ARC Review : Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman

Title : Blackhearts
Author : Nicole Castroman
Genre : historical fiction, contemporary
Release Date : February 9th, 2015
Publisher : Simon Pulse

GOODREADS | PURCHASE

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.

*I receive an ARC via Edelweiss in exchange of honest review. Thank you Simon Pulse for the book!

Where do I start this review? There's so many good things in this book that I want to tell you. To be honest, Blackhearts isn't like what I was expecting, but I'm so glad it's not! I think Nicole capture perfectly about the life of Blackbeard before he became a notorious pirate.

Let's start with the characters. This book has dual POV--Edward 'Teach' Drummond and Anne Barrett. I have absolutely no problem with both characters. Teach--although he was born in a rich family--is not spoiled. He's more like one of those kids that didn't like to show off their parent's money. Anne, on the other hand, is the illegitimate child of a West Indies slave and a merchant, so she didn't grew up with money. Personally, I think Anne is unlike any other heroine. She's not the badass girl type, nor the quiet, intelligent type. She's just like the ordinary girl in 17th century, and that's why it's easy to relate with her.

Eventhough the main focus is the romance, Nicole didn't neglected the other aspects--like family relationship, and probably the most common thing in that era, arranged marriage. While the relationship between Teach and his father is really bad--thanks to the arranged marriage--I still find it important to the book since I guess it's very common back then. I mean, if you HAVE to marry with someone you hate, the most logical thing to do is hate your parents, right?

That led us to the romance. Firstly, let me tell you that there's no insta-love. I'm most afraid that this book will have an insta-love, since it's very common back then. Teach and Anne's relationship starts slowly, and keep progressing until the end of the book. Their chemistry is obvious since the beginning, and while it's pretty clear that Teach starts to like her after a few encounters, it took almost 3 weeks for Anne to realize her feeling. Their relationship is poignant (since, you know, it's unusual for a gentleman to harbor a feeling to a slave) yet it's beautiful.

One last thing that I must point out is the writing. Obviously, the language at that time were different. Nicole manage to write this book 'till it looks like written in the 17th century. It's that kind of writing that you often found in classic book, but you won't feel confused like you probably feel when reading a classic book.

To sum up, Blackhearts is a captivating, and heart-wrenching book about long, lost, and love.