Review: Pirate's Golden Promise

Pirate's Golden Promise by Lynette Vinet
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This was originally published in 1988 under the title “Love's Golden Promise” and reissued for Kindle in 2013. I'm guessing “Love's” was changed to “Pirate's” because of keyword, algorithm shenanigans. A ship on the cover or Pirate in the title, well...

   

Y'all, within the first six or so paragraphs I was introduced to this man who loved this girl, had to marry her older sister for money, keeps the younger sister as mistress and impregnates her (don't worry older sis was impregnated 8yrs ago), the sister's father disinherits everyone because he's not about mess (don't blame him), the younger sister dies in childbirth but not before making the sister impregnator (I know this isn't a word) promise to raise her daughter as if she was legitimate, making everyone lie and say the older sister is the baby's mother.

   

We get a little bit of Cinderella with the sister imprenator doting on his illegitimate daughter, thus making the wife and legitimate daughter hate her. In fact, when illegitimate baby Wynter was born, her half-sister Lucy, who was SEVEN at the time, had this to say: Leaning over the sleeping Wynter, she said, “One day your prettiness won’t be enough, little baby. I’ll make sure of it.”

 

We fast forward to Wynter's seventeenth birthday, get introduced to the stable boy Fletcher who is her bestfriend and in love with her and learn that Wynter Loves a Lord Adam. At her birthday party she learns that Adam is going to ask for hand in marriage, he shows a little bit of his rapey side, and she gets rescued from a Captain Cort Van Linden. The captain is a bit too Man for this seventeen year old and even though she gets lost making out with him, she flounces away. 

Scorned wife ain't having Wynter marry Lord Adam because her daughter Lucy wants him and wife wants his inheritance, he's their second cousin and got the inheritance that no mess daddy refused to give to daughters. She threatens to tell everyone about Wynter's illegitimacy but sister impregnator ruins her plans by telling Wynter, who is shocked but fairly whatevs to the situation. Wynter also tells Lord Adam who doesn't care as long as her money is still intact, he got bills to pay. 

Anyway, as dads are wont to do in these situations, he dies and forgot to (or is evil stepmothers at work?) write in Wynter into his will, as she is illegitimate, Lucy stands to inherit everything. Lucy gets the money and then gets Lord Adam, because bills but Adam wants to keep Wynter as his mistress. Wynter doesn't want to repeat history so she looks for an escape. 

She first turns to Captain Van Linden, they had another make-out shesh when she was out riding and asks him for money to buy her childhood home. He says sure but she has to go with him on his ship for one year. “For one year you’re to sail on my ship, eat beside me, share my quarters at night, and I don’t mean only to sleep there. The life of a sea captain is very lonely.” Her fear of his too much Man and that Ah-mazing offer has her refusing him in only the way a seventeen year old bodice ripper girl can.

   

She then turns to her stable boy bestie Fletch who has a plan to travel to America as an indentured servant and make his fortune. Remember how I said the author took the time to change the title, well, I wish they had taken the time to go back through this story and edit it because, I kid you not, this is a line Fletch says: Do you know there are slaves in Virginia? Have you ever heard of such a thing? But, aye, if one needs slaves to be rich, I’ll get me some.” What in the holy hell??? Wynter ends up marrying this paragon of virtue and they travel to America. ***Spoiler***Fletch ends up dying, so he's pretty much a throw away character, this line did not need to be in here and why the hell it was included, I'll never know.***End Spoiler***

On the ship to America, it gets attacked by pirates and guess who the pirate is! Captain Van Linden.

   

So, Fletch gets conveniently disposed of, I didn't cry for him, and then a storm hits, Wynter ends up banging her head and gets the goofiest form of amnesia I have ever read. She thinks she and the Captain are married. Y'all. This was around the 30% mark and after all this, I just started skim/speed reading. Van Linden makes everyone go along with her married thing, he Loves her, I guess?? 

Captain Morgan gets thrown into the story, part two takes us to New Amsterdam, every dude wants Wynter, Van Linden is a gentle pirate, they have a baby, people try to break up their marriage, and basic bodice ripper drama ensues for most of part 2. There really wasn't any depth to characters, the beginning, especially felt like everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off and part two was more bodice ripper family drama.

Verdict: not a hidden gem.

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