Review: His Pirate (Second Chance #2) by Stephanie Lake

Rhain Morgan is desperate to leave London and move his ailing sister to a climate that will save her life, so he books passage to their Caribbean plantation on the only available ship, captained by Alastair Breckenridge. Rhain fights his attraction to the alluring captain, who looks and acts like a pirate, but the man’s fairness wins Rhain over. The trip that once seemed endless is now too short.

For years, Alastair held people away from his heart, until Rhain. Finally admitting his feelings to himself, he tries to convince Rhain to stay on board, but it’s all in vain.

Despite his own burgeoning feelings for Alastair, Rhain wants to prove himself and refuses to let go of his dream of making a home for his sister and himself on their plantation. But as Alastair’s ship sails away, Rhain is left alone to make the best of disastrous circumstances and overwhelmed by regret, nurses his broken heart.

When all seems lost, could they dare hope for a second chance to set things right and love again?

If I had to describe His Pirate, the second standalone in the Second Chance series by author duo Stephanie Lake briefly: it read like Jack Sparrow porn.

But instead of the pirate chasing light skirts and rum, he was all about the men and pirating. (mainly men)

Not mad at it.

"I'm going to slip another finger into that hot hole of yours. Let your muscles play with them, stroke them, hold them tight."

Not at all.

His Pirate is set in the late Georgian era, orphan Rhain Morgan only has his ailing sister as family. The London air doesn't agree with his frail sister and the longer they live there, the worse it will be for her. Before Rhain's father died, he bought a plantation on the island of Dominica. Rhain sells his meager savings to have enough money to book a trip for his small family.

Sadly, it's late in the sailing season and no one but a dandy pirate, Captain Alastair Breckenridge is the only one around to set sail to the Caribbean. The spark of heat flares from the moment they set eyes on each other. Rhain vows not to dally with men anymore. He plans to find a wife and lie to himself to produce an heir.

But Alastair notices the attraction. And he day dreams about getting the tall and thick Rhain to pound him into next week. (I was wishing for something a little more devious or daring)

Now, the beginning of the story had potential to be an epic read. The reader gets crumbs on the main characters' back story: Alastair has family issues that make him the man he is today, Rhain is brokenhearted. They have some damage but the story tone is light and low angst.

In fact, it could even be described as fanciful and over the top. Historically accurate? Not really. It read modern for the time period. But it definitely is fun.

And the smut is heavy:

"--bent over the captain's table and tried to feel the man's tonsils with his cock by ramming it as far as he could up the man's arse."

For as pirate who has something to prove to his father, it gets pushed aside once Rhain's cock turned out to play. Unfortunately, this pirate lover had her socks knocked off earlier this year by another story and I can't help but compare the light and not really deep to something that had depth and characters that made you think and feel.


His Pirate had good secondary characters in Rhain's sister and Captain Jack Alastair's first mate. There is a cute little side love story going that doesn't over take the main plot. The issue is the main plot didn't go much further than nautical road trip and pirate banging. The guys are day dreaming and lolly gagging when I expected more pirating. Seriously, the penis was constantly on the brain. The characters barely pass the three dimensional mark, they have some back story but it's told rather than shown and sort of info dumped.

The series is titled Second Chance. I read the first book in this standalone series (and I found it slightly stronger). Both books featured second chances. But where as the first book used it as the main conflict, His Pirate really doesn't. The second chance bit was short (after 86%). And I wanted to throttle Rhain for his bonehead move. And since the second chance happens so late in the game, it read rushed and there was not enough grovelling in my opinion. Alastair just rolled over and opened his legs. It also made me question the sincerity of Rhain.

But I'm looking too deep for something that doesn't have much depth. It's a good time, a smutty time, lots of fun.

I'd recommend for readers who'd rather fun light pirating and heavy smut. It's low angst historical that didn't read too plot heavy.

Besides who wouldn't like to read about a bottom happy Jack Sparrow type?

Arrrr!