If Emma Sullivan were a real woman and not a character in a novel, she would be termed a groundbreaking feminist in a time when women were subservient. After Emma’s father dies, she takes control of the Lucifer, the notorious pirate ship he once helmed. Emma rules the wild bunch with a steely touch, and just like a male captain, she beds many of her shipmates. Her wild life changes when the Lucifer encounters a ship carrying Nicholas Randolph and his sister Catharine back to England after a business trip to Philadelphia. She takes Nicholas as a hostage, and frees his sister.

As their journey continues, the crew slowly befriends Nicholas and he forms a bond with them. Elspeth, a kind and demure washerwoman and cook, is a confidante to both Emma and Nicholas. Mr. Henry, the quartermaster, a loyal and skilled crewman who has suffered many hardships in his life is the voice of reason on the ship when trouble ensues. Nicholas helps Henry, Elspeth and other crewmembers prepare meals, wash clothes, swab the decks and perform other daily chores, and soon he is a crucial member of the Lucifer’s crew, not a prisoner.

Romance slowly blossoms out of a mutual fascination between the staid and cultured Nicholas and rambunctious vixen Emma. They learn from each other, with Nicholas definitely bringing out the woman in Emma, a woman that had been hidden underneath the bravado she exhibited as the ship’s captain. Nicholas and Elspeth teach Emma how to dress and dance like a lady for a ball that figures prominently in one of the book’s subplots. Nicholas also defends Emma’s honor, something that she had not experienced with her other lovers. The love scenes between Emma and Nicholas are long and rapturous, and they fit in well with this emotional epic. While the action is not as exaggerated as in some adventure romances, the feelings we have for the characters makes it seem just as fulfilling and nail-bitingly powerful.

And A Star To Steer Her By is 303 pages of lively historical action and hot, genuine romance. It is a great book to sink your teeth into if you feel like visiting another time and place and watching characters grow and change with each other. I highly recommend Philippa Grey-Gerou’s And A Star To Steer Her By for fans of historical romance.

Reviewed by: Jade