I do love a pirate story and while this was fun I didn’t really love the use of pirate slang like I understand they’re pirates and everything but it made it a bit clunky to read.

A fun ya pirate story. There were some parts that I struggled with the pirate slang conversations. But other than that I had a fun time with the adventure aspect of the story. I always like a story with pirates and treasure. I feel like there would have been a good opportunity to have a sequel or at least an epilogue to the story and see what happened after they got back from their adventures.

*thank you to #netgalley for a previous copy of this book to read and honestly review.

PLOT: It’s the early 1900’s, and a young London boy, Jack Drayton, is down on his luck— and money. One evening, while getting a ride to shore, he has a chance encounter with an eccentric, maybe crazy, pirate. The man is dressed, and speaks, as if he’s from another time; one long ago. After arriving ashore, the old pirate is attacked by a group of men; Jack aids the pirate in the skirmish, and out of pure fear, flees and hides with the man in a rundown section of town. It is during this time of hiding, that the pirate discloses who he is— Captain Black Juan Gaskara, an infamous (and deadly) pirate who has been running for his life for over a hundred years!

By all rights, Jack knows the old pirate should be dead— he’d be over 100 years old; however, he is intrigued by the old pirate, and the tale of his buried treasure on ‘Peril Island’. The pirate, in an attempt to “balance out all the wrongs he’s done” tells Jack how to go about finding the treasure— but stipulates it must be used for good, as it is the only way to circumvent the curse on the treasure.

Shortly thereafter, while rendering aid to Jack, Black Juan is killed by the same band of pirates they fought before— who are descendants of a crew Black Juan once double-crossed long ago. After the pirates death, Jack decides he will honor his promise; vowing to beat the other pirate crew to the treasure. Jack, along with his friend Hector, set sail for ‘Peril Island’, cracking Black Juan’s secret code along the way.

REVIEW: I am fond of pirate stories, and tales that take place at sea, so perhaps I am biased; however, I found this story to be an enjoyable read. This would be a great book to read between longer novels, or if you’re looking for a quick, adventure themed story. I loved the treasure hunting aspect, as well as how Jack and Hector went about cracking Black Juan’s cypher. It almost gave me a ‘Treasure Hunters’ mixed with ‘The Di Vinci Code’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ vibe. This was a quick, easy read for me; I read it between two heavier/lengthy novels, which was a nice change of pace.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

*Review will be shared on IG (@slowerlowerliving) soon.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First of all I love the premise of this book and the cover is stunning. It also gives me *Treasure Island* vibes.

My downside of this book was I unfortunately did not connect to the characters. There were times where this book confused me at times as it was quite fast paced from the get go which is good but also makes it a bit overwhelming to read.

I think that it was mostly well written though and I enjoyed where they were trying to crack the cryptogram even though they are too smart for me as I was lost the whole time.

I would definitely say to give this book a shot if you like pirates / pirates stories but it unfortunately wasn't for me.

the book was a really nice discovery, i loved all the characters and the story flowed smoothly, there was not even a flat moment! I didn't have high expectations since I requested the arc only for the beautiful cover, but I am very satisfied with the reading.

This was a really exciting and interesting book. The plot centres around a young man named Jack, who meets an old man, claiming to be Black Juan Gaskara, the famous pirate who disappeared nearly 80 years ago. Jack, and his wealthy friend Hector, decode a message written by Black Juan which sends them on a epic adventure to try and discover the lost and hidden pirate's treasure.

It is a classic treasure hunt tale, full of daring travel and a little bit of realistic violence. It is appropriate for young adult readers, as it is action packed and fun to read, but not overly gruesome in the violent/bloody details. It's also exhilarating as they're being followed/raced to the treasure by some blood-thirsty who will stop at nothing to get to the treasure first!

Overall, it was a good read and I would be interested in reading more of CW James's
books.

Many thanks to the publishers and netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DNF during the first chapter. Me not finishing this book had nothing to do with the writing style or the premise of the book. The premise actually seems really interesting. But the font in the E-arc was a weird bold font that really hurt my eyes and made it difficult to read. As well, I didn’t really enjoy the wring style but that is just a personal preference and has nothing to do with the author!

I am really excite with this book. Pirate and sea adventure is one of my favourite. Although the theme and premis is interesting enough but I am struggling to follow the plot. I think this book is worth to try but the storytelling style isn't for everyone.

Thanks Netgalley for my copy.

Unfortunately I had to DNF this been before even reaching chapter 3. I think it was the way it's been written that has put me off - I found it confusing in all honesty, especially when various names were being listed but there was no actual explanation of who they were and why they mattered. Perhaps I needed to persevere but I just couldn't bring myself to do so! The first chapter and how the book started was also confusing to me, there was no background around who Jack was, where he was or how he ended up there. I think that might have helped to set the scene a little more.

I got the Kindle download of the book and found that either some words were repeated mid sentence or a word was missing which caused me to re-read the sentence several times to try and make sense of it. This may just be an issue with the Kindle version and not an issue with how it was actually written!

I might try to read it again in the future as the plot sounds fun and the main Pirate in the book (Juan) seemed interesting and different to anything I've read, just a shame the way it was written has put me off.

I'm not saying the book isn't work your time but perhaps try and find a preview before purchasing - this book may be great for you, but it just wasn't for me - sorry!

Maybe I just didn't get it, based on the rest of the positive reviews but I had a hard time following this. I couldn’t tell you what was happening at any given moment. It took me forever to get into and once I was mostly done I realized I didn't really care about getting into it at all.

Not every book is for me- and that's okay, more power to everyone who was able to follow this. I just couldn't. There's nothing wrong with it, I didn't read anything offensive or terribly written, just didn't enjoy it.

Also, not sure if it was just a formatting issue with my copy, but all the text was in bold and almost layered? It was hard to look at, let alone read.

I read this book in one sitting. It was fast paced and tense and full of mystery and adventure. I thought it was a really good read.