This is the second book in the Daughters of the Mayflower
series. It is made up of 6 books written
by six different authors. From what I
saw, it will look like this:
The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1620
Atlantic Ocean (February 2018)
The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo – set 1725 New Orleans
(April 2018)
The Captured Bride by Michelle Griep – set 1760 during the
French and Indian War (June 2018)
The Patriot Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1774
Philadelphia (August 2018)?
The Cumberland Bride by Shannon McNear – set 1794 on the
Wilderness Road (October 2018)
The Liberty Bride by MaryLu Tyndall – set 1814 Baltimore
(December 2018)
Maribel is a 12-year-old girl who has been told her mother
and grandfather are dead. She’s now with
her father on her way to Cuba to make a new life for herself. On the way, their ship is overtaken by a
privateer with a vendetta. Maribel’s
father was responsible for the death of Jean’s mother and brother. After a fight, Maribel ends up on the
privateer’s ship asking for a job. The
captain isn’t keen on the idea of having a child on his ship, but he finds out
that Maribel can talk her way into anything.
Later, a battle at sea separates them, and they each have no idea if the
other is alive or dead.
I had some issues with this book. First, Maribel is 12 and Jean is 24 when they
meet. At that point, he compares her to
his young sister. He then describes how
she’ll grow to be a great beauty. I have
a 13-year-old daughter, and if a 24-year-old man uttered “Oh, but those eyes,”
I would want to do some serious damage to that man (to be clear, he doesn't say
the words out loud, but he thinks them).
It reminded me of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie where they
show Norrington with Elizabeth on her crossing as a child, and she’s supposed
to consider him as a suitor later. Just
creepy. The age difference wouldn’t be
as big of a deal if Maribel hadn’t been a child for about half the book and
then continue to act like a child when she’s 23.
The way the romance pops up close to the end also bothered
me. Maribel and Jean don’t even meet
back up until there was about 20% left in the book. After that, there was the matter of Maribel
being in danger to cope with and all the little mysteries get wrapped up in a
very rushed way.
If less time had been spent on Maribel’s childhood and more
time on Jean and Maribel toward the end, it might have worked better. As it is, I’ve enjoyed this author in the
past, but sadly this one is a major pass for me.
*I received a copy of this book from Barbour Publishing
through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
