Pirate's Life for Tea

English language

Published Aug. 9, 2023 by Thorne, Rebecca.

ISBN:: 979-8-9866924-2-5

(1 review)

While searching for stolen dragon eggs, newly engaged couple Kianthe and Reyna find themselves smack-dab in the middle of a swashbuckling love story. On one side is Serina, a failed farmer turned river pirate. Her booty? Wheat, grains, and the occasional jar of imported tea leaves. It's quite the embarrassment to Diarn Arlon, the powerful lord of the Nacean River, and he'll conscript anyone to bring her to justice. Especially Kianthe, the elemental mage who just crashed his party, and her somewhat-scary fiancée. Begrudgingly, the couple joins forces with Bobbie, one of Arlon's constables--who happens to be Serina's childhood friend. Bobbie is determined to capture the pirate before anyone else, but it would be a lot easier if Serina didn't absolutely loathe her now. As Kianthe and Reyna watch this relation-shipwreck from afar, it quickly becomes apparent that these disaster lesbians need all the help they can get. Luckily, matchmaking …

While searching for stolen dragon eggs, newly engaged couple Kianthe and Reyna find themselves smack-dab in the middle of a swashbuckling love story. On one side is Serina, a failed farmer turned river pirate. Her booty? Wheat, grains, and the occasional jar of imported tea leaves. It's quite the embarrassment to Diarn Arlon, the powerful lord of the Nacean River, and he'll conscript anyone to bring her to justice. Especially Kianthe, the elemental mage who just crashed his party, and her somewhat-scary fiancée. Begrudgingly, the couple joins forces with Bobbie, one of Arlon's constables--who happens to be Serina's childhood friend. Bobbie is determined to capture the pirate before anyone else, but it would be a lot easier if Serina didn't absolutely loathe her now. As Kianthe and Reyna watch this relation-shipwreck from afar, it quickly becomes apparent that these disaster lesbians need all the help they can get. Luckily, matchmaking is Reyna's favorite past time. The dragon eggs may have to wait.

1 edition

enne📚 reviewed Pirate's Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne

A Pirate's Life for Tea

3 stars

A Pirate's Life for Tea is book two in an ongoing cozy fantasy romance series. I had a lot of fun with the first book, but this one worked less well for me.

Having the perspective of the book continue to be from Reyna and Kianthe's perspective blunted the dynamic between Serena and Bobbie, especially with Reyna and Kianthe wink-winking at each other (and the audience) about their matchmaking schemes. Overall, this sequel felt a little too cozy for my tastes--nothing really had teeth in the same way that the first book did, and all of the new characters felt instantly either on side or not. Bobbie seemed like the only character who had any growth.

This sounds like I'm being quite negative, but it was fun to revisit this world and its puns and real-feeling relationships. I am looking forward to the next (final?) book as it will likely …

A Pirate's Life for Tea is book two in an ongoing cozy fantasy romance series. I had a lot of fun with the first book, but this one worked less well for me.

Having the perspective of the book continue to be from Reyna and Kianthe's perspective blunted the dynamic between Serena and Bobbie, especially with Reyna and Kianthe wink-winking at each other (and the audience) about their matchmaking schemes. Overall, this sequel felt a little too cozy for my tastes--nothing really had teeth in the same way that the first book did, and all of the new characters felt instantly either on side or not. Bobbie seemed like the only character who had any growth.

This sounds like I'm being quite negative, but it was fun to revisit this world and its puns and real-feeling relationships. I am looking forward to the next (final?) book as it will likely be a collision of characters who have mostly been off page, and also because it will likely come back to focus on Reyna and Kianthe again (and their wedding).

(This is also a petty side complaint, but Bobbie is a cop [sorry, a constable]; even if the book argues that you can't change things from the inside, it still ends with some "bad apple" theory that I could have done without. Mostly, there's some feeling that I could do without such direct cop analogues in my cozy fiction.)

Subjects

Fiction, fantasy, general
Fiction, lgbtq+, gay