Hunt on Dark Waters is the first book in a new fantasy romance series by Katee Robert, and it promises to have it all: a light-fingered witch, a murderous ex-girlfriend vampire, portal travel to other realms, seafaring monster hunters and a hunky telekinetic captain.

I loved the premise of Evelyn, our FMC and thieving witch, trapped in another dimension, where she is coerced into joining a ship crew. The Crimson Hag, which is part of the Cŵn Annwn, polices the the seas of Threshold and keeps the portals to other worlds safe. Bowen, the captain of the Hag and our MMC, is a stickler for rules and sees himself firmly as one of the good guys who is enforcing the laws of the realm. When Bowen and his crew fish Evelyn out of the sea, she has to make a non-choice on the spot: join the Crimson Hag for life, or be thrown back into the sea, facing certain death. Evelyn takes a vow and joins up, but is planning to desert at the first opportunity. This would result in a hunt being called, and she would find herself pursued to the death by all crews of the Cŵn Annwn. But Evelyn is already being hunted - her ex-girlfriend the vampire Lizzie is tracking her across realms, intent on recovering her family heirlooms and taking her revenge...

For me, the first book in the Crimson Sails series delivered on world-building: I enjoyed the mythological monsters and the queer-normative world. As for the main characters and the romance, it was a bit too much insta-love for my taste. Bowen, who had potential at the outset, was a bit too willing to abandon his lifelong ideals at a simple comment from Evelyn. Also, an upstanding guy, but he never questions the ideals he's been given? And a leader who's just waiting for his crew to vote him out, not taking any action? He turned out to be a bit too much of a wet blanket, albeit a handsome one. The ending felt abrupt - it isn't a cliffhanger, but I felt that it left me hanging and that there could have been a neater finish. However, I will probably continue with this series, particularly as Lizzie was an interesting side-character, and from what I gather, she will play a central role in the second book.

Thank you to Del Rey, UK and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. The review copy contained grammatical and spelling errors on a much larger scale than I'm used to seeing in review copies (hence me commenting on it in the review), but I assume that the book will have undergone some rigorous proofreading before publication.

I really struggled with this, and I found that really surprising as normally I devour any Katee Robert book. I think I found Evelyn really difficult as a lead and that may have been why, the world building was very good!

Pirates, witches, vampires, mermaids and other fantastical creatures come together in the first in a series, Hunt on Dark Waters.

Our FMC, Evelyn, is a witch who is currently in a situationship with a vampire. But that all changes when her lover coldly tells her to leave her house before her mother showed up - who would more than likely kill Evelyn. Annoyed and angry, Evelyn steals some jewellery and escapes through a secret portal hidden away.

But this portal leads her to another realm - The Threshold - and onto the boat of Captain Bowen. Once there, Evelyn has to take a vow to serve this realm, or die. We follow Evelyn and Bowen as they fight their feelings for each other, while trying to stay alive.

'The laws are the laws. I can't bend them without risking myself and my crew. Not even for a cute, mouthy little witch'.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
I loved the world building of this, it felt so magical stepping into another world with all sorts of fantastical creatures. However, the insta-love was a bit of a downside for me, but that is personal preference. I felt there wasn't much of a build up to their romance or chemistry, however the spicy scenes were great, and very creative!

Overall, it was a really fast paced story and the writing style definitely held my attention - just the insta-love wasn't for me, but Bowen was a very cute, golden retriever MMC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for this copy. This review is voluntary.

The insta-love in this was fierce! It was generally as a whole book very rushed, very surface level and as such I just didn't care about any of the characters or plot. It should have been very interesting, but I just didn't find it well written enough to work.

Having read some of Katee Robert's other books I was looking forward to reading this. The story was fun, Evelyn and Bowen have chemistry (although it was a bit too insta love and lacked some tension) but I felt it needed more world building. Overall I enjoyed this and look forward to reading the next in the series.

DNF at 5% into the book. I honestly could not read this. Maybe I got a poor copy, but the grammar is horrendous. The chapters are laid out very strangely, and the book just does not flow at all. Reading it was like pulling teeth.

I already don't like the main character, Evelyn, at all. I want to give this book a chance, but I can not get around how poorly put together this is.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as Katee Robert's Dark Olympus series.
Plot was good and well-paced. World build was lacking in some areas but overall quite easy to follow.
I didn't find the characters very likeable. Both MMC and FMC came across as a little whiney at times.
I found the ending quite disappointing. Knowing that this was part of a duology, I was expecting some sort of cliffhanger at the end. Quite lacklustre.
I gave this 3 stars and I'm not particularly excited to continue with the next book.

— 2.5 stars
⭐️⭐️💫

"Very well. Do your worst, witch."
"Oh, Captain. I plan on it."

📖 | 400 pages
👤 | author Katee Robert
🏢 | publisher Del Rey, UK
📅 | release date 7 November 2023

What you can expect:
— Book one in a Fantasy Romance
— First-person POV
— Dual POV
— Based on Welsh mythology
— Queer representation
— Dark Paladin pirate/Chaotic Bisexual witch
— Portal Fantasy
— Pirates, witches, vampires, dragons, selkies and more
— Forced proximity
— Insta-love

Trigger warnings include: violence, grief, death (off-page), blood, gore, sexually explicit scenes, adult language/profanity, near-drowning.

Hunt On Dark Waters is the first instalment in the new Fantasy Romance Crimson Sails series by author Katee Roberts. Evelyn is a feisty witch with a lust for danger who has a knack for helping herself to things that are not hers to take. After stealing from her dangerous vampire ex, Evelyn is on-the-run and falls through a portal to another realm, The portal leads her to Threshold, a magical place between worlds where the Cwn Annwn rule the seas and force any trespassers to either join their band of monster hunters or die. After a near-drowning Evelyn finds herself aboard the Cwn Annwn's ship with their telekinetic, broody captain named Bowen, Bowen has no memory of his life before he became one of the Cwn Annwn. He and his pirate crew are bound by vow to patrol through Threshold and keep the portals to other worlds safe from malevolent paranormal creatures. The last thing Bowen expected is to be attracted to the brassy pickpocket with quick-wit and a razor-sharp tongue. The longer he spends in her presence, the more he begins to question if his heart is the next thing she'll steal. But what will happen as tension heats up and stakes get raised as Evelyn has no intention of keeping her vows to the Cwn Annwn. If Evelyn betrays the crew then both she and Bowen will be forced pay the ultimate price. Can Bowen make it out of this encounter with his heart still intact... or will this chaotic witch be the one to steal it from him once-and-for-all?

I was so excited by the early premise of Hunt On Dark Waters. A paranormal Fantasy Romance based on Welsh mythology filled with adventure and danger? Pirates, witches and other supernatural creatures? A queer-normative world? Sign me up. As a first for me from author Katee Roberts, I was very eager to experience their writing-style for the very first time, as Roberts' is an author I hear many positive things about. So trust me when I say that nobody is more disappointed than me that Hunt On Dark Waters didn't resonate with me as I'd hoped it would. The world-building and overall storyline showed so much potential and premise. I genuinely enjoyed the atmosphere that the author was building and have found myself really disappointed that it hasn't worked for my tastes as a reader.

My biggest issue with this book was the inconsistent pacing and subsequent insta-love that evolved as a result. We're immediately thrust into action as Evelyn steals from her hot-vampire-ex and finds herself entering a portal in a desperate-bid to save herself from Lizzie's wrath. What started off as strong and engaging quickly lost its appeal with its lack of chemistry and engaging conversations, inconsistent pacing and repetitive internal monologues. I really wanted to like Bowen as a main-character and as a love-interest. Bowen is portrayed to be honourable and loyal without a fault, which reflects true-to-character but overall I found him to be fairly unmemorable. There was nothing overly-interesting that gripped me and had me looking forward to the chapters filled with his narrative voice. His attraction to Evelyn is immediate but lacks any real substance or chemistry. Bowen goes from threatening her life if she fails to swear the oath of the Cwn Annwn, to being simp-y and devoted within a couple of chapters. A particular conflict for Bowen's character arc is that his crew have lost faith in his ability to lead and therefore Bowen is constantly anticipating the day he is challenged for Captain. We got some insight into his background with the prior Captain which I appreciated and enjoyed, but I couldn't understand why Bowen didn't just organise a chat with his crew to better understand where their mistrust and lack of belief stemmed from? It showed a lack of leadership skills that it never occurred to him to attempt to address the issues first as opposed to just waiting to be challenged. Bowen definitely had potential to grow and evolve as a leader, however unfortunately I feel his character was demoted to being a bland uninterested love-interest for Evelyn.

Evelyn as a main character was fine enough. She was feisty and chaotic, albeit a bit arrogant and selfish. I understand when being given the choice to either swear an unbreakable vow or die... you'll choose the vow. But almost immediately Evelyn sets out on a quest to break said vow with no care for the consequences it will have on Bowen. She's the kind-of character that has to be right at all times and it become a bit infuriating at how black and white Evelyn's approach was. Also, I found that Evelyn shared far more chemistry with her bloodthirsty ex-girlfriend than she did with the tall, dark and handsome Pirate Captain. Bowen and Evelyn would've better benefitted with a more slow-burn approach to their relationship as personally I, as a reader, would've better appreciated their development. Insta-love truly is my least favourite trope of mine as I find the relationship to lack the development it needs to feel authentic.

I'm truly gutted that Hunt On Dark Waters didn't work for me. A truly exciting and thrilling premise that showed potential with its captivating world-building filled with a variety of paranormal creatures, adventures at sea, and exploration of the characters and their stories. I had hoped for more and unfortunately in this case it did not deliver for me. I will not be continuing with this series, however if you are a fan of Katee Robert's previous works then I urge you to give this book a chance and form your own opinion! I hope that this story resonates with more readers and that my experience is in the small minority.

Thank you to Del Rey, UK and NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.

When I tell you I screamed with excitement at the email to say I'd been approved for an eARC, I am not exaggerating.

I love Katee's work and have read so many of her books. The premise of this was everything I wanted to read, and I wasn't disappointed.

I loved it!

A great premise from Katee Robert - a magical land, Threshold, that is the liminal space between thousands of worlds, while also having its own distinct characters, history and politics - the possibilities are literally endless and I can't wait to see where she takes this series.
Evelyn is a likeable character, and her interactions with those around her are always fierce with a strong dose of snark - she's my favourite kind of heroine being one that knows her own mind and isn't afraid to cause waves in pursuit of what she thinks is right.
The romance with Bowen was spicy, but a bit too insta-love for my tastes, despite the friction that comes from Evelyn's opposition to his choices. That said, the addition of Lizzie (Evelyn's ex-lover) creates a little tension that might keep them from being too sickly sweet as the story moves forward. I think we could see a little jealousy there despite Evelyn and Lizzie being a strictly physical relationship.

Didn't love the ending - Hunt on Dark Waters just seems to stop mid-story. I expect this when a series is planned, but in this case it seemed like an odd point to finish. We don't really get a cliffhanger - fine- but then an ending is usually following a revelation or an accomplishment. This one felt a bit like it came from nowhere. I started reading the acknowledgements before I really processed that the book had ended. That being said, it won't stop me picking up the next book to see what happens with Evelyn, Lizzie and Bowen. It just didn't leave me on tenterhooks like I'd been expecting.

Massive thanks to NetGalley, Katee Robert and Cornerstone/Random House for the chance to read an advance copy in exchange for a independent review.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for giving me an eArc copy for this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first book I have read by Katee Roberts and I was so excited coming into it! However it did fall a little flat for me.

I did really enjoy some parts of this book, like the setting and the magic system. The settings and the background were really well written and I loved the world we were brought into. I loved the idea of a ‘Threshold’ between worlds, with portals leading to different realms and people who are there to guard them.

The characters were written well and were complex, but a lot of the relationships I found between them just seemed to fall a little flat. Especially between the two main characters and POV’s, Bowen and Evelyn. Maybe because it was an instalove type of situation, I’m not too sure… but it just felt very surface level and I didn’t get any chemistry from them at all. I felt more chemistry between Evelyn and Lizzie.

It was a very fast paced story and easy to keep up with, however the ending just appeared kind of sudden and was an abrupt change of pace. I will probably end up reading the second one in this series, as I want to find out what happens next. However, if the next one in the series is similar to this one I might not continue.

My first book by this author, it was ok. I enjoyed the world building, the spice was great but their relationship felt a bit off, like something was missing for me. An enjoyable enough read.

3.5 This was so entertaining, and a lot saucier than I expected. I guess that’s why this author is so popular. It was fun to read about two characters that were very much equal partners, it was actually quite wholesome in the fact that they both fell head over heels for each other.
I enjoyed the world building and the idea of all realms being connected via portals, also pirates are always a winner, especially pirates who are linked to the wild hunt. Some great twisting of classic myths and legends.

✨ E-ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ✨
With full transparency in mind I’m starting this review by saying I am a huge fan of Katee Robert’s work.

I loved it. I loved it I loved it I loved it. This world is so fun and I’m really enjoying the setup for the crimson sails series, I loved the characters and I loved the way this panned out.
I wanted it to carry on about another 100 pages into the story and I cannot WAIT for crimson tides!!! Beautiful book!

BOOK REVIEW: Hunt On Dark Waters by Katee Robert @delreyuk

3 Stars

I was so excited for this book as I adore Katee's Dark Olympus series. Although I liked it, this sadly didn't live up to my hopes.

Hunt On Dark Waters is about Evelyn, a mid 20's witch living in our world with a vampire lover and a love for pickpocketing. Evelyn accidentally sends herself through a portal to a place inbetween realms. She is picked out of the sea by Captain Bowen who is part of a vicious organisation that hunts monsters like mermaids and dragons. Evelyn is given the awful option of join them, or die.
This story is filled with magic and a whole host of magical and mythical creatures. It had bucket loads of potential but the more I read, the less it lived up to my expectations. I just wasn't a huge fan of the overall storyline as I feel it's been done before, but better.
There were also some scenes and timings which were just ridiculously unrealistic.

Evelyn is an interesting character. She is strong and cheeky and despite her sad background, doesn't let anything hold her back. I really liked her and her zero filter (especially when it came to sex). Talking of sex, the love interest Bowen is a cinnamon bun of a man who has been made to cover his gooey centre in steel. He has had a very hard life and I loved how Evelyn got him to open up.
The romance is okay, a little too insta love for my liking, especially considering the way they meet. I also wish there were more scenes of the two of them bonding as it needed more depth to make it believable. However as ever with Katee, the smut was top notch! And quite inventive!

The writing was easy to read and held my attention. I read the eARC and there were LOADS of spelling, word and grammar errors. I was surprised at the pure scale of them and hope that the book is seriously edited before publication.

Overall it was a good magical adventure romance book, but in my view nothing special. I doubt I will continue the series but never say never.

Please note that I was given an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I had read some the author's older books, and I like the author's social media posts, so I was excited when I came across this title on NetGalley and I got really glad when I was approved of an eARC. However, I didn't enjoy this book at all.

The world was intriguing enough. I like it when the fantasy world includes many different species and their magic. And I also have a thing for telekinesis! It's just so cool 😎 but the cool ends there, I'm afraid....

Evelyn is a witch whose vocabulary mainly includes "f bombs"? And who, even though doesn't care about anyone, cares about the mythical creature who she hurt when she protected Bowen? She thinks she's the smartest, most powerful witch ever, while her arrogance doesn't really have a basis for. I haven't read such an annoying main character since I read Clary from the Mortal Instruments series.

Bowen was a better character, but all he kept thinking was how half of his crew want to crown another Captain and how he keeps waiting for the day he will be challenged...It took a while to see why, yet I never understood why he just didn't talk to them to see why they changed their minds.

Another annoying part was the trope of "one character being valiantly dedicated to a cause designed by people he knew nothing about and another character miraculously showing him how to critically examine the situation".

This story had so much potential, but the main characters were annoying, there were too many carelessly placed f-bombs, and how the tropes were handled made me want to close my eyes and sigh.

No one is sadder than me for not liking this one, but alas, we can't win all the time.

✨ 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 ✨

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Hunt On Dark Waters
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Katee Robert
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 3.75/5

“𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭. 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩.”
“𝘖𝘩, 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘐 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵.”

🤍 𝗙𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
🌸 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗵 𝗺𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆
🤍 𝗣𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀
🌸 𝗔 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀
🤍 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘆 🥵
🌸 𝗗𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗢𝗩
🤍 𝗟𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗽

I enjoyed so much about this new pirate X witch romance that KR has cooked in her creative cauldron. It’s based on the Welsh mythology Cŵn Annwn, cŵn being the plural of ci which translates to ‘dogs’ or what is more well known in English translation as ‘hounds’ and annwn being ‘otherworld’ which has many interpretations, both leading to the Christian identifications of heaven and hell. Essentially, this is based on Welsh hellhounds.

But the hounds in this novel aren’t of the canine kind, they’re pirates. They travel through the Threshold, and if they meet somebody down on their luck and in need of saving, they give them the choice: join us or die. Which isn’t really a choice. Bowen, captain of the Crimson Hag, finds Evelyn in the water and gives her this faux choice, to which she takes extreme exception to.

The clashing of the personalities was extremely satisfying in this dual POV fantasy romance. On one end of the ship Evelyn is a mouthy thieving menace with a penchant for being irritating, and Bowen is a rigid rule follower who tries to be honourable but doesn’t understand the system he is serving lacks morals. I loved the romance that follows which is full of banter, chemistry, and a heat that would definitely burn a ship down.

This is an extremely magical story, there are pirates, witches, vampires, selkies, dragons, and more. I also loved the inclusivity. There was lots of non-binary representation, Evelyn herself is either bisexual or pansexual, and Lizzie I suspect is sapphic, although sexual identities aren’t explicitly stated, they are deftly and suggestively displayed.

And whilst I thought that there was a lot of missing background and some resolutions that could have been concluded, I’m going to put that down to series building and hope that some twists are incoming over the course of the series. Overall, this is a solid start to an interesting and steamy fantasy series.

—Kayleigh🤍

Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Hunt on Dark Waters by Katee Robert is a contemporary romance set in a fantasy world of various realms. Our witchy heroine, Evelyn has a bad habit of swiping valuables with her sticky fingers. After stealing from her ex Lizzie, a powerful vampire, she escapes through a portal. Evie finds herself floundering in the magical sea between realms called Threshold. She is then rescued onto the Crimson Hag, home to our telekentic hero.

With no tangible childhood he could remember, Captain Bowen's unflinching loyalty to his ship under the Cŵn Annwn has been his life's duty. The Cŵn Annwn is a network of ships like the Crimson Hag operate under. He has always enforced their rules and vows with no questions asked. Evelyn is no exception to the rule and he gives her the ultimatum to join their ranks or die.

As Evelyn tries to evade honouring her vow, their two personalities clash. Tensions turn into something more. Through their journey together, secrets begin to surface and they both start questioning everything they have stood for.

~~~
This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and really took my time with this as I did not want it to end. I adored the book and am really loving Katee in this point of her writing career -consisting of epic sagas with political themes and great messaging. Just like I have been enjoying the ride through Dark Olympus, she is now taking us to the sea across the magical Threshold.

The world building was done extremely well. It was an immersive experience. From the physical space of Evelyn's world to the Threshold sea and the various islands surrounding it. Then we were introduced how the Crimson Hag is run and what exactly the Cŵn Annwn are.

On to the characters, I loved how fleshed out Evelyn and Bowen are as individuals before they get together. They are both very different people and feel so distinct in their point of views. I usually find that multiple point of views can get muddled with an author's narrative voice if there isn't a unique tone for the different characters.

However, Katee did excellent in distinguishing between Evelyn and Bowen's chapters. The differences were stark and it was a good contrast between the two. Evie initially starts out as a witty, sarcastic fun loving witch with a sentimental streak and some familial grief for baggage. While Bowen is a straight-laced Eldest Child coded man who is always following the rules of the Cŵn Annwn and would never think twice about going against them. He is very much of the mindset not to bite the hand that fed him. Or in his case, the people who saved and took him in as their own.

These two really go through a brilliant development over the course of the book. Flighty Evie finally finds herself a cause and someone to anchor herself to. On the other hand, Bowen starts to question the cracks within the corrupt system that is the Cŵn Annwn.

The main allegory within the book I really enjoyed was The Cŵn Annwn. They were meant to parallel the militarised police in our world. Katee does a great job of showing something isn't quite right with their organisation from the very start. Then slowly peels back the layers of Cŵn Annwn with each act to reveal their true colours. It is mostly through Bowen's point of view, whose gratitude comes from being taken in years ago. When Evie starts to question their modus operandi, we realise it's terrible system. It hits harder when Bowen has to confront the fact that he and his crew weren't really 'one of the good ones' and were just upholding a corrupt system.

In line with this, the plot was detailed, very thought out and well-paced. While there are loose ends regarding Bowen's past and a big event that happened to close off Act 2, I'm confident it will all be tied up in due time. The Act 2 Event is going to come back full circle in the next book as hinted in it's summary. As for the overarching plot of the series, it's been well set up. The direction the bigger story is taking is very clear. I am very excited for my favourite non-binary characters, Kit and Nox to hopefully show up! The way those two were being written, I'm hoping for either recurring roles or respective books for them.

As for the romance, it was solid. I liked their chemistry and banter in their scenes together. However, I felt that the development from lust to love could have been drawn out. Maybe by a chapter or two. They needed a bit more time to bridge the gap between being rivals who had an attraction to falling in love. It just felt like sex was substituted in when we could have gotten one or two more scenes to give their connection more depth. This was slightly remedied during their love declarations which pinpointed the moments they started to fall for the other.

Overall, I loved this book! Katee definitely delivered on all fronts. She has done it once again with her intricate way she built this universe - with Threshold and its interesting characters. This was a great first book with a sweet romance while wondefully setting up the upcoming series. I'm certain we will be seeing some recurring characters as they all come together to work towards their common goal. I definitely would recommend this for anyone looking for a pirate fantasy romance, vibrant settings and for those wanting to invest in an epic saga!

Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone, Del Rey for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for sending me an arc of Hunt on Dark Waters by Katee Robert!

I will always love Katee Robert's book, she never fails to amaze. I practically flew through this book, I just couldn't put it down and when i wasn't reading i was still thinking about it and what was going to happen next in the story.

I must admit my favourite part was at the beginning when Evelyn first arrived on the Chrimson Hag and claimed she had to get back to her 4 sons: Dean, Sam, John and Castiel - got to love a Supernatural reference. These characters were so well written just like the book as a whole. I would do anything to read this again for the first time.

Bowen's character development was great, I'm so happy with his decisions and actions throughout the book, but I am dying to learn more about his past, hopefully we'll find out in the next book!

Definitely check this book out when it releases 7/11/2023!

When I saw this on NetGalley, I knew it would be perfect for my book challenge and was so excited to be approved for it! Featuring a bisexual (chaotic) witch, Evelyn, and a paladin (very non chaotic) pirate, Bowen, this book is set upon the high seas and promises high stakes drama and a whole cast of magical beings, which is generally right up my street.

Evelyn is on the run from her vampire ex, Lizzie, having stolen some priceless families jewels before jumping through a portal to another realm. The portal leads her straight to Bowens ship in Threshold, a magical place between worlds, where the Cwn Annwn rule the seas and force any trespassers to join their band of monster hunters.

Evelyn has some immediate issues with the activities of the crew and the Cŵn Annwn in general, which she doesn’t hesitate to tell Bowen. The romance between them was very ‘insta-love’, which fell a little flat for me, as I felt significantly more sparks between Evelyn and Lizzie… That being said, it was cute and easy to read so nothing too offputting.

The world building is great and I loved how some mythical creatures were portrayed in ways we don't generally see, particularly mermaids and selkies. I enjoyed how each different island they visited had it’s own personality, and the characters were all easily identifiable. I did struggle with some of the pronouns of side characters in the book, but that was mainly as they were new to me so took me out of the story a bit while I did some research. It felt a little like they were included more to seem progressive, rather than to actually create a full world of diverse people, but I do appreciate that this may come from my own naivety.

The main issue I had with this story was that the character progression didn’t seem particularly lifelike; Evelyn would say in quite black and white terms what was wrong or right, and Bowen almost immediately accepted that and jumped on board. It felt a bit too much like I was being lectured about good and bad, rather than there being any nuance.
Overall though, whilst a little predictable and hence forgettable, I thought the world building carried this book and made it worth a read, and I would be interested to see another book with more Lizzie in it.