Love Pirates?
Love stories with a lesbian main character?
Want to read about some great lesbian pirates and their awesome adventures?
Well, I have collected together some fantastic books to sate your thirst for all things lesbian and pirate!
So without further ado and in no particular order, I present to you 16 Great Reads for Lesbians and Queer Girls who LOVE Pirates!
1. Escape to Pirate Island by Niamh Murphy (That’s me!)
You can’t run away from yourself…
The year is 1720 and two young women are about to find themselves in more trouble than they could ever have imagined possible.
Cat Meadows is a smuggler who’s built her reputation on the backs of unsuspecting souls.
Lily Exquemelin has been left nothing by her father but his troubles and his treasure map.
Forced to make a desperate escape, they each find themselves on a Trans-Atlantic adventure that will pit them against pirates, mutineers, lost treasure, and each other!
Can they learn to trust one another and escape the clutches of their would-be captors or will their past’s finally catch up to them?
Find out in this swashbuckling, romantic adventure!
You can start reading the book for FREE here.
Available on Amazon.
2. Taming the Wolff by Del Robertson
Mayhem. Brutality. Murder.
These are the tools of the trade – and Kris Wolff is the master of her profession. Captain of the high seas, a roguish pirate, her heart hardened by life, her passion tightly controlled by the secret she’s forced to keep. Faced with a new danger, The Wolff finds herself unable to guard her heart from the tumultuous desires that Alexis DeVale has awakened.
ONLY ONE WOMAN…
As devastatingly beautiful as she is headstrong, noble-born Alexis DeVale abruptly finds her preordained life in upheaval. Abducted at swordpoint, held for ransom, thrust into a maelstrom of lawlessness and piracy…
HAS THE POWER…
The strength of her passion, the depth of her love…
TO TAME THE WOLFF…
Available on Amazon.
3. Once Upon a Time by Alane Hotchkin
Many centuries ago, a vision came to the royal seer with a prophecy that showed a warlord ruling the land until she came to claim what was rightfully hers.
Princess Kataryna’s widowed father, King Theos, raised her from birth, to one day, become queen and rule over Pavlone. When she turned fifteen the princess had no idea that the Fates would start her on an obscure path to her final destiny.
On that day as she rode into a meadow of wildflowers a dark rider came upon her, thus beginning her tumultuous journey of love and adventure.
Raven only wanted to escape the blows that life had dealt her. She longed to be on the open sea and free. When she came upon a beautiful young girl sitting alone in the middle of a meadow, little did she know that her destiny would be changed forever.
Will they become the pawns of the ancient vision or will both paths lead to the same port of destiny? Find out it in this exciting high seas adventure that will capture your imagination.
Available on Amazon.
4. Captain Caiterina O’Creagh by Shiralyn J Lee
Caiterina O’Creagh—an Irish girl destined not to be treated as a beaten wife, or a husbandless mother.
A girl who turns into a woman—a leader and a fearful one at that. She sails the ship—The Black Liberty, loots from Galleons that she and her crew swarm aboard and kill all who have dared fight her.
She is heartless, powerful—perhaps a little insane even but you would have to be—to be a pirate.
Elizabeth Bromley, or rather more commonly known as Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Bromley of Bolingbroke.
Elizabeth is betrothed to Lord Rippringham, Earl of York, an engagement that she is none too pleased about but her father has made great standing in his social circle, and it is expected of his daughter to do as she is told. Elizabeth’s life is soon about to change and so is her love interest.
Available on Amazon.
5. Spanish Eyes by Jessie Gutiérrez
Ianna McClarrin has just embarked on what should be the most exciting time of her life.
A beautiful young woman from a proper English family, she is on her way to France with her father and sister to visit her fiance and his family.
The excitement that should accompany such a journey is replaced by dread as she heads towards a future she wishes to take no part in.
Left with no alternatives but to follow her father’s wishes she resigns herself to an Inevitable fate.
Inevitable until their ship is boarded by pirates setting off a chain of events that lead Ianna down a drastically different path.
A path which brings her in contact with a very different destiny than the one she had previously envisioned for herself. Will she honor her father’s wishes or forge ahead into unknown waters?
Available on Amazon.
6. Branded Ann by Merry Shannon
No pirate on the high seas is more bloodthirsty than the notorious Branded Ann, a woman with eyes like ice and a face marred by a mysterious cross-shaped scar.
When she raids a merchant vessel bound for Jamaica, her only objective is to obtain the map that will lead her to a legendary treasure.
But she hadn’t bargained on taking Violet, the merchant’s young widow, on board her ship as a prisoner. In spite of her childlike appearance, Violet has a dark side of her own that Ann finds both infuriating and endearing.
As Branded Ann sails in search of treasure, her task is made more difficult by a stowaway child, an increasingly rebellious crew, and the treacherous seas of the Devil’s Triangle; to make matters worse, she finds herself falling for her not-so-innocent but altogether charming captive.
But will Violet be able to overcome the demons of her past and accept Ann’s love? And will they survive the treasure hunt that has already claimed the lives of so many before them?
Available on Amazon.
7. The Sea Captain and the Lady by Vada Foster
An epidemic that swept through England spared young Colleen Edwards, but took the lives of her mother and brothers. When her father, Captain Charles Edwards, sails home to England, he places Colleen in a boarding school, thinking she would be better off there than on the sea.
After two years in what she calls “the dungeon,” Colleen finally convinces him to take her with him as part of his crew aboard the Betsy Ann. Thus begins Colleen’s raucous life on the high seas.
Lady Abigail Hume is the young widowed daughter of the newly appointed governor of the Bahamas. Her new life on this tropical island is anything but paradise, as she rejects the never-ending line of suitors until one day by chance she meets the enigmatic but charming Colleen.
Unfortunately, the two have little time to explore their newfound love.
Kidnapping and piracy ensues on the small island. Colleen suddenly finds herself captain of the Betsy Ann and must fight for her love as she battles the notorious pirate Jack Rackham, who is in league with the likes of Mary Read and Anne Bonny.
Join the adventures of The Sea Captain and the Lady as they battle for love on the high seas.
Available on Amazon.
8. The Pirate’s Booty by Alex Westmore
When Quinn Gallagher’s childhood friend is abducted from a dock in Ireland, she’ll do whatever it takes to come to the rescue—even if that means dressing as a man and joining the crew of one of the most notorious pirate captains the world has ever seen.
Quinn soon finds there is much to enjoy living as a man, in particular the company of other women.
When she finds herself falling hard for Lady Fiona, a woman far above her own station, she is torn between revealing her true identity and continuing the façade of being a male pirate. Love is never easy, especially in the sixteenth century and especially under false pretenses.
Can Quinn live with one foot in two different worlds, or must she consign herself to either the lusty life of a pirate or the loveless life of a noble woman?
Come sail the high seas in this exciting and erotic adventure with the fierce pirate Gallagher as your guide. You’re in for a wild ride and may even score some booty along the way.
Available on Amazon.
9. Compass Rose by Anna Burke
In the year 2513, the only thing higher than the seas is what’s at stake for those who sail them.
Rose was born facing due north, with an inherent perception of cardinal points flowing through her veins. Her uncanny sense of direction earns her a coveted place among the Archipelago Fleet elite, but it also attracts the attention of Admiral Comita, who sends her on a secret mission deep into pirate territory.
Accompanied by a ragtag crew of mercenaries and under the command of Miranda, a captain as bloodthirsty as she is alluring, Rose discovers the hard way that even the best sense of direction won’t be enough to keep her alive if she can’t learn to navigate something far more dangerous than the turbulent seas.
Aboard the mercenary ship, Man o’ War, Rose learns quickly that trusting the wrong person can get you killed―and Miranda’s crew have no intention of making things easy for her―especially Miranda’s trusted first mate, Orca, who is as stubborn as she is brutal.
Available on Amazon.
10. Pirated Love by K’Anne Meinel
Lady Claire Von Hagen was en route to the island of Baleniesia, in the Caribbean, to meet the man her father had dictated she would marry.
Lord Von Hagen, Governor of Baleniesia, ruled his island and his daughter with an iron fist, and he had determined that marriage to the distasteful, but wealthy and titled, Sir Edmund Fitzhugh, would be most advantageous.
Lady Claire was sailing to Baleniesia to submit to marriage when her ship was captured by pirates. Her abductor, a pirate Captain known as Black Betty, had other plans for Lady Claire.
Claire had never experienced love of any kind, and she had certainly never conceived of the things that went on between two women.
Black Betty taught her things that surprised her, and the freedom she experiences with this woman, and their developing love, capture Claire’s heart. From the islands of the Caribbean to the shores of Canada, and on from there to the continent of Africa and the Orient… together they experience things both had only dreamt about.
Will they survive the dangers of the high seas and the first years of a relationship that neither expected to find?
Available on Amazon.
11. A Pirate’s Heart by Catherine Friend
Four women, a long-lost treasure, and more than one “thief of hearts” share a destiny beyond time.
To foil a map thief, librarian Emma Boyd searches for a pirate’s long-lost treasure map. She’s aided in her search by investigator Randi Marx, who proves to be as frustrating as she is beautiful.
The treasure map Emma and Randi seek belonged to Thomasina Farris, a pirate who disappeared from the Caribbean in 1715.
Did Captain Tommy steal an entire treasure from a Spanish galleon and escape?
Was she convicted of piracy and hanged by her neck?
Did she die of a broken heart when she lost the woman she loved? In her race to find the map, Emma learns that pirates not only steal treasure, but they also steal hearts.
When Emma discovers Captain Tommy’s fate, she must decide her own as well, choosing between romance…or revenge.
Available on Amazon.
12. Revenge of the Parson’s Daughter by Jo Victor
What’s a poor pirate to do?
Stevie has never met anyone quite like Kate, her not-so-helpless captive.
Too bad the bold buccaneer swore an oath to preserve the virtue of the lovely parson’s daughter—an oath Kate has no intention of letting Stevie keep.
But Kate has a problem of her own: the gorgeous Lady Isabella, a wealthy aristocrat who is happy to use kidnapping and blackmail to get what she wants—and what she wants is Kate.
Jane Austen was never like this!
Available on Amazon.
13. The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin by Colette Moody
The Gulf of Mexico, 1702: When pirates of the square-rigger Original Sin steal ashore to abduct a doctor to tend to their wounded, they end up settling for the doctor’s attractive fiancée—Celia Pierce, the town seamstress. Together with Gayle Malvern, daughter of wounded pirate captain “Madman” Malvern, Celia becomes a reluctant participant in an unexpectedly thrilling journey through the Caribbean.
For Gayle, Celia’s presence is at first a welcome and shapely distraction, but as her attraction to the seamstress deepens, she realizes that Celia comes to mean more to her than is almost certainly prudent.
As Celia and Gayle navigate the perilous territories of gypsies, prostitutes, mercenaries, and slave-traders, they forge a partnership born of necessity that Gayle soon hopes will veer away from insurmountable danger—and instead detour directly to her bed.
Available on Amazon.
14. Shell Game by Benny Lawrence
Winner – 2014 Goldie Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy
Life in a remote fishing village in the middle of a civil war is neither safe nor inspiring.
So, when an opportunity comes along for village girl Lynn to be kidnapped and enslaved by Darren, a ruthless pirate queen, she takes full advantage of it.
But Darren is neither as ruthless nor as piratical as she appears at first glance–and Lynn’s not exactly what she seems to be, either.
In between encounters with old girlfriends, a slow death involving marmalade, and bounty hunters with no sense of humor, Lynn and her new mistress attempt to work out exactly what they are to each other–and who’s in charge.
Available on Amazon.
15. The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara
There’s no place for a girl in Mary’s world. Not in the home of her mother, desperately drunk and poor. Not in the household of her wealthy granny, where a girl could never be named an heir. And certainly not in the arms of Nat, her childhood love who never knew her for who she was. As a hired sailor aboard a Caribbean merchant ship, Mary’s profession―and her safety―depend on her ability to disguise the fact that she’s a girl.
Leastways, that’s what she thinks is true. But then pirates attack the ship, and right in the middle of the swashbuckling crowd of bloodthirsty pirates, Mary spots something she never could have imagined: a girl pirate. The sight of a girl standing unafraid upon the deck, gun and sword in hand, changes everything. In a split-second decision, Mary turns her gun on her own captain and earns herself a spot among the pirates’ crew.
For the first time, Mary has a shot at freedom. But imagining living life as her true self is easier, it seems, than actually doing it. And when Mary finds herself falling for the captain’s mistress, she risks everything―her childhood love, her place among the crew, and even her life.
Available on Amazon.
16. The Sea Hawk by Brenda Adcock
Dr Julia Blanchard, a marine archaeologist, and her team of divers have spent almost eighteen months excavating the remains of a ship found a few miles off the coast of Georgia. Although they learn quite a bit about the nineteenth-century sailing vessel, they have found nothing that would reveal the identity of the ship they have nicknamed “The Georgia Peach.”
Consumed by the excavation of the mysterious ship, Julia’s relationship with her partner, Amy, has deteriorated.
When she forgets Amy’s birthday and finds her celebrating in the arms of another woman, Julia returns alone to the Peach site. Caught in a violent storm, she finds herself separated from her boat and adrift on the vast Atlantic Ocean. Her rescue at sea leads her on an unexpected journey into the true identity of the Peach and the captain and crew who called it their home.
Her travels take her to the island of Martinique, the eastern Caribbean islands, the Louisiana German Coast and New Orleans at the close of the War of 1812.
How had the Peach come to rest in the waters off the Georgia coast? What had become of her alluring and enigmatic captain, Simone Moreau? Can love conquer everything, even time?
Available on Amazon.
Did you enjoy this list? If so, here are a few other book lists I think you’ll love!
- 10 Historical Romances, To Swoon Over!
- 5 Pirate Themed Audiobooks for Adventure Loving Girls who Love Girls!
- 6 Highwaywoman Books for Queer Girls who Love Outlaws and Adventure!
- 4 Lesbian Retellings of the Robin Hood Legend
Thank you for this list! I habe read most but not ALL. Excited to have new pirate reads!
Hi Kellie, so glad you like the list! I’ll be trying to do a few more lists like this in the future, covering some of my favourite genres 😀
‘Compass Rose’ by Anna Burke.
Here is my review:
https://lezreviewbooks.com/review-of-compass-rose-by-anna-burke/
By all accounts, Compass Rose is a great book! But as it’s sci-fi it doesn’t quite make this list – but I’ve come across a few space pirates and sci-fi pirate books, so I think there is another list screaming out to be made!
The Spanish Pearl is a favorite which I have read multiple times. It’s a great book, as is it’s sequel. But, unfortunately, it does not deal with pirates. The sword on the cover belongs to a soldier who has disguised herself as a man.
There are a few on here which I have not read, so thank you for posting this list of w/w pirates.
Excellent spot! Thank you! Although I think the Spanish Pearl still needs to go on a list 🙂