Was it about Romeo or the future Blackbeard? | Blackhearts

Blackhearts (Blackhearts #1) by Nicole Castroman

Published: February 9th 2016 by Simon Pulse

Genre: young adult, historical, retelling

Goodreads summary: Blackbeard the pirate was known for striking fear in the hearts of the bravest of sailors. But once he was just a young man who dreamed of leaving his rigid life behind to chase adventure in faraway lands. Nothing could stop him—until he met the one girl who would change everything.

Edward "Teach" Drummond, son of one of Bristol's richest merchants, has just returned from a year-long journey on the high seas to find his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesn’t love and sick of the high society he was born into, Teach dreams only of returning to the vast ocean he’d begun to call home. There's just one problem: convincing his father to let him leave and never come back.

Following her parents' deaths, Anne Barrett is left penniless and soon to be homeless. Though she’s barely worked a day in her life, Anne is forced to take a job as a maid in the home of Master Drummond. Lonely days stretch into weeks, and Anne longs for escape. How will she ever realize her dream of sailing to Curaçao—where her mother was born—when she's stuck in England? 

From the moment Teach and Anne meet, they set the world ablaze. Drawn to each other, they’re trapped by society and their own circumstances. Faced with an impossible choice, they must decide to chase their dreams and go, or follow their hearts and stay.

REVIEW

I was intrigued by Blackhearts because it is a historical fiction novel, but also because it was an origin story for the pirate Blackbeard. I shared my favourite things in books list last week and I was talking about ships. Be warned: all the excitement on ships will take place during the second book (at least I hope), so this one IS NOT a pirate story, it focused on the romance between the main characters.

I really enjoyed the two main characters. Even if their social backgrounds should have kept them apart, they wanted the same thing: to be free. If Teach was bound by an engagement, Anne was trapped because she was a maid and didn’t have money to leave. Anne was sharp-tongued and strong; it was a delight to have her as a lead. She had to face so much racism, but also sexual assault in the beginning, and still she was moved by her desire to get away, for her better life. Teach came from a favoured background, but because he was just coming back from a year at sea, he had already been through his character development, which was interesting, because we had parallels between who he used to be and who he now was.

My feelings on the romance are quite mixed. When Anne and Teach were introduced to each other, I was so disgusted by his comportment and wasn’t happy it would end in a romance. Of course, I totally understand that in the 17^th century, maids were pursued, but still. After that, I still found that the author made some progress and I liked the slow-burn between our two characters. My other problem with this romance was that: ‘they were made for each other, would always find each other’ and it had been weeks. I was like: “wow, slow down guys” and also, I don’t like this “made for each other” trope anymore, so there’s that. It's too cheesy for me, sorry.

The plot wasn’t the main focus on the novel at all, it was mostly the romance. This first book was about the characters trying to get away so it was a little slow in my opinion, even if the beginning gripped me and I didn’t want to let go of the book. The author still managed to keep me interested during the novel, which I applaud. Moreover, at some point, there was a twist I wasn’t expecting at all, which always makes me happy. To be honest, I think that all the fun will be in the second book and it will focus more on the plot. Blackhearts was more of an introduction to this world and I think it would have been a shame if there had never been a second book.

I liked the world-building, even if there wasn’t tons of it. I don’t really remember reading which year it was set in, and at some point they were talking about the end of the Nine War so I figured it out, because I’m a history student. But it’s also very possible I skim read. *hides* I liked the parallels the author made with Blackbeard, for example his ship is “Queen Anne’s Revenge” and his love interest was Anne, so I loved that! Moreover, the last sentence of the book made me have feels, because it’s happening, you guys. The fact that the author explained how she came up with her ideas was also very interesting, because it made sense… But less romance would have been great, thanks!

Overall, this book is more of an historical romance than anything and even if I had been warned of that, I don’t think the romance was enough to carry the whole book, especially when I had issues about it. Nevertheless, I loved Anne and Teach’s characters and I can’t wait to see where their journey will take them. I will definitely read the second book, but I think this one was more of an introduction.

Have you read Blackhearts? What did you think of it? Do you love pirate books (yaaaas!)?