Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Pirate Ruse

The Pirate Ruse by Marcia Lynn McClure
My Rating: 3 stars

The Pirate Ruse

Excerpt

An instant before the sea swallowed her, Cristabel Albay gasped her last breath. She was certain it would truly be her last breath… Yet, mere moments later, her head broke the surface of the sea and she exhaled the breath she had been holding—the one that had not been her last—gasping for another.
“Do you swim, woman?” the pirate Navarrone growled.
“Y-yes,” Cristabel stammered. Her thoughts were muddled—for panic was her only ally. Yet, she was cognizant enough to know that her life was still in danger—not from pirates perhaps—but from the sea.
“Then swim!” the pirate growled. “If you want to live to see another sunrise, then swim for The Merry Wench.”
…She glanced up to the Chichester where pirates and British sailors yet battled. The Screaming Witch was already sailing, and Cristabel would rather have died than be the victim of the atrocities that would have met her aboard it.
Yet, to abandon one pirate ship for another? It was madness! Still, she could not fathom drowning—for drowning terrified her more than any other fate of death. Her only hope in surviving was to do as the pirate ordered. …She had heard tales of The Blue Blade Navarrone—tales of mercy. …Perhaps he would take pity on her… Thus, with no other venue to follow, Christabel began to swim—to swim for The Merry Wench and whatever fate awaited her there.

My Review

I loved the characters and storyline of this book. I thought she did a great job with description--not too much, not too little. I thought the tension was great because it kept me reading until 1:30 in the morning. However, I felt like the writing itself was very awkward. She way overused the em dash (--) and repeated the same phrases or descriptions over and over. She misused filler words like then, however and though. It was very distracting and kept pulling me out of the story. I had to tell myself to ignore those things so I could enjoy it. I read the Kindle version and it had some formatting errors. By the middle of the book, the plot got more exciting and the writing issues didn't bother me as much. I think the writing flaws could be ironed out with a good editor. Overall, I'm glad I read the book.

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