Sea Change

Sea Change (2011) Darlene Marshall

One of the more unusual for me pleasures in my RSS feed is Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. It’s unusual because as a rule I do not enjoy romance. I just don’t. But when I browsed the review for Sea Change I decided that the premise was interesting enough I wanted to read it.

Charley was raised by her physician father, and as a single father he quickly found it easier to dress Charley in boy’s clothes and take her along on his calls. Charley was fascinated with his work, and quickly became his assistant and apprentice, however, after her father’s death, people were less willing to put up with the oddity of a girl dressing in men’s clothing and practicing medicine, so she decides to travel to Jamaica where her godfather (also a physician) lives in the hopes that at best he’ll allow her to continue her apprenticeship, but at worst he’ll take her into his home as she no longer has anywhere to go.

To get to Jamaica she continues her masquerade as a young man, and barters are trip from England to Jamaica by acting as physician on a ship making to voyage.

You can probably see right away what caught my attention. The fact is that women dressing as men did happen, when it was the only way to allow them to travel freely/practice their desired profession.

So. What did I think of the book.

First, I like Charley a lot. She liked being a doctor and helping people, and her desire to help people was in large part what led to her charade.

Second, I liked the setting, during the war of 1812 between the fledgling US and England.

Third, the hero was–okay. I was amused by many of his reactions to Charley when he thought she was a young man, but he wasn’t anyone I’d be attracted to. Personal tastes.

As far as the story, I loved Charley and her experiences on the Fancy. I loved them men who served on the privateer. As far as the romantic bits? I mostly sped read through them. They weren’t bad, it was just that I found them to be interruptions in the bits I liked–life on the ship, medical practice in the early 1800s, etc.

Again, personal tastes.

But despite that, I did enjoy the book, and I do recommend it–as long as you know you’re getting a kissing book. :)
Rating: 7/10

Published by Amber Quill Press

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