There is just something about a sturdy ship, the salt air, and a privateer that sparks the romantic imagination. In LeClaire’s debut novel, her love of the sea and its stories shines through. Still, even though her tale of high adventure and romance is a homage to the pirate romances of old, there is an uneven quality to it that made it seem rather average for me by the end.

Lady Rosalind Hanshaw and her family have been left destitute by both the failure of her father’s business and his death. While in the Caribbean Sea en route to Jamaica to deliver the sad news to her brother, her ship is attacked and taken by the French privateer known as the Black Angel. Rosalind and another young woman aboard are both taken prisoner.

Rosalind does not accept her fate easily. She is impulsive (sometimes dangerously close to being feisty) and takes every opportunity to challenge and insult her captor. Despite Rosalind’s hostility, the Black Angel is sometimes amused and frequently rather taken with his reluctant guest. As Rosalind spends more time aboard the privateer’s ship, the two find themselves dangerously attracted to one another.

This story has a lot of action in it and those parts of the plot flow very smoothly. The over-the-top high seas adventure was quite fun in places, but the pacing of the love story threw things off on occasion. As I read, it became apparent that major changes of attitude were taking place inside both the hero and heroine, however, they all occur within the space of a few days. The speed of these emotional upheavals – not to mention the romantic interludes (which are of an abrupt nature some will find deeply frustrating) – almost gave me whiplash. In additon, the fact that the romantic plot seems to revolve around a series of “I love you, no I hate you, no I love you – or at least lust for you passionately” sorts of exchanges made the middle portion of this book drag.

When describing the adventurous life of the Black Angel and his crew, LeClaire excels. As I hit upon an action sequence or even a shipboard dinner, I could almost envision the author warming to her subject. The Black Angel himself is also rather well-drawn. He is a throwback to the outrageously alpha male of earlier decades, but with enough of a sense of humor and just enough vulnerability to make him likable. However, his very strength makes one question his fascination with the heroine. Rosalind seems to be a petulant teenager more than a noblewoman in distress and her frequent mood swings and indignant antics made it very difficult for me to sympathize with her. The fact that she is described as an aristocrat also puzzled me since an aristocrat openly involved in trade seemed unusual to me. The detail was small enough for me to let it pass, but it did pull me out of the story for a bit near the beginning.

While Ship of Dreams features some vivid adventure and does on occasion offer readers a fun trip to the high seas, the unevenness of the romance made the book as a whole feel rather ordinary to me. I enjoy the setting and the time period, so I am curious to see what LeClaire can do with a little more practice, but this novel is not one I can recommend.