ALC Book Review: Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods

February 18, 2025February 11, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Fantasy Romance
Length: 432 pages
Author: Kell Woods
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: February 18th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Saint-Malo, Brittany, 1758.
For Lucinde Leon, the youngest daughter of one of Saint-Malo’s wealthiest ship-owners, the high walls of the city are more hindrance than haven. While her sisters are interested in securing advantageous marriages, Luce dreams of escaping her elegant but stifling home and joining a ship’s crew. Only Samuel—Luce’s best friend and an English smuggler—understands her longing for the sea, secretly teaching her to sail whenever she can sneak away. For Luce, the stolen time on the water with Samuel is precious.

One stormy morning, Luce’s plans are blown off course when she rescues Morgan de Chatelaine, the youngest son of the most powerful ship-owner in Saint-Malo, from the sea. Immediately drawn to his charm and sense of adventure, she longs to attend the glittering ball held in honor of his safe return and begins to contemplate a different kind of future for herself.

But it is not only Luce’s hopes at stake—the local fae are leaving Brittany and taking their magic with them, while the long-standing war with the English means Saint-Malo is always at risk of attack. As Luce is plunged into a world of magic, brutality, and seduction, secrets that have long been lost in the shadowy depths of the ocean begin to rise to the surface. The truth of her own power is growing brighter and brighter, shining like a sea-glass slipper.

Or the scales of a sea-maid’s tail.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

SQUEAKED OUT A FOUR STAR.

I kind of felt all over about this one. What I did love was the unique mash-up of The Little Mermaid and Cinderella. I could easily see the nods to the story but adding in the historical fiction elements really set the plot apart and it did feel fresh rather than a regurgitated attempt at a new story.

I enjoyed Luce’s character and her growth. Somewhat naive and under her father’s thumb she slowly moves away as she understands her history, falls in love, and finds out where she truly belongs. The love story was different than I was expecting but the more I sit with it, the more that I think it makes sense for the novel and the more I like it.

The middle dragged for me and I think I was hoping for something more. Everyone got their dues and I loved seeing all of the different faerie folk woven throughout. The ending had me almost throwing my phone across the room BUT LUCKILY the epilogue saved it and I feel good about how things went down. It’s a sturdy, well planned standalone.

Overall audience notes:

Historical fantasy romance
Language: low
Romance: brief open door
Violence: moderate
Content warnings: torture, loss of life

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Book Review: Oathbound (The Royal Rose Chronicles #1) by Victoria McCombs

April 8, 2024March 19, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 304 pages
Author: Victoria McCombs
Publisher: Enclave Publishing
Release Date: January 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Beware the waters. The dangerous deep brings ruin to all.

Emme has spent her life avoiding anything to do with pirates. But the fates are cruel, and now a hidden sickness leads her to partner with pirates for the one thing that can save her—a cure on an island none are certain exists.

The pirate captain’s secrets are darker than the deep and threaten to kill them all. His obligations are tinged with betrayal, for his oathbind must be fulfilled. To ignore it is to invite peril of unimaginable destruction.

As the adventure unfolds, the sea takes more than she expects and the sea gives more than he wants.

A BIT SOFT.

I don’t know that I’ve ever called a pirate, high seas adventure fantasy, soft. But that’s the only word that keeps triggering in my mind after finishing. I don’t fully think it was a bad thing for me, just different. Nobody wanted to unalive anybody and I had a hard time grasping that ideal with the way the story is set up.

The romance is super soft, minimal angst, added in with some drama. Once I got that vibe I thought it was cute. Emme and Arn were clearly into each other and they learned to work together and solve problems with the rest of the crew.

For the plot, it’s a typical pirate adventure with mysterious sea creatures, ship battles and hidden treasure. I still had a good time reading it and didn’t have any noticeable issues. It’s a solid younger YA read and I do have plans to continue the series and see some other points of view.

Audiobook note: I thought the narrators voice overall was great. BUT this is dual POV between Arn and Emme and the voice did not change enough between the chapters that I felt confused at times as to whose POV I was listeing to.

Overall audience notes:

YA Fantasy Romance
Language: very little
Romance: kisses
Violence: moderate
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of life, loss of a parent, creature attacks, murder, alcohol consumption

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ALC Book Review: Dark Water Daughter (The Winter Sea #1) by H.M. Long

July 13, 2023June 22, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 464 pages
Author: H.M. Long
Publisher: Titan Books
Release Date: July 11th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A stormsinger and pirate hunter join forces against a deathless pirate lord in this swashbuckling Jacobean adventure on the high-seas.

Launching the Winter Sea series, full of magic, betrayal, redemption and fearsome women, for readers of Adrienne Young, R. J. Barker and Naomi Novik.

Mary Firth is a Stormsinger: a woman whose voice can still hurricanes and shatter armadas. Faced with servitude to pirate lord Silvanus Lirr, Mary offers her skills to his arch-rival in exchange for protection – and, more importantly, his help sending Lirr to a watery grave. But her new ally has a vendetta of his own, and Mary’s dreams are dark and full of ghistings, spectral creatures who inhabit the ancient forests of her homeland and the figureheads of ships.

Samuel Rosser is a disgraced naval officer serving aboard The Hart, an infamous privateer commissioned to bring Lirr to justice. He will stop at nothing to capture Lirr, restore his good name and reclaim the only thing that stands between himself and madness: a talisman stolen by Mary.

Finally, driven into the eternal ice at the limits of their world, Mary and Samuel must choose their loyalties and battle forces older and more powerful than the pirates who would make them slaves.

Come sail the Winter Sea, for action-packed, high-stakes adventures, rich characterisation and epic plots full of intrigue and betrayal.

Thank you to RB Media and Titan Books for the ALC.

SAVED BY THE SECOND HALF.

Audiobook review: LOVED. I loved the narrators. They kept this book going for me. I loved that this was dual POV. Great audio read!

For the first half of this book I wasn’t quite sure where things were going. There was a lot of chasing Mary around as she was captured back and forth between pirates. Not a lot going on at the moment. Fortunately the second half picked up the pacing in a multitude of ways and now I’m curious where book two will lead.

I liked our two main characters, Mary and Samuel. They are both on different sides of the current conflict and slowly find out that they might actually be allies (and that there might be a romance in the future??).

What really kept me going was the vibes. If you’re looking for a high seas, pirate filled book, this will give you that. I thought the magic system was interesting and there were just enough twists in the second half that had me going, well what happens next.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy
Language: light
Romance: kiss
Violence: moderate
Trigger/Content Warnings: attempted murder, kidnapping, brief sexual assault (unwanted kissing and touching over clothes), near death experiences

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Book Review: Dark Shores (Dark Shores #1) by Danielle L. Jensen

July 3, 2019July 1, 2019 GoodeyReads2 Comments

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Young Adult Fantasy
Length: 368 pages
Author: Danielle L. Jensen
Publisher: Tor Teen
Release Date: May 7th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In a world divided by meddlesome gods and treacherous oceans, only the Maarin possess the knowledge to cross the Endless Seas. But they have one mandate: East must never meet West.

A PIRATE WITH A WILL OF IRON

Teriana is the second mate of the Quincense and heir to the Maarin Triumvirate. Her people are born of the seas and the keepers of its secrets, but when her closest friend is forced into an unwanted betrothal, Teriana breaks her people’s mandate so her friend might escape—a choice with devastating consequences.

A SOLDIER WITH A SECRET

Marcus is the commander of the Thirty-Seventh, the notorious legion that has led the Celendor Empire to conquer the entire East. The legion is his family, but even they don’t know the truth he’s been hiding since childhood. It’s a secret he’ll do anything to protect, no matter how much it costs him – and the world.

A DANGEROUS QUEST

When an Empire senator discovers the existence of the Dark Shores, he captures Teriana’s crew and threatens to reveal Marcus’s secret unless they sail in pursuit of conquest, forcing the two into an unlikely—and unwilling—alliance. They unite for the sake of their families, but both must decide how far they are willing to go, and how much they are willing to sacrifice.

THIS SERIES WILL ONLY GET BETTER.

The author hosted an Instagram read-a-long on her page and I took advantage of reading it during the last month. She posted questions each week and responded to so many of us. It made me really have a lot of appreciation for her as a fan.

Dark Shores is filled with allllll things Roman. A lot of the way the governments are set-up, the world-building and more were drawn from this ancient civilization. It was AWESOME. I am fascinated by all things Roman and loved how this played out. There were wicked senators, ship sailing, gods fighting each other, conquering and a dash of romance.

I am obsessed with Marcus. He was my favorite POV and I wish the book was focused more on him. I love him + his soldiers. They were some of my favorite side characters. I found them funny, endearing and thought they all needed a hug. And I wouldn’t mind giving them said hug.

Teriana was fine, she’s one of my reasons for lowering to four stars. I found her a bit annoying/whiny at times and wasn’t as interested in her chapters. There was lots of talk but she never pulled out any tricks, so I’m curious where that goes during book two. I did enjoy Marcus and Teriana together though. I like the relationship and am waiting for all heck to break loose when things start to spiral.

This had great world-building and I found that it was a lot more creative of a book plot overall than I have read in a hot minute. I couldn’t easily guess what was happening next and that’s always a good sign of a great fantasy. My only other issue with it was that it was a little slow at times. I found myself wanting to scan ahead to dive into the next scene.

Overall audience notes: