Book Review: The Captain's Confidant|HonestlySpeakingonBooks

 Book Review: The Captain's Confidant 

                            by Ashtyn Newbold

 

As always, I was on the lookout for clean romance. And I happened upon The Captain’s Confidant by Ashtyn Newbold.

The cover immediately caught my eye, especially the style of the model’s dress. It pretty much screamed REGENCY ROMANCE(something I love).

So I had no other choice but to pick it up and read it.

I will admit that I have become more attached to the romances taking place in the 1900s and so I wasn’t entirely captivated by the story line, but it had, nonetheless, a well-written plot and a sweet romance that I did enjoy reading.

This is my review on The Captain’s Confidant by Ashtyn Newbold.

On The Back:

An accidental letter, a long-lost love, and a slew of secrets.

For as long as Bridget Northcott can remember, she has loved her brother's closest friend, Colin Foster. She loved him long before he grew up, became Captain Foster, and long before he left her behind for a life at sea. Although she knows her feelings will never be returned, Bridget cannot help but turn away every suitor in the hopes that one day Colin will come back to Larkhall and see her for what she has grown up to be—refined, elegant, and the precise opposite of the silly girl he once knew.

When family circumstances bring Colin’s unexpected return, he too has changed. Once carefree, he is now cold, hard, and distant. Determined to unravel the mysteries of Captain Foster, Bridget writes her thoughts in a note, one she never meant to send. As a hesitant friendship grows between them through their letters, Bridget determines to keep her heart uninvolved. But when her facade begins to break, she realizes the childhood silliness she abandoned might just be precisely what is needed to pull him back to shore.

Faced with a choice between loyalty and selfishness, love and letting go, Bridget must find the strength to confide her own feelings in Captain Foster before the man she loved is lost forever. But there is only so much she can do when she discovers a match between them is what she has always feared—forbidden.

My Review:

The story takes place in Larkhall, the home of our heroine, Bridget, a young girl in love with her brothers’ friend, Colin.

It took some time for me to really sympathize with the characters in the novel but I did grow to love them and I found that Bridget’s reactions seemed similar to what I myself might have done had I been in her place. She has a wild and silly demeanor, always getting into trouble and breaking the rules.

Since her mother had fallen ill when she younger, Colin had always been there to wipe away her tears and to advise her in the way that an older brother would. While her brothers were dealing with their own sorrow, even more so after their mother’s death, Colin was the one who comforted her. He was her only friend and one who truly understood her.

She soon resolved that she would one day marry him, there could be no other that she could possibly love.

Well, she’s a “proper” lady now and Colin has been at sea for a few years, neither of them seeing the other.

And yet, she hopes that he still remembers her.

Things take a turn, leaving her heartbroken when her brother brings unwelcome news: Colin is engaged and to Tabitha Turwell, the nemesis of her childhood.

When circumstances bring them together once more, she sees that he is not the same as he used to be. He’s become cold and angry.

Determination sets in and she decides that even if she can never be with him, she must bring back the once happy and wise Colin, the one who seems lost forever.

Rather than those frustrating plots where everything goes wrong, this was actually a bit more predictable and I liked that. It followed a simple plot solely focused on the two main characters and the antagonist (but mostly Colin and Bridget). The characters were a bit cliche in their actions but I didn’t mind that much.

There are flashbacks between the chapters where we take a look into the past relationships between the protagonists which helped to really establish their “true-love”. Without those memories, one wouldn’t be able to recognize what a noble person Colin once was.

Overall, the only “flaw” that I really noticed was the predictability of the entire story-line, it wasn’t very unique or unforgettable but the writing was consistent and well-done. The romance was clean and lovely, which is something that definitely determines whether I like a book or not and I did like it!

I enjoyed it and would recommend to anyone looking for a sweet and clean romance. 

                                                            Sarah E