Book Review: Black Souls by Nicole Castroman

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Black Souls
Black Hearts #2

Author: Nicole Castroman
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Historical
Released: April 11 2017
Review Source: Simon Pulse

Nicole Castroman brings the dangerous pirate ports of the Caribbean to life in this vibrant sequel to Blackhearts—the reimagined origin story of history’s most infamous pirate, Blackbeard.
Edward “Teach” Drummond is setting sail to the Caribbean as first mate on the most celebrated merchant ship in the British fleet—until he rebels against his captain. Mutiny is a capital offense and Teach knows it could cost him his life, but he believes it worth the risk in order to save his crew from the attacking Spanish ships.
Sailing on the same blue waters, Anne barely avoids the Spanish attack, making it safely to Nassau. But lawless criminals, corrupt politics, and dangerous intentions fill the crowded streets of this Caribbean port. Soon, Anne discovers that the man entrusted to keep the peace is quite possibly the most treacherous of them all—and he just happens to hold Teach’s fate in his terrifying hands.
Life and death hang in the balance when Teach and Anne are given a dangerous mission. It’s a mission that will test their love, loyalty and devotion, forcing them down a path neither one could have ever imagined.

Black Souls picks up with Teach and Anne on two different ships and our hearts torn in two because of it. The two are wanting to be together, with only finding the other one safe on their mind. But among their travels things start to get put off course, with Teach in the middle of what seems to be a mutiny and Anne wanting to help save him their course only gets harder.

I love this story. Teach and Anne are some of my favorite characters that I have ever read. But for some reason this book didn't hold my interest quite like the first one. Maybe it's because the first one was all about Teach and Anne falling in love. The fact that it felt forbidden made it more fun and exciting. Whereas now they were together but more practical things were keeping them apart. It's hard to read a romance and yell at them for doing their duty. Whereas in the first one you could just yell at them to go find the other.

This sequel gets into the meat of Teach becoming Blackbeard. He becomes the pirate that we had expected to see. I still love that we now have this side of him - when we think pirates we either think bad guys or Johnny Depp... With this story we now have a story that makes them more dimensional as characters. We are able to then realize that they weren't always the thieving people history has made them out to be.