Alanis, Lady Avon, is the granddaughter of the Duke of Dellamorte, an advisor to the Queen of England. She is currently traveling by ship to Jamaica to rendezvous with her fiancé, Lucas Hunter, Viscount Silverlake. Unfortunately on the way the ship is overtaken and boarded by pirates, in fact by the most notorious of them all, The Viper.

Eros, is known as the pirate called The Viper, infamous the world over for his cunning and skillful attacks lately on King Louis and his frigates. He currently is using one the Alastor, to keep his bounty, Lady Alanis aboard until they reach Jamaica and hopefully make a trade, his sister Gelsomina for Alanis.

This adventure is a bit more than Alanis ever hoped it could be. Prepared to brush off an absentee fiancé and never expecting to fall in with a gorgeous, tall and dark haired pirate by the name of Eros with wicked blue eyes. Viper meanwhile, decided to keep Alanis once his sister professed to love Silverlake and wanted to marry him. What else can he do except help, including keep Alanis with him, tempting her with adventures to exotic lands. Even with what seems the world looking for him, they do find time to fall in love. Viper reveals he is more than just an aristocratic pirate, who at sixteen saw his father the Duke of Milan assassinated before his eyes and was able to escape capture, taking his young sister with him. They both survived life changing events including slavery and more to get where they are today. Now everyone knows that Eros is also Prince Stefano Andrea Sforza the next Duke of Milan, warring factions including, France, Spain and others are out for his blood. With the love of Alanis though, Stefano has decided to try and reclaim his rightful inheritance despite being captured, tortured, imprisoned and more. Milan is and always will be home, they deserve to be liberated and he is the only one capable of doing it.

This very intriguing tale has swashbuckling sword fighting to start, kidnapping and even assassination attempts. I was ready for something entertaining and got more than I bargained for. This has a world history lesson along with military strategy, international affairs with France, England and others involved. It is well thought out and when it says this is historical you learn the real meaning of history, I now understand more battle maneuvers of that time than ever. The romance part will not let a reader down either, it has enough to keep everyone glued to the end. This is my kind of book, it has a bit of everything in it, suspense, romance, intrigue, historical figures and facts and above all an elegant wicked pirate that gets his lady in the end, who gets her Prince Charming, even if he was in disguise.

Lainey
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books