The Pirate Bride

By: Sandra Hill

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

A Viking to bed, not to wed!

Medana Elsadottir, known as the Sea Scourge, never planned to become a pirate, but there's no denying her talent. Her female-only tribe has an island hideaway, food aplenty, goods to trade...everything except the means to breed. That's where the strapping Norsemen tied up in her ship's hold comes in handy. Eight godly specimens - and Thork Tykirrson is the most virile of them all. Once their, eh, work is done, they'll be free to leave. Medana had naught to do with this god-awful plan, but she wouldn't mind reaping the benefits.

Renowned as the wildest Viking of his time, Thork was returning home to regain his father’s favor. Mayhap even (shudder) marry. His brazen - and very beautiful - kidnapper has likely done him a favor in preventing such an irksome fate. That doesn’t mean he’ll let her off easy. No one takes anything from a Viking that he’s not willing to give...not even a violet-eyed vixen who sets off the wildest fantasies.

©2013 Sandra Hill (P)2013 HarperCollinsPublishers

The book is ok. Not one I’d recommend personally.

I love Sandra hills Viking romance novels. This one sadly, I’m not much of a fan of. I just don’t feel the romance between these two. It leans heavy into men verses women and I just feel like it went nowhere with it. The poetic ballads were annoying after awhile to where I was rolling my eyes with every background character. The chemistry felt a bit forced and questionable at times. Add that to the fake Swedish accent the reader puts on and… it just was hard to listen to at times. Again, I love her books. She has really good ones… but this one is not one I’d recommend. I love a strong rebellious Viking… but he just came off as whiny and all talk. His father’s book was far better and had more laughs. I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t let him bond with his father more and any turnaround of genuine affection he could of had was overshadowed by her brother’s plot line that simply felt unnecessary. All in all, the book is ok. It just didn’t hold up to others she has written.

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! After listening to this story,. I totally enjoyed reading this book. It’s well written and the characters were uniquely fantastic. I would suggest this book to my friends that like this sort of genera. this was a good book. The narrator was great.

not what I expected but still very good!

This one was tricky! I guess I should have really realized what the title said... irrelevent since I totally enjoyed it all the same.
You have to go into it knowing you can't take it seriously or you could get tangled a bit. Even so it was a good romance even if slightly twisted. I found the utopic life the women had created to be of a strong intent and worthy of it's creation. The concept of what they wanted from the male species a humorous addition leaving the stories intent slightly twisted to be sure.
Credit worthy? Yeah... But I think I bought it since it was reasonably priced and I got to save the credit.

Wasn't for me...

Listened for Book Club (Cover Girls)
Overall Rating: 2.50
Story Rating: 2.00
Character Rating: 3.00

Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: The Pirate Bride was humorous at times but that just couldn't save it for me. That being said, the narration made me stick with the story till the very end because Heather Wilds did an excellent job.

Book Club Thoughts: Overall this was one of those books that everyone seemed to like parts of very much! We all agreed that there were some great moments between Medina and Thork. They had a great energy and their banter was fun. We liked the secondary characters and think some of them will make great leading men.

My Thoughts: I know with a 2.50 rating, it probably looks like I didn't enjoy the book at all. That isn't true. There was some trademark Sandra Hill banter in the story that made me smile. I am a big fan of Sandra's writing but this book just didn't work for me. I don't know if it was timing or just that neither Medina nor Thork won me over. With historical romance I have to love the characters for the story to work for me.

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated By Heather Wilds / Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins


I loved Heather Wilds narration. I don't think I would have finished the story if not for her. She did several accents and all of them made me smile. This had to be a tough one to narrate and she did a wonderful job.

Final Thoughts: Despite not liking this particular couple, I will continue to read Sandra Hill!

Disappointing

This story had so much potential, unfortunately it fell on its face immediately. While it is true men are stronger than woman, 8 men against 200 woman don't stand a chance. The heroine (if you could call her that) should have shone the strength and cunning of a woman who had been raped and escaped to an Island that grew to a population of 200 independent woman. Instead this female pirate meekly let herself and 200 woman ,all of whom supposedly had been abused by men, become dominated by 8 men. The woman were portrayed as witless inept creatures who needed to be saved by men. These women couldn't even get these men to finish the act of sex in order for them to become pregnant, (are you kidding me?)