Description: Port Royal, Jamaica 1692
Living in a city deemed the wickedest in the world is no easy task for Miss Juliana Dutton. To make matters worse, with an ailing father and a drunken fool for a brother, she is forced to take over the running of the family business in order to survive. When a meddlesome suitor threatens to discover her secret and cast them all onto the streets, she agrees to a spurious engagement with the town buffoon, Lord Munthrope. She only hopes the man is trustworthy.
The Pirate Earl, Alexander Hyde, son of the infamous Captain Edmund Merrick Hyde, is the most feared pirate in Port Royal. Disillusioned with the religion of his parents and the pleasures of the world, Alex staves off his emptiness by leading a dual life to hide his deepest secrets.
A long-time enemy is out to destroy Alex and take Juliana for his own. Struggling to maintain her faith in the Divine, Juliana faces her problems bravely, but the harder she tries, the more it seems everything is working against her. Unwittingly, she and her weak fiancé become entangled in the hostility between the Pirate Earl and his enemy, while even more dangerous forces are rising up to destroy them all.
My Thoughts: I was overcome with joy the moment I found out MaryLu was writing a story about Captain Merrick's son. I had loved Merrick's story and could not wait to see the family legacy. Alex was an interesting character, what with his living a double life, but his back story and that of his parents' lives after their books left me so disgusted with them that I wanted to club Merrick with his cutlass.
As I said, Alex was a fantastic male lead. I think that in the end I liked his role as "Munny" better than his life as the Pirate Earl, but that is just a preference on my part. Munny had me cracking up and I wished that Alex had the same wit (though not the same attitude) when acting as the pirate.
The Ransom was a delightful romp through Port Royal. As a stand alone story, I am sure I would have loved it completely.
I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.
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