To Ravish a Rogue

Dangerous Tides #5

by C.M. Nascosta

Charlotte Davenport is a woman on a singular mission: get onto a ship bound for Atlantis by any means necessary, and get home to her sister. When she joins the crew of the Malediction, she has no idea she's made herself an unwitting captive of its pirate captain. Lirian Jurel is cocky and secretive and infuriatingly handsome, and she can't shake the feeling that he's laughing at her . . . but Charlotte has a secret of her own, and she'll do anything to keep it. After all, who could possibly understand the life of a monster?

Captain Lirian Jurel has only one thing on his mind — the next adventure. Fucking, feasting, and fighting — it's a pirate's life for him, and he loves the watery path he's chosen. He's never been able to stay away from danger, and Charlotte Davenport — the impudent little witch disguising herself as a member of his crew — seems like the most dangerous creature he's ever encountered.

Striking a bargain to bring her home is an easy trade for having her warm in his bed . . . But bringing her home means saying goodbye, which is harder than he anticipated.

When you're a vicious sea monster like him, being alone is the wisest course of action, but once they reach Atlantis, Lirian vows to help Charlotte see her journey through — wherever it leads.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Monster Romance, Audiobook, Pirates, Historical Romance, Historical

302 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 24, 2023

About the author

C.M. Nascosta is an author and professional procrastinator from Cleveland, Ohio. As a child, she thought that living on Lake Erie meant one was eerie by nature, and her corresponding love of all things strange and unusual started young. She’s always preferred beasts to boys, the macabre to the milquetoast, the unknown darkness in the shadows to the Chad next door. She lives in a crumbling old Victorian with a scaredy-cat dachshund, where she writes nontraditional romances featuring beastly boys with equal parts heart and heat, and is waiting for the Hallmark Channel to get with the program and start a paranormal lovers series.

Reviews

[Sam Wescott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll be honest, I am somewhat flabbergasted. Once again, I have no idea how to review this. I can’t even get into the specific kinks and horny fodder because they would be total spoilers?? Which is quite odd!

Suffice to say, if you think this book is not about monsterf*cking, it absolutely is. It is absolutely the most that. There is a lot (A LOT) of inhuman anatomy at play here. It was hot, but also alarming. Suspending disbelief is not enough- you have to expel disbelief entirely. But the overall experience was pretty fun? I was honestly delighted when I figured out who our MC is. This author is… very creative with where they manage to find erotic inspiration.

The romantic relationship wasn’t as compelling to me as the sexual one, but that’s ok. This is erotica. If I wanted a romance novel, I would go elsewhere. The flirting and banter didn’t really work for me and the sincere moments felt trite and a little unearned. But that just comes down to the story ratio. You can’t spend this much time of such a short book having sex and still have time for decent character development.

The one large downside is that I deeply disliked both the audiobook narrators. I’ve like Justine Eyre before, but in this one she was far too scratchy and affected. And Jon Waters was fine until he tried to do a woman’s voice and then it was so distracting because I wanted to rip my own ears off. (Don’t get me started on my rant about misogynistic interpretations of women’s voices by male vocal performers)

Balanced precariously between absurd astonishment and horny curiosity, I really teetered back and forth during this entire read. It’s deeply weird, but still hot. Wildly creative, if underbaked outside the bedroom. Minus many points for awkward dialogue and weird plotting but plus just as many points for avant-garde genitalia.

Do with that what you will. I have no idea.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I want you to whisper sweet nothings in my ear, and I want you to fuck me like it’s our last night alive”

The VORE. Not usually my thing, but when CM writes something, I love it. I haven’t met a CM book I’ve disliked and this one has topped the charts of my CM favorites.

This book had everything: sea creature shifters, sass, sisterly bonds, pirates, ship fights, sexy baths, scales, a fancy bathtub, gorgeous (and purple!) dresses, dirty talking, and most importantly, vore.

Charlotte and Lirian are absolute perfection. A truly rogue pirate couple who are perfect for each other and yes I want more of them.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super solid! I really liked this and it may actually be my new fav C.M. Nascosta book 👀 this was HOT!

[Christi (christireadsalot) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just a super fun one! The audio is already out on hoopla and I love the couple clinch cover and the nod to Johanna Lindsey. This is a historical, monsters, pirates romance and it was such a ride!

Basically the heroine Charlotte is wanting to get to Atlantis for reasons and she sneaks upon board a ship headed there. She ends up having to pretend to be a cabin boy to fit in but the Captain (the hero) sees through that right away. He tells her she needs to sleep in his room, with him, and definitely teases her often. This is steamy real quick and I loved the added element of pirates and monsters! Alllll the monsters! I will say the ending started to drag for me but other than that, it was a delightfully delicious adventure at sea!

[Elizabeth]

Justine Eyre's voice is irritating me. Maybe I'll read this as an ebook someday but nope to the audio.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was having a good time until she bit his dick off.

[Kristen]

Hey so what the fuck??

[Lemonsherbetss · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wtfff

[That1 Creative Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chomping off peens isn't sexy. Lol

[book bruin · Rating 3 out of 5]

CM Nascosta's books are always a fun time, but I still wasn't quite prepared for all of the teeth LOL To Ravish a Rogue was a fun historical monster pirate romance, that had all the steam and quirky characters that I've come to expect from CM Nascosta. Does it make the most sense? No. Is it melt your kindle hot? It sure is. The sexy times were delicious (and featured something I hadn't read before in a monster romance), but there were some surprisingly tender moments mixed in too. I loved that Lirian and Charlotte could be exactly who they were with each other. Justine Eyre (always a favorite) and Jon Waters did a fantastic job with the narration and this was a really quick and enjoyable listen.

Audiobook Review
Overall 4 stars
Performance 5 stars
Story 3 stars

CW (from the author): Sex work, sex bargain, FMC's reliance on gender binary, light gore and violence, soft vore, somnophilia, non-human anatomy, "It's a good thing he has two of them", and SO MANY teeth.

[Zen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not what I was expecting, but it was fun and the unexpectedness was completely welcome!

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

I was just looking for historical romance, how the hell did I land here?! I thought I made another whoopsie by not reading the description close enough, but nope! They barely mention that this is all magic and mythical creatures. I’m fine with dragons and goblins and magic portals, it’s just not what I was looking for at the moment lol

[Athena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't even know how to rate/review this. I THOUGHT this was going to be a pirate romance and it turned into monster erotica?

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a mixed bag for me. I had a really hard time liking the FMC, she was just such a complainer for putting herself into the situation in this book. Also, the strange obsession she had with the MMC's member was... it felt really weird to me, honestly. Which I think is hilarious.

Other than that, it wasn't super memorable and the plot was pretty paltry.

[Annie Weng · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️/5

Started off strong but lost a lot of steam by the last 30%. Fun pirate vibes with some great characters and motivations. But by the 70% mark, we’ve pretty much uncovered all that we had to uncover and fulfilled both Lirian and Charlotte’s motivations. Had little else to keep going on to propel me to the end

[Ahren McNamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read from the Dangerous Tides Kickstarter and CM Nascosta delivered as she always does. It was a spicy,
swashbuckling good time. Tons of newer situations/themes for me. I LOVE my Cambric Creek but don’t sleep on CM’s other stuff. She fucking rules.

[Meagan]

Dnf'd at 14%. Just couldn't get invested in the characters.

[Evelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't have words except wtf did I just read. Loved the first half of the book, the rest, well the less said the better.

[Lo · Rating 3 out of 5]

No words. Take that what you will.

[mellie_reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ummmmm kmlol idk what to say! There was so much happening.

[Hannah Blackwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lol 🤣🤣🤣🤣 this was fun

[omega’s rights activist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Main characters reminded me of Dante and Tella from Caraval in a good way

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5⭐️

[Megan]

DNF’d at 48%

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was cute! But I could have done without. Not memorable. Easy to put down. Very sweet but that was about it.

[Rowan Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok great concept not in love the the execution
I feel like this is her least engaging work
It gets much better near the end
And I am all for being sex positive but I don’t get how chill the FMC is for selling her body multiple times to get what she needs when she clearly doesn’t like it.
The MMC also grows on you and is so awesome in his dragon form but I feel like they don’t get to really know each other enough to justify them falling in love.
Also damn she bites his cock off and eats it … enough said…

[4Mariflor]

Boring

[Fifi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book truly confused me. On one hand it was one of the least toxic relationships of all the smut I read. The story felt like a legend or a myth, which I loved. I was ready to give it 5 stars. Until I realised I will not get a backstory for the FMC, which justifies her behaviour, her reasoning won't be explained and the plot holes won't be filled.

Also, did the author miss the point of contact that connects this book to the rest of the series? Am I wrong, or did she cut out a pivotal moment of the whole enterprise?

[Kendal Connors · Rating 1 out of 5]

A pirate and a literal hooker

[Alexis Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

So outside of the Voice Actors voices for the two main characters. This was a good ““monster erotica” romance. The womans voice sounded like she was a witch reading a book to children, and it took me out of the story any time she talked. And the male speaking for the woman was just too high pitched. It was a sensory overload at times. The ending when we found out what sort of monster she was…I couldn’t figure it out. Like was she literally the sea…but had a mouth? Or was she some octopus/kraken/squid thing?????? And it was a little too “instalove” for me. I feel if I read, and not listened, I would’ve enjoyed this a lot more.