On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club - read my #BookReview of Discerning Grace by Emma Lombard #HistoricalFiction #BlogTour #CoffeePotBookClub @LombardEmma @maryanneyarde

 

Aye aye Captain! We are setting off for the high seas with today's blog tour stop. It is with the greatest of pleasures that I introduce you to Emma Lombard and her fabulous debut novel, Discerning Grace.

Discerning Grace

By Emma Lombard

As the first full-length novel in The White Sails Series, DISCERNING GRACE captures the spirit of an independent woman whose feminine lens blows the ordered patriarchal decks of a 19th century tall ship to smithereens.

Wilful Grace Baxter, will not marry old Lord Silverton with his salivary incontinence and dead-mouse stink. Discovering she is a pawn in an arrangement between slobbery Silverton and her calculating father, Grace is devastated when Silverton reveals his true callous nature.

Refusing this fate, Grace resolves to stow away. Heading to the docks, disguised as a lad to ease her escape, she encounters smooth-talking naval recruiter, Gilly, who lures her aboard HMS Discerning with promises of freedom and exploration in South America.

When Grace's big mouth lands her bare-bottomed over a cannon for insubordination, her identity is exposed. The captain wants her back in London but his orders, to chart the icy archipelago of Tierra del Fuego, forbid it. Lieutenant Seamus Fitzwilliam gallantly offers to take Grace off the fretting captain's hands by placing her under his protection.

Grace must now win over the crew she betrayed with her secret, while managing her feelings towards her taciturn protector, whose obstinate chivalry stifles her new-found independence. But when Grace disregards Lieutenant Fitzwilliam's warnings about the dangers of the unexplored archipelago, it costs a friend his life and she realises she is not as free as she believes.

Grace’s first mistake was believing that her parents had good intentions towards her. Her second mistake was instead of running to her beloved uncle, who I am sure would have helped Grace avoid a condemned life with a man she loathes, she runs to her childhood friend, Billy who is in no position to help her, other than to offer her a warm drink. Her third mistake was trying to take control of the situation by cutting her hair and dressing in Billy’s clothes and, to an extent, stealing Billy’s identity. Her fourth mistake was running blindly into the night. Her fifth mistake was allowing Gilly to railroad her into becoming a cabin boy on the HMS Discerning. Her sixth mistake was thinking she could pretend to be a cabin boy for a very long voyage. Her seventh mistake… I am going to stop there because I think you get the idea.

I had so much advice to give to Grace, as you know, I am an expert on many things. Alas, Grace refused to listen to me because she is a fictional character, which is a very poor excuse if you cared for my opinion. And just because my husband said, “You know she isn’t real, don’t you?” doesn’t cut it. And while my husband left the room, muttering something about having to check the oil in my car, which he checked yesterday, I sipped at my tea and turned the page - well, I flipped it with my finger on a screen which isn’t quite the same, but that is how it rolls.

So, Grace - our devil may care heroine becomes a cabin boy. She enjoys the life, the comradeship and the opportunity that being a boy brings her. Unfortunately, she can not keep up the pretence forever. Already there are questions in some of the sailors' eyes. But it isn’t until she stands up for a friend that her true identity is revealed when shock horror, they disover a young woman has dupted them all. Woman and boats = bad luck, everyone knows that. Although I guess it was easy to forget women such as Mary Read and Anne Bonny, but that is another story completely unrelated to this one.

Nevertheless, when Grace’s identity is revealed, anything that goes wrong is blamed on her presence, despite the fact that nothing had gone wrong when they all thought she was a boy. Men - they are a strange breed. My husband certainly mystifies me.

I have to admit, that I have a fiendish fascinating with pirates of the 18th Century, and a ravenous appetite for all things nautical, therfore, I was really excited to read this book because, from the blurb, I thought this was a novel that I was really going to enjoy. And I am more than happy to report that I did thoroughly enjoy this novel. Grace’s is reckless, and at times a rather a selfish character. Did I understand her desperate desire to escape? Yes, I most certainly did. No woman should be forced to marry a man, and no man has the right to force himself upon anyone. But there was also a tiny part of me that could not condone the way she chose to escape. I honestly thought Billy was done for because Grace leaves her bloodstained clothes and most of her hair in Billy’s room. Maybe it is her naivety, but I did feel rather angry with her for her callous treatment of a friend who was only trying to help. However, the story continues, and Billy is the last thing on Grace’s mind as she tries her best to fit in with the crew. I have often wondered how easy such a thing would be. How would she have hidden her monthly? How can she use the necessities without giving away who she was? And how can she disguise herself as a man when her voice and body suggest she is anything but? Alas, there is no answer to this, which I thought was slightly odd. For the life of me, I cannot fathom how Grace stayed undetected for so long.

Nevertheless, she is a fighter, and she is not some weak and whimpering woman, although she has every right to be. Instead, she is determined to make the most of her newfound freedom, and enjoys a chance to show herself and others that she can work as hard and learn as quickly as any other cabin boy. I really did enjoy reading Grace’s story, and although she makes some terrible choices, she is at the very heart of it, a young woman trying to escape an abusive relationship.

There is a tender love story between the pages of this book, which I thought brought some light refreshment to the story, but it also added to its intensity. With Graces’ betrothed determined to find his bride, and Grace determined to remain hidden, means that Lieutenant Seamus Fitzwilliam ends up wth some difficult decisions to make. He has to put his personal wants and desires aside to do his duty, which would have consequences for not only himself and his men but also Grace. I really liked Seamus. There was something of Horatio Hornblower about him - he is very honourable, very loyal, and above everything else, he is honest in his feelings. Seamus was a character I really enjoyed reading about.

The antagonist in this novel is one of those men who will not be thwarted, nor will he give up what he believes is his by right. He treats Grace as if she were his property, and perhaps through his blinkered and narcissistic narrow tunnelled vision, he believes that his property she most certainly is. He harassed her, even across the sea, and wherever she is, he will find her. Lord Silverton certainly sent a shiver down my spine. He is a deplorable villain who is vile in actions, thoughts and deeds.

Discerning Grace (The White Sails) was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end, and even though there were a few little things that niggled me (how does Grace dupe everyone into believing she is a boy for so long) the story itself was very compelling. I think the cliff-hanger ending worked really well - the book seemingly came to an end, and then the reader is left with a hint of a danger still lurking.

If you like your novels to be set upon the high seas, and in particular women’s historical fiction, then I think this is a book that you will really enjoy.

I received a copy of this book from The Coffee Pot Book Club but you can grab yours over on your favourite online bookstore: Universal Link.

Emma Lombard

Emma Lombard was born in Pontefract in the UK. She grew up in Africa—calling Zimbabwe and South Africa home for a few years—before finally settling in Brisbane Australia, and raising four boys. Before she started writing historical fiction, she was a freelance editor in the corporate world, which was definitely not half as exciting as writing rollicking romantic adventures. Her characters are fearless seafarers, even though in real life Emma gets disastrously sea sick. Discerning Grace, is the first book in The White Sails Series.

To join the crew—subscribe to Emma's newsletter. You can also find her at the following locations: Website * Twitter * Facebook * Instagram * Goodreads.

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