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Ill Wind and Dead Reckoning
Books 1 and 2 of the Valkyrie Series - Historical adventure of piracy, love and revenge in the Caribbean in the seventeenth century.
ILL WIND:
Gabriella Berryngton is an unhappy and oppressed fourteen-year-old girl living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1683. She dreams of escaping her bitter, ambitious stepfather and sailing off into the unknown.
Her dreams come true when her stepfather sells her into marriage.
Aboard Freyja, she is hopeful that her new life in the Dutch West Indies will be an improvement – a hope that dies when she is given a slave, Klara, and a whip. She discovers that her soon-to-be father-in-law is a ruthless slave trader in league with pirates, and her fiancé is cold, unfriendly and disinterested in Gabriella. She is little more than a vessel to provide the next generation of van Eckens.
Largely ignored and desperately unhappy, she and Klara develop a friendship which makes life bearable – at first. Once married, Gabriella’s life takes a turn for the worse and she descends into a world of horror and abuse until tensions finally explode. Life will never be the same and she has no choice but to take fate into her own hands.
DEAD RECKONING:
Leo is born in Spanish Panama in 1659. When he is twelve years old he witnesses the violent rape and murder of his mother by three of the Caribbean’s most feared pirates: Tarr, Blake and Hornigold, and swears revenge at all costs.
Gabriella is trapped in an abusive marriage to a ruthless Dutch slave trader, who is in business with the same English cut-throats. She risks all to escape with her life.
Leo and Gabriella meet aboard one of the most horrific ships in the Caribbean – a slaver – and join forces against their common enemy. They face a number of challenges as they battle not only the dangers of a life at sea, including storm, drowning, and being cast adrift in a crippled ship, but also repeated attacks by Blake and Hornigold.
But their biggest threat proves to be each other. Can they reconcile their hearts in time for the fiercest battle in their quest of revenge, and survive the gallows?
Dead Reckoning was long-listed in the 2011 Mslexia Novel Competition.
ILL WIND:
Gabriella Berryngton is an unhappy and oppressed fourteen-year-old girl living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1683. She dreams of escaping her bitter, ambitious stepfather and sailing off into the unknown.
Her dreams come true when her stepfather sells her into marriage.
Aboard Freyja, she is hopeful that her new life in the Dutch West Indies will be an improvement – a hope that dies when she is given a slave, Klara, and a whip. She discovers that her soon-to-be father-in-law is a ruthless slave trader in league with pirates, and her fiancé is cold, unfriendly and disinterested in Gabriella. She is little more than a vessel to provide the next generation of van Eckens.
Largely ignored and desperately unhappy, she and Klara develop a friendship which makes life bearable – at first. Once married, Gabriella’s life takes a turn for the worse and she descends into a world of horror and abuse until tensions finally explode. Life will never be the same and she has no choice but to take fate into her own hands.
DEAD RECKONING:
Leo is born in Spanish Panama in 1659. When he is twelve years old he witnesses the violent rape and murder of his mother by three of the Caribbean’s most feared pirates: Tarr, Blake and Hornigold, and swears revenge at all costs.
Gabriella is trapped in an abusive marriage to a ruthless Dutch slave trader, who is in business with the same English cut-throats. She risks all to escape with her life.
Leo and Gabriella meet aboard one of the most horrific ships in the Caribbean – a slaver – and join forces against their common enemy. They face a number of challenges as they battle not only the dangers of a life at sea, including storm, drowning, and being cast adrift in a crippled ship, but also repeated attacks by Blake and Hornigold.
But their biggest threat proves to be each other. Can they reconcile their hearts in time for the fiercest battle in their quest of revenge, and survive the gallows?
Dead Reckoning was long-listed in the 2011 Mslexia Novel Competition.
548 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2014
31 people are currently reading
225 people want to read
About the author
Karen Perkins
36 books244 followersKaren Perkins is the author of the Yorkshire Ghost Stories, the Pendle Witch Short Stories and the Valkyrie Series of historical nautical fiction. All of her fiction has appeared at the top of bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic, including the top 21 in the UK Kindle Store in 2018.
Her first Yorkshire Ghost Story – THE HAUNTING OF THORES-CROSS – won the Silver Medal for European Fiction in the prestigious 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards in New York, whilst her Valkyrie novel, DEAD RECKONING, was long-listed in the 2011 MSLEXIA novel competition.
Originally a financial advisor, a sailing injury left Karen with a chronic pain condition which she has been battling for over twenty five years (although she did take the European ladies title despite the injury!). Writing has given her a new lease of – and purpose to – life, and she is currently working on A Question of Witchcraft – a sequel to Parliament of Rooks: Haunting Brontë Country.
To find out more about current writing projects as well as special offers and competitions, you are very welcome to join Karen in the her Facebook group. This is an exclusive group where you can get the news first, as well as have access to early previews and chances to get your hands on new books before anyone else. Find us on Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/groups/karenperkinsb...
Her first Yorkshire Ghost Story – THE HAUNTING OF THORES-CROSS – won the Silver Medal for European Fiction in the prestigious 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards in New York, whilst her Valkyrie novel, DEAD RECKONING, was long-listed in the 2011 MSLEXIA novel competition.
Originally a financial advisor, a sailing injury left Karen with a chronic pain condition which she has been battling for over twenty five years (although she did take the European ladies title despite the injury!). Writing has given her a new lease of – and purpose to – life, and she is currently working on A Question of Witchcraft – a sequel to Parliament of Rooks: Haunting Brontë Country.
To find out more about current writing projects as well as special offers and competitions, you are very welcome to join Karen in the her Facebook group. This is an exclusive group where you can get the news first, as well as have access to early previews and chances to get your hands on new books before anyone else. Find us on Facebook at:
www.facebook.com/groups/karenperkinsb...
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 28, 2018
Loved the book and story and especially the characters...I will want to read the next one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2015
Wonderful! What A Delight!
The only downsides were the overbearing sailing jargon, the excessively feminist Gabriella, and maybe the story lengths.
Other than that, the language flowed, the plot and twists were well done, and the characters were formulated and believable.
As a warning, the first book Ill Wind is crazy interesting, but very sad and depressing at the same time. This only causes you to root for the protagonist and some minor characters though.
If you can put up with the downsides enough for a great story, then I HIGHLY recommend!
The only downsides were the overbearing sailing jargon, the excessively feminist Gabriella, and maybe the story lengths.
Other than that, the language flowed, the plot and twists were well done, and the characters were formulated and believable.
As a warning, the first book Ill Wind is crazy interesting, but very sad and depressing at the same time. This only causes you to root for the protagonist and some minor characters though.
If you can put up with the downsides enough for a great story, then I HIGHLY recommend!
July 31, 2015
Enjoyable read
A teenager is given away to become the child bride of the son of someone her father does business with. She is horribly abused by her new husband and manages to escape from him. She hides on a slave ship and is rescued by pirates. She decides to stay with the pirates and soon becomes a pirate herself.
I skimmed over some of the detailed description of the managing and maneuvering of sailing ships. She became an expert pirate in an unrealistic time frame and at a very young age. However, it was a well written story and kept me coming back.
A teenager is given away to become the child bride of the son of someone her father does business with. She is horribly abused by her new husband and manages to escape from him. She hides on a slave ship and is rescued by pirates. She decides to stay with the pirates and soon becomes a pirate herself.
I skimmed over some of the detailed description of the managing and maneuvering of sailing ships. She became an expert pirate in an unrealistic time frame and at a very young age. However, it was a well written story and kept me coming back.
November 25, 2014
Nonsense. Should be classified pre-teen. Reads like the outline of a novel, bones but no flesh. And those bones are only loosely connected. This author has no knowledge of the sea, ships, pirates or the historical period. Waste of time. Only published because the author owns the publishing house.
August 5, 2015
Great story
This was a great story, but the author combined English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and French words, phrases , and accents into the story, making this a very slow and difficult read for me.
This was a great story, but the author combined English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and French words, phrases , and accents into the story, making this a very slow and difficult read for me.
December 3, 2014
Not my favorite
I thought it was too violent for my reading. I liked part of the story line but I wouldn't read another one in a series.
I thought it was too violent for my reading. I liked part of the story line but I wouldn't read another one in a series.
December 11, 2014
Do. Not. Read. Great idea, very poor material.
April 23, 2015
It was ok, but too much sailor talk or description for someone who has only been passenger a few times. I will not read any more in the series.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews