Tag Archives: romance

Knitting in the City Series: Friends Without Benefits and Scenes from the City: A Knitting in the City Surprise by Penny Reid

book review May 26, 2015 Leave a comment

These are books two and six from Penny Reid’s Knitting in the City series:

  1. Neanderthal Seeks Human
  2. Friends Without Benefits – see below
  3. Neanderthal Marries Human (novella)
  4. Love Hacked
  5. Beauty and the Mustache
  6. Scenes from the City: A Knitting in the City Surprise (novella) – also below
  7. Happily Ever Ninja
  8. Dating-ish: A Humanoid Romance
  9. A Marriage of Inconvenience

Friends Without Benefits

I enjoy the unrequited love trope, especially as the romance genre always allows for the besotted character’s vindication, but having said that, Friends Without Benefits was just okay and not as good as the others in the Knitting in the City series, although I did welcome the visits with other characters from the novels. As with the other books, there was a subplot that took a turn into high drama even though Reid is so good with the relationships it was unnecessary.

Elizabeth is a doctor completing her residency and is winding up her pediatric rotation. She is paged to a consultation for a Cystic Fibrosis study and finds herself face-to-face with a man she is has known her whole life, but hasn’t seen for 11 years. Nico Moretti is the son of her mother’s best friend, the uncle to the sick child, and both the former bane of Elizabeth’s existence and the boy she summarily dumped right after losing her virginity to him.

Nico has made a life for himself as model and then successful stand-up comedian called The Face (an odd juxtaposition to be sure). He has a TV show in New York, but is visiting Chicago to help care for his niece. He takes one look at Elizabeth and realises this is his chance to win the woman he has always loved. Capitalizing on the CF study and his fame, he makes sure his niece gets the best possible care and that Elizabeth never leaves him again.

While Friends Without Benefits had Reid’s usual wry humour and smolder, it never really clicked for me. Despite strong chemistry, I just wasn’t invested in Elizabeth and Nico.

Scenes from the City: A Knitting in the City Surprise

Some readers must have complained about the lack of [insert funky  bass line here] in the novels as this addition to the series consists of follow-up chapters on the couples including some bedroom time and an extended excerpt from the upcoming book Happily Ever Ninja.

Neanderthal Seeks Human’s Janie and Quinn are on their honeymoon doing what honeymooners do. There is no new information, just Janie acting in her usual charming offbeat way and Quinn appreciating both her intellect and the way she looks in a bikini.

Love Hacked’s Alex and Sandra have been married for a year and are blissfully in love. For their anniversary, Alex arranges a special adventure for Sandra. This chapter had no smolder and benefited from it.

Nico and Elizabeth’s follow up to Friends Without Benefits addresses their wedding and its aftermath. As the books are told from the women’s perspectives – with the hero’s perspective in a final chapter – this episode was indirectly covered in both Neanderthal Marries Human and Friends Without Benefits.

The end of Beauty and the Mustache (which I really liked) had protagonists Ashley and Drew agreeing to be together in Tennessee, but she was still living in Chicago. Here, she waits in her empty apartment for Drew to come and pick her up for the drive to her new home. While impatiently waiting, she revisits the letters he wrote to her during their time apart. Drew arrives, they get busy, the end.

Ninja at First Sight excerpt from Happily Ever Ninja

Part of the delight of the Knitting in the City series is the group of female friends the stories are built around. Only one of them was married at the outset, Fiona, and she has been with her husband Greg for over a decade. This sneak peek takes the reader back to when they met at university. Fiona was a competitive gymnast who lost several of her teen years to fighting a brain tumor. Greg takes one look and is very interested, but he is also older and more worldly than she. Smitten, Fiona crushes on Greg and he on her while they both keep their distance. After a drunken confession and a sobering night’s sleep, they start to talk, and then kiss, and then the damn excerpt ends and leaves the reader hanging. I don’t normally like the married couple falling in love all over again stories, but I strongly suspect Happily Ever Ninja will make it onto my reading list when it is released.

Penny Reid’s Catalogue gives an overview of her published works , some of which I recommend and some of which I dislike intensely.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful which includes the aforementioned observations.

The Beautiful Series: Beautiful Secret by Christina Lauren

book review April 29, 2015 Leave a comment

I have reviewed the rest of the Beautiful series by writing duo Christina Lauren in an ongoing post, but since the tone of this latest entry was something different, I decided to review it by itself. To get caught up, this is the series thus far (9 books, 4 couples):

  1. Beautiful Bastard
  2. Beautiful Bitch
  3. Beautiful Stranger
  4. Beautiful Bombshell
  5. Beautiful Player
  6. Beautiful Beginning
  7. Beautiful Beloved
  8. Beautiful Secret  – see below
  9. Beautiful Boss 

Ruby is an engineering intern at a London firm. An American living abroad, she is a very ambitious and capable young woman working to augment her experience before applying to a prestigious Masters program. Her boss is one of those quietly harassing, sexist douchelords so many of us have encountered; however, once a week, she attends a team meeting in which dreamy dreamboat Niall Stella will be present and that helps considerably. When the douchelord can’t participate in a month-long work project in New York, Ruby is nominated to attend with Niall.

The beautiful Series is on the erotica end of the romance continuum. Each of the previous books in the series featured characters who quickly got busy, or stayed busy in the case of the novellas. Beautiful Secret is a bit of a right turn in that the consummation is delayed, although Niall and Ruby still have fun. Niall is recently divorced and, while not particularly upset about it, he is a tightly wound guy with very little romantic experience. His closed-off demeanor alternately entices and creates problems for Ruby. They suffer from communication problems – both of the over and under-share varieties – and need to adjust their expectations and behavior to get themselves moving in the right direction.

Beautiful Secret was pleasant and occasionally sweet, but it would be disingenuous of me to be too critical because, for better or worse, I have purchased and read every book in the series and will likely continue to do so. I did find the juxtaposition of Lauren’s usual raunchiness with a more traditional approach to the relationship a bit jarring, but this indicates more about my romance tastes and the point at which they intersect with erotica than about the novel itself.

Having taken 3.7 seconds to ponder it, I generally do not find the “uptight in public/wild man between the sheets” type terribly attractive. Niall is a really great guy, sincere and patient, but he has a long way to go and a lot to learn before he is ready for a relationship with Ruby. To his credit, he realises he needs to grow and give her the space and she is, of course, able to help him with his buttoned-up demeanour. Also around are Niall’s brother, Max, and friends Bennett and Will who appear in previous books in the series. For some strange reason, only one of the women, Chloe, also has a guest starring role. This was a disappointment as I like the other female characters better than her.

Christina Lauren has a series, Wild Seasons, in the new adult romance genre which I recommend over the Beautiful books. A complete list of Christina Lauren’s catalogue can be found here.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful which includes the aforementioned observations.

 

Paris Nights Series: All for You by Laura Florand

book review April 24, 2015 Leave a comment

Five years ago, Joss Castel* left Celie and everything he knew behind to join the French Foreign Legion. He wanted to be more for her, better, to lay the foundation of a life together outside the tenements they had grown up in. The only problem is that he did not tell Celie any of this. Joss held himself in a self-made friends-only space until they could start their a life in a new place. He was her closest friend and the person she adored. All Celie knew was that the man she loved abandoned her and didn’t come back for five years. In his quest to be more for Celie, Joss broke her heart. Now 28 years old to Celie’s 23, he’s back to lay his accomplishments at her feet. She still loves him, but that feeling is constantly at war with her need to brain Joss for his surprise departure and sudden return.

All for You showcases once again Laura Florand’s ability to write enjoyable, thoroughly escapist contemporary romance. While her books often feature down-to-earth billionaires, a trope I am not fond of (but which Florand manages to pull off), this outing has two people from the wrong side of the tracks who are determined to build better lives for themselves. Celie took a teenage apprenticeship with a local baker and through her hard work and desire to excel now works for one of Paris’s premiere chocolatiers. It’s into this shop that Joss bursts back into her life. Celie is overwhelmed and angry, but so happy to see him she doesn’t know what to do with herself.

Joss and Celie’s reunion and the timeline of the book is actually quite condensed. From beloved, to “Idiot”!,  back to beloved takes place over a short period, but includes enough flashbacks for context and some excellent, writhing, repressed smolder to keep things moving along. A might fortress is our Joss, so it’s a one-step-forward-two-steps-back romance until everyone comes to their senses and he learns that Celie wants the journey with him more than she wants the destination. Florand is generally very good with couples experiencing communication problems and, while it frustrated me and went on a bit, Joss really is a prisoner of his own reserve, Legion-trained stoicism, and good intentions. Despite this, while he may be a military man to his core now, he is free of the annoying romance writer’s crutch of PTSD.

Blissfully, my favourite couple from Florand’s L’Amour et Chocolat series novel, The Chocolate Touch, are on hand to provide guidance to the couple and doses of their own adorability. Still madly in love, Dom continues to be a giant lug and much fun is had teasing him for referring to Jaime as his “wife” despite lacking the official and legally binding piece of paper indicating this. Incorporating previous characters without letting them dominate is a challenge that many romance writers face and Florand does well with it. I wanted more of Dom and Jaime, of course, but then I always will.

All For You crosses over with the L’Amour et Chocolat series and will be crossing over with the La Vie en Roses series as well.

*Fun Aside: Josselin Castle

A complete summary of Laura Florand’s catalogue, including recommendations, can be found here.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful which includes the aforementioned observations.

Bar Sinister by Sheila Simonson

book review April 1, 2015 Leave a comment

Short Version: Long on historical, short on romance.

This novel came to me through a recommendation on my list of books sorted by author with a comment from Jorry saying she/he thought someone was missing from my reading list: Sheila Simonson. Always willing to look into a suggestion, I found one of this new-to-me author’s books available on e-loan from my library.

Bar Sinister surely had the most authentic feeling historical elements of any romance I have read. (I say feeling because I am not a historian, just a pretentious reviewer.) I wasn’t expecting any [insert funky bassline here],  but I was disappointed that the two leads were rarely in the same room house town county country. It wasn’t even an epistolary romance, despite letters passing back and forth, and I found myself frustrated that the only time the hero and heroine spent any real time together was in the Epilogue when, spiff-spoff, they decided to marry.

Set during the Napoleonic Wars, Emily, widowed with a four-year-old son, has decided to become a baby farmer to generate income and to provide a larger family for her child. She takes in the baby boy and three-year old daughter of Captain Richard Falk.  Also widowed (widowered?), his Spanish wife has passed away and he has returned to England to place his children in care that is meant to be temporary, but may become permanent depending on his survival in the Wars. He drops the children and the baby’s wet-nurse off with Emily and returns to the Continent.

The portion of the novel in which Richard’s children, Tom and Amy, settle in was very difficult. Amy is a three-year-old which makes her of an age to understand that her Papa has disappeared, but not really why, and she doesn’t speak English, nor Emily Spanish. When the grown ups clue in that Amy thinks her father is dead (like her mother), Emily and Richard start writing letters which include adventure stories Richard incorporates into each missive. The arrangement goes on for years, with Richard making rare, brief appearances between postings and sending letters full of tales for the children.

Richard’s perilous existence is complicated by his parentage. An admitted by-blow, his biological family is divided between wanting him to disappear forever and come for visits. This element is crucial to the plot progression and provides much of the action. While it did create character development, it didn’t add much to the romance element. I wasn’t expecting a lot in that department, or even any smolder full stop, but the characters were too removed from each other to make the ending seem like much more than a marriage of convenience that concluded rather than started the story, despite their protestations of love.

Despite the lack of romance in Bar Sinister, Simonson is a very good writer and I enjoyed the historical immersion feeling of reading her prose. I picked up Lady Elizabeth’s Comet at my library since it is the novel specifically recommended by Jorry. The hero is a supporting character in Bar Sinister and such a charmer that I want to read his story, but it will have to wait as Julie Anne Long has released a new book and that gets priority for now.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner

book review March 25, 2015 Comments: 4

As a romance reader, I rely on recommendations since it’s a genre full of authors of wildly varying quality. Like any other group, there are a few greats that land on one’s autobuy list, then the excellent, very good, reliable, guilty pleasures, desperate measures, and so on. Finding good new-to-me authors always feels like a coup. My romance spirit guide, Malin, has pointed me in many the right direction, as have others. Writer Courtney Milan suggested this author on her blog and who am I to turn down the opportunity for a good book and a good turn bringing attention to a new author.

Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner is set in Lively St. Lemeston and has the most interesting political intrigue of any historical romance I’ve read. It’s not spies or fighting Napoleon, but the prosaic reality of nineteenth century voting rights which create the impetus for the story. Widowed Phoebe is being courted by opposing political parties. She can’t vote (I know), but the man she marries will be able to. Given a sudden motivation for financial security that a husband is her best bet of providing, Phoebe declines, then agrees to politically motivated matchmaking. I have never read anything like that before, have you? Nick Dymond has been charged by his family with finding a suitable partner for Phoebe. The local baker seems a good choice, but he and Phoebe don’t really connect, nor does Nick’s opposition have more luck. Since I have mentioned his name twice now, I am sure you can guess who Phoebe ends up with.

Sweet Disorder had strong historical elements and vocabulary, and I really liked that it felt grounded in believable history. Phoebe is a zaftig heroine which is a bit of a departure and appreciated since many times in romance the heroine is either upset that her lush curves are not the fashion, or that she is slim and therefore doesn’t have much chest, the poor dears. I must admit though that I found myself skimming passages of the book, that the tone was a bit uneven, and I was surprised by the love scene choices. I tried another of Lerner’s books, True Pretenses, and did not finish it. I may try again with another of her novels given that the historical elements are so strong, and, after looking at these two novels, she embraces unconventional heroes and heroines.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

The Bridgertons Series: It’s In His Kiss by Julia Quinn

book review March 24, 2015 Comments: 2

My reviews of the best of Julia Quinn continue with It’s in His Kiss. The penultimate book in the Bridgerton series, if you don’t count the catch-up novella, it has one of my favourite heroines in romance, and the hero is not so bad either. The writing is, as always, deft and witty, and the banter is especially good, even for a Julia Quinn novel.

The youngest child of eight, Hyacinth Bridgerton was born one month after the untimely death of her father. Surrounded by a loving family, she is confident, intelligent, and, to quote those who love her, “diabolical”. No shrinking violet, but not a brat either, Hyacinth has learned to hold her own as the baby of the family and, just maybe, is therefore uncomfortable in situations in which she does not feel in control of her environment. This kind of situation arises in particular when she is faced with an appealing young man who can keep up, or perhaps even challenge her.

Charming, droll, and a bit of a rogue, Gareth St. Clair’s family life is almost the opposite of Hyacinth’s. As he points out, he has but one person in the world to love. Fortunately for him, it is his grandmother, and Quinn fan favourite, Lady Danbury. Terrifyingly direct and more than a bit managing, Lady Danbury is delighted to encourage Gareth’s interest in Hyacinth, especially as the women have in many ways the same personality. Despite but one relation he can rely on, Gareth does have a father and the elder St. Clair not so much twirls his moustache, but pushes every single one of his son’s buttons every time they meet. Gareth is his legitimate heir by law, but not by conception, and his father does what he can to make Gareth’s life miserable, including cutting him off and taking vindictive delight in emptying the family coffers.

Gareth’s ability and joy in stopping the force of nature in her tracks is a delight and, naturally, the main event, but beyond the love story, It’s in His Kiss  is a treasure hunt. When his paternal grandmother’s diary falls into his hands, Gareth asks Hyacinth to translate the Italian and she discovers that the unhappily married woman had stashed a set of jewels somewhere in Gareth’s family home – the one that he was kicked out of years before.They spend their time skulking around Mayfair late at night and falling in love.

The novel has some minor glitches, but the characters are so winning it’s hard to object. Bridgerton series followers have watched Hyacinth grow up and here her bravado and vim are in full flower; having Lady Danbury as a counterpoint is a smart character choice since Hyacinth mirrors her so well.  With an excellent match in Gareth, the reader can be confident that theirs will truly be a marriage of equals and that Gareth and Hyacinth genuinely delight in each other.

A summary of Julia Quinn’s catalogue can be found here. Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

With This Ring by Carla Kelly

book review March 20, 2015 Leave a comment

Here I am with a review of a novel published in 1997, but a good romance remains so and is always worth a look. eBooks are a boon to people looking for stories they would otherwise be unable to get their hands on. With This Ring was recommended by a friend and while it didn’t completely work for me, overall I have found all of Kelly’s Regency romances worth a read, if only for her faith in humanity and a writing style which makes the reader feel settled securely in the story’s time period.

This is the second Carla Kelly book I’ve read, the first being the truly lovely The Lady’s Companion, in which a financially beholden young woman decides to break with her family and Society to strike out on her own. I always enjoy a nice raised middle finger to snobs and convention, but then who doesn’t? After visiting a makeshift military hospital on a lark with her sister, Lydia Perkins goes back day after day to help the wounded as best she can. Lydia finds both a purpose and a kindred spirit in looking after Major Sam Reed’s men. When the Major proposes a marriage of convenience to satisfy a series of outrageous falsehoods about having a wife he has told in his letters home, Lydia is flattered but refuses until her awful mother belittles her for what Lydia decides will be the last time. Running away to quickly marry the still recuperating Sam, the two settle down to get their story straight before facing his familial inquisition.

Because she has been alternately overlooked and demoralized by her family, Lydia may be a good person, but she has no self-confidence. Sam decides, as the reader learns later, that she must learn believe in herself, so he engineers a situation for her to appreciate her own value. I wouldn’t have minded his “stand on your own” hokum, if he had not withheld crucial information which a. created an extremely stressful situation for Lydia, and b. things had not then gone almost perfectly for her. It was all too bibbity-bobbity-boo for me.

Like another Kelly book, The Admiral’s Penniless Bride, I enjoyed most of the novel and was disappointed by the ending. Kelly is one of those authors whose I books I would rather read even with a letdown than forgo altogether. I have worked my way through her highest rated books and will likely make my way through the rest of her Regency romance catalogue as well.

With This Ring did have one shocking element that I want to mention as its inclusion was baffling to me. Sam has told his family that he and his trumped-up wife have a child. To give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative (H/T WS Gilbert), they visit a foundling home and adopt/buy a random baby girl. They purchase an orphan to sell the lie. Granted she’ll have a better life as a result, but they BUY A BABY! I was all astonishment.

My summary of Carla Kelly’s catalogue can be found here. Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

The Bridgertons Series: Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

book review March 19, 2015 Leave a comment

Because starting with the eight book Bridgerton series is what I suggest, other than Courtney Milan, to anyone who wants to try out a historical romance, it seemed like a good idea to provide reviews of her best novels. Herewith are my go-to Julia Quinn review adjectives: light, deft, witty, clever, convivial, bright, romantic. I use them every time I discuss a Quinn book, and, as this review benefits from being of one of her less recent novels, I get to express all of my love and approbation without any of the pesky misgivings her later catalogue brings out.

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton is a wonderful novel about a woman who finds herself with the man she has been in love with for many years. Penelope fell in love with Colin Bridgerton at first sight, Colin takes about a decade plus 200 pages longer, but ends up in the same place.

A protector trapped in a rake’s body, Colin happens to be the best-looking son in a family of handsome men, as well as being incredibly charming, laid-back, and, not to underestimate the power of this, nice. As his sister Eloise’s best friend, Penelope is a frequent visitor to their family home. Colin has been coming and going, traveling the world with the freedom that comes with wealth and a y-chromosome in Regency England. Penelope has been wending her way towards spinsterhood in London, and this time when he comes back something in their relationship shifts. She is a classic wallflower, overlooked and with a wearying family, but a marvelous woman for those paying attention, and mostly satisfied with her life. Her “mostly satisifed” is about to change and she will help Colin with his disgruntlements, too.

Each chapter opens with a gossip article from Bridgerton series fixture Lady Whistledown. Never seen, she has been commenting on London society for a decade. Acerbic, but fair, determining her true identity becomes the crux of the story and the agent of Penelope’s transformation to someone with confidence speaking her mind honestly and without fear. Helped along by series favourite, the redoubtable Lady Danbury, Penelope comes out of her shell and Colin quickly comes to appreciate her. As this is a Quinn novel, their courtship takes the form of simply delightful banter mixed in with growing flashes of attraction and sincere romance. It is such fun and extremely satisfying.

penelope

I will be reviewing Hyacinth Bridgerton’s book next.

A summary of Julia Quinn’s catalogue, including a complete summary of the 8.5 Bridgerton novels, can be found here.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

When I Met My Duchess by Caroline Linden

book review March 19, 2015 Leave a comment

I enjoy Caroline Linden and have read many of her books, but I haven’t gotten to the point where I’d call her an autobuy author yet. I Met My Duchess was originally published as one of four overlapping novellas in the romance anthology At The Duke’s Wedding. Having read it as a standalone story, I can’t tell you about the quality of the other three, but I appreciate the cross-marketing the effort represents as it’s a great way to try new writers.

Gareth, Duke of Novellatitle has reached the age at which he feels he must marry to preserve his line. Having made a survey of the available and appropriate women, he has chosen Lady Helen Grey. When the story opens, his family is eagerly/anxiously waiting for the Lord Greys to arrive for a house party that will culminate in their nuptials. Having wooed almost entirely by the proxy of his cousin, James Blair, Gareth is briefly pleased when Helen arrives and is as lovely as he had remembered. The only trouble is that her sister has arrived with her and the moment she steps from the coach, Gareth is a goner.

Cleo Barrow is the widowed daughter of the Greys. She married for love against her parents wishes and the man she adored was in – brace yourself – trade. Despite the wealth her widowhood has brought, Cleo’s insistence her right to self-determination and – get your pearls ready for clutching – working has left her parents with a permanent case of the vapours. They might take Cleo’s money to support themselves, but their hypocrisy allows them to belittle and threaten her as though she is on the verge of shaming them further at all times. Cleo is a loyal sister and therefore puts up with a lot for Helen’s sake.

Thrown together constantly, Cleo and Gareth take to each other immediately and, if not for that pesky engagement and wedding contract, everything could proceed smoothly. Fear not, it’s a novella so Helen has other hopes that need not be dashed even as she tries to be what her family needs, and everyone gets their happy ending.

My favourite Linden book so far is One Night in London from the trilogy “The Truth About the Duke“. Reviews of Caroline Linden books I have gotten around to reviewing can be found here. Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

The Sisters Trilogy: Marrying the Captain, The Surgeon’s Lady, & Marrying the Royal Marine by Carla Kelly

book review March 18, 2015 Leave a comment

Title Discrimination Aid:
Marrying the Captain: He’s sick, she’s pretty.
Marrying the Royal Marine: He’s pretty, she’s sick.
The Surgeon’s Lady: Everyone’s sick, she’s pretty, his bedside manner is excellent.

I love a back catalogue to make my way through and Carla Kelly does not disappoint. The Sisters Trilogy focuses on the three born-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-blanket daughters of Earl Ratcliff. Each of the women – Nana, Laura, and Polly – finds herself involved with a member of the Royal Marines during the Napoleonic Wars. Not just a bonnet and corset layered over a contemporary story (not that there is anything wrong with that), Kelly’s books have strong historical elements and make the reader feel genuinely immersed in a specific time and place. I even looked up “Regency navy sailor’s quarters”, “Royal Marine“, and assorted similar terms in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the heroes’ lives. Never say romance novels don’t teach one anything.

Marrying the Captain:

Nana Brandon has no dowry and does not expect to marry. Years ago, her otherwise absent and disinterested father tried to sell her to the highest bidder to pay his debts. Literally walking away from everything she knew, she returned to her grandmother and has lived with her since. Content, although admittedly often hungry, helping to run a failing seaside inn, it’s about five years into the fight with Napoleon and Nana’s town has a constant turnover of sailors as their town is the one into which ships sail for dry dock repairs and revictualling; nonetheless, they are not doing well until Captain Oliver Worthy is sent their way. Suffering from a common sailor’s complaint (no, not an STD, a throat infection), Oliver needs a place to stay and recover while he drags himself back and forth to the repair yard.

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