Destiny's Captive by Beverly Jenkins

 

I have mixed thoughts about DESTINY'S CAPTIVE. It's the final book in the Destiny trilogy, which is about the three mixed-race Yates brothers who live on a big California ranch called-- if I recall correctly-- Rancho Destino. Each book is about a different brother and this one in particular is about the youngest, Noah, who used to love the high seas until he was captured by pirates and subjected to physical and sexual abuse. When a female pirate takes his trading ship in Cuba, he vows to find her and get revenge, even if he has to venture to the ends of the earth.*

*Which is ironic, since he finds her in Florida. Which many would consider the ends of the earth, thanks to DeSatan. I mean, DeSantis.

There's a lot to like about this book. First, there aren't a lot of books where the hero is the one that's been sexually abused and is dealing with trauma, and I felt like the author did a good job showing how PTSD can manifest itself when one's guard is down, such as during sleep. I also liked how Noah and Pilar had conversations about it and also set boundaries for her safety, as well as for his own. Plus, Beverly Jenkins always centers Black history in her books, and her worlds are incredibly diverse. The heroine is Cuban with Jamaican and Spanish ancestry, and her hero is mixed-race (but is of Spanish decent).

It's always difficult to end a series because everyone expects all loose ties to be wrapped up into neat little bows. It was fun to see the other couples from previous books living their lives, and I also loved that the hero's mom, Alanza, got remarried and even got a sex scene. Normalize older people having relationships that involve sex. I also loved the cat and mouse scene between Pilar and Noah and how their first encounter results in a sword fight worthy of Zorro. HOT. When he cut the straps off her dress? *insert three flame emojis* I just wish it had gone on for longer, and that Noah hadn't just been like, "She's good with a sword? Grievance forgotten! Marriage time!" I mean, come on dude. Stop thinking with your shortsword. Use your big brain.

That said, this book had some notable flaws. The beginning was great but the middle section dragged. It felt a little too bucolic considering some of the tension between the H and the h. The Spanish in this book was also pretty bad considering that it was published by Avon and I imagine they have access to resources that would allow for a Native speaker to review the translations considering both characters are allegedly native Spanish speakers. There were incorrect pluralizations and feminine/masculine adjective confusion, one of the most notable being that Noah (one of the alleged native speakers) keeps referring to Pilar as his "pequeño pirata," when it should be pequeña since pirata is feminine. Or if he wanted to be extra endearing and cute, piratita would also work (I'm so sad the author didn't use this, as this would have been adorable). The author also made the weird choice not to put tildes over any use of "señor" or "señorita." Oh, and at one point, he refers to "reina guerraras" as the plural of "warrior queen" but this literally translate to queen warriors, as in two nouns. I think if it were correct, it should have been reinas de guerra (literally queens of war). I'm not 100% sure about this one, but I checked my translations and I think I'm right.

Also, when her friend Tomas dies, it's mentioned that his grandmother was sent to jail? Did they ever get her out of jail? Or was it just like, oh too bad granny??? I'm not sure if I missed if they got her out. #JusticeForGrannyTomas One of my friends just did a post about how sad it is when bad-ass heroines give up their life's work as soon as they get married-slash-pregnant and it kind of made me sad that Pilar was just kind of like fuck Cuba, life is sweet, instead of using her husband's money to continue to fight the good fight from afar. I mean, I get it-- war is exhausting and robs people of their lives, but it was SUCH a big part of her life before she met Noah that it kind of felt sad to see her just retire to the farm.

Overall, this was a decent wrap-up to a series that I thoroughly enjoyed, although the first book remains my favorite. This book had some great scenes but it ultimately ended up feeling like a teeny bit of a disappointment.

2.5 to 3 out of 5 stars