August Read: Held Captive by Grace Johnson

Hey everyone! I’m back with my review on my August read, Held Captive by Grace Johnson. This is the first pirate Christian book I’ve read since I read a few of MaryLu Tyndall’s pirate series (which are great, I highly recommend them!). I also wish to note the author was only 12-13 years old when she wrote/published this, so there will be a few things in my review which are probably negative just because of the author’s youth overlooking a few things which as an adult are kinda obvious, especially in the historical, spiritual, and romantic realms. That being said, the book was super good for being written by a child of that age, and I heard the author is going to revamp it now that she’s older, so hopefully the few negatives will be fixed in her future updates!

I did forget to write down notes for this book, so I may be forgetting some content, but I’m trying my best to recall most of it by flipping through the book!

The Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads)

Captain Rina Blackstone is the most notorious female pirate to ever plunder the Seven Seas and the fiercest captain to ever sail the Atlantic. But one thing she has never been able to handle well is change. When one merchant ship raid takes a wrong turn and results in her capture, Rina has to escape before all the control she’s worked so hard to obtain falters. Xavier Bennet was commissioned seven years ago to find the Duke of Rothsford’s long lost daughter. Those seven years have passed without a trace of the woman except for the one letter he believes will lead him to her. When Xavier’s ship, the Jessica , finally crosses paths with the Rina , it’s all he can do to hope that somehow, someway, he’ll be able to find Lady Catherina and return her to her parents. Except the pirate captain he finds certainly surpasses his expectations and brings the one thing he cannot trouble.
Lies. That’s all that spews from Xavier Bennet’s lips. Lies. And Rina is determined not to listen, not to believe. Only to wiggle her way out of his clutches before all the pieces come together and reveal exactly what she doesn’t want… the truth.

Content Review:

Positive Messages: Most of the positive messages are in the Spiritual part of this review, but there are a few I can put here.

Rina’s very loyal to her crew, and in turn, they are loyal to her. Even though one of them helps get her captured, he does so with good reasons and to help her. She is also loyal to her adopted family, and wants to find her brother who another pirate kidnapped. Her adopted father also raised her well and loved both her and her brother.

Xavier’s family is also very sweet and welcoming to Rina, despite her looks and reputation as a pirate. Her real parents too, are welcoming and love her, accepting her despite what she’s done.

Xavier and his brothers also put up with her antics, as Xavier is determined to bring her home to meet her real parents. He truly wants to help her and bring her to Christ.

Rating: 4.5/5

Spiritual Content: As a Christian book, this does have a lot of Christian principles, some of which I may miss. Many times throughout the story, Xavier witnesses to Rina, talking about creation, the cross, and the resurrection of Christ. He hopes to be used by God to help reach her for Him.

Rina doesn’t believe she’s good enough for God, and for some time, doesn’t believe He exists. She has dreams where God calls to her to try and get her to come to Him. People thank God and pray to Him. Someone says God loves all people, and He never changes and is reliable.

Someone quotes John 3:16. A girl finally admits to the existence of God. A man says a girl was created in the perfect image of God, and He cared enough for her He died for her, because He loves her.

Rina’s mother tells her when someone accepts God, the Holy Spirit changes people from the inside out and they are made new. She asks God to help her unbelief, and finally realizes God is in control and she decides to follow God’s will for her life when she gets saved.

Xavier’s father turned from being a pirate to a preacher. Rina’s father struggles with forgiving the man who stole Rina as a baby. Her mother is very loving and tells her God loves her too, and they accept her for who she is. Rina gets baptized.

I’d say the main theme of the book is God loves everyone and wants them to come to Him. No one is too bad that God can’t save.

Rating: 5/5

Romantic Content: As for content, there are some kisses between the main characters, some of which are a little descriptive. There are also hugs and a girl sits on a guy’s lap, but I think it’s more him trying to comfort her rather than romantic, though sometimes it turns romantic. The main characters sometimes think about each other and feel attracted toward each other. A guy stays with a girl all night (just to make sure she doesn’t have any more nightmares). The girl’s father sees him exiting the room and asks him if he intends to marry her. A few couples dance, and the main characters call each other “dear”, “darling” and “my love”, though some of these are said sarcastically.

More detailed content concerning Xavier’s behavior towards Rina is below in the Other Negative Content topic, which also has some romantic content in it. One of the main issues is the fact that he witnesses to her one minute, and the next he’s kissing her or hugging her “trying to comfort her”. I address it more below.

Rating: 3.5/5

Violent Content: There’s not too much violent content that I recall. There are a few sword fights, and a character is struck over the head. Most of what I remember being the worst is Rina’s flashbacks of the death of her father figure, the loss of her eye, and when she thinks back at all the crimes she’s committed and people she’s killed. It’s not bad or very descriptive, but blood is mentioned.

Rating: 4.5/5

Language: There is no language in this. There are a few slang terms replacing curses like “dash it all” and stuff but nothing bad.

Rating: 5/5

Other Negative Content: There’s not so much negative things as like, what I mentioned above with the author’s age and immaturity. For example, there were some confusing things, such as the author mentioning Paris being a Greek God (when I believe he was just a Trojan Prince, but correct me if I’m wrong since I’m not an expert at Greek Mythology.)

She also had Rina be really tall–which is fine, but when she’s towering over most men and both her mother and father, it leaves me questioning how realistic that is, especially when she lived the life of a pirate her whole life. I mean, growing up as a pirate kid, I can’t imagine you’d get all the nutrients you’d need to grow well, much less when you mix that with alcohol, smoking, etc. Maybe I’m wrong, but it just made me wonder how realistic it was, especially when both parents are shorter than her (and her mother wayy shorter). Wouldn’t it be more realistic to be like, somewhere in between her parents’ height at the very least? It could be me, but it made me really doubt her height.

Another thing, which several other reviewers stated, was Xavier’s behavior towards Rina. I think a lot of this has to do with the author not thinking as a kid, but there’s a lot of just, him barging into Rina’s room at night, mostly with innocent intentions (like to wake her up from a nightmare and comfort her, etc etc) but historically, that would be a big no-no. At the very least as a gentleman, he should’ve knocked and requested entrance if he needed to get into the room. And as a supposed Christian, this was a pretty big oversight. Clearly an unmarried Christian man shouldn’t enter a woman’s room at night and hug her and whatnot to “comfort” her. Also going from witnessing to kissing her or whatever is just… not Christian. As a Christian, he shouldn’t have even been interested in her romantically as a pirate of all people, since Christians aren’t supposed to be unequally yoked. His actions also kinda led her on and fostered the romance, rather than allowing it to develop naturally, which I didn’t like. So that was a big negative, though I believe it was an oversight by the author as a child. 

Some things towards the middle of the book felt repetitive, and I thought it felt a little bit off how quickly Rina and her parents got accustomed to each other, like after two days (or something like that) she’s running into their arms and stuff. I get the forgiveness thing which was good, and the author did show her struggling to feel accepted because of her past as a pirate by her family, but it felt too quick. I mean, she’s been separated from them for almost thirty years and was super close to her other father-figure, but within two/three days she’s warmed up to them and calling them Father and Mother and stuff. I mean, once I was separated from a childhood friend for only two years and our reunion was awkward. I literally knew this person and remembered her and it was awkward. I feel like it would be a whole lot harder to get accustomed to two parents you haven’t seen in thirty years and can’t even remember and seem to drop your affection/title for the father-figure you were super close to than to reunite with an old best friend after two years. And it just seemed like it went easier than my reunion with my friend haha. 

Oh, and she literally gets married within a few days of accepting the guy’s proposal and within like, arriving home. Like I don’t even think a week (or barely over a week) passed. And she just got saved. Personally, I think she should’ve probably focused on growing in the Lord more before pursuing a romantic relationship, especially since she has so much baggage with her past and pirating.

Also a style thing, I didn’t care for how Rina narrated her parts with all the “ayes” “‘twoulds” and the like. I feel like those slang should be left for dialogue. And some of the chapters which were told from Xavier’s point of view were labeled with Rina’s name which really confused me.

There are some other things, but those are the main gist, most of which I accredit to the author’s age. 

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Total Content Rating: 4.25/5 Stars

Personal Review: 

This book left me with mixed feelings, which, maybe if I read the author’s updated version, I’ll be able to relay as more positive. Keeping in mind that this book was written by a kid though, I will say it’s very excellently done for the age which she wrote it. I was impressed by that, and it did keep me on the edge of my seat for most of the book (save for a section in the 2/3rds to 3/4s zone).

I did enjoy the fact that this was a pirate book written with a Christian worldview and how it was clean with no cussing or major sexual things. Some people in other reviews thought the romantic content was a little heavy but I felt it was fine, and for someone who doesn’t really like many romance books, that’s saying something. I also liked the fact that Rina was loyal to finding her brother who was taken by her enemy, since I’m a fan of close sibling tropes.

However, as mentioned in the content review above, I didn’t care for the way Xavier did act as a supposed Christian. It’s more like he took advantage of Rina and I felt their relationship grew out of that rather than out of something more meaningful. Also there were several confusing parts (as mentioned in my content review) and some style errors which I didn’t care for. I’m remaining hopeful the majority of these things will be resolved in the rewrite, however.

So I’m giving this book three and a half stars, with the hopes that it’ll get better when the author rewrites it! I would recommend this for Christian readers who enjoy pirates and sea adventures with a little romance in it.

Personal Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Thanks for reading my review! Have you ever read this book? What did you think of it? Do you want to read this book? Let me know in the comments below! God bless! ~Kay Adelin