Calendar Girls: A Pirate’s Life For Me (Favorite Book About Pirates)

Arggghh mateys! It’s time to talk about ye favorite books about pirates! Choose carefully or ye’ll walk the plank! Plus, I need some recs, so…Have at thee!!

~A Pirate’s Life For Me (Favorite Book About Pirates)~

My Choice:

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

Synopsis:

There will be plenty of time for me to beat him soundly once I’ve gotten what I came for.

Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map—the key to a legendary treasure trove—seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship.

More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate, Riden. But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King.

My Reason:

So, first of all, I’ve only read 4 books with pirates…I know, I know. To the plank with me! I’ve read Peter Pan, Unanchored by Stephanie Eding, Unhooked by Lisa Maxwell, and Daughter of the Pirate King. So, I need more pirate reads! But, my reason for picking this one is because I enjoyed it so much. It was hilarious and had a female pirate, so yeah. There it is.

My Review:

Daughter of the Pirate King had me from the very first sentence! It was ridiculously fun, entertaining, and humorous (chapter 8 was downright gut busting)! I loved the plot, action, and characters! I felt like it held a mixture of characteristics from Pirates of the Caribbean, The Princess Bride, and Peter Pan. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and decided to keep it close by in case I fall in to any reading slumps in the future.

I really enjoyed the plot of the book because it was unique to have a female pirate plan to be captured to complete her mission. There wasn’t much world building needed, because the majority of the story was spent on a pirate ship, but I felt like the author did a great job with making me feel like I was on that pirate ship. It was a quick, easy read that had me laughing, kept me on the edge of my seat, and got my heart racing! And the characters were insanely entertaining!

Alosa was my favorite. She was brave, fierce, and intelligent. She was clever, cunning, and hilarious! I enjoyed how the author wrote her character, and really loved her backstory.

Riden was swoonworthy! He was sly, handsome, and mesmerizing! I loved the steamy pirate fantasy that he brought out! He was the dark, conflicted soul that held a bit of morality inside.

Alosa’s crew members, Mandsy, Sorinda, and Zimah were pretty kick ass. I loved that Alosa had a mostly female crew of intelligent, fierce women! I also loved Enwen from Draxen’s crew. He was kind and curious, and held childish innocence, which was surprising for a pirate!

So, before I end, I would like to point out that I had decided to turn the critical portion of my brain off while I read this. I had seen many mixed reviews about this one, and, after reading, I found that I could agree with a lot of them. From a critical standpoint, I may have rated this as a 3 star read. I wanted to acknowledge several key things that were dis-likable about this read (such as the “insta-love”, the stereotype of the rapacious pirate, the over-arrogance of the main character, the predictability, etc.), but I also wanted to state that I had put all of those criticisms aside and just enjoyed the hell out of this book! I had allowed myself to appreciate this one 100% and experienced some jolly good fun, fantastical pirates, bloody good sword fights, a kick ass pirate girl, and a sexy, fantasy pirate and steamy romance!

(Theme image created by Katie @ Never Not Reading.)

(All other images found on google, pinterest, and Good Reads.)

September Calendar Girls Participants:

Katie @ Never Not Reading – Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson	Liz @ Stellar Kitten Book Reviews – Seafire by Natalie C. Parker
Dani @ Mousai Books – The Princess Bride by William Goldman	Deanna @ Deanna Writes About It – Lost Boy by Christina Henry
Flavia @ Flavia the Bibliophile – These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch

For those who are new to Calendar Girls, it is a monthly blog event, created by Melanie at MNBernard Books, and Flavia at Flavia the Bibliophile, that was inspired by the Neil Sedaka song Calendar Girl. Just like the song, each month has a specific theme, voted on by the participants, where we get to talk about a particular book we love or think fits the theme the best. The blog event was created to incite fun bookish discussions and to spread the blogger love by introducing us to new bloggers and/or books that we have not come across before.

If this sounds like something you would enjoy, make sure to head to my Calendar Girls info page! Drop a comment and let me know if you are interested in joining us, and sign up for the newsletter if you would like monthly updates on the chosen themes and blogger picks! We’d love to have you join us!

If you are joining on the fun today, make sure to link back to this post AND Katie’s post so we can add your name and choice to the list of participants for all to enjoy!