Carla Kelly
Historical Romance
Published in 2012 (originally 1994)
H/h - Captain Daniel Spark/Hannah Whittier
Setting: Early 1800s.
Read in September, 2017.
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
The latest Carla Kelly that I read, Miss Whittier Makes A List,
was one of those I was finishing up from her “Miss” series. Well,
there’s no series titled like that but she’s got quite a few older
Regency romances having titles with a “Miss this or that does this or
that” (if this even makes any sense to anyone ;P). *facepalm* Sooo, I
liked how it was, the storyline, the characters too. However, not as
mind-blowing as I had hoped it would be after reading the first few
chapters. As a result, it took me a while to finish it because I wasn’t
sure what to write in my review or how to structure it; my feelings were
that ambivalent. I don’t want anyone to dislike the story, but there
are things that need to be mentioned.
Miss Whittier Makes A List
isn’t a badly written novel. Not at all! I mean I keep saying this, and
it’s true. I love Ms. Kelly’s writing and I loved most of her backlist
thus far. This one begins with a h with a little different background.
Hannah is a Quaker, a background not often explored in the arena of HR
that I generally read. But even though she’s meant to be lived under
strict rules of the ‘type’ of Christianity they followed, Hannah was
anything but meek and biddable. Oh she gives that impression quite well,
but inside Hannah something... different. Something preferably more
exciting. Things that she won’t even acknowledge to herself, let alone
to anyone else among her Quaker Friends. I mean, they don’t even call
each-other anything but ‘thee’ and ‘thy’. :/
But, though, she had
a different future as a biddable daughter, then wife, planned out for
her, Hannah’s life will be turned completely upside down on her first
voyage to the ocean in a ship called Molly Claridge. She was called away
to Charleston, to help one of her brother’s wife who was about to give
birth to her niece or nephew. However, on the way, an English ship
called Dissuade waylays them. They were looking for deserters, or people
who jumped ships; left His Majesties Royal Navy’s fabulous ships to
work in a much friendlier environment. They often sought work on
American ships. The captain of the ship was quite rude and remarkably
arrogant. Not only does he claim the few men he recognized as
Englishmen, but also takes the son of the Captain of Molly Claridge,
Adam. Hannah knew the Captain’s family and Adam was her childhood
friend. One she had often dreamt of being married to as they were of the
same age. It was well known that people who were forced to work on
English ships wouldn’t often return home, which got Hannah worried.
But
this Daniel Spark, the Captain of Dissuade was a type of man Hannah had
never met in her life. Well, one of her older brothers, Matthew, is sea
bound being a whale hunter. But he’s nothing like Captain Spark, who
stood as straight and tall as he was, oozing command from every pore of
his body, his stance and his intense gaze. Hannah couldn’t stop looking
at his curly dark hair, though quite arresting but not-so-classically
handsome face which weathered quite a bit from years of wind and the
sun. But the most hypnotic was his light colored eyes that glowed from
that darker face. He didn’t seem to smile much, even then Hannah was
quite struck by him. I’d say, totally dizzy by him on spot. But when
they’re taking away Adam, knowing how much it’s gonna hurt his family,
Hannah can’t stop but protest. When everyone around stood there with
bated breath, knowing something bad may happen to Hannah, his face
splits into something called a smile. Then he kisses her thoroughly and
sails away, hinting they’d meet again. I thought that scene was super
HOT! I mean WOW! If only Hannah was a little older than 17, It’d be
legit scorching IMO.
Captain Daniel Spark was every bit of the
man who liked showing off what he owned; his rank and his capabilities
to hold up that position. For which he worked hard since he was a boy.
He was around 30, almost retiring age for a man who has been at sea
since 10 or 12 yrs. old. He’s also the second son of a peer but he hated
being in England with his dysfunctional family. There was nothing
exciting there for him to stay more than a few weeks in every few years.
In the years he’d been worked super hard, and climbed ranks, Daniel has
seen and heard horrible things. It shaped everything about him and his
life until now. He’s very commanding, expecting to be obeyed. He’s
extremely serious about his job and did a splendid one too by running
Dissuade like a well-oiled machine. His subordinates respected him. I’d
go as far as to say most of them were very fond and proud of their
Captain.
When Daniel saw Hannah, he liked her instantly. She
wasn’t extremely attractive or anything but she wasn’t too plain looking
either. In his dreary life, she seemed like the much needed breath of
fresh air. The innocence that was lost to him and his mates a long time
ago. He had hoped to see her again, not knowing it’d happen quite soon. A
few days later, they rescue Hannah, dehydrated and on the verge death,
on a floating crate. Apparently the French ship he’d alerted the Captain
of Molly Claridge about, done its deed. It was obvious that the Captain
chose not to take his advice. It was also apparent that by sheer luck,
Hannah was the only one alive.
The next few days, Daniel spends
time taking care of Hannah who was also severely sunburned. And in this
long voyage, where Dissuade was already England-bound, would be the most
exciting, excruciating, yet the most exhilarating months of Hannah’s
life. Probably the adventure she’d sought unknowingly all her life.
She’d learn the life in a ship first hand, where no other woman was
allowed in. She’d learn to become a ‘mate’ herself, living and dressing
like one as that was the most convenient and she’d lost all her
possession in the shipwreck. She’d learn the ‘vocabulary’ of a sailor,
words her mother would faint if she ever heard herself, and would often
be joked around by the sailors as the ‘shark chum’. She’d learn to
oakum, to climb the rigging to spy for other ships.
She’d earn the trust and affection of the sailors whom she would’ve
thought perfectly unmanageable beasts otherwise. She’d also experience
gruesome deaths when Dissuade is attacked, witnessing unimaginable pain
and suffering on a surgeon’s table as the ship’s only doctor Andrew
Lansing needed help. And Hannah would help no matter how horrible and
unpalatable it was.
But most of all, Hannah would find herself
falling for a light-eyed Captain who took life too seriously. Hannah
couldn’t blame him anymore seeing what she’d seen, knowing he’d
experienced it thousands of times worse than her. She’d come to realize
that she was the one Daniel wanted to have close, because she brought
those sudden whisper of smiles on his face. While still on board of
Molly Claridge, Hannah made a list of ‘virtues’ in a would-be husband
when she was sheltered and didn’t know anything of the world. She was
bored, and ironically, was thinking of the ‘rude Captain’ when she made
the list. Daniel later found it and read it, which remains a joke
between them. However, now Hannah knew better. By now she knew that life
works in the most mysterious of ways. Daniel Spark would’ve failed
miserably to capture her interest if she had to go by virtue of that
list. After all, she made that list thinking how unsuitable he was as a
‘husband material’. Now she couldn’t imagine being with anyone else but
him.
That’s not it though. At one point, no thanks to an enemy
ship, there’s also another shipwreck and Dissuade is lost to them,
alongside many of their trusty mates. As they’re deserted in another
enemy country and more adventures for Hannah; some good, other not so
much as Daniel is arrested, then beaten to bloody pulp. By then, they’d
sort of managed to acknowledge their feelings for each-other, knowing
they’d marry as soon as they’re in England. Hannah had made peace with
the fact that she may not be seeing her family again. At least, not
anytime soon. Things do go wrong when Daniel is send to England
separately. Hannah knew nothing of it as she and Adam were waiting to
aboard an American ship.
But somehow, with Daniel’s remaining
crew, they manage to escape, sadly with the sacrifice of their doctor
Lansing. Hannah also meets the Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, who
helps her and Adam to get to England. There were some funny scenes
here, as Hannah still as innocent as ever, asks the Great Wellington to
cut his toe nails often so his socks stay in better shape. :P In
England, Hannah proves her mettle by helping Daniel out of a court
marshal. Daniel was over the moon when reunited by his beloved. He takes
her straight to his home, planning a wedding ASAP.
In England,
life would be different for Hannah. Much more different than her quaint
life in Nantucket. So far away from her family to live in an enemy
country to be with the man she loved. She often questioned herself,
could she do it? But one look at Daniel’s smiling face and his eagerness
to love her, Hannah knew she’d remain in England for the rest of her
life as long as she can be Daniel’s wife, bear his children and grow old
with him. IF she can grow old with him because
Daniel would not give up his duty for his country. The war with Nepoleon
was still raging, and that was Daniel’s first priority. Even before
Hannah, as he’d made it quite clear to her. Hannah won’t come between
him and his duty. Still, Hannah persevered, knowing she can’t blame him
for choosing his country over her. After all, wasn’t his integrity one
of those things that drew her to him? What if it means she maybe a widow
long before her time? Hannah was trained to be a biddable wife and
she’d be the best wife Daniel would ever have.
But then, suddenly
one day, after planning his latest voyage, Daniel changes his mind. He
refuses to marry Hannah and breaks off the engagement before going away
to serve his King and his country. That has to be one of the most
difficult moments of Hannah’s life because he refused to acknowledge his
feelings any longer. He wanted her gone to America but without any
explanation as to why. ‘What now Hannah?’ was all she could ask herself.
She’d be ship-bound to sail to America in a few days but would she be
able to live with a broken heart? Could she forget her errant Captain
and move on?
Fear not, there is a HEA for us despondent readers. I
enjoyed reading Hannah’s superb adventures of life that taught her so
many things; things she never thought to ever experience in her
sheltered life.
Now I’d like to point out the things that bugged me the most, and why Miss Whittier Makes A List
couldn’t make it more than a 3.5 stars, even though I LOVED many
aspects in this story. By all means, it could’ve been 5 stars for me.
But, sadly, it wasn’t.
# The first and foremost would be Hannah
and Daniel’s age difference. Don’t get me wrong though. Generally in the
historical romance perspective, I’m quite okay with a h of 17 who has a
12yrs. age difference with the H. After all, that was quite common in
those days. I’ve read stories like that and enjoyed thoroughly. And if
the h is older and matured, then a 12yrs age difference with a much
older H isn’t a problem at all. In here, I loved Hannah for her
innocence, her fresh outlook of life. Her curiosity and a deep abiding
need to experience ‘life’ in it’s full glory even when she was scared.
It was all great, but she’d have been better paired with someone like
Adam or even that sailor in his early 20s that she came to like in the
story. Daniel was simply too experienced of life, too matured for her.
She was just not of his league. Which is why I constantly felt she had
little to no idea of what she exactly wanted in her life. She was always
confused and hesitant, sometimes weepy as well. She didn’t know what to
do with the love of this much older, experienced man until she sort of
got used to with the idea of being with him. I don’t blame her for it
but it was just... wrong in so many levels.
# Which brings me to
my second issue. Because of how I saw Daniel, I never felt their pairing
was correct. He could’ve been a better big brother to Hannah than her
beau. He basically treated her as a child until he realized that’s not
gonna help with the already palpable attraction. Even though I never
questioned the affection between them, the chemistry was thoroughly
missing. I refused to even imagine anything between them for reasons I
already explained above. It was not because of their age difference, but
because they were not meant to be a couple anyway IMO. A more matured
lady, who knew what she wanted and went after it, was needed to be
Daniel’s equal. I adored him and this simply made me weep in
frustration. :(
And so, even though I loved the story, I was very
disappointed in the Romance part. I’d still recommend it if you’re into
clean romance and would like to read a sweeping tale of adventure as
long as the above doesn’t bug you as much as it has bugged me.
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