The Covert Captain: Or, A Marriage of Equals

I wanted to love this novella, and I fully expected that I would for about half of the book. Regency-era lesbian fiction? SIGN ME UP!

The first half of the book is the half that I enjoyed, and if I had rated only that half, I probably would have ended up wavering between three and four stars. But then the second half of the book happened, and I was left completely disappointed.

What bothered me the most was Harry's casual antisemitism. It literally stopped me in my tracks, and I reread the pages once more to make sure that I hadn't misread anything. I hadn't. And now there shall be a rant.

Look, I know that antisemitism was a "thing" in history; hell, it's still a thing today. I'd be a moron if I sat here and tried to do anything except show more acknowledge the facts. I'm not even going to argue that there is no place for it in historical fiction or historical romances (for example, even though I didn't like the book itself, I did enjoy that the author of "The Admiral's Penniless Bride" brought up antisemitism in a historical romance - but the difference was, the two leads were NOT antisemitic).

In my opinion, there is absolutely NO place for antisemitism in a LEAD CHARACTER in a historical romance unless there is a HUGE shift somewhere along the way in their thinking. Even then, it'd have to be a monumental change, one that made my jaw drop open and think, "okay, wow, this character definitely had an incredible change of heart! I am now cool with this character, because s/he had such growth and understands her/his previous ways of thinking were wrong and unacceptable and is making efforts to counteract the harm that happened prior to her/his change of heart." And we didn't get that from Harry. Her antisemitism remained unchallenged while it happened and unaddressed in the rest of the book.

No. That does not work for me at all.

What bothers me the most is that I googled the author, and she identifies as Jewish. I cannot speak for her motivations and don't presume to, but I cannot understand, for the life of me, why she would make one of the leads in a romance antisemitic. As a Jewish woman myself, it was like a giant slap in the face to read that, and yet another slap was delivered when I got to the end of the book and no one called Harry out for it. How am I supposed to like a racist, bigoted character, even if it is "true to the times," in a ROMANCE of all things? I can't.

Even worse, there was really NO PURPOSE to showcase Harriet's antisemitism. It didn't add anything to the story. It didn't serve to draw attention to societal ills. It was just like dropping a rock into a very still pond and then ignoring the ripples.

I found myself wishing that Nathaniel/Nora would run far and wide from Harry instead, and that kind of ruined everything for me.

(Actually, I started out rating this book as two stars, but as I ranted about the antisemitism, I realized that I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, and so I dropped it down to one star because it makes me so mad.)

That said...

The writing style is very dry. This can be common in Regency-era romances (especially when authors are trying to make them sound more authentic), but I don't care for it. It was difficult to get attached to either of the characters because it felt like the writing style was rather standoffish (this helped later when we got that rude little surprise from Harry, I guess).

Even ignoring the antisemitism from one of the heroines, I didn't care for the second half of the book anyway. It felt like the author wasn't sure where to go with the story after Nathaniel/Nora proposed and just threw in several fillers that meant nothing to the actual story (the hanging of one of the former men in Nathaniel/Nora's regiment felt particularly misplaced; I wasn't sure why it was included, except to just take up some pages). I also found it EXTREMELY weird that Sherry (Harry's brother and Nathaniel/Nora's best friend/former commander) found Harry in Nathaniel/Nora's boarding house at the crack of dawn and barely remarked upon it. Umm...that was a BIG DEAL, and considering that Sherry was portrayed as a very protective brother in the rest of the book, his lack of comment was...very strange. Reputation was everything in this era, and by finding his sister in Nathaniel/Nora's company at that time of day, Harry's was just ruined - and Sherry has nothing to say about it at all?.

I liked the character of Nathaniel/Nora, and I found myself wishing that she would find a better love interest (preferably one who wasn't antisemitic, thanks).

Meh. This novella was a great disappointment to me. show less

An amazing concept that was executed with painstaking attention to detail and a great deal of heart. Our captain ran off with her brother's boots at 19 to join the regiment & is finally home from the Napoleonic wars. At loose (and PTSD-tinged) ends, she ends up at the house of her best friend & major, & quickly starts to fall for his sister. Gradually, you find things out about each woman--their hard-fought battles, both internal and external--and each revelation makes their happy ending more fraught & more earned. The conclusion was so rushed and abrupt though! There was the usual third act crisis point where everything falls apart (as it does in the romance genre) and boy howdy, this book had me worried we were just going to end show more unhappily, considering how little of the falling action is actually dedicated to getting to the HEA. show less

A delight to read, but be aware there is some period-typical misogyny, homophobia, and anti-semitism.

I adored how this read (to me at least) like a contemporary novel of the time, in terms of language and yes, the slower, meandering plot progression.

There were a couple of words I had to look up, and a couple of references I didn't get right away, but I really enjoyed the very subtle way in which the story is told overall. It made me feel quite smart actually. Not that any of the main plot points would be missed - these were always reiterated more clearly later, in case you weren't quite sure if "did she mean-?".

The gender element of the plot was intriguing, although gender identity is not discussed - I assume to remain in keeping with show more the historical setting. I loved Nora as a character, and I did love Harry's many strong points, but yes she is anti-semitic and no growth happens here. It's disappointing but I accept the author had their reasons to keep this part (sadly) realistic for the time period.

Ending spoiler: I am glad that the heroines did not have to emigrate so they could be together, as I had been fearing, and they were able to remain with Sherry, and some other friends who knew, accepting them as they were. show less

Content Warnings: Several (non-graphic) mentions of miscarriage. Casual anti-semitism by a main-character that was mildly corrected. PTSD and war flashbacks.

This book is perfectly historical but lacks the modern awareness of gender and bigotry. Was it accurate? Probably. Does it ignore questions and comments the modern reader will no doubt have? Yes. See KJ Charles review for more on this.

I swooned. It gave me butterflies. I forgive it the narrative style that took some getting used to. I rate it 4.5 because it was such a positive emotional experience overall and I am a sucker for cross-dressing/hidden gender stories.