A Swashbuckling Romance

I was pleasantly surprised with this book after seeing it constantly on my FYP. I was hesitant to start this book because I generally lean more towards NA books these days over YA. While this book is technically a YA it isn't a true YA and straddles the bridge between YA and NA. There are mature themes covered in this book however nothing is graphic it explicitly described.

The story follows a young woman who has been raised to become a political figurehead. In this world women have all the power. Previously men wrought destruction and violence leading to a new world order where men find freedom in pirating only to have to pay boons to the counsel for safe passage. No violence is allowed on the counsel's island and those who disrespect the rules are exiled. Our FMC discovers that her life among the counsel is not what she believed and flees. She has a random meeting with a fearsome pirate who irks her and enjoys verbal sparring sessions. The two form a reluctant partnership where he agrees to help her flee the counsel's island and she will help him achieve a goal to ultimately harm the counsel's influence. The MMC has his own storyline and motives and the author does a really good job building her characters, even the side characters.

Our two main characters pretty much can't stand each other for most of this book. The MMC does and says some pretty harmful things to her which I wasn't sure he ever really made up for. Our FMC just decides that since he's finally being nice everything will be forgiven. The story is also pretty long, while the ending was much better than I anticipated there are a lot of middle parts of this book that felt like they dragged on. Especially with the amount of self deprecating nonsense the FMC spouts, however it was understandable why she thought and acted the way she did based on how she was raised. But she did bother me a bit, and I'm hoping the next book allows her to get some training, build some confidence and swoop in to save the day and bit more.

This is definitely a swashbuckling good time though, if you're in the mood for a pirate/fantasy/adventure/romance. The romance is light in this book for sure but I think there is going to be much more in the next book. The majority of the book was the development of the relationship between the two MCs both platonic and romantic. If you like banter then this is a great option because these two have some pretty intense sparring match's. One of my favorite parts was the decapitation joke she makes and stuns the guys who just stare at her slack jawed. It was hilarious.

Tropes
✅ One bed
✅ Not a true enemies to lovers, more of a strong dislike to feelings.
✅ Found family
✅ Fae
✅ Tons of banter
✅ Dual POV + one additional POV


The audio was well done as well. The voice actor does a great job with the Irish laced accents and manages to differentiate between each character voice really well.

My hope for the next book is that it leans more towards NA than YA. I'd be down with some spice and some violence. It's about time this FMC takes back some power, knocks the assholes down a few pegs and gets her man.

Story ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice 🚫 (tension + kissing only)
Audio 🎧🎧🎧🎧

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2 people found this helpful

Promising idea, terrible execution. BORING.

Way too much over explaining and filler conversation. 75% of this book was just the author over ex APL aiming feelings. And I shouldn’t have to be told something is banter between characters, the conversation should show that on its own. The plot had potential but the writing gave me the impression that this author had no plan going into this and was hoping that the story would magically come together. 170 pages in and still we know nothing more than what is on the back cover over the book. I’m sorry but this was terrible writing, uninspiring characters, useless filler conversation, and very little scene setting. I had to drag myself to finish this book.

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1 person found this helpful

A waste of time

How is there so much of nothing happening in most of the book ?

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1 person found this helpful

Very Young Adult

The story is good but it’s for the youth of the nation. 13-20 would be a good age group.

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1 person found this helpful

Nothing is happening

I have one hour left of 12 and nothing has happened! We are given a deadline of which an item must be retrieved, ok great, but after 11 hours of listening, they’ve made no real move to find said item. No real tension with a deadline, no real tension with the romance aside misinterpreting everything between two really insecure people, no real action or trials that can’t be solved right away with no sacrifice. All the characters also “speak” the same way in their respective chapters so there was no real way to tell them apart as individuals. I spent a credit on this hoping the bad reviews were wrong but lesson learned I hope.

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Pirates and Fae??? Yes please

I’m not one to read a book with no spice but this book was phenomenal! I loved the story and fell in love with all the characters! The narration is WONDERFUL. The accents are done so well and I can’t wait to listen to book 2!

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Soothed my pirateous soul

I loved this book even more than I thought I would. I cannot wait for the next one!!

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Great start to a new pirate fantasy series

If you like pirate fantasies, books with fae, slow burn romance, sheltered/naive MC’s and morally grey characters - pick this one up!

I listened to the audiobook as a reread before reviewing book 2. I have to say it was a pleasure to listen to. The narrator was excellent and I feel the characters were brought to life even more than when I read the book the first time around thanks to the narrator’s performance.

I’ll admit that sheltered/naive MC’s aren’t my favourite but mainly just because they tend to be a tad annoying at first, I do however love their character arcs since they undergo so much growth. I found some of Aoife’s internal monologs to be a bit repetitive and that resulted in the first part of the book feeling a bit slow to me. But wowwweeee does this book pick up speed towards the end. I was left in utter emotional turmoil. Declan is absolutely delicious - as a character and love interest haha - and you can’t give me a great love interest like that and leave me on such a cliffhanger! I absolutely didn’t know what to do with myself after finishing this book the first time around.

A huge thanks to the author for the audiobook code. All opinions are my own.

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Love this book!

First of all, I so appreciate having the pronunciation guide in front of the story! Huge thank you for that! 

Pirate stories are some of my favorites! And when the writing style is compared to Danielle Jensen, SJM, and Adrienne Young, it's pretty much guaranteed that I'm going to pick it up and love it to death!

Now, this book... pirate banter galore! Quite obviously my favorite part! Captain Declan is snarky and broody, but also has a heart of gold. My favorite kind of character! Aoife learned fast but betrayal after betrayal made it hard for her to trust, completely relatable. All the characters were relatable honestly. High seas adventures, close proximity/only one bed, snarky banter 🙌

And that betrayal at the end 🤯 WHAT! Can't wait for book 2!

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Love this world! Amazing pirate adventure.

Incredible world building, and I love the characters. It’s a well crafted pirate adventure. Can’t wait to get into book two!! Highly recommend.

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