Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: A Star to Sail By
AUTHOR: Joy Lynn Fielding
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 369 Pages
RELEASE DATE: August 30, 2023
BLURB:
Abducted by pirates, a naval officer must choose between duty and desire.
All Crispin Merrick has ever wanted is to be a captain in the Royal Navy. On half-pay after the war, he’s reduced to serving on a merchant ship. When pirates board his ship and force Crispin to join their crew, his dream has never seemed further away.
Billy loves the freedom he has as a pirate. As master gunner aboard the most beautiful ship to sail the seas, he couldn’t be happier. But then his captain tasks him with guarding the naval officer they’ve taken on board. Billy loathes the navy. He hates its officers even more.
Crispin is looking for a way to escape when disaster strikes the ship. Beset by danger, Billy and Crispin have to work together. But how can they trust one another when they detest everything the other stands for?
*This book contains material some people may find upsetting. Detailed content warnings are on the author’s website.*
REVIEW:
When pirates board his merchant ship, Crispin is taken aboard the enemy vessel. But he is no pirate and refuses to sign the pirate charter, as he is determined to escape. Under suspicion, the pirate captain assigned Billy as his guard – the man who looked like he was born from the angels. Though, Billy’s actions suggested otherwise. Billy hated his assignment, and he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t kill Crispin before they made land. On board, Crispin noticed Billy’s interactions with other crew members. Crispin, too, desired other men but never acted upon it – it wasn’t acceptable in regular society – indeed, it was outlawed on merchant and navy ships. There was no such law on a pirate ship.
It’s been a while since I read a pirate story, and I was eager to get stuck in. The story was sweet and all, with an array of characters among some dramatic and loving moments. But it didn’t live up to my personal expectations of a high-seas pirate adventure with love won, lost, and affirmed by the edge of a cutlass.
Set in the mid-17th century, the story is told in the third person from the viewpoints of Billy and Crispin. Most worldbuilding surrounds life aboard a ship, and there is good imagery throughout the novel. Life on a pirate ship includes challenges for Captain, injuries, pirate punishments, disasters, and more.
Billy and Crispin are lovely men who have a well-do-do heritage, but their reasons for going to sea, their lives since joining a ship, and eventually ending up on a pirate vessel are entirely different. Going forward, their expectations are different, too. Both men must reconcile the past and survive the present before planning a future. Somewhere amid all that, they find love.
Among other things, I found A Star To Sail By, a mixture of soul searching, trauma, drama, and realization with some hot experimentation. Crispin’s adventure was a journey of self-discovery, while Billy discovered that his dream of having someone special could come true. There were some tragic and beautiful moments, but overall, the story was too amicable for me, with more anticipation than high-octane action.
RATING: 
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