Rating: ★★★
Audience: NA Fantasy Romance
Length: 364 pages
Author: Lina C. Amarego
Publisher: Silver Wheel Press
Release Date: August 15th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads
BOOK SUMMARY:
A wedding to end a war.
It’s been four years since the blood feud between the Branwens and Mathonwys started. Four years of sunken ships and loved ones lost, four years of wounds both seen and unseen. Keira Branwen is no stranger to duty. As the first mate of a legendary pirate ship, blessed by the sea-god Lyr, and heir apparent to her clan, she would sail to the Otherworld and back to keep her family safe.
But when the Council threatens banishment for her people, Keira is faced with a choice; she must either marry her father’s alleged killer, the sea-snake Ronan Mathowny, or curse her family to the deep.
But in the Seven Isles of the Deyrnas, secrets sleep just beneath the surface of the water. Her father’s death is still shrouded in mystery, and Ronan–her childhood friend, the man she once loved — is hell-bent on proving his innocence. As enemies become friends and friends become suspects, Keira must wade through the waters of doubt to expose the truth, save her family, and restore her father’s legacy.
But Keira soon learns that there are ties thicker than blood, and there is more than one way to sacrifice a life.
STAR FOR POTENTIAL.
I probably could have rated this somewhere in the 2 star zone, buuuut I think for those who really prefer ROMANCE over FANTASY there’s a lot of potential here. I love fantasy romances, but within a fantasy book I expect and hope for world building. I crave and need it to enjoy the story. There was very little of that here.
There doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason as to why the main character has some kind of magic ability involving the ocean but nobody else does? And there’s shifters too? But why? Where did they come from? Why does the ocean speak sometimes? PLEASE SOMEONE TELL ME. I spent so much of my time frustrated without these answers that I could barely see the aspects I did like.
One of the things I did like was the romance. Got off on a rough foot (because yet again, needed back ground world building), but once I kind of figured out what was happening, things moved at a sweet pace. I liked Ronan and Keira together. A bit of a second chance, enemies to lovers dynamic that played well for these two. I liked that they both fought for each other and found some common ground to build a new foundation between them.
I won’t be continuing this series (I think there’s one more book?). Didn’t mesh with enough of it to be worth figuring out what happens next.
Overall audience notes:
- NA Fantasy Romance
- Language: little
- Romance: closed door
- Violence: mild
- Trigger/Content Warnings: weapons violence, shipwrecks, death of a parent, near death experiences
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