This book hits the spot when you want a cozy historical romance. It's a wonderfully well written adventure with all the comforts of a budding romance of opposite personalities that shouldn't be. There's humor, suspense, the comfort of friendships, and everyone's favorite, lust.

I do have to say, the Waltzing Dragon IS a ridiculous name.

Firstly, thank you to the author and NetGalley for the eARC.

Secondly, bora de portugaaa: Eu amei cada segundo desse livro. Simplesmente começamos com uma mulher que é vista como fraca por todos ao seu redor e então decidi que quer ver o mundo. Logo ela embarca, literalmente, numa aventura. Porém no navio errado, com a tribulação errado e com um disfarce. Só que o plano de “ver o mundo” vem por água abaixo quando ela é descoberta.

E de novo, eu amei cada segundo. Não pq de fato ela não é fraca, mas pq coisas femininas sempre são relacionadas com coisas fracas e isso não significa que aquilo nos define por total ou não nos permite aprender a gostar de outras coisas.

Enfim, 4⭐️ pq adorei muuuuito como a história se desenrolou.

I absolutely loved this book! While I found the heroine a bit prone to dramatics and tears I still resonated with her. The grumpy hero was definitely my type. The story was cute, very well written and I the side characters were also very well written. You can’t help but wish they all get their own story. Would definitely recommend this book and this wonderful and talented author.

Oh, my word!
(May contain spoilers)
This book is part if a series where in the previous book the heroine's younger sister managed to stay at home iver the Christmas holiday and engage the heart of their neighbor, a duke. The younger sister is now married with a child and the heroine has only had 2 Seasons. The heroine feels slighted because her younger sister was smart and was sent to a school where the heroine was trained by her governess and her mother the womanly arts of painting, singing, fashion and tea parties. The heroine thinks she is missing out and decides to run away to her brother's friend's ship and go on an adventure. So she dressed as a male, and went to the sicks to look for the ship. She was guided to a ship and climbed aboard and was sent below decks with the rest of the younger sailors. After 2 days at sea, the captain, the hero, is apprised of a situation. The new lad is demanding to see the captain. The hero refuses. He gives orders, he doesnt take them. The heroine is desperate to see the captain, who is her brother's friend and will protect her. But when the captain comes to check on her painting, it is not her brother's friend. And when she asks for Jeremy, the captain calls for the cook, who is not her brother's friend. The heroine had been tasked with painting the ship. Since she was a lady and taught lady skills, she paints a scene on the wall. She is told to redo it and paint another scene. And when the captain sees what she has painted, he is gobsmacked. And the sea sickness the heroine has been fighting, breaks through and she vomits all over the captains feet. He tells her that her new duties are to clean his quarters and she refuses at first, then does so. She is scrubbing the ship when a group of young sailors start hazing her. They hang her iver the side and that is when her disguise is discovered. She is taken to the captains quarters and suffers from sea sickness for days.
I did not like this story. And that doesn't happen very often. But I find the hero is too stuck on his own consequence. I find the heroine a babbling idiot and have no idea how the two find each other attractive or find common ground or any type of relationship. It is like the story is not developed. The author came up with two characters and tried to make them be a believable couple. But they aren't. The heroine is too soft and innocent to have lasted as long as she did in her disguise. And the hero is just a jerk. I give this book 1 star and do not recommend reading. It is just too unbelievable, and I have to believe in the main characters and their relationship.

Introduction
The Heiress At Sea is a standalone or maybe the first book in a new series, to be honest, after finishing this one I am SO not sure. There were leads in the books that I feel like I NEED their books, so it definitely didn't have the finality of a standalone and not all the ends were tied in this one, I really want the heroine family's books because give me all the privateer romances. I will be honest this was a grab from Netgalley that was super random and yes the cover is what sold me to read this one finally. I have no guilt about it whatsoever though. I do wish that I had been in the mood this one earlier because this book was everything. It was so entertaining and I had forgotten how well this author works for me. If you like authors like Amy Rose Bennett or Elisa Braden, then I definitely recommend this author.

Summary
Lady Cassia McQuoid is a spinster but she has always wanted to explore the world outside the life of the Ton. She decided to dress as a boy, and sneak aboard her brothers ship and she is determined to shape her own adventures. But what Cassia doesn't realize is that she has boarded the wrong ship and becomes the deck hand for the privateer, Nathaniel Ellsby who also happens to be the future Duke of Roxburghe. When the disguise is discovered by Nathaniel, he will now have to deal with a woman on his ship and a supersticious crew while also trying to deny the growing feelings that he is having for Cassia, who is a female contradiction. But will love win in the end?

My Outlook
The Heiress at Sea was such a delectable fun romance to read. It wasn't anything like what I expected. I thoroughly enjoyed this one fully and it had such great witty banter to the story that I had forgotten this author tends to write in her stories. Its been so long since I read a privateer romance and I found the premise of this one to be so intriguing. You definitely should go into this one with a open fresh mind. And the whole trope "female dressed as a boy" yeah its been a long while since I have read that as well. I honestly loved how different our characters are from each other. They are complete opposites but get along so well in their own way. The hero is sarcastic bad boy of a hero who thirsts for life on the sea and commanding his own ship. The heroine is sassy and completely clueless to sarcasm. The way that these two interact with each other especially in the beginning is just so fun. The reveal of the gender of the heroine was just right and I really enjoyed how the author definitely took a strong focus on the supersticious nature of seamen especially in regards to women. Highly entertaining from beginning to end. We even get some action scenes that really build up the intensity quite well. I actually enjoyed how the story concluded, and I am hoping that this ends up turning into a series because I just fell in love with the families that we see connected in this one here.

Overall View
I found Heiress at Sea to be a delectable sexy romance that catered to the thrilling nature of a nautical romance with all the adventure and aspects of fighting for love that became so endearing from beginning to end.

I loved this novel!! It has all the elements Iook for in an Historical Romance; well developed characters, action and adventure, sizzling romance, and a not too predictable plot. In fact this plot, although done before where the damsel stows away, is so much more original than any I've previously read.

Cassia is a naïve, motor-mouth, self-involved debutante when the book begins but she is thrust into life threatening situations that make her grow in maturity. Nathaiel is a boorish alpha type on the outside and a marshmallow inside when it comes to Cassia. I highly recommend this book to Historical Romance fans.

I saw this Book on the Netgalley Webpage a few days ago and since I am an avid lover of the genre historical romance, I had to read it.

Overall Thoughts:
I read this Book in one sitting, because I couldn’t put it down. I had genuinely a lot of fun while reading and there were a few scenes that just made me laugh out loud they were so funny. The plot wasn’t that original, and the characters were sometimes just silly, but the writing was great and humorous. The banter between the two main characters was just chef’s kiss it made things so much better and was done just right. The only thing I didn’t like was that the Author did a fade to black thing with the sex scene. It was disappointing because I actually was looking forward to it. In a lot of historical romances, the sex scenes are the most important scenes in the whole book. Because what they do is they deepen the relationship of the couple and make it a lot more emotional and intimate. In a genre where you don’t have as much PDA happening, I feel like it makes a big difference in the progression of the couples romance. But other than that, I liked it a lot and recommend it to anyone who wants a fun, easy read.
In the end is it the most elaborate, romantic, and captivating Book you could ever read?
No, but is it fun and did it make me happy? Yes!
And honestly a lot of times that’s what matters the most.

Although I am an avid reader of historical romances, this was my first "pirate" romance. The premise was interesting, with a heroine that disguises as a man (a trope I usually love) to gain passage on a ship. Unfortunately, however, I did end up DNFing at about 10%, as Caldwell's writing style wasn't for me. I felt that the chapters I did read were a little repetitive and did not hook me from the start.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this ebook and this is my freely given opinion.

This was a historical romance with a privateer/seafaring adventure/heroine in disguise theme. It truly sounded like something I would enjoy, and I have enjoyed other stories by Ms. Caldwell in the past. But I found this one was a bit slow-going for me and it took me the better part of a week to read it. I needed palette refreshers and had to leave this one and read other stories to keep going. It was because I found the heroine, Lady Cassia McQuoid, to be truly annoying. She was just too much - treacly sweet cutsey, naive - dangerously ignorantly naive. Too chatty, at times overly whiny about being disregarded by her family or seen as a non-entity, and just annoying. She even annoyed the hero of the story - Captain Nathaniel Ellsby, though through forced proximity he developed an affection then love for her. I however, understood the desire by some of the crew to toss her overboard.

The romance between the two did not read true to me, mainly because they were such opposites - and she really annoyed him at first too. Considering how she annoyed me, I could not see the love developing. He was so taciturn, gruff, and terse, compared to her sugary sunshine ways. For goodness sakes - she interpreted the order to pain the walls of the ship to mean to pain murals.... in pinks!!!!! No wonder they saw red!!!

In the end, she did redeem herself and acted heroically herself, which is raised her bar for me a bit. But from all her complaining about how her family perceives her, I was more interested in reading about her younger sister and how she snared her widower duke - if someone can point me in the direction of that story, I would like to read that one!

So this was a meh for me. I did not hate it - like some books in the recent past. I would give it a 2.5 stars out of 5 - and mainly because she did gain some modicum of gumption and sense in the end. But it reminded me of another pirate adventure historical I enjoyed a lot more with a heroine who really caught my imagination more, and that was Shirley Karr's The Viscount's Hidden Treasure.

I loved this book. The writing, plot, characters and setting were just a joy to read. I have previously read one other Christi Caldwell book, which was good, but this one gave me all the feels!
We're first introduced to Nathaniel, the current heir to a Duke following his eldest brother's death and is told he will marry his brother's intended fiancee and stop working at sea.
Cassia, a 21-year-old nearing spinsterhood, feels alone, ignored and unwanted. After her younger sister Myrtle married her intended husband, her Seasons have been one failure after another. Desperate to live and thrive she pretends to be a boy in order to stow away on her brother's friend, Jeremy's, ship. Only she doesn't get on the correct ship.
Ending up on Nathaniel's vessel by accident, Cassia tries to blend in but fails badly. When the crew become infuriated and tired of the new deckhand's attitude and lack of punishment from their Captain, they hang her over the side of the boat, which reveals her true identity. Once she meets the actual Captain, not Jeremy, the Captain of her intended boat but Nathan. Turns out the Jeremy she was told about was actually the chef. Now, Nathan's prior anger at the back-chatting, scene-painting and incapable boy is turned to infatuation for this beautiful woman. One who takes no rubbish for any man.
Their instant chemistry, the back and forth and I honestly loved the side characters. When Cassia painted Shorty I got teary-eyed.
One tiny criticism though was infuriating at the fade to black love scenes. Initially, the romance was steamy and I was here for it and then they stopped! Christi why!?
I'll forgive you this time but oh my gosh, was I looking for the missing pages!
All in all I am now on the Caldwell bandwagon and cannot wait to read her backlist.

Adventure on the sea, hidden identity, intrigue and loads of humor. What more can you ask for?

Having two seasons and no suitors, Lady Cassia decided she wants some adventure! What better way than to dress as a boy and stow away on her brother's ship? Indeed.

Unfortunately, or in this case, fortunately she gets on the wrong ship and there she meets Nathaniel, who is running away himself!! A charming story as only this author can write!

2.5/5

I’m a sucker for historical romances and pirate stories, so I felt like I was the ideal candidate for this book. And while it certainly grew on me, the first third of the book was pretty painful.

The reason it was painful is because our heroine, Cassia, is completely and infuriatingly clueless. There’s a single interaction that feels like it lasts a hundred pages and I almost DNF’d (which I rarely do). I understand she’s lived a sheltered life, but surely she has SOME inkling of the real world and how it operates.

Once you get past that scene, she definitely becomes more endearing. But she’s just so stubborn and so clueless. And to make matters worse, after the crew discovers she’s a woman, they’re all basically like, “No wonder she’s so annoying and dumb!” But like in a silly, goofy way, so they all love her. Especially the love interest, Nathaniel.

Nathaniel’s opinion on her appearance changes IMMEDIATELY upon this revelation. All she did was conceal her long hair, but suddenly he now notices how beautiful her eyes are, and how tiny she is, etc. Side eye…

Like I said, Cassia’s stubbornness and cluelessness becomes more endearing after this. In part because people stop treating her like they expect her to know things. That just comes off weird to me.

That being said, I really enjoyed the actual romance between Nathan and Cassia. It was very sweet. If the first third of the book unfolded in a different way, I might rate this four stars.

Also, if you’re looking for spice, this doesn’t have it. Despite seeming like it will. Instead you get extremely descriptive make out scenes, that end abruptly. Which, yeah, I love that. Give me the angst and longing. The problem is that when it finally happens and it’s FADE TO BLACK. Don’t get me wrong, I read fade to black stuff all the time. But the way the almost-sex scenes were written (plus it being a romance novel) it was a massive let down. And every single one of those scenes invoked Adam and Eve imagery and idk how to feel about it.

All in all, this book could have been a winner for me. Unfortunately it just fell short of the mark with the early characterization. With some tweaks to the beginning, it could have been a vastly improved experience, personally.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for and ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Lady Cassia McQuoid stows away on the wrong ship and the adventure begins. Captain Nathaniel Elsby also happens to be a Duke’s heir and once he discovers that his stowaway is female he does his best to protect her. I found Cassia annoyingly quirky and the story line a bit overused.

Cassia McQuoid. elder daughter of the Earl and Countess of Abingdon, longs for adventure and stows away on a ship she believes belongs to her brother's friend, Jeremy. Cassia is shocked to learn that she boarded the wrong ship and the captain of the ship, Nathaniel Ellsby, heir to the Duke of Roxburghe, is caught unaware when he learns his new cabin boy is a woman. Everyone except Cassia knows its bad luck for a woman to be aboard a ship. Nathaniel is at wits end to know how to deal with Cassia. She keeps trying to challenge his authority which could cause his crew to question his leadership. I enjoyed this story from Christi Caldwell, it was romantic, has adventure, excitement with little steam but was still engaging.

I received an ARC from Netgalley but I am voluntarily leaving a review.

I tried my best, but I could not get into the book. Cassia's character was absolutely ridiculous and I could not envision her and Nathaniel getting together. We need more strong women characters, instead of out-of-touch, excessively naive women that cry as soon as they're told they are doing something wrong.

While normally a Caldwell fan, I really didn't care for the previous entry in this series and was therefore somewhat reluctant to start "The Heiress at Sea." However, it totally redeemed itself for me. I actually laughed out loud while reading this book, finding the banter between Cassia and others, especially Nathan, cheeky and fun. Cassia is literal, sheltered, and naive, which I found sweetly amusing, especially set against the reactions of others. I admired her spunk and her willingness to try and overcome all the things that went wrong on her grand adventure. She and Nathan together have great chemistry even as she frustrates the heck out him (in more ways than one!). I read this in a very enjoyable afternoon.

A couple quibbles - I would have liked a slightly more open door on the love scenes. I also thought the attack/rescue was a little too cute and the third act separation rather predictable. That said, I would still recommend this story.

3.75 stars rounded to 4. Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley for a complimentary ARC of this book. The opinions herein are my own.

Rebels.

I liked this sea-faring historical. Cassia is a rebel, a lady spinster who disguises herself as a boy (not very well) on a ship. Nathaniel is a rebel. His favorite activity is vexing his father, a duke.

Forced proximity, on a ship and in the captains quarters, two rebels on the high seas. What can go right? What can go wrong?
Christi Caldwell always delivers and this one was refreshing set on the sea.
Recommend.

3.75/5 stars
1/5 spice

Cute, funny, and full of adventure. A classic grumpy/sunshine romance that had me giggling a few times.

Tropes:
Grumpy/sunshine
Fake identity
Forced proximity
Sea adventure
Dual POV

I liked this book but was super annoyed by the FMCs personality. Cassia was unnecessarily oblivious, that made her come across as dimwitted, but she's really just sheltered and inexperienced. It took me awhile to warm up to her, but once I did I enjoyed the story more.

Nathaniel, was gruff and menacing but only in the outside. He showed his tender heart more than a few times, even before he started caring for Cassia. It was very clear from their first few interactions that she drove him crazy... but then he started liking her quirkiness.

This wasn't an insta-love but they fell fast and hard. But of course that 3rd act break up threw in a wrench to their brief love affair... gotta have that moment of angst and longing. Their HEA was sweet and slightly scandalous...

Overall a cute, fast read. I would recommend this book to fans of the grumpy/sunshine trope and sea adventures. It's a fade to black romance so, appropriate for 16+ readers.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book, of a woman wanting adventure and sneaking off to find it. And the setting being entirely on a ship was fun and different. I even really liked the scenes that showed Cassia and Nathan growing closer and falling in love.

But my overall experience of reading this book was somewhat ruined by how clueless Cassia was. She thinks that everyone treats her like she’s stupid, and Nathan doesn’t, which is great. But no one treats her more like she’s stupid and naive than the author herself, and I just couldn’t get past that to fully enjoy the book. Cassia deserved better.

This checked off everything I look for in a book. Was not disappointed. Really enjoyed this book. I will read more from this author. Must read. Historical fiction oh yeah.