One Dozen Daughters, Book 1
Synopsis: The rulers of tiny, impoverished Swansgaard have twelve daughters and one son. While the prince’s future is assured, his twelve sisters must find their own fortunes.
Disguising herself as Clarence, a sailor, Princess Clarice intends to work her way to the New World. When the crew rebels, Clarice/Clarence, an expert with rapier and dagger, sides with the handsome navigator, Dominick, and kills the cruel captain.
Dominick leads the now-outlawed crew in search of treasure in the secret pirate haven known as The House of Four Winds. They encounter the sorceress Shamal, who claims Dominick for her own—but Clarice has fallen hard for Dominick and won’t give him up without a fight.
Review: I fell madly in love with the cover when I saw it and I knew that I had to try the book and discover the story as it was. And then a plot featuring pirates? Who would not be interested? Especially when the heroine in question is a girl disguising as a man to be able to live the adventures she wants.
Clarice is the eldest of twelve sisters and a brother, a princess who arrives at the age of 18. But the Duchy is very small, and the Clarice’s parents can not meet the needs of both girls and upon majority, each of them is forced to leave the castle they have always known to seek her fortune and live their lives as they wish. After having, as each of her sisters, the youth she wanted and becoming a mistress of weapons, Clarice hopes to discover the world. So she embarks on a boat by disguising herself as a boy, to travel, to experience new cultures and thus actually choose what she wants to do with her life. Here, she will have to understand what life at sea means, even if her secret is safe, it is difficult to live well in a confined space. In this way, she will also meet many very different characters that we will enjoy discovering. However, Clarice would never have expected that her journey would take such a turn or even thought she would meet any pirates.
I loved Clarice. She is a heroine in search of freedom, in search of adventure and a beautiful future. Letting herself be carried away by her desires, she will try to navigate at sea and discover a new life. We quickly understand her aspirations and desires but it is true that everything is not easy, especially when she begins to fall under the spell of one member of the crew. I also found very interesting to meet with the pirates and I was curious to see how the story would evolve regarding them. One thing is for sure, I did not expect that magic would mix with the plot so closely. And although we know the pirates through various novels, the authors introduce us other types of pirates much more difficult to counter. In any case, I had a lot of fun to follow the novel from beginning to end and this is true that I wonder what we’ll have next, to discover what each the sisters will do when their departure date will arrive . Especially when you consider that each is very different from the other and therefore should have distinct projects.
It was a nice discovery and a good first novel that makes us want to continue and to learn more at the same time.
Stephanie Faris
It isn’t my type of book, but I do love strong heroines. That’s the best thing about today’s novels…often the heroines are very strong, admirable women. At one time, the female role was just to stand around and be rescued!
Melliane
you’re right, they’re always great to discover.
Kirsty-Marie
The who girl disguising as a boy ones are either hit or miss with me, but it has a Pirates of the Caribbean feel to it. Clarice sounds like a great character though- needs to be more like her! 🙂
Kirsty @ StudioReads
Melliane
yes she is!
Joy (Joyousreads)
Ha. Pirates! It’s been a while, for sure. And the only pirates I’ve read in the past are those that pillaged and ravaged women. This one sounds fun – almost worth checking out. 🙂
Melliane
Yes this one id quite different, that’s true.
Braine
Did it remind you of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie? Clarice is a dead ringer for Elizabeth Swann don’t you think so?
Melliane
I don’t know… At first yes but not after the whole story.
kindlemom1
This really does sound like a good and a unique read, glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
kim { Book Swoon }
Oh, I’m so glad you enjoyed The House of the Four Winds. It sounds like a perfectly fun escape, and I love the whole girl in disguise and pirate action going on. I’m very curious about the magic and romance in it as well 😉
Carmel @ Rabid Reads
I won an audiobook recently, and I almost picked this one as my prize. After reading your review, I’m kinda regretting that I didn’t now. I’ve struggled with Lackey’s writing in the past, but this book sounds like it was well executed. Maybe it helped that she had a co-author…
Melliane
yes it was nice but I understand, I read many ber her too.
aurian
It is not very original, but I do like the disguise trope. Glad you enjoyed this one Melliane!
Silvia
The cover is really catchy and Clarice sounds like a great character. Have I ever told you I have a thing for Pirates? Better check this one out then, huh? 😉 I’m glad you had such a great time reading it! Thanks for the review, Melliane 🙂
Melliane
Pirates are always so fun to read about.
Lola
I’m glad this is a series! And didn’t know there was magic involved? Cool, I guess. I can’t wait to read it. 😉 Fantastic review.
Melliane
yes a little bit, mainly because of the Queen of the pirates. thank you
Heidi
I love the cover as well and I wanted to read this one. I definitely need to as I like the sound of pirates, magic and a feisty heroine.
Melliane
the cover is so pretty!
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum
Yay, I was waiting for your review. I’m glad you enjoyed this. I too will be more interested to see the other books focus on Clarice’s sisters to see what each of them will do once their big day arrives. So many adventures are possible!
Melliane
yes I’m really curious mainly because they seem all really different so I want to know about the ideas.
blodeuedd
The whole send them out in the world sounds really silly, but the rest, yes I want it
Melliane
I agree but well they’re happy about that too.
Melissa (Books and Things)
I did enjoy this one and especially Clarice, but I wanted to know more about the company on the pirate island. Still, was a decent beginning book.
Lily
Love the facts that thisone has pirates LOL i’m already sold on it just because of that!
anna (herding cats & burning soup)
Oh yes. This one so caught my eye too! I love that set up and the cover is pretty fantastic. So glad to see you enjoyed it!
anna (herding cats & burning soup)
This one seriously caught my eye too! I love all of that set up and the cover is fantastic! I’m so glad to see you enjoyed it! Need to move it up my pile 🙂
LilyElement
Huh, I thought this one looked interesting but didn’t really check out reviews. Glad I saw yours, sounds good!
kimbacaffeinate
Yes! I adore the cover too, and was sent this book..your review has me bouncing. I am squeezing it next week for sure!
Melliane
I hope you’ll like it too! curious to see your review!
Faye @ The Social Potato
Awww, the heroine sounds fantastic. I have some wanderlust myself, and having traveled on my own once, that feeling of freedom and independence was hella intoxicating. Would be nice to feel all of that again through this book!
Melliane
Oh I never really tried that so I don’t know but it must be fun!
Melissa (My World...in words and pages)
Oh nice! Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂 I want to give this one a try and see what happens. 🙂
Jessica @ Rabid Reads
Glad you like this one, Melliane! I’m going to be reading this over the next week or so too 😉
kincaid
La couverture est magnifique et j’adore la plume de Mercedes Lackey, découverte un peu par hasard dans la collection Luna de Harlequin mais j’ai beaucoup de mal à lire ses livres en VO : son style est un peu trop complexe pour mon petit niveau
Tabitha (Not Yet Read)
Clarice sounds marvelous! I’m so excited that my copy arrived yesterday!