Book Review: Pirate

The Official Blurb

“Years after Italian privateer Marco Glaviano saves orphaned twelve-year-old Christina Abbott from Spanish pirates and takes her to his Caribbean island hideaway, he cannot deny his love for the now-grown-up young woman.”

 

Well, I did it.

I survived Arr-gust and two very different pirate romances. And after reading Poppy and the Pirate by Elizabeth Cole last episode, I was hoping Pirate by Fabio would give me the legit pirate experience.

It did not.

Instead, I got a 1993 historical romance about another privateer, a tropical island, kidnappings, questionable decisions, a spoiled brat of a heroine, and enough weirdness to keep me entertained.

So let’s talk about it.

Book Details

Title: Pirate
Author: Fabio Lanzoni with ghostwriter Eugenia Riley
Published: 1993
Subgenre: Historical Romance

Main Characters

Marco Glaviano

Marco is a privateer and displaced Venetian. His family is dead and he spends his time privateering in service to the British crown aboard his ship, La Spada — when he isn’t banging one of his mistresses on his private island where he and his crew, their families and their lovers live. (Also, this is my second pirate romance in a row where the male lead is a privateer instead of an actual pirate. I’m a little bummed I didn’t get any legit pirates in either book.)

Christina Abbott

At the beginning of the novel, Christina is a 12-year-old heiress whose parents have died in a shipwreck. She’s sent to Edisto Island by her guardian and executor of her parents’ estate, even though the island is regularly raided by pirates. And this is where things get weird.

Plot

Picture it: 1742, off the South Carolina coast on Edisto Island.

Some Spanish pirates are doing the usual plundering, pillaging and raping when Christina and her nursemaid come stumbling out of their cottage in the middle of the chaos.

Marco sees the two women are in imminent danger and rescues Christina, allowing her nursemaid to come with them. He immediately becomes Christina’s knight in shining armor and she starts crushing on him. Marco takes Christina to his private island to raise her as his ward. He doesn’t have any plans beyond that. He intends to let her grow up wild and carefree on the island with the other pirate kids. The only person who knows Christina is an heiress is her nurse and she’s not telling anyone.

One of Marco’s crew members offers to marry Christina when she’s 14 or 15, which was considered “of age” in some circles at the time. Marco refuses, insisting she’s too young and deserves to enjoy her childhood. He says no one will marry her until she’s a full-grown adult.

While Christina is still a child, she somehow gets Marco to agree to marry her when she turns 18. He thinks it’s a joke and she’ll forget about it, so he agrees. Well, Christina grows into a spoiled, bitchy brat by the time she’s 18. Marco is 28, so they’re 10 years apart, and Christina is determined to make Marco hers.

She plays nasty pranks on his mistresses, puts herself in harm’s way and manipulates other people in an effort to seduce Marco and force him into marriage.

Marco has zero interest in marriage and doesn’t want to reduce Christina to the status of a mistress or whore because he knows she came from some kind of reputable family. So he brings in an old family friend from Italy who has a son just a couple of years older than Christina and is looking for a wife. Marco has always thought of Christina as a little sister but now he’s becoming physically attracted to her and doesn’t want to go there. He loves being at sea and doesn’t feel ready for marriage, which he knows is ultimately what Christina wants.

Christina does some really foolish shit in her efforts to make Marco hers. She thinks she’s been in love with him since the day they met but, honestly, she’s so childish, immature and headstrong and I question whether she even understands what love is.

Her schemes eventually work and Marco takes her virginity but he still plans to marry her off and won’t marry her himself.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of other complications. Christina is kidnapped twice — first by Marco’s nemesis, a Spanish pirate, then by her own uncle and guardian, who’s discovered she’s still alive and wants her dead. It’s been seven years since her disappearance and he’s about to be able to claim her inheritance.

Marco rescues Christina both times, although it takes several weeks to rescue her after the first kidnapping because he’s severely wounded and unconscious.

By the end, Christina is pregnant with Marco’s bambino and he finally decides to marry her and keep her on the island with him.

And they don’t even need her inheritance because Marco is rich as fuck anyway.

Spice Level

Habanero

There are frequent sexual interactions between a variety of characters but, honestly, it isn’t very sexy. I think that’s because of the wording and situations.

But whatevs. Habanero.

Things I Loved

There is a very nice dedication at the beginning of the book honoring Fabio’s grandmother and supporting the American Cancer Society’s efforts to help mothers and grandmothers affected by cancer. I thought that was sweet.

I also loved the pets. Marco and Christina have some unique ones, including a rare black king cheetah named Pansy and a parrot named Cicero who calls Christina “bad girl!”

Marco also uses condoms. Yay, for condom use.

And then there are the fun phrases and anatomy references:

• “Cockles of my heart.”
• “Snug sheath.”
• “Manroot.” — one of my podcast co-host Meghan’s all-time faves which we’ve only seen once before in Lara by Bertrice Small.

Challenges

Christina. Christina fucking sucks. She’s spoiled and bitchy and it’s totally Marco’s fault for spoiling her rotten. It’s definitely a case of enabling. I hated her. She annoyed the fuck out of me. She’s an immature twat.

There’s also the weird situation with her grooming, although I don’t think it was intended to be grooming … so much as ACTUAL grooming. Christina has a mass of tangled blonde hair that curls and weaves itself into its own little dreadlocks and, instead of having her nurse brush it, Marco does it.

From the age of 12 on, she sits in his lap while he brushes her hair at night and reads her stories. For a little kid, that would be fine. But because Christina is enamored with him the entire time, it just gives me icky vibes. I’m sure it’s innocent and all but it doesn’t feel right.

There are also some really disturbing things during Christina’s first kidnapping. The Spanish pirate and his crew strip her down, throw water at her to “humble her” and tie her naked to the pirate captain’s bed while he sits nearby and masturbates. It gave me the same gross vibes as Sea of Ruin by Pam Godwin and Border Lord’s Bride by Bertrice Small.

She was never raped but it was still icky and nasty and I didn’t care for it.

I also didn’t care for the scene when Christina finally seduces Marco. She has the boy Marco wants her to marry come to his bedroom (knowing Marco will catch them) and starts seducing him. Just as she’s beginning to realize she might actually end up having sex with the guy — which isn’t what she wanted — Marco busts in and stops it.

Then Marco basically decides, “Oh, so you’re just banging people now? Fine, I’ll bang you too.” And he shoves his manroot in her.

Then he realizes she’s still a virgin. This felt like a trope Meghan and I seen before in books we’ve both read. For me, it reminded me of Until You by Judith McNaught. For Meghan, it reminded her of The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss.

I will say Marco turns it around. He pulls back when he realizes what’s actually happening and they eventually have a consensual, sensual encounter. But I still felt challenged by the whole scene. It was too reminiscent of some other books we’ve read and the whole thing was just gross.

Final Thoughts

Despite all the icky stuff, this book did not suck as hard as I thought it would. The writing wasn’t terrible — and I’m assuming that’s thanks to Fabio’s ghostwriter, Eugenia Riley. There were some unexpected plot twists and turns, some fun pets, a tropical island and some fun hammock stuff. Honestly, this book could have been a lot worse and it’s not the worst book I’ve ever read.

I’m giving Pirate 2 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, which equals “it was okay.” Would I recommend it? Probably not. But did I survive it? Yes. And, honestly, that’s something.

Want More?

If you want to hear more of my thoughts on the book, you can listen to the podcast episode on your favorite podcast streaming service. Or click here for our in-house podcast player. I share some fun anatomy references as well as my Romantic Reminder. You can also find out if I won the episode Boobie Prize. Want to read the book for yourself? You can get it here.

Have you read Pirate? Let me know your thoughts on this book in the comments!