Maggie and the Pirate's Son

This book was such a fun adventure! I loved Maggie so much. Girl just wanted to have an adventure and she went for it! Bastion was dreamy. This was a really quick read too which was cool.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this story and this is my freely given opinion...

I never thought of myself as a pirate story fan (sea-sickness, hard tack, unbathed men, storms, weevil-infested food, mutiny, etc - none of it seems very romantic). But I have actually rather enjoyed several of the ones I read. Likewise this one. Maggie, widowed after a rather disappointing marriage, is facing a future of being married off again by her father. Rather than face another disappointing match, she makes a mad, impulsive decision one night, seeing a ship anchored nearby, and sneaks aboard, running away, in the hopes of some kind of adventure. A rather desperate bid for something better than what her father has planned for her.

Bastian MacLeod never chose the life of a pirate, but was stolen away from the home he knew and loved by his pirate father as a youth and forced to live the pirate life since, escaping capture by the navy and living in fear of his volatile, vindictive father, the captain of the pirate ship. When they discover the stowaway, Bastian makes the decision to protect Maggie, under the guise of being a boy, and continues to look out for her during their time at sea, until he can make it to port and secure a safe passage back to Scotland.

Maggie gets her pirate adventure at sea, and Bastian finds himself falling for the adventuresome, feisty woman, while being constantly fearful of the others discovering her ruse, as well as his father's next mad scheme. As they work to evade capture by the navy, while seeking a hidden treasure, the pirates are on the edge of mutiny and Bastian is caught in the middle. He knows that the life of a pirate does not end well, and despite his growing feelings for Maggie, feels he has nothing to offer her, except safe passage home, and safety.

This is a wonderful pirate adventure story, with hidden identities, but also two people who are fighting to be their true selves despite others trying to exert their wills on Bastian and Maggie. It is also a sad story of how parents fail their children and sometimes the family that people that people choose to surround themselves with maybe better than the family they were given at birth. Despite the fear of punishment, mutiny, or death by the noose - this does end in a happily ever after - at least for some of the characters. I especially loved the epilogue.

4 stars out of 5