Product Description: Gay buccaneer historical adventure/romance. The third novel in a series chronicling the adventures of Will, a disenchanted English Lord, and his beloved matelot/partner, Gaston, an exiled Frenchman, set among the buccaneers of Port Royal, Jamaica, in the 1660s. In this volume, the men ponder the true definition of sanity and the necessity of compromise in the name of love while contending with the arrival of Gaston's father, their potential inheritances, the political machinations of Will's father, Henry Morgan's ambition, a bounty upon their heads, unwanted brides, and an unexpected child.
great romantic epic...... This is one of the best books I have ever read in my life, if not the best! It has everything- romance, drama, action. I love this book. Out of all three released so far it is my favorite. Gaston and Will are continuing to fight their personal demons. Their story is very riveting.
In this installment we get to know who Gaston's father the marquis is really like. We get to see will and gaston's relationship grow. Gaston's psychological trauma from the past is revisited and Will supports him throughout the story. I can't wait for the next installment!!! This is a must read! (plus they have more sex in this book than in the others-- yay).
Raised by Wolves (Series) I am pleased to have stumbled across this author and this Raised by Wolves series. I have thoroughly enjoyed the first 3 books in this and look forward to the next. I read in someone else's review that this will only be a 4 book series. Personally, I wouldn't mind if Hoffman wrote one of these books a year for at least the next 5 years but having to wait a year between these books would be difficult. The characters, especially Will and Gaston, are truly endearing in their love and brokenness. This author has taken the time to develop not only these main characters but also their circle of friends and enemies. Each of these books are over 500 pages long but each page is filled with great thought, feeling and detail. I love well-written books. I also like that some research has been done to add to the historical dimension of this book with a bibliography included at the end for those who may want to pursue some of the topics covered.I am not so concerned whether dates coincide with the actual history as some purists might. I just enjoyed learning about subjects that I knew little about (mateloge, buccaneers, early Jamaica etc). I would encourage anyone to read these books. Yes, it does include male / male relationships but approached from a historical perspective through the concept of mateloge. So, fair warning, but please don't limit yourself by refusing to read these wonderful books due to that. You will have missed a 'treasure' of a reading experience.
Some heavy issues, but well worth it! I love this whole series. There are some issues in this book that were very disturbing to me, but I'm so attached to the characters I really need to find out what happens to them. While I may not love everything the characters do, I want to continue the journey with them! I cannot get them out of my mind!
Gaston Faces His Demons Treasure took me longer to read than the first two books simply because I kept rereading passages because they were so good! Right from the beginning I was hooked. What I liked best was how this novel really focused on Will and Gaston, with the men confronting issues and examining their relationship. The men do not go roving until near the very end of the book. Most of the story takes place on land, where they deal with family, their plans for the future and conspiracies that threaten them all. There is a lot of angst in the story; the two do a lot of soul-searching and talking, and they have a lot of sex (woohoo!). Far more than I found in the first two novels together. I also think their love reached a new level, and the two finally became one.
When I got 2/3 through the book, I browsed Amazon and saw the negative reviews about this volume and how women "intruded" into Will and Gaston's gay relationship. Now that I have finished, I have to completely disagree. Gaston really was the focus of this book, despite Will being the narrator, and I think that was so he could exercise his demons in preparation for the final book. Will's problems with his father are the heart of the overarching plot to all four books. Naturally, the final volume will bring that to a resolution. Will must come to terms with Shane, his father and his past. But, he will need Gaston there to support him, and I don't think Gaston would have been capable to do so if he hadn't gone through the events in Treasure.
Gaston's father comes to Port Royal to make amends with his son. Naturally, it is not that easy and he has other motives. But, his arrival forces Gaston to face his fears and decide what he wants for the future. He loves Will, and can't live without him. But, he does want his title and he does want children. Both of which mean he will need to marry. Dissatisfied readers didn't like this development, but it made sense to the story and more importantly, the time period. These two could not just fall in love and live happily ever after. Sodomy is a handing offense, and they are well-known, high-born men (regardless of whether they inherit). They must build a wall for the outside world to see, while remaining true to one another behind it. Will wishes neither of them had to be married, yet he understands the necessity and so did I. In the previous books, Gaston faced his fear of whips and overcame impotence with Will's help. So, I had no issue with the sexual experimentation Gaston and Will engaged in with a female character. It was obvious they didn't love her, or her them. They had a goal - to have Gaston face his demons from the night he killed his sister and his father beat him with a whip. He is both angry at and attracted to women - not a good combination for a man who truly has a mental illness. These scenes not only helped him overcome that, they showed him how important Will, and their sexual relationship, is to him. One of my favorite scenes late in the book is when Will wakes to overhear a conversation between Gaston and his father. His father wants to know how Gaston can engage in sex with Will if he doesn't really favor men. Will's reaction to what he hears, and his words to Gaston, were more touching than anything I have read in gay romance. It firmly cemented their commitment to one another without doing a disservice to the sacrifices and issues they have faced. The author has said she wanted this series to be more than a simple" boy meets boy, they have a few problems, they ride off into the sunset together." She has succeeded beautifully. This is an expansive historical epic, with a wonderful love story (not just a gay romance) at the heart. Will and Gaston live in a real and dangerous world, and as they say often in this book, "we will do what we must" to endure together.
Though I found this to be a real page turner, I did have a couple of very minor criticisms. Will and Gaston work through many of their issues using their animal metaphor (the Horse, wolves, centaurs, etc.) just as in the previous books. However, I think it was overdone and a bit tedious at times in this volume. Since the men spend so much time engaged in conversation, and observation of those around them, they use it a great deal. Sometimes I needed to reread to see just what they meant. Secondly, I felt the resolution of Alonso's unwelcome presence was way too predictable. I knew exactly what was going to happen with him. That said, I felt neither of these things diminished the book in any way. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will now agonize over the long wait for volume 4.
I can't recommend this book enough!
Series effectively dropped. (some spoilers included) It was well written as usual, and there were still some very few enjoyable moments but overall, the plot was very dramatic such that I was wondering what soap opera I was reading exactly.
They are bucaneers no more. There's no real action besides the boring political intrigues of noble men who have nothing else to do, and only platitude with fucking women and having babies. Gaston is not gay. Will is gay. Gaston wants to fuck women very much (and does). That's the end of that for me. I also found Gaston's intense obession with babies, more than a little perturbing.
There was some threesome involving Gaston fucking Agnes and Will helping and it was just very offensive, more than I thought it would be. Gaston also raped Christine during a bout of madness. This is all not something I look forward to in a book with an established male, supposedly loving, couple. It was quite vexing.
Frankly I'm down right appalled how such a great series sank so fast and so far from book 1 to book 3. I fear my mentality is quite retarded in that I cannot condone someone loving a person yet sleeping with others and not seeing the hurt they are causing. In this book, I found myself not believing Gaston for one moment everytime he told Will he loved him.
It seemed impossible in previous books to make me hate it, yet they managed it. It was an utter waste of something that had the making of being a masterpiece series. I fear I dismissed the happenings of Striker-Pete-Sarah from Book 2 too lightly as I was sure it would not be ever be repeated in any kind and most especially not with the main characters. It was the last book of this series I ever want to suffer to read. Making me hate every characters, is not what I would say constitute a great book. My interest is seriously lost, it makes me sad that I'm reduced to hating characters I was amazed at in the beginning. And hate them now, I really do.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
