20 Feb 2018

Review - Pirate's Curse by Leigh Anderson and Rebecca Hamilton

Title: Pirate's Curse (The Berkano Vampire Collection, Division 1)

Author: Leigh Anderson and Rebecca Hamilton

Rating: 4/5 

Synopsis:

In the Division of NOLA, Catheryn Beauregard fears her burgeoning magical powers. Hiding as just another slave in the home of the Hoodoo Queen, Catheryn hopes her simplistic powers will simply go unnoticed. And her plan seems to be working...until the Hoodoo House is attacked by a ruthless band of vampire pirates.

Captain Rainier Dulocke and his crew need humans to feed on. In an act of desperation, they beset the Hoodoo House and take ten slaves to sustain them. Rainier takes a girl named Catheryn for himself, but her blood is giving him terrible side effects. Still, he refuses to give her up. Even when the Hoodoo Queen demands her return.

The NOLA Division is in danger. The waters are rising. Food is running out. And the Hoodoo Queen is about to destroy everything that's left if the pirates don't meet her request. Now Catheryn must choose who will die: the humans who sold her, the witches who bought her, or the vampires who stole her. If she fails to decide, everyone could die.

My Thoughts:

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

When Leigh Anderson agreed to send me an e-copy of the Pirate's Curse I was over the moon. I'm positive that vampire stories will never stop attracting me and this book seemed special because there aren't only vampires in it, there are vampire PIRATES and that fact just doubled the level of my excitement.

With Pirate's Curse I received a nicely packed bundle of adventure with twists and turns at every corner. It was a highly enjoyable read.

Catheryn has been a slave to the Hoodoo Queen most of her life. However, when the pirates come to ransack the Hoodoo House she'd rather stay, because there are worse fates than serving the Queen. But when she catches the eye of the famous Captain Rainier she doesn't have a choice. She is dragged onto Rainier's ship and she is expected to give her blood to prolong the Captain's life.

She doesn't expect him to be as civil as he is.

He doesn't know that she cannot satisfy his hunger.

What I enjoyed the most was that the story never slowed down, there wasn't a boring part in it. One moment Catheryn and Rainier are battling at sea, the next they are stranded on a deserted island, the next they are fighting off a pair of giant spiders in the jungle... And all the while we get to know more and more about both characters. It turns out Catheryn has starnge abilities and she has to learn how to use these new-found powers. Rainier starts feeling worse and worse and he has to come to terms with the changes that are going on inside him...

Of course eventually the girl and the vampire will have a joined purpose but in the beginning they don't know that and they bicker a lot, obviously. Later, when they realise they should work together, Catheryn and Rainier support each other through every hardship and are so open towards one another that I became addicted to reading about the relationship that formed between them.

I especially approved of how Rainier mentored Catheryn when her abilities surfaced and how lovingly concerned he was because the girl couldn't see herself for who she was. He wished Catheryn to believe in herself like he believed in her and that was extremely romantic.

I loved the feminist undertone that manifested itself throughout the book. Catheryn saves Rainier's life countless times and by the end of the book she is physically stronger than the Captain and the writers made sure we notice that. Yet, this doesn't influence the quality of their relationship in any way, on the contrary, Rainier is proud of Catheryn's achievements.

A world where humans, vampires and witches live together must not be the safest place ever, nevertheless I liked to escape to NOLA from my safe little nook whenever I had the chance to push reality in the background. 

Even though the ending felt a bit rushed, I had so much fun reading through this story that I found it didn't really matter after all. Once again, thank you, Ms Anderson!

Goodreads | Amazon

Pirate's Curse is a standalone contribution to the Berkano Vampire Collection. Stories can be read in any order. To learn more, visit http://fallensorcery.com/

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