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Review Date:
Dec 11, 2007
 
ISBN:
Publisher:
Linden Bay
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Out Now
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Reviewed by: Vee
Joshua Andrews and Peter Kenyon are two gay men who are forced to bunk together aboard Captain Walker's naval ship. Captain Walker, a sadistically cruel man who revels in beating and killing, has made it clear there are spies among the crew and any show of passion will be dealt with in a gruesome and lethal manner.
Thus sets the backdrop of Captain's Surrender. While Josh and Peter escape death at Captain Walker's hands, there is the societal and biblical damnation that fosters in Josh a deep-seated self loathing. And there's the expectation that Peter take a wife and 'make' heirs for his family.
While each works up the ranks of the Navy to become captains themselves, they have stolen, intense and passionate moments. After a battle with the Colonists that sinks Josh's ship, he awakens in the arms of a Native American man. As Josh recuperates, the Indians who are caring for him show him a different outlook on gay men. They revere them as being special and better. This helps Josh accept his nature and his love for Peter.
The conflict in Captain's Surrender and the forbidden nature of the romance between Josh and Peter is probably the strongest and most realistic that I've ever read. Ms. Beecroft is unflinching in her portrayal of the volatile society in which they lived.
However I had a very hard time stomaching the cruelty dished out by Captain Walker and admit that after reading a couple of very vivid passages where men were beaten, I didn't want to continue the book. I was greatly relieved when the pair were no longer under the captain's thumb.
The truth is the feelings of revulsion I felt are a compliment to the author's writing. She managed to invoke the sense of despair and dread the men felt. The love/lust scenes were equally as good showing at their paradoxical nature.
I felt Ms. Beecroft's prose, setting of time and place, and historical accuracy were excellent.
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Book Blurb & Info for Captain's Surrender
Linden Bay Romance is proud to announce the winner of our 2007 Starlight Writing Contest. The contest, which was opened to previously unpublished authors from all over the world, was a pleasure to judge and we wish to thank everyone who entered. In reviewing the full manuscripts of our finalists, we discovered one that stood above the rest: Captain’s Surrender, written by Alex Beecroft.
Captain’s Surrender a male/male historical novel set in 1779, is a beautifully written tale of forbidden romance between two star crossed lovers who are trying to survive life in the British Navy during the war with the Colonies. It’s filled with passion, intrigue, and the kind of compelling heroes that you’ve come to expect from a Linden Bay Romance novel--two of them, actually.
Ambitious and handsome, Joshua Andrews had always valued his life too much to take unnecessary risks. Then he laid eyes on the elegant picture of perfection that is Peter Kenyon.
Soon to be promoted to captain, Peter Kenyon is the darling of the Bermuda garrison. With a string of successes behind him and a suitable bride lined up to share his future, Peter seems completely out of reach to Joshua.
But when the two men are thrown together to serve during a long voyage under a sadistic commander with a mutinous crew, they discover unexpected friendship. As the tension on board their vessel heats up, the closeness they feel for one another intensifies and both officers find themselves unable to reign in their passion.
Let yourself be transported back to a time when love between two men in the British Navy was punishable by death, and to a story about love, about honor, but most of all, about a Captain’s Surrender.
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