Jen's Review: "Captain's Surrender" by Alex Beecroft

Warning: This is a gay romance between two men. So, if you're squeamish about these things, pass this book by. There are a couple not very graphic sex scenes, and some violence. You have been warned.

This is the blurb taken from Linden Bay Romance (the publisher):
Ambitious and handsome, Joshua Andrews had always valued his life too much to take unnecessary risks. Then he laid eyes on the elegant picture of perfection that is Peter Kenyon. Soon to be promoted to captain, Peter Kenyon is the darling of the Bermuda garrison. With a string of successes behind him and a suitable bride lined up to share his future, Peter seems completely out of reach to Joshua. But when the two men are thrown together to serve during a long voyage under a sadistic commander with a mutinous crew, they discover unexpected friendship. As the tension on board their vessel heats up, the closeness they feel for one another intensifies and both officers find themselves unable to rein in their passion. Let yourself be transported back to a time when love between two men in the British Navy was punishable by death, and to a story about love, about honor, but most of all, about a Captain’s Surrender.

I received this book as a contest winning and am glad to have had the chance to read it. This is one of those rare m/m stories that focuses more on the relationship between the characters and not so much their bedroom romps. Both characters struggle with their feelings in a time when it was unacceptable to be gay. Ms. Beecroft does a masterful job of bringing the reader into the heads of Joshua and Peter as they pit their wants and needs against society's rules. For an interesting history lesson intermixed with a romance story, this book is a winner.