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Title: Smuggler’s Kiss (you can Buy on Amazon here)
Author: Marie-Louise Jensen
Published: 7th March 2013
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Genre: Romance, Historical Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: E-Book
Rating: **** (4 Stars)
About: “You’re smugglers?”
“That ain’t what we call ourselves.” His voice rumbled deep in his chest. “We’re Gentlemen o’ the Night.”
In the autumn of 1720, Isabelle does something which changes her life forever.
But though Isabelle has fled, she is still trapped. If the secret of her previous life is revealed then the smugglers who have found her will not let her stay on board The Invisible – and she has nowhere else to go.
To survive, Isabelle must help her captors – even though she detests what they do. But soon her principles are thrown into confusion, as she discovers that outwitting the King’s Men fills her with excitement. Soon she finds herself becoming fiercely loyal to the crew – and to one mysterious smuggler in particular.
Review: Admittedly, I will always have a soft spot for Marie-Louise Jensen’s books because I LOVE all of them. Her stories have so much put into them and are so enjoyable, that I could quite happily re-read them again.
Smuggler’s kiss is no different than the rest of them because I thoroughly enjoyed it. The reason why I didn’t give it 5 stars is because I didn’t feel that it was as good as the ‘Lady in the Tower’ (but that is by far my favorite book). BUT Jensen has once again created a successful historical romance book and I adore reading books that are set in the past.
(I need more historical romance books please!)
This is a very easy book to read, and it is obvious how it is going to end. This doesn’t matter though because the best part about this book is how they end up together. There is so much unfortunate drama that goes on and then we have Isabelle finally learning something about herself.
She goes out into the world, against all expectations of her and does something completely different to the world that she has been brought up in (even if it was unintentional). It’s a great message for people, as it teaches us that sometimes we have to go out into the unknown to finally learn what it is that we want to do with our life and most importantly, what we love.
Admittedly, at the very beginning, she did try to commit suicide – but all that matters is that she was saved and she went on with life.
We go through quite a journey with Isabelle – at the beginning, she is a detestable character (by being remarkably childish and spoiled). But as we go further into the book she changes. Her whole attitude becomes something else and she becomes a nicer person, a better person.
There is such a great development of characters in this book, not just Isabelle but also with the other pirates. This really makes the book feel so much more real. I wanted to read it just so I could how things changed.
In the end, I could not have felt happier for Isabelle and even though I knew a happy ending was going to happen, the way it happened was completely surprising.
CastlesandTurrets 