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Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite
The Pirate Queen's Curse by E. H. Casteele is the first book in the Pirate Queen Trilogy. The story begins in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1717, where a brokenhearted Maria Hallett curses her pirate lover, Black Sam Bellamy, just as his ship wrecks off the coast. Three centuries later, forty-year-old Charleston archaeology professor Dr. Elizabeth Tate prepares her dream pirate artifact exhibit when she catches her husband, Corwin, openly cheating on her. She unravels the mystery of her ancestry and discovers she is a descendant of Maria. She inherits a wisecracking parrot named Jib and discovers that the artifacts channel the ancient power of a goddess. She is pulled into a world of powerful relics, magic, and a shadowy organization known as the Obsidian Hand, which hunts her for powers she is still struggling to understand. She must master her magic quickly, command a sentient pirate ship, and embrace a prophecy in the making for centuries.
E. H. Casteele just became one of my favorite authors, skillfully melding swashbuckling adventure, paranormal romance, and midlife reinvention into this gripping tale. Elizabeth is a snarky, relatable heroine whose hot flashes and lack of self-confidence make her human and easy to root for. Her friends, Justin, Mae, and Jib, who steal most of the scenes, are elaborately drawn. The Pirate Queen's Curse introduces a slow-burn love triangle with the golden merman Jareth and the brooding Lucian that keeps the story suspenseful and hard to put down. It is filled with twists and unexpected moments, especially the identity reveal and cliffhangers that push you to read the next chapter. This is an exceptionally written book, with worldbuilding that brings Mesopotamian myth into modern Charleston while exploring pirate history and Gullah culture.
