Review: This Siren Failed to Lure Me In
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 17, 2012
I'm so disappointed. I LOVED Ms. Bray-Weber's last Pirate romance book,A Kiss in the Wind (Romancing the Pirate). I enjoyed it so much that I quickly purchased and read the other stories in this series and ate them up. Where did it all go so wrong for me on this last one? Did I read too many of them so that all the similarities got to be too much? Or did I unfairly compare this latest work to the others? Well, I can tell you that I noticed that this one showed its lack of creativity as it followed the standard formula of all the other stories. Oh, and I REALLY didn't like the heroine.Pirate Captain Thayer Drake lures ships onto reefs and plunders their cargo in exchange for rescue. On his latest adventure, he gets more than gold and crystal as he discovers a woman stowaway. As he tries to rescue her from the raging seas, she dives back into the stormy water for her purse. Tavern songstress Gilly McCoy is fleeing from the men who murdered her lover. She used the last of her money to have a seaman smuggle her onto his ship. Now that she's been rescued by a pirate captain, he demands that she sing for him each night and kiss him every time the ship's bell rings. As their kisses turn more passionate, they both have to decide just how much they can trust the other. And do they share their secrets? Why does Captain Drake drink himself to stupor each night? Why is Gilly's purse so important?I had such high hopes for Captain Drake. We met Drake in A KISS IN THE WIND as he helped Captain Blade Tyburn. He had such presence in that story that I was quite excited to read more about him. But as I read this story, I felt like I knew exactly what was going to happen as all these stories have been following a standard formula. Each of the first three did have some of these standard plot points, but each had something a bit unique. This one felt bland and recycled, which took me out of the story.1. First, these stories all surround the captain of the Rissa. But this annoyed me with this story when it didn't bother me before. What happened to Drake's ship, the Widow Maker, that he all the sudden is the Captain of The Rissa? Why can't he still be on his own ship? It just annoyed me that Drake was on the Rissa and not the Widow Maker.2. There will be a male character who inexplicably blames the heroine for all his problems and will try to hurt her. He will have a personal grudge against her. The hero and heroine will have an opportunity to stop this person in in the beginning but don't for some "good natured" reason, but this bad guy will be a thorn in their side.3. The hero will have some "hidden demon" to overcome.4. The heroine will be captured at some point after the hero and heroine fight.5. The hero will give up sailing for the heroine.There were several things not happening in this story for me.1. The biggest problem I had with this story was the heroine, Gilly.  I just didn't like her. She was silly, nave, wistful, with foolishly smitten ideas. (All this adjectives were used in the story to describe her.) She chatted incessantly and was just very annoying. And, she does that lustful smitten gaze and kisses and then denies it all. She doesn't have any skills other than singing. She was no match for a pirate captain.2. Unfortunately, Captain Drake was no prize himself. He shifted from hot to cold so often and so swift it was frustrating.3. They both do that "I love him but he could never love me so I can't be with him" thing. Or the "I love her so much so I will set her free and will go on to my lonely life and let her find someone who be what she needs." It morphed into them both thinking the other thought blamed them for something. It was all so melodramatic. The Big Conflict is miscommunication.4. Captain Drake agrees to bring her along to the big confrontation with the big bad guy. He agrees to bring along an incompetent and silly girl into the house of a mad man. Smooth move. The way it ended also seemed very implausible.Even though this story wasn't a favorite of mine, I would still recommend this series to others will still seek out her next pirate story. I think that if I actually liked the heroine, I could have overlooked the formulaic nature of the story and enjoyed it.  I will just reread the other three and skip this one.Romancing the Pirate SeriesBlood and Treasure (A Romancing the Pirate Novel)Beneath The Water's Edge (A Romancing the Pirate novella)A Kiss in the Wind (Romancing the Pirate)THE SIREN'S SONG