Hold Fast

Morgan Turner, agent to the Winthrop estate, owes everything to his benefactor. When the late baronet’s will tasks him with finding the lost heir and making a gentleman of him, he is determined to succeed.

Thirteen years ago, Evelyn Winthrop ran away to sea. Now that his hated patriarch is dead, the ancestral home he returns to is more shadowed than what he left behind. Ungrateful relations and old friends alike tie a knot of scandal and depravity only a sailor could hope to unravel. And all the while, the siren song of the sea calls him to return at the first opportunity.

Neither anticipated forming more tender attachments.

To Evelyn, his unexpectedly handsome agent is the only thing anchoring him to shore. He sees a captain’s soul within Morgan, and his heart is caught upon the hook of command—if only Morgan would return his affections.

To Morgan, his new employer’s charms threaten to tear down the thorns that have grown around his heart—thorns he cultivated to restrain his unnatural instincts.

When the estate and all who live there are threatened by a maelstrom of bitter secrets and sinister plots, it is down to Morgan to take command, down to Evelyn to hold fast, and down to them both to navigate their own treacherous sea.

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Reviews for Hold Fast

JoyfullyJay.com

Rating: 5 stars
Sebastian Nothwell is quickly becoming my favorite historical m/m author. Take Me Like a Sailor is his second foray into the genre and it would be safe to say that I absolutely devoured this book. The plot is captivating and dramatic and it swept me up from page one. I would go so far as to say the action occasionally borders on melodramatic, but of the very best kind. The threats feel real and the consequences deadly. And there are lines that often come out of nowhere and left me laughing out loud. The title alone made me chuckle.

As with Nothwell’s first historical, it’s the characters that drive this book. Morgan and Evelyn feel vibrant and alive, men of flesh and blood that we can imagine meeting because they are so well developed and defined. Evelyn is a bit of twit at times and more than once I wanted to throttle him when he failed to heed Martin’s warnings regarding the antagonist. But this naïveté felt like a natural extension of his personality, so it also felt believable. The secondary cast is strong and the women represented are of their time, but strong and intelligent, which I appreciated. … Take Me Like a Sailor is a fantastic romance, but it’s also a solid and wonderfully enjoyable piece of historical fiction. This one will play merry hell with your emotions, but it’s a divine read and I can’t recommend it more highly.

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What a Strange Duck

Rating: 4 stars
This is another highly engaging historical romance by this author. Although I frequently wanted to slap the characters I found myself thoroughly entertained. … I’m looking forward to the next book by this author.

Recommended.

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Shima

Rating: 5 stars
Absorbing, scene-animating narration. Interesting, convincing, and appealing characters, well-paced in their interrelations. Definitely impressed by new-to-me author Sebastian Nothwell.