cover image Captive Secrets

Captive Secrets

Fern Michaels. Ballantine Books, $6.99 (336pp) ISBN 978-0-345-34123-5

In this inane historical romance, Furana van der Rhys, daughter of the beautiful, infamous--and now retired--pirate called the Sea Siren, plans for a quiet life: she's going to become a nun. But when Luis Domingo appears at her parents' home in Spain and catches Fury's eye, she begins to realize her vocation will deny her the sensuality she had till then resisted. Nevertheless, Fury sails for Java with her hawks Gaspar and Pilar (who, among other feats, take over the wheel of the ship during a maelstrom), only to discover that her entry to the convent there has been delayed by an outbreak of fever. Luis also sails into Java, determined to track down the Siren who ruined his father years ago; his own ship too has just been plundered by a woman claiming to be the Siren. Fury, realizing that this new Siren is a fake who is besmirching the reputation of her mother (who was a nice sort of pirate, really), dons her mother's old costume and takes to the high seas to stop the impostor and, of course, explore the truth of the Siren's identity with the handsome Luis. Michaels wrote the Texas Rich trilogy. (June)