I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Tides of Passion by Lauren Everly Series: Secrets of the Seas #3
Published by Dragonblade Publishing Inc on 07/02/2026
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Victorian, Fiction / Romance / Historical, Fiction / Romance / Regency, Fiction / Historical / General, FICTION / Romance / General
Pages: 332
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Hunted by a pirate. Bound by circumstance. Drawn to each other against reason.
Society darling Abigail Ross has everything: wealth, beauty, and a future carefully planned. That is, until the notorious Captain Thorne forces her into hiding in New Orleans with a reclusive widower who wants nothing to do with her. She’s told it’s the safest place for her, and she’s inclined to agree—no pirate would think to look for her in the middle of a swamp.
Since his wife died, Lucien Moreau has turned his back on the world. Whispers follow him wherever he goes, branding him a madman. A murderer. He’s long since stopped caring, so long as he’s left alone with his ghosts. But the bright, headstrong socialite he’s forced to protect begins to unravel his carefully guarded solitude.
When Thorne strikes again, Abigail finds herself in the middle of a dangerous pirate hunt. As secrets about her father’s involvement in a government plot are revealed, she faces a choice: stand with family and keep her gilded life or walk away and lose it all.
The race is on to find those guilty as the line between survival and surrender begins to blur. And the undeniable pull between Abigail and Lucien becomes harder to deny—until resisting each other feels far more dangerous than any pirate on the horizon.
Now, if you’ve been here very long at all, you know, I’m not a big reader of romance novels. Yes, there are a few scattered here and there on the blog, but for the most part, I’m not particularly interested in them. Romance was more of my mom’s thing, but… we did both enjoy a good historical romance.
I recently saw a video on YouTube that the historical romance sub-genre was dying, along with the various reasons why they felt it was happening – publishers not renewing contracts for authors who write historical romances, removing the old “clench covers” or “bodice ripper” covers and replacing them with illustrated/cartoonish covers, younger readers being “embarrassed” to be seen reading romance novels, and the “death of the mass market paperback”. The aforementioned reasons were both mentioned in the video and in the comments. Obviously, I set out to prove that historical romance wasn’t dead… by going to NetGalley. And guess what I found? Yep – historical romance!
Which brings me to Tides of Passion by Lauren Everly. This is book 3 in the Secrets of the Seas trilogy. While you probably should read the books in order, you don’t necessarily need to. I was perfectly able to follow the story in this book without having read the first too books in the series.
Characters
Our female main character, Abigail, is a spoiled rich girl – yet doesn’t actually act like it. I found her endearing, especially since she was more than to do things she never would have dreamed of doing back home in Savannah.
Our male main character, Lucien, is a swamp-dwelling former sailor, who is gruff and grumpy. I loved him as well, because Ms. Everly showed the raw side of grief and guilt with him.
Our villain(s) are, of course, meant to be hated, but by the end of the story, I wasn’t entirely sure I should hate them. Especially knowing their motives… I just couldn’t actually hate them.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere here is hard to describe. There’s danger, adventure, and a lot of water/ships involved in this book. The book is set in 1803 and it feels like it. I’d say Ms. Everly did an amazing job of capturing 1803, including the newly purchased Louisiana territory. It felt real and I could picture many of the places described in the book.
Writing
Ms. Everly’s writing style works well with her subject matter and is easy to read. I actually appreciated the fact that we got over the 50% mark before getting to any spicy scenes. Yes, there are a few spicy scenes, but not nearly as many as you might find in other romance books. She does the one bed, grumpy/sunshine, and forced proximity tropes well… and might I say, I’m not the biggest fan of forced proximity or one bed tropes, so that’s saying something that I think they were well done.
Plot
The plot for this book is simple – girl and father are being hunted by pirates, forced to leave their home to escape, and girl falls in love with person she probably shouldn’t, while being hunted by said pirates. And it works. It’s good plot and the way Ms. Everly executes this plot will leave you wanting to know what’s happening next in the book. You won’t want to stop reading. Trust me.
Intrigue
You’d think a romance book that isn’t listed as a romantic suspense or mystery would have intrigue. But this book definitely does. Why are these pirates hunting Abigail and her father? Why is Abigail’s best friend’s husband on the side of the pirates? There are twists and turns you’ll figure out and ones you won’t. But even if you do, it won’t matter. And the ones I did figure out, I only figured out a few moments before reading the reveal.
Relationships
To say the relationship between Abigail and Lucien is rocky is an understatement. But then again, would it be a romance novel if there weren’t issues? This isn’t a rom-com book – you won’t find one giant problem to overcome and then book, happily ever after. Not here. There are problems, plural. Miscommunications. Misunderstandings. And flat out stubbornness. You’ll find it all and more.
Ending
The ending was perfect. I won’t ruin the ending because, duh. But there are things in the epilogue that will make you happy and maybe make you a little sad, depending on how you feel about some of our characters. But the ending brings the series to a close without needing anything else to tie it together.
I gave this 4 stars because it is endearing, fun, high-stakes, and moderately paced. I really need to get copies of Books 1 and 2 in the trilogy so I can read Abigail’s friends, Samantha and Josephine’s, stories.
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