What the hell am I reading? Seriously think of every single cliché romance sentence and you have the first two chapters in this book. This seemed like something a highschooler would write in her notebook while sitting on her bed dreaming of becoming an author.
Ridiculous. I mean I've read books were the lead couple "desperately needed" each other before but holy molely this book takes the cake! There seems to be no previous interaction between Austin and Miss Clemens but suddenly he can' t get the thought of her breasts, even though they are soo small and she is soo plain, out of his mind even while there is mutiny on his ship. Dude, I'm all for losing your head a bit while falling in love, but get your priorities straight!
I thought the story was winding down at page one hundred and looked to see there was still two hundred pages to go, oh the excite and wonder I feel as to where this story could go! (she said with sarcasm)
This book is suppose to be set in the 1790's, hmm, I'm thinking the editor was asleep on the job because the vernacular used here seemed pretty modern to me.
The book got a little better towards the end, less hokey, but for the life of me I never could fathom why Austin and Evangeline were in love. There was absolutely no development of relationship or really of the characters themselves. Evangeline was plain, small breasted, and stubborn (in a very stupid way) while Austin was controlling and lonely. These descriptions are written over and over. Plus the main villain Anna was ridiculous, waaaaay over played.

There were a couple, maybe 3, lines or moments between Austin and Evangeline which struck a cord for me and showed a hint of talent from the author. Those moments and the way the story and writing improved toward the end saved this book from being a totally failure.
A review site gave this book a B , I have no idea how they gave such a high grade. If I had never read a romance book before, sure I would have thought this was a good book but having read tons it's easy to see how sophomoric this writing was to the greats I have read. I can see highschool girls liking this book but adult educated, intelligent women? No way. I possibly think the author was going for a story like "The Windflower" by Laura London but I would call this one that books red-headed step-child.

D ( )

This book was a pleasant surprise. It's a great swashbuckling high seas adventure. Well actually, there weren't any buckles being swashed but it was great fun.

Evangeline finds herself on a merchant ship bound for Boston after discovering her fiance in bed with her maid and disowned by her stepfather and mother when she refuses to marry him. She starts out as a very naive young woman who does some pretty stupid things. Austin is the captain of the ship and a typical tortured hero. After a failed attempt at a mutiny and a seduction, Austin suspects Evangeline of being a spy. The action takes off and there was never a dull moment. I enjoyed seeing the gradual change in Evangeline to a courageous plucky heroine and Austin is a yummy hero. POTH was a fast paced romantic adventure laced with humor and some steamy love scenes. The cast of characters were well done especially Lord Rudolph. After checking Ashley's website I see that she plans to write his book eventually. POTH was Ashley's debut book and she shows some potential. (Grade: B+) ( )