Welcome back to Wednesday Links! How have you all been?! The allergies have finally hit. They’ve hit so hard that I was in tears because of the sinus pressure and spent most of Monday night in a dark room with a compress over my eyes, breathing out of my mouth, listening to podcasts. My partner stepped in to cook dinner and be a lovely caretaker that night. They were very supportive of my wallowing. We’re … Continue reading Links: Emma Thompson, Our Flag Means Death, & More →
Content warning: Torture of a main character. I’m pretty sure that if I start by saying ‘genderswapped Princess Bride where the Princess rescues the stable boy’, about half of you won’t read any further in this review because you will be too busy one-clicking the book. Certainly, that was my reaction when I saw this title appear on NetGalley. And if genderswapped Princess Bride is what you are looking for in a book, you will … Continue reading The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning →
Content warning: Attempted rape Much Ado About A Widow starts with Georgie, two years widowed, returning to her father’s house to marry a man she loathes on pain of being disowned. On the way, she is kidnapped by unsavoury persons; she escapes them only to collide with Robin, Lord St Just, a friend of her brother’s, who rescues her… by kidnapping her again, this time onto his boat. To do him justice, this is probably … Continue reading Much Ado About A Widow by Jenna Jaxon →
Never Trust a Pirate does not include a single iota of historical accuracy, but it sure is a lot of fun. This Regency romance by Valerie Bowman is about spies, a map, derring-do, disguises, how to fix one’s hair in the latest French style, and the importance of knowing how to swim. This book takes place after The Irresistible Rogue, in which Captain Rafferty Cavendish wooed his wife Daphne while the two of them engaged … Continue reading Never Trust a Pirate by Valerie Bowman →
I DEEPLY regret that I can’t remember which of you wonderful Bitches recommended Cinnamon and Gunpowder, but I owe you one because this book was AMAZEBALLS. I do have to warn readers in the strongest terms that the book has a bittersweet ending. There is a love story, but this is NOT a romance novel and you will want copious amounts of tissues towards the end. But boy howdy, is it amazing! Cinnamon and Gunpowder … Continue reading Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown →
Alert! Red Alert! We have a f/f science fiction book with strong romantic elements featuring an Asian-Northern American heroine who trains genetically-engineered sea monsters to attack ships and who is forced to work for pirates! This is not a drill! Catnip ahoy! The Abyss Surrounds Us is a science fiction YA in which Earth’s political and geographical boundaries have been altered by flooding. Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Leung comes from a family who trains Reckoners, genetically engineered … Continue reading The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie →
This month in Kickass Women it is my great pleasure to introduce you to Sayyida al Hurra, Islamic pirate queen. She was a woman so badass that her title (Sayyida al Hurra was technically her title, not her name) means “noble lady who is free and independent; the woman sovereign who bows to no superior authority.” FUCK YEAH, IT DOES. I’m writing that on all my nametags from now on. According to my best friend … Continue reading Kickass Women in History: Sayyida al Hurra →
If there’s anything I love about the Internet, it’s the assurance that I won’t be disappointed if I Google “Chinese Pirate Queen.” This month’s Kickass Women is Ching Shih, also known as Madame Ching, also known as Cheng I Sao. She ruled the seas with an iron hand and retired so she could spend her golden years perched on big bags of money. She was a badass, and while of course her story is embellished … Continue reading Kickass Women: Ching Shih, Pirate Queen →
Fans of the Pennyroyal Green series have been waiting a long time for The Legend of Lyon Redmond. For those unfamiliar with the series, the Redmonds and the Everseas are the two most powerful, prestigious families of Pennyroyal Green. They are also at odds with each other, like Regency Capulet and Montagues. So OF COURSE an Eversea falls in loves with a Redmond. It’s destiny. This is book eleven in the series and up until … Continue reading The Legend of Lyon Redmond by Julie Anne Long →
Rarely has a book with such a glorious title fallen so tragically flat. The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin tells of Pirate Captain Gayle, who abducts a seamstress, Celia. She does this because she needs someone to stitch up a wounded man, the ship’s doctor is dead, and none of the pirates can sew. Since I’m pretty sure a lot of pirates could sew quite nicely for practical reasons in real life, this … Continue reading The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin by Colette Moody →
Okay, this fuschia pile of incoherent nonsense came from the HABO a while back looking for pirate something something ridonkadonk. This is pirate something ridonkadonk, but not the correct pirate something something ridonkadonk. It’s a totally other pirate something ridonkadonk. So the basic premise is this: Adam Foxworth’s father died in a duel with Alexa Ashley’s father, because Adam’s father was banging Alexa’s mother, and Adam swore revenge upon Alexa’s father. 15 years later, Adam … Continue reading My Lady Vixen by Connie Mason →
