I wanted more girl power! Mistress of the Seas by Ruth Langan [Reread Review]

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Mistress of the Seas by Ruth Langan is a reread for me. And what an emotional reread it was! It has been years since I read this book and I remember why I loved it so much! In fact, I went out of my way to buy a copy on Amazon because my own copy is back in my hometown gathering dust!

Mistress of the Seas was the perfect book to read to get out of the current reading slump I was in. This book is about a female pirate and a Scottish prisoner of war who got sold into slavery on her father’s ship!

Stolen from a British ship when she was a child, Courtney is taken by an evil Englishman who was banished to France for treason. While flying a French flag, he becomes a notorious pirate and raises Courtney as his own. Now a famed pirate in her own right, Courtney is now landlocked and must play at being a spy/lady-in-waiting for French Princess that married King Charles of England. By threatening Courtney’s father’s life, she is forced to spy for Cardinal Richelieu of France to overthrow the English monarch. Unfortunately, Courtney finds the dashing Scottish Laird who was once a prisoner aboard her father’s ship, Rory MacLaren at court and all her reluctant plans are not going as she has hoped.

I love Courtney and Rory’s relationship so much. In fact, the chemistry between these two characters was very obvious while they were still on Captain Thornhill’s ship! Seriously, these two gave me the #feels because of the forbidden romance between the two of them.

Mistress of the Seas was a very quick reread for me and while I enjoyed the romance so much, I could not help but notice a lot of glaring inconsistencies, especially when it came to Courtney. Since she was the famed Mistress of the Seas, a fearsome pirate, trained by the evil Captain Thornhill and killed a lot of Englishmen in battle it WAS NOT apparent at all when she was acting as a spy.

She basically turned into a wilting flower and damsel in distress that HAD to be saved instead of being a tough as nails fighter! I mean, she could have bested Lord Burlingame in that very first meeting! I understand that no one was allowed to touch her while aboard her father’s ship, but still! Fighting would have been second nature to her in this case.

Despite the flaws, I still enjoyed Rory and Courtney’s romance and I remember why I enjoyed reading this book so much.

Mistress of the Seas is a Harlequin Historical published in 1988, but it is actually available on eBook! So, if you haven’t read this and want a good Pirate romance with a touch of the forbidden, this is the book for you!

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