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    The Bastard
    The Bastard
    The Bastard
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Bastard

    Written by Brenda Novak

    Narrated by Sarah Coomes

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Jeannette Boucher, a young French beauty from a family left penniless by the revolution, must marry against her will to save them all from ruin. But almost immediately after the vows are spoken, she learns that her old English husband is impotent—and in his desire for an heir, he plans to compromise her in the worst way. Determined to escape such a fate, she stows away on one of His Majesty’s frigates. But a woman alone is in constant danger.

    To Lieutenant Treynor, honor means everything.… Born a bastard to a wayward marquise, Lieutenant Crawford Treynor was given to a poor farmer to raise and was maltreated until he ran away to join the Royal Navy. Treynor is determined to prove he’s as good as any other man and rise to captain his own frigate. But once he finds Jeannette aboard The Tempest he must decide whether to return her to the man he knows would abuse her—or risk everything, even his life, to keep her safe.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateFeb 26, 2013
    ISBN9781469230740
    The Bastard
    Author

    Brenda Novak

    New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak has written over 60 novels. An eight-time Rita nominee, she's won The National Reader's Choice, The Bookseller's Best and other awards. She runs Brenda Novak for the Cure, a charity that has raised more than $2.5 million for diabetes research (her youngest son has this disease). She considers herself lucky to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life. www.brendanovak.com

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    Reviews for The Bastard

    3.5/5

    46 ratings5 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I stumbled upon this book on NetGalley and with the title like THE BASTARD, my ‘reading antennas’ were up and I grabbed it. Brenda Novak is unfamiliar to me, and upon learning about the prequel to this sequal, OF NOBLE BIRTH, I snatched that one too!

      Jeanette Boucher, our heroine, is a young French aristo émigré and as such, in England at the time of the French Revolution, a value to her family. She actually has no choice, but to marry a much older man of her parents choosing to secure their comfortable existence away from their homeland.

      Lieutenant Crawford Treynor is a man who literally climbed his way up the ladder of the Royal Navy to his current position of the second in command. He takes pride in his work and loyalty and honor are codes he lives by. Everything he is and has, he earned with hard work, learned skill and pure determination.

      While Jeanette’s getting ready for her wedding night, her younger brother comes to her with some disturbing news about her new husband and he begs her to flee and save herself. Caught between a proverbial rock and a hard place, she heeds her brothers words and runs as fast and as far as her feet would carry her on a cold and wet night.

      As faith would have it, she encounters an Inn full of Royal Navy sailors whose ship is in port and come morning will be leaving for London. With a little luck, and a disguise as a thirteen-year-old boy, she joins the crew.

      Jeanette was one of those characters that I easily liked. She was young, yet very devoted and obedient. She also knew her mind and once she made it up, nothing would dissuade her. While posing as a boy and undertaking the responsibilities given to her on the ship, she showed courage and determination for survival.

      On the other hand, our hero never had an easy life, but he overcame it all by sheer will and sense of duty. As he discovers Jeanette’s identity, he also finds himself caught between his duty and his growing feelings and admiration for her.

      Ms. Novak has penned a fast paced, very engrossing and heartwarming adventure on the high seas that will have you wishing for some tropical breezes!

      She hadn’t missed a beat with this book. Besides having a very strong hero and heroine enjoying a high sea adventure, she threw in a bunch of very funny supporting characters that kept me laughing out loud. This book was a very, very pleasant surprise and I recommend it highly to all romance and especially the high seas adventure lovers.

      Mel for b2b

      * I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
    • 4/5

      Eighteen year old Jeanette Boucher and her family flee from France during the French Revolution. To secure her family's financial security, she agrees to an arranged marriage to the powerful and wealthy Baron St. Ives, a man nearly 40 years her senior. What she doesn't know is that her husband is impotent and desperate for an heir. When her brother tells her that he overheard her husband's friends plan to compromise her in the worst way, she makes a run for it. All she has to do is get to London, to her English relative, Lord Darby, who will hopefully help her get an annulment. When she overhears some sailors mention their early morning departure for London. She formulates a plan to dress like a young boy and gain passage aboard the Tempest, a Royal Navy ship. When she tries to steal one of the sailor's uniforms, she accidentally tumbles into the room of Lieutenant Treynor. A gorgeous man who mistakes her for one of the inn's prostitutes. Before he can take it too far she knees him in the jewels leaving him aching, and strangely, charmed.

      Perhaps she should have given her crazy plan more thought because it doesn't take long before she realizes what a horrible mistake she's made – a woman on ship full of men. When she tries to bail before they set sail, she gets caught and her punishment is to receive a good whipping. Treynor steps in at the last minute and takes the punishment for her. Soon after, her deception is discovered and she's hauled of to none other than Treynor. He battles both attraction and anger towards Jeanette, however he decides to help her hide her true identity. The more time they spend together, the stronger their attraction grows, but the danger is too great to act upon it. Then they come under attack by a French ship and are captured. At this point, Jeanette will do whatever she has to do to save him. Under Treynor's command, the prisoners are able to overpower their captors. They finally make it to London, but what will become of them and their budding relationship?

      This was my first Brenda Novak novel. I've heard her name before, but mostly for her contemporary mystery romances. This was a great historical romance, and the story telling held me captive from the first page. It's very tame and focuses more on the action and the people they are, rather than on the romance itself. I would definitely try her other books in the future.

      Crawford Treynor made me swoon. It wasn't just the mention of his handsome good looks and beautiful physique, but the man he was at his core. All he's ever known was that he was a bastard, and that his mother never loved him. She had left him to be raised by a cruel and abusive farmer, which fueled his hatred towards aristocracy, especially towards women. When he was old enough he ran away and joined the Navy. He not only worked his way through the ranks, but he also earned the respect of the working crew. Though he makes self deprecating remarks about himself, he's still a man of honor and worth. His attraction to Jeanette unsettles him, and he knows he has nothing to offer a woman of her station, but that doesn't stop him from risking his life and his hard earned career to save hers whenever she finds herself in a bind.

      I'm a little torn about Jeanette. I'd love her one minute and want to throttle her the next. Despite her naivete, she was feisty and had a strong will. However I did find fault with her for the many risks she took on board the ship. Risks that go her into trouble, only to have Treynor cover them up. She simply didn't listen to him, and I found that so infuriating. What I did like about her was that she didn't let his lack of pedigree prevent her from falling in love with him. During the attack from the French, she jumped right in and helped and was willing to sacrifice herself for him.

      The ending was a bit predictable, but it suited them perfectly. After the huge build-up of sexual tension between them from their first meeting until the end, I'm sad to say that any consummation of their relationship is left entirely up to our imagination *pouts*.
    • 3/5
      Where I got the book: e-galley from NetGalley.Oh dear. What's a reviewer to do? I find myself in two minds about this, the first Brenda Novak novel I've read. I'm also not very familiar with the romance genre (I'm on a quest to understand genres I don't normally read) so I don't know if this novel is typical of the genre or typical of Novak or both. Added to which, I was reading a galley and I don't know how much things have changed between the galley and the final version. So you may take all of my opinions with a pinch of salt, if you wish. But I'm not really sure what to make of this novel.The trouble is, I found The Bastard wildly inconsistent, and so my feelings about it varied tremendously from one chapter to the next. Sometimes it dragged and had far too much exposition (particularly near the beginning), sometimes it was lively and compelling. Sometimes the dialogue flowed along beautifully and meshed well with the narrative, and sometimes the sentences jerked along awkwardly. Sometimes I smiled over the dashing, Barbara Cartland-style, tongue-in-cheek humor that I detected beneath the story, and sometimes, unfortunately, I laughed AT the words and not with them.I jumped eagerly into the galley on the strength of its title and setting, and did not in fact know I was reading the work of a bestseller till I read the bio at the end. So I spent much of the time musing on how useful a really good developmental editor would be, to draw out the author's obvious strengths. I'm still left with the impression that the novel was written by two people, and that one of them needed to take the other in hand and address her weaknesses.Most of what I did like about the book lay in the middle--fast action, nicely-paced dialogue and a good sense of what it was like to be aboard a naval warship fighting the revolutionary French. The romance was well-focused and juuust walked the line between a PG-13 rating and what I'd consider too much sex (I said I wasn't a romance reader!) The poor hero was brought almost to the point of no return so many times that I began to fear for his health, an example of the sense of humor and perspective that seemed to infuse the narrative. The plot was pure Barbara Cartland, in other words entirely preposterous and yet extremely engaging.In short, an enjoyable but flawed novel.
    • 3/5
      When reading The Bastard, suspend any preconceived ideas about feasibility. Do that and you’ll find yourself in the midst of an amusing and crazy Regency romp.
    • 5/5
      THE BASTARD by Brenda Novak is an exciting historical romance set during the French Revolution and Regency England. It is welle written depth and details while the characters while capture your heart and have you turning pages. While Lietenant Crawford Treynor may have been born a "Bastard" he is a gentleman. It is a Navy Officer,honorable,and a born leader. Jeannette Boucher,is a young French immigate whose family if penniless and she must marry an English husband to save them from ruin. But right after her wedding vows she learns her new husband is less than honorable and runs away. "The Bastard" has everything a historical reader could want. It has secrets past and present,betrayal,misunderstanding,high sea adventure,sensual tension,romance,love,danger,courage,bitterness,sea battle,death,finding your birthright,healing,and did I mention a true love story.With high octane adventure,fast paced,and a heart pounding story you could not go wrong with reading "The Bastard".A must read for any historical,romance,high sea adventure,French Revolution,Regency England,and sea battles.Received from Net Galley and the author for review. Details can be found at the author's website and My Book Addiction Reviews.