About the Book:

“America is on the brink of war with England, and Fin Button is about to come undone. She’s had it with the dull life of the orphanage, and she’s ready to marry Peter and get away from rules, chores, and a life looked after by the ever-watchful Sister Hilde. But an unexpected friendship forms between Fin and the fiddle-playing cook, Bartimaeus, which sets her on a course for revolution.

With Bart’s beloved fiddle and haunting blunderbuss as her only possessions, Fin discovers her first taste of freedom as a sailor aboard the Rattlesnake. She’s hiding some dark secrets, but there are bigger problems for the crew—they are on the run from the Royal Navy, and whispers of mutiny are turning the captain into a tyrant.

When Fin finally returns home, will she find Peter still waiting, or will she find that she’s lost everything she once held dear?”

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

Hmmm.  My response to this book really surprised me.  With all of the reviews that are out there, I figured this one was really an earth stopping read.  Add to that the fact that it is historical fiction, set during the American Revolution and when I settled into this one, I figured I had a couple hours of pure enjoyment!  So by the time I had read about half the book, I found myself wondering what all the fuss was about.  For me it wasn’t “all that, and more.”

I really didn’t find much in the way of creativity in the story.  In fact, I came away feeling like Peterson was not only rushing the story — but was writing a carbon copy of many of the other books I had read in this field.   (Usually the cookie cutter romance versions — the plot of which could mirror this one almost to a character.)  I found it to be not only predictable, but glaringly so.  And unfortunately this one didn’t seem to deal so much with the American Revolution, as high seas piracy, that just happened to occur during the Revolutionary time period.

Fin reminded me of the typical damsel in distress.  Her histrionics at times are not only tedious, but annoying as well.  She is constantly running off to do something stupid, and while on some characters this independence is interesting — for this story I just didn’t feel that it worked at all.  I have a hard time with the hard core independent characters that also have to be naive, sobbing, spoiled little girls that want their independence only to find they have no capacity to handle it, and no idea what to do with it once it is achieved.

The two characters I really did like were Bartimaeus and Peter.  These two had a great deal more depth, and they were interesting in their development.  These are two characters that Peterson broke the traditional molds when he created them.  The reformed, fiddle playing pirate, and the grounded, intelligent orphan that has the good sense to understand the importance of growing into adulthood are the only redeeming characters in this book.  The rest of them all just came across as cut out wanna be’s.  Bartimaeus was a particularly interesting character — and one that could have changed the development of this story — if he had remained with it.  He provided not only the conscience, and common sense to Fin’s dysfunctional flightiness — but he also provided a profound moral dilemma that I would have loved to see developed as the story continued to grow.

Tags: America, Friendship, Historical Fiction, Romance, Suspense

Category: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Suspense/Thriller