kdramareview Book Review: A Captain for Caroline Gray by Julie Wright kdramaars

Book: A Captain for Caroline Gray by Julie Wright

Genre: Historical romance

Rating:  ★ ★ ★

This a fun story about our girl Caroline, who is just too smart and witty for the guys of her time. Whenever she says her opinion about things, and she has a lot, all the suitors get scared and back off. So when her cousin (who owns the house she lives in) gets married, she basically gets kicked out and has to figure out her prospects. Turns out a neighbor decides Caroline would be PERFECT for her son... who happens to work and live in India. So an arrangement is made whereby Caroline heads off to India to meet this guy, with the deal that she will give him a chance, and get to know him...but she doesn't have to agree to a marriage unless all things work out. 

And so... she heads off to India... which will take THREE MONTHS by boat. (It really struck me this time about how travel used to be... can you imagine a three month journey to another country? And we think a 13 hour plane ride is nearly unbearable! Yeah, you really gotta commit that THAT vacation!)

Well, and so on the boat, life gets interesting. She takes to the sea like a pro and loves the activity there and walks around sketching everything. 

And then there's the captain of this boat. He's intriguing to say the least! But when she opens her mouth to say her thoughts... will he be turned off and run away? And how can she be attracted to him when she has a dude waiting for her in India? Hmmmm???

Then we get the POV of the captain. And how he is baffled at this girl and torn about what he should do about it if anything. 

Okay, so I really enjoyed the story, and the setting. Most of it on the boat, and some in Mumbai. And Caroline is a great heroine. But the captain... I don't know.. I didn't really warm up to him. He seemed a bit gruff and even mean at times. I wanted to like him so much more than I did! Ah, I hate it when that happens! I also wanted a more sparky romance... more intense. 

But that's really my only complaint about this one! Lots of fun side characters and some crazy goings on occur. It was a very interesting time in history for sure. 

Anyway, you should totally check it out and let me know what you think of our captain!

Also, thank you to Shadow Mountain for continuing to send me Proper Romances to read, even though I am so behind in my reviewing! 

Here's more info about the author:

JULIE WRIGHT was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. She’s lived in LA, Boston, and the literal middle of nowhere (don’t ask). She wrote her first book when she was fifteen. Since then, she’s written twenty-five novels and coauthored three. Julie is a two-time winner of the Whitney Award for best romance with her books Cross My Heart and Lies Jane Austen Told Me and is a Crown Heart recipient. Her book Death Thieves was a Whitney finalist. She has one husband, three kids, one grandbaby, one dog, and a varying amount of houseplants (depending on attrition). She loves writing, reading, traveling, hiking, snorkeling, playing with her family on the beach, and watching her husband make dinner.