Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne Du Maurier

 

Title:  Frenchman’s Creek

Author:  Daphne Du Maurier

Narrated by:  John Castle

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 47 minutes

Source: Purchased from Audible.com

What is your favorite pirate novel/movie/TV show?

Lady Dona de Columb leaves London with her children for her remote estate in Cornwall.  The excesses of the restoration court have worn on her.  While there, she discovers that her butler has been working with a mysterious pirate who has been using her estate as a place to hide.  Dona soon finds herself in love with pirate Jean Benoit Aubery and loving the adventures they have together.  Will she sail off into the sunset with him or stay with her family?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read this as part of the Classics Buddy Read with @dees.reads in November.

·       My former high school English teacher, Mrs. Smith, recommended this book to me in high school as I enjoyed Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.  While this is a very different type of book than Rebecca, I loved it.  This is my first time rereading it since high school.

·       I also enjoyed the 1944 feature film and 1998 TV movie.  I am going to watch them again now that my Christmas movie viewing is winding down.

·       This historical fiction novel is set during the reign of Charles II.

·       The novel was published in 1941. 

·       This novel is more of a historical romance with adventure and is a different genre than Du Maurier’s most famous novel, Rebecca.

·       William the devoted butler was my favorite character.  I loved the banter between him and Dona.

·       Dona’s husband, Harry, shows up with his friend Rockingham.  Harry is not the smartest and is easily fooled by Dona.  Rockingham on the other hand, knows that something is up.  He is a scary individual – it seemed like part of Dona’ s flight was to get away from Rockingham and his pursuit of her.

·       Dona has a free spirit and loves adventure.  There are some tense moments in the story, but she makes it through.

·       I think every busy mother of young children would like to run off with a handsome, well-educated pirate, but also knows that you are a mother and have to settle down. Dona ultimately understands this.  This book seemed to really make one ponder what it is to have dreams and be free, and what ultimately must be sacrificed to be a mother.

·       I liked the somewhat open ending and hope that Dona finds her pirate in the future after her kids are grown.

·       The writing in this novel is beautiful and it has a lovely opening.  It worked very well as an audiobook.

Favorite Quotes: 

“And perhaps one day, in after years, someone would wander there and listen to the silence, as she had done, and catch the whisper of the dreams that she had dreamt there, in midsummer, under the hot sun and the white sky.”

“All this, is only momentary, is only a fragment in time that will never come again, for yesterday already belongs to the past and is ours no longer, and tomorrow is an unknown thing that may be hostile. This is our day, our moment, the sun belongs to us, and the wind, and the sea, and the men forward there singing on the deck. This day is forever a day to be held and cherished, because in it we shall have lived and loved, and nothing else matters but that in this world of our own making to which we have escaped.”

Overall, Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne Du Maurier is a beautifully written historical romance novel.

Sailing the Graveyard Sea by Richard Snow

 

Title: Sailing the Graveyard Sea:  The Deathly Voyage of the Somers, the U.S. Navy's Only Mutiny, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation

Author:  Richard Snow

Narrated by:  Jacques Roy

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 4 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank you @simonandschuster #BookClubFavorites for the free books!

 

Do you like to listen to audiobooks in the car on long trips?  If you are traveling with someone, how do you decide what book to listen to?  We traveled to Michigan over Thanksgiving weekend.  My daughter enjoys watching movies on trips and opts out of audiobooks.  I read the descriptions of several non-fiction audiobooks to my husband and two sons and they all voted to listen to Sailing the Graveyard Sea by Richard Snow.

Sailing the Graveyard Sea introduced us to a new part of history that we had never heard before.  In 1842, the US brig-of-war Somers was being used a training vessel for many 14- to 18-year-olds and was captained by Commander Alexander Mackenzie.  When the ship arrived in Boston, Mackenzie announced that he had narrowly prevented a mutiny and had hanged the three mutineers at sea.  One of the mutineers was 18-year-old acting Midshipman Philip Spencer, the son of the Secretary of War, John Spencer.

As officials look more into the case, they could not find any evidence that a mutiny did indeed take place.  Everything was based on the testimony of one crew man who stated that Spencer had talked about taking over the ship and becoming a pirate.  After Mackenzie heard this, he locked up Spencer and two other men and through paranoia started to believe that everyone was against him and that mutiny was imminent.  He decided to hang the three men without a trial before arriving back at port.  For this decision, he was put on trial.  The trial was riveting and did not end as we all expected it would.

This was a fascinating story that kept us enthralled through our voyage.  Jacques Roy was a good narrator.   I enjoyed hearing the back story of Philip Spencer, the ne’er-do-well son of the Secretary of War.  Spencer loved reading pirate stories and talking about pirates.  Was he just entertaining himself and the other sailor with pirate stories or did he indeed want to take over the ship?  One thing was for certain, the training of officers had to change.  After this trial, the Naval Academy was started in Annapolis.

Overall, Sailing the Graveyard Sea is a fascinating look into a forgotten episode of naval history.

The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich

 

Title:  The Recovery Agent

Author:  Janet Evanovich

Narrated by:  Lorelei King

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 7 hours and 26 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster.  Thank-you!

 Happy Publication Day to The Recovery Agent by Janet Evanovich!  I love her Stephanie Plum series on audio, and I was very excited to be able to review the start of her new series, The Recovery Agent.  It has the same narrator, Lorelei King, who happens to be my very favorite audiobook narrator. She was great again in this novel.

 Gabriela Rose is a recovery agent and works for clients to retrieve lost treasures or information around the world.  After her hometown is devasted by a hurricane, she decides to try to solve an old family legend and look for the ring of Solomon to raise enough money to repair the town.  Unfortunately, this means that she must look in the home that her ex-husband Rafer received in their settlement.  Rafter is handsome, but also drives Gabriela insane. He decides he needs to be on this adventure as the map came from his home.  Soon the two are traveling to exotic locals with a madman on their trail.  Will they be able to find the ring and save their hometown?

 The Recovery Agent was just the type of audiobook I wanted to listen to right now.  It was funny and a great adventure.  It reminded me of Romancing the Stone, but with a more capable heroine.  It had all of the adventure and treasure seeking that I loved in the Indiana Jones and the National Treasure series. Rafer is kind of a blend of Morelli and Ranger from the Stephanie Plum series, but he seems to lean more towards Morelli.  Rafer and Gabriela have great chemistry.  I love the witty banter throughout the novel.

 Overall, The Recover Agent is a great new humorous adventure series.  I’m looking forward to the next book.

How to Train Your Dragon Book 2: How to Be a Pirate by Cressida Cowell

Title: How to Train Your Dragon Book 2:  How to Be a Pirate

Author: Cressida Cowell

Read by:  David Tennant

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers

Length: Approximately 2 hours and 54 minutes

Source: Purchased from Amazon.com through Audible

How to Train Your Dragon is an audiobook series that entertains the entire family on road trips.  We were recently on a six-hour round trip for camping over the Memorial Day weekend and How to Train Your Dragon Book 2:  How to Be a Pirate was the family choice.  The story keeps all of the family entertained and David Tennant cannot be equaled as a great audiobook narrator with a voice for each character.  The sounds effects were great as well.  11-year old Daniel just likes saying “Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.” I think Daniel wishes that was his impressive name.  The kids liked hearing more of Hiccup’s story of how he learns to be a Viking warrior and the antics of his friends and dragon, Toothless. The villain in this one has a memorable scene showing up in a coffin at sea and fooling them all for a while.  It’s overall a great book for a family road trip.

Lord of the Privateers by Stephanie Laurens Review (TLC Book Tours)

February is a month for romance novel reading.  I have read and enjoyed romance novels by Stephanie Laurens in the past and thought it would be good to read her latest.

Isobel Carmichael and Royd Frobisher were childhood sweethearts and companions.  After hand fasting, Royd sailed away promising to return in a month, only to be gone over a year.  Isobel swore they were finished at that point.  Now nine years later, Isobel has a mission she needs Royd to take her on as a privateer to rescue her young cousin.  Will Isobel and Royd be able to put aside personal differences to complete their mission?  Will they be able to resolve the problems that tore them apart in the first place?

I enjoyed Lord of the Privateers, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I would have read the other books in the series (this is the fourth book).  I constantly felt like I was missing something while I read the book.  I liked the two strong main characters, although their stubbornness made me angry at times!

I enjoyed the setting being during the Regency area with a stop in London.  Having most of the action on a privateer ship off on a rescue adventure made it very unique compared to other regency romance novels I have enjoyed.

My favorite quote:  “Fate moves in decidedly cynical ways.”

Overall, Lord of the Privateers is a good passionate adventure to satisfy your February romantic reading desires.  I would recommend reading the rest of the series first before enjoying this novel.

Book Source:  Review Copy for being a part of the TLC Book Tour

Check out other stops of this tour at this link: 

http://tlcbooktours.com/2016/10/stephanie-laurens-author-of-lord-of-the-privateers-on-tour-januaryfebruary/