Book Review: The Petticoat Pirate by C.R. Pugh
Genre(s): Historical Fantasy / YA / Romance
Book Synopsis:
Josephine Teversin was fifteen years old when her father was murdered by pirate hunters. She’s the last of her kind—an immortal pirate without a ship or crew, and her magic is unstable at best. It’s 1773, and tensions are rising between England and the American colonies. Rumors of war are running rampant. But immortal pirates never choose sides…until the hunters find her again.
Josephine is kidnapped and brought face to face with her father’s murderer—Garreck Skulthorpe. Her choices are simple: become his spy or face the hangman’s noose. A female who sword fights and picks pockets will be a useful undercover agent after all. Armed with a fan, an exploding pocket watch, and erratic powers, Josephine is drawn into a deadly battle between pirate hunters, a rogue witch, and the Patriot rebels. She must risk her very life in order to thwart Skulthorpe and his nefarious plans for the colonies—all while wearing a stuffy ball gown. And everyone knows…pirates do not wear petticoats.
Review:
Note: This was a book club pick of the month, and probably not a title I would have chosen to read on my own.
Based on the synopsis, I was expecting Josephine to be an independent, fearless young woman—she’s supposed to be a pirate, after all. Well, it turns out she’s only a pirate by blood (her father was one), she’s not nearly as fierce as I was led to believe, there really isn’t much swashbuckling or sailing involved, and she’s very much into dresses. I was also not anticipating a romance, but it was obvious early on that the story was headed that way. Cue my disappointment.
My initial frustration with the somewhat misleading synopsis aside, there were some things to like about this book. Josephine’s magic, unstable as it is, is pretty powerful—and useful, when it wants to be. How the immortal pirates came about, and why Josephine is the last one, was a pretty neat concept, and I’m glad there was a probable explanation for why the other “immortal” pirates are gone. I enjoyed the espionage/intrigue part of the storyline too, the gadgets in particular.
The romance part was cute. In typical fashion, Josephine is conflicted by which man she wants to be with (as usual, there are two.) One is clearly bad for her, but he’s the more attractive one, while the other is the good guy who wants to protect her, but she only considers him a friend. Naturally, there’s some tension between the two men, and she’s caught in the middle.
Since I was expecting something a little different than what The Petticoat Pirate ultimately turned out to be, it took a while before I really got into this story. Had I known better what to expect up front, I think I probably would have enjoyed it more.
Anyway, if you’re into YA romance and colonial American society with a dash of magic, you’ll probably like this book. It just wasn’t for me.
Author website: authorcrpugh.wixsite.com
Amazon link: The Petticoat Pirate
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