Welcome to our first discussion of Kissing the Captain by Kianna Alexander! This weeks reading is Chapters 1-7. This week Jacilyn and Michaela are discussing their general observations of the first part of the book as well as their first impressions of Lilly and Ricardo.
Spoiler Warning! This post will contain spoilers for Kissing the Captain by Kianna Alexander.
Jacilyn: This week, we are discussing chapters 1-7 of Kissing the Captain, a historical romance that takes place in 1879, written by Kianna Alexander. Our protagonist is named Lilly, a young seamstress of African and Portuguese descent who has recently lost her father and has been left with their farm in San Francisco. After speaking with her father’s attorney, Lilly finds out that she has been left the farm, but she must share it with Ricardo, the son of one of her father’s old friends, as husband and wife. And who shall arrive at that very moment, but a young Spanish man, fresh off his ship? Obviously, Lilly is overwhelmed. Let’s start by discussing our heroine.
Michaela: Lilly is going through a lot right now and the fact that her father put this clause in his will is horrible. I know he was doing it to make sure Lilly was looked after. However, it is so not okay to demand a marriage for her to keep the farm, and within two months! Lilly seemed to have her own life plan, which was to run the farm with a few workers and run her own seamstress shop out of the house. A very good plan and one she was excited for and most likely would have been very successful, but now even her best friend is telling her that’s not a good plan because then she won’t have a husband. I know it’s a byproduct of the century this takes place in, but women don’t need a husband or children to make their lives worth while.
Jacilyn: I have to admit, I had to Google photos of fashion from 1879 to be able to have an accurate vision in my head as I read. For the time period, Lilly seems to hold her own quite well. She is determined, and strong-willed, and certainly not willing to take anyone’s shit if she can help it. She is disappointed that her father set up this arranged marriage, but from the sounds of it her father’s intentions were genuinely good. Reading that now made me cringe, not going to lie. I’ve had a bit of difficulty reminding myself that what’s taking place is definitely not out of the norm for place in history. Lilly’s personality is quite vibrant, and there are definitely some things she’s said that have made me chuckle.
I really like that Lilly has tried to maintain dominion and authority over herself when it comes to Ricardo. Although we know that she is intimidated and intrigued, in spite of herself, she doesn’t hesitate to draw lines in the sand and make it clear when Ricardo has crossed a line, all while maintaining a very proper, lady-like image. She does the same with Ezekiel Martindale, who seems to have been aggressively and creepily proposing to Lilly for some time now.
Michaela: The time period definitely makes things more normal but still not necessarily okay, so I don’t know that it will stop bothering me as we keep reading. Lilly seems to be very capable of being proper and a badass at the same time and I love her for it. She knows what she wants and does not want and isn’t afraid to say it, but politely of course. Ricardo has been mostly respectful to Lilly so far, but has definitely crossed a few lines and Lilly put him right back in his place, rightfully so. She is grieving right now and is still so polite and accommodating to everyone, she is a very nice and respectful person. Ezekiel Martindale seems like a horrible person, it’ll be interesting to learn more about him.
Jacilyn: So far, Ezekiel is the first person we see direct racism from. He calls Ricardo a “Spanish sea dog” and calls Lilly “half breed,” referring to her African and Portuguese heritage. His outright hostility and anger when Lilly turns down his offer to marry him, in favor of Ricardo, was incredibly alarming and unfortunately, unsurprising. Both Ezekiel and Ricardo see Lilly as a conquest, rather than a woman capable of truly handling herself. So far, it seems like Ricardo is simply choosing to somewhat observe Lilly’s wishes, until it comes to saying ridiculously inappropriate things and touching her without her consent. When Ricardo told Lilly he wanted to see her hair unbound, DIRECTLY AFTER ASKING ABOUT HER DEAD MOTHER, I was just like “throw the whole man away.”
I want to clarify to our readers that when we looked into which Kianna Alexander book we wanted to read, this was one rated on the more innocent side of the spectrum of romance. We won’t be reading anything graphic, per se, but Ricardo’s thoughts on Lilly have been far from prudish.
Michaela: Your “throw the whole man away” sentiment, I wholeheartedly agree. Ricardo and Martindale both only really seem to care about her beauty, she is referred to as “a dark, exotic beauty”, “beautiful”, “easy on the eyes”, and a “prize”. While Lilly is beautiful, it’s all the men care about so far, Ricardo has had few positive things to say about her personality because he sees her as “distant” and “icy”. She’s just lost her only remaining parent, how does he expect her to be all happy and fawn over him after that. It’s ridiculous. So far Ricardo has crossed some lines that if I was Lilly, I would definitely be a little more icy towards him after each one. Despite his growing feelings for her, he should still try to “court” her as he had said he was going to do and not push things like he’s doing now.
Jacilyn: I’m really hoping that Ricardo actually starts having real respect for Lilly, because so far that is certainly not the case. Ricardo’s crewmates show up for a “frolic,” on Lilly’s property, without her permission, with “wenches” no less. Ricardo happily accepts attention from the women, and Lilly witnesses this. She is understandably upset, and tells Ricardo that by acting like that, he’s basically embarrassed her and has therefore lost her trust. Since they aren’t yet married, Ricardo seems to think that Lilly is being irrational in her feelings and considers his own brief concern for her distress as being irrational as well, simply brought on by the fact that she is so beautiful.
Not to mention, the reason Ricardo agreed to the marriage arrangement so quickly is simply a matter of trying to regain his bullshit feeling of masculinity that he supposedly “lost” after the ague that left him with seasickness. By marrying Lilly and running the farm, he’s able to work hard and “protect” Lilly, therefore reaffirming his own sense of manhood and worth. Talk about toxic masculinity ruining the frolic again.
Michaela: Ricardo’s reasoning for marrying Lilly are all self-absorbed. He’s embarrassed of having vertigo on his ship, he’s embarrassed his crew doesn’t respect him because of his vertigo, he feels he needs to do “as a man was expected” which is taking care of a woman, and to not “go back on his word”. None of these things have to do with Lilly and all to do with Ricardo’s pride and image. His behavior at the frolic would be unacceptable to me even in modern day if it hadn’t been discussed first, which this definitely was not discussed.
Lilly feels rightfully betrayed, if she behaved similarly he would be just as angry. I wonder if Ricardo is fully ready to be a married man, I wonder if he had ever considered it before, with him being a sailor and never having to settle anywhere but his ship. He must be used to that specific type of lifestyle.
Lilly feeling embarrassed of Ricardo in this moment is completely understandable and him seeing it as irrational proves he does not fully care for Lilly yet. Nor does it seem he knows how to understand her and isn’t trying overly hard to learn.
Jacilyn: And then on the opposite side of the spectrum, we get to meet Lilly’s Aunt Phyllis, who has just arrived from New York where she was fighting with the suffragettes! I wish that Phyllis would stick around the two of them more often and actually witness Ricardo’s shittiness instead of encouraging Lilly to just dive right in. I hope that we get to learn more about her and the life that she’s led throughout the course of this book.
Michaela: Aunt Phyllis being a suffragette is amazing! However, knowing that and then her leaving Lilly with a strange man was fairly disappointing. I expected Aunt Phyllis to be more protective of Lilly, but I hope Aunt Phyllis sticks around for a while, she seems like a good lady.
I wanted to make note of some random things that I found interesting in the book so far. One of my favorites is that the Civil War was referred to as “Mr. Lincoln’s war”, I don’t know that I’ve ever heard it referenced in that way. I also love reading the vernacular for the time, it’s not entirely accurate I’m sure but still fun to read the language and societal differences. The last thing I wanted to mention was how the entire town, after maybe 15 hours, knew that Lilly was getting married. Being from a very small town myself, this was entertaining and oh so familiar.
Jacilyn: The vernacular is incredible. I made a note that I loved the “well, dash it all!” expression that Lilly used after finding out that the whole town already knew she was getting married. I want that to make a comeback. That, and referring to going out/celebrating as a “frolic.” It sounds so innocuous nowadays, but apparently in the late 1800s, frolics meant kegs of wine and sex workers. I’m here for it.
Oh isn’t the small town rumour mill just way too familiar? Poor Lilly walks into the convenience store, just minding her own business, and suddenly everyone is just staring, not even trying to hide it! It’s too bad that that practice hasn’t died out over the years.
That covers it for this week. Next week, we will be reading chapters 8-14. I, for one, am hoping that Ricardo starts showing some actual respect to Lilly because reading a book where a strong woman falls in love with a jerk and everything ends up happily ever after is going to be really difficult. Either way, I’ve become quite fond of Lilly as a character, and I’m excited to get to know her more. Until next time, readers.
What are your thoughts on Lilly's father's will clause? What about Ricardo, how do you think this relationship will unfold? Did you distrust Martindale as much as us? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments