Book Review: The Bastard by Brenda Novak

The Bastard by Brenda Novak is a historical romance from a popular author known for her romantic suspense novels. In The Bastard readers get to met Jeannette Boucher, a young French woman left penniless by the revolution. She is low on options and feels responsible for providing for her family. That pressure leads Jeannette to marry a man she does not know because of a cousin's recommendation. However, as the wedding reception end ad she prepares herself for the night she discovers that her husband has unacceptable plans for her conceiving an heir. In a panicked effort to escape her fate, Jeannette disguises herself as a boy and stows away on a ship. Lieutenant Crawford Treynor is the bastard son of a marquise that was raised by an abusive farmer until he ran away at the age of fourteen. Since then he has spent his life proving that he can hold as much honor and worth as any titled gentleman. In the Royal Navy Treynor has proven himself and worked hard, though still struggles with the inequality between classes. He protects Jeanette on the ship, even when he believes her an inexperienced boy, and continues to risk everything to keep her safe when he discovers the truth.

First, what I liked about the book. The Bastard offers an adventurous read complete with some of the less pleasant details about life on the sea, and the constraints of title and class that dictated the lives of many. The historical aspects were well done, and seemed well researched and accurate. I do not know enough about the era, so I cannot guarantee the actual authenticity of the details, but it felt realistic as I read. Treynor was a fantastic hero, tormented by his status and still working towards maintaining his integrity and the greater good over his personal desires. Jeannette throws his world into a tailspin with her reckless and desperate choices.

What I did not like, or bothered me about The Bastard while I read. While she is a compassionate and reasonably intelligent character, I will admit to several moments that I felt that Jeannette slipped into the role of silly heroine that one often finds in romances of any kind. Any regular romance reader knows the heroine I am talking about, the kind that gets told and witnesses all facts pointing o the fact that if she does one particular thing bad things will happen, and quickly runs to do that one thing. At least with Jeanette, most of these choices have honorable motivation rather than just being stubborn, so the effect did not irk me as much as it normally does. My only other issue with the book was most likely my own. As I read, I kept having the sense that I had read the story before, or parts of it, or something similar. Now, I fully admit to having read a great many historical romance novels, particularly those where the heroine at some point disguises herself as a boy. Therefore, it could entirely be because of the sheer volume of books that I have read.

I did enjoy The Bastard , and recommend it to fans of Brenda Novak that want to see more of what she can do in the realm of historical romance, since is only her second book in the genre. Those that enjoy well-written historical romance will also enjoy this novel.