A Review of Sweet Vengeance, by Elizabeth St. Michel

Sweet Vengeance is a historical romance full of high-seas adventure and set during the Revolution, so it is a perfect beach read for this July!

Setting

The majority of the story takes place on the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, with ports of call in Martinique and the Bahamas, in 1777.

Main Characters

Captain Jacob Thorne is the bastard son of the Duke of Banfield and a maid, and also the Americans’ most feared privateer. He loathes the British aristocracy that ruined his mother’s life, and he has no patience for his father now trying to bribe him with a title and riches. But he does agree to go to his half-brother’s fiancée’s costume ball to see what he is missing out on.

Lady Abigail Hansford Rutland is the bored and pampered daughter of the Duke of Rutland. She has faked an engagement with her best friend, the heir to the Duke of Banfield, to forestall her father’s insistence on finding her a match. When an unfamiliar vicar kisses her senseless in the gardens, she is quite taken, but then her brother’s laboratory explodes, and she is kidnapped and sent off as a ship’s boy to die on the high seas.

Romance

Abby has heard of Jacob Thorne, and when his ship attacks the one she is held on and she finds herself serving as his cabin boy, she recognizes the “vicar” from the ball. But everyone knows he hates the aristocracy, so she has to remain in disguise until they reach a port and she can find her way back to England.

Serving under him, she begins to realize that he has far greater depths than his reputation gives him credit for. And she begins to care for the man who takes “Abe,” his cabin boy, under his wing to educate and to improve Abe’s chances in life.

Jacob never stopped thinking of the luscious woman he kissed in the garden before leaving port. But he focuses his mind instead on helping Abe make something of himself, because he admires the feisty lad and recognizes a kindred spirit.

When Abe is revealed to be a woman–Abby–Jacob falls under her spell, not realizing she is the same woman he kissed back in England.

Plot

But there is a war on, and when the British threaten, Abby is the one whose title might be able to save them. Jacob, however, might sooner hang than be saved by an aristocrat.

Historical Worldbuilding

St. Michel blends her story with some fantastic true history of the British, American, and French in the Caribbean, which is often ignored in tales of the Revolution. And since most of the story takes place aboard ship, you will climb the masts with Jacob, enjoy the luxurious spoils of a privateer with the crew at dinner, and feel the salty winds lash your face with Abby. Never does the real history intrude on the story, nor does it in any way weigh the story down. This is a rollicking adventure from beginning to end.

Tropes

This is an enemies-to-lovers story, as they are devoted to opposite sides of the Revolution. He thinks she is a symbol of everything he is fighting against, and she thinks he is a dangerous traitor. And it is a secret identity story, because Abby is disguised as Abe for much of the first half of the story, and even when she is revealed to be a woman, she keeps her true identity secret. It is also a class differences, forbidden love story, since she is an aristocrat, and he is the bastard son of a housemaid, who grew to manhood an ocean away in the colonies.

Secondary Characters

The ship’s crew is a delightful and lovable bunch who ultimately care for and protect each other. Simeon, with whom Abby was originally captured, and Pascale, who escaped slavery in the French Caribbean, become her particular protectors. Eventually we meet some of Jacobs cousins, who are full-bodied characters who get their own books later in the series. I look forward to spending more time with them.

Point of View

The book is written in third person, and it alternates between Jacob and Abby’s points of view.

In Summary

• A perfect Revolutionary Era beach-read for this 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence!
• It takes place mostly on the high seas in 1777, as the Revolution was getting properly underway.
• Jacob and Abby are each strong-willed, and you know from the first moment that sparks will fly. You can’t help rooting for them as they adventure their way across the ocean and into each other’s hearts!
• The real history never gets in the way of the rollicking story, and you get to live some of the less well-known moments of the naval history of the Revolution.
• It is an enemies-to-lovers story, a secret identity story, and also a forbidden love story.
• This is about a 3 on a scale of 1 to 5. There is sex on the page, and it is steamy.
• Be aware that the consent in their first encounter is, by current standards, slightly dubious. Not dark romance by any stretch of the imagination, but it hearkens back a bit to bodice-rippers of old.

Keep them Coming!

Please keep the tips coming! What other historical romances have you read that are set in the Americas and you think others might enjoy? Let’s share the love. Please email me or post in the comments below with suggestions of other titles!

Love historical romance? My novel, Passion’s Duty is set during the war that set up the Revolution. We are embarking on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, so this is the perfect time to read it. Be sure to check it out!

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Image: American Privateer Congress Captures HMS Sloop Savage, by Warren, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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