UK, and this, I suppose, is the problem. It doesn't look very professional, and I'm wondering if they edited it at all because the entire book contains a jumble of nearly incomprehensible sentences containing, random, haphazardly, placed, commas, or usually no commas at all and some sentences are run-ons and many have no subject or they have incorrect punctuation here are some examples that come from just a few pages close, together, and you can see what I mean I hope:

"Mother was already in the next world, gone to God, except while she hanged the jeering mob had shouted that a woman who plunged a knife into the heart of her own husband was of the Devil's breeding and would burn in Hell." [page 11:]

"Her sight enhanced by her ability of Craft she needed no telescope to put to her eye." [page 14. She might not need a telescope, but she definitely needs a comma.:]

"Astern on the quarterdeck, stood their captain, smarter dressed than his crew, a buckram coat, white breeches; a red, feathered plume in his cocked hat." [page 14. Ah, there's the missing comma -- You gotta watch those sneaky fellas.:]

"The men, used to the incredible noise and the acrid stink, took no notice, began running in and re-loading with barely a pause." [page 17. Ms. Hollick has a habit of omitting conjunctions. I think she gets this from her friend and fellow author Sharon Kay Penman who writes excellent historical fiction (except for the lack of conjunctions) and who wrote a blurb for the cover of Sea Witch.:]

"He had a sudden urge to look at that child properly; spun on his heel and hurried up the companionway steps to the shattered chaos of the quarterdeck, claimed the telescope from beside the ship's compass, mercifully, both still intact. Extending the tube to its full length, was about to raise it to his eye when Malachias, his face covered in blood, called his name and distracted his attention." [I did not make that up -- it's on page 25:]

The entire book goes on with these awkward sentences (I flipped through to check). I'm betting that the story was interesting, but it was so laborious to read that it just was not fun. I'm so disappointed in this novel, but I do recommend Ms. Hollick's historical fiction.
Read this review in context at Fantasy literature. ( )