My Lord Pirate

Rating:
Summary: MLP will sail into your heart!
Review: After reading a great book, a reader often feels as though the characters were real, the location somewhere she had visited and she wishes she had been a part of the story. MY LORD PIRATE by newcomer Laura Renken is such a book. I never wanted the story to end, as Ms. Renken's writing style was superb, placing me in the midst of the action and giving the characters life and soul. Once I picked up MY LORD PIRATE, I could not put it down! I was hooked on the story by the end of the first page, in love with the characters by the end of the first chapter, and a devoted Laura Renken reader by the end of the book. MY LORD PIRATE will sail into the hearts of readers everywhere, as it is a tale of realistic characters, pulse-pounding adventure and an unequaled love.

The heroine, Regan Welles, is determined to become a nun on her island home of Martinique. Traveling to nearby Jamaica for the betrothal ball of her brother Harrison Kendrick, the governor of Jamaica, was to be her last voyage before taking up the veil. However, when plans go awry and Regan finds herself on the ship of the notorious pirate Talon Drake, her life will never be the same.

Seeking his revenge against his parents' murderers, Talon plots to abduct the Governor's intended bride, yet it is to the Governor's sister he finds himself wed. Despite his vows of revenge, Talon cannot return Regan to her brother, telling himself that she would only suffer further in Kendrick's hands. Is this the only reason he refuses to relinquish his beautiful bride, or are his feelings for Regan deeper?

Plot twists abound in this wildly romantic story of love, adventure and acceptance on the high seas. Ms. Renken will not disappoint her readers, indeed, she will leave them begging for more. MY LORD PIRATE is the first in Ms. Renken's trilogy about the Drake family, and this is one reader who is eagerly anticipating the upcoming stories. Given the intriguing glances the reader is given of Talon's brother and sister, their stories promise to be as wonderful as Talon and Regan's story.

Kudos to Laura Renken! She has carved a place for herself among the rising stars of the romance genre with the wonderful storytelling power of MY LORD PIRATE.

Rating:
Summary: Bare Facts
Review: Heroine is considered a cripple by her family, scorned but she isn't hindered. She runs along the beach, up hills, down and up stairs, dances and jumps from a ship into the murky water below and swims to shore. She shoots the hero to keep him from getting way and continually fights him tooth and nail and betrays him to the bitter end. She is able to keep the crew's heartfelt love and admiration for her fierce loyalty and determination despite the fact that she is mislead. She's so wonderful they have to admire her spunk. On one of her escapes she causes the hero's crew to leave his brother for dead. But they realize it isn't her fault. She's just being loyal to her faithless family. She holds up her family above it all, although deep down she suspects they are ruthless but burns every bit of evidence she can to keep it from being proven. She stands strong to the bitter end, determined her brother would not die at the hero's hand, although he kept her drugged and killed their parents.

The hero sacrifices his happiness for his family to no avail. He allows the heroine to go as she pleases so she can cause havoc at every turn. The heroine blames the hero for his brother's death. She was only doing what she had to. The hero takes the blame of his brother's death on his shoulders, holding up the heroine before his crew to be admired due to her courageousness no matter how mislead. He loves the heroine to distraction that is his undoing. He stands by her despite the fact that she is constantly, nearly getting him killed and thwarting each of his plans to clear his family name until he has nothing. He looses all concepts that got him through the years of building his reputation as one of the fiercest pirates to be reckoned with leaving a shadow of who he was. That is a strong love.
Their love scenes are hot and steamy but she always manages to hang onto her hate after each is over. Her determination to best the hero is on going, and she accomplishes each of her goals to do so.
Despite their conflict until the end, they come together and declare their love no matter what and live happily ever after, wrapped in bliss. Her brother does not account for his misdeeds, nor does her uncle. The brother is supposedly dying and the uncle has become a drunk, has loss everything but is sent away with his daughter with enough from the hero's dead brother's money to keep them comfortable for the rest of their lives. Now that is a very generous and forgiving hero.

Rating:
Summary: My Lord Pirate by Laura Renken
Review: I fell in love with Talon and Regan from page one.Talon Drake is a tall, handsome,brave Pirate with strong love of family. Regan is just as strong and very courageous. The two are meant for each other from the day Talon kidnaps her by mistake. Sensual and full of adventure. They fight and claw their enemies as well as each other while trying to find the truth needed to "free" them both. These characters will steal your heart; there is a wonderful development of characters in this is great book. I loved them all and especially this great capivating love story they weave.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best pirate stories.
Review: I just got done reading this book, thankfully it ended my bad book run. I had the second book in this series, only I did not know they were connected till a few minutes ago when I went to do my review and read that My Lord Pirate is the first book. Well, I sold the second book, not knowing what I had and just kicked myself you know where for getting rid of it, so I ordered the second book again, as well as the third. I loved this book and read it in practically one day. If I could have stayed awake any longer, I would have finished it. This book had so many twists and turns, Talon is woow baby. I wish. I highly recommend this book, if you can find it, and the other two too. I have not read the third book yet, but I have no doubt it will be as good as the first and second. I will definetly be reading this book again, probally all of them, to do the series justice. I didnt want it to end. Help us all if books like these keep coming out.

Rating:
Summary: Have to agree with "dreadful."
Review: I know this isn't really the forum for such a request, but please please please can we get better editing in this genre?! I am getting awfully tired of getting "popped" out of the story by distracting, easily correctable errors.

I have to agree with the reviewer who found the sheer volume of errors in structure and grammar in this book inexcusable. First, there are the errors with homonyms (e.g., pouring for poring, manor for manner) that unfortunately seem to be endemic to this genre. Those might be blamed on poor editing, or the use of computer spellchecking rather than an actual proofreader. But beyond those errors, the author misuses words so often and generally mangles sentence structure with such (unintentionally) comic results that I ended up skimming through the book just to get a good chuckle. It was certainly impossible to become absorbed in the plot, which was pretty pedestrian in any case. However, if you can overlook reading that characters "probed [the heroine] intensely" during the course of casual conversations, not much else that happens here will surprise you!

Rating:
Summary: Fell in love with Talon!
Review: I was hopelessly addicted to Talon from page one. The story draws you in and is impossible to put down. Makes you feel like you are part of the story. Upon borrowing the book from a friend, it was one I decided I wanted to own. Upon searching the internet I found out there were two more books, without hesitation I ordered them. I am currently reading the 3rd of the series. A truely good read, I highly reccomend this book, bravo!

Rating:
Summary: Fell in love with Talon!
Review: I was hopelessly addicted to Talon from page one. The story draws you in and is impossible to put down. Makes you feel like you are part of the story. Upon borrowing the book from a friend, it was one I decided I wanted to own. Upon searching the internet I found out there were two more books, without hesitation I ordered them. I am currently reading the 3rd of the series. A truely good read, I highly reccomend this book, bravo!

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I'd read so many glowing reviews for this book, that I wondered if it could live up to them. It most certainly does. Wow! My Lord Pirate truly deserves the Romantic Top Pick from Romantic Times magazine, and the hero, Talon Drake, is a hero I won't forget. The action is nonstop and fast pace, but it never once overshadows the sizzling romance that develops between Talon and the heroine, Regan. There are so many layers to the characters that they practically step off the pages. Yes, My Lord Pirate lives up to its glowing reviews and then some.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult to review.......
Review: If I could review this in 2 parts, I'd rate Talon Drake 6*. He is everything a male lead should be. Wonderful depth, you can see to his soul........Then his 'wife' Regan. Although likeable, her whining and attempts to get away..and the fact that she is frequently in a chemise in her encounters with all the male characters if really tedious. I don't know what Talon sees in her to warrant all his sacrifice. This rates about 2* The other characters are so life like you can touch them. They rate a 5*. The plot is complex and changes but is better than average. I hope there is a sequel for Marcus, Talon's 'dead brother'. So far I haven't found one. If you do please email me at [e-mail]. thanks. enjoy........

Rating:
Summary: A good pirate story
Review: In 1690 Jamaica, Talon Drake sees the opportunity to begin his quest for vengeance against the Welles family who destroyed his name when they accused the Drakes of treason. The aristocrat turned pirate plans to abduct Arabella, the bride of William Welles' stepson Harrison Kendrick. However, his men kidnap the wrong woman, taking Regan Welles, Arabella's cousin and Harrison's stepsister instead.

Regan loathes Talon, a pirate who has killed her parents. Thinking she is Arabella, he tells her that he plans to marry her as an affront against his greatest enemy. However, before he can complete his plot, a fight breaks out between the soldiers and Drake, but in the end it is Regan who shoots the pirate. While Talon faces a sure hanging, Regan begins to learn the truth about her stepbrother, a man she placed on a pedestal many years ago.

MY LORD PIRATE is a fast-paced seventeenth century historical romance filled with non-stop action and a sense for the locale that will leave readers feeling sea breezes. Talon and Regan are intrepid and enchanting lead characters. Though both appear very intelligent, his actions to abduct Arabella seem ill advised on a Sunday morning quarterbacking and her belief in Harrison as a hero seems stretched. Still, sub-genre readers will fully welcome Laura Renken, who provides a brisk tale filled with deep and complex characters into the fold.

Harriet Klausner