It was a nice story, that could have used a little more excitement and challenge in the development of Remy and Julia's relationship.
However, I do like a good Butch / Femme love story, and Remy is a real stud! Big plus for me...
I liked the crab fishing storyline. Not many books take up such a theme as the basis of a romance.
The hostile families "Miller" and "Clayman" are at the center of it all.
In the past there was a business betrayal by one party to the detriment of the other and since then both families and all members have suffered from the strife.
They hate each other, but in a humane way.
Not in the classic, bloody Romeo and Juliet way. Thank God! The two MC's and their feelings for each other are of course what could change everything!

I've read some reviews on here that completely rip this book apart. Of course, that's always a matter of perspective, but if you like the romantic version of Romeo and Juliet without death or fights, but only with the struggle of a small town and the families, this could still be the right book for you.

There's also a bit of Insta-Love involved.
Remy and Julia have known each other all their lives, but have never been involved in their lives and in each other's circle of friends, because the family would not have tolerated it that way... now they could change everything...

A modern Sapphic Romeo and Juliet style story with rival crabbing families sounded like it had a lot of promise. It could have been a really cute story with a bit more polish.

Remy wants to captain a crabbing boat for her family's business. When her dad gives a captain job to some random instead of her, Remy entertains an offer to work for the competitor's daughter Julia.

There was no build-up between Remy and Julia. They pretty much just leapt right into bed together with little preamble. For as much as the feud got brought up, almost no one seemed to actually care about it that much. There didn't seem to be much depth at all to either of the main characters outside of their family businesses. I loved the support the women had from their best friends, but I was more interested in the developing relationship between two of the side characters than I was the main couple. There was also a parent death followed by the briefest grieving period ever given how much emphasis was put on family. The epilogue also felt really out of pocket.

Loved the concept, execution needed more editing.

butch/femme, boss/employee (sort of? It was really not much of a focus)

This was sold as a sort of modern WLW Romeo & Juliet.. it is not that. Are they from “feuding” families? Yes, but the similarity ends there.
This was really rough to read. The conversations were all the same and had no depth. I don’t expect a ton with a romance novel but I need a little reason as to why these people actually like each other. We never really are given reason, just to go along with it.
There was also way too much of the “we all love our family no matter what” for me, too much small town too.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley

Remy is a crabber who wants to Captain her own boat, but her father just will give her one. Julia helps run her father's big crab business. They grew up together, but weren't close. But then, Remy gets a kick in the teeth, and she and Julia reconnect. And then, Julia offers Remy a two year contract to Captain one of her company's boats.

There is a feud between their families though, and so, whew... the tension. Of course, they get closer too. And, there's also a bit of intrigue as well as some terrifying sea scenes. Yeesh. Seriously terrifying.

It was a good read. I've watched some of the Deadliest Catch episodes on Discovery on occasion, so. I knew sorta what was going on (although that's Alaskan crabbing, not Oregon), but, that only made it more fun to read.

This was my first book by this author and won’t be my last! She wrote excellent dialogue and the detail into the crab fishing was excellent. I felt like I was right there with them,

This is a modern day Romeo and Juliet and was wonderfully written and fun.

I learned a lot and would highly recommend this book.

would like to thank netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book

two crabbing families are at odds with each other and have been for many a year, the miller family and the claymans

remy miller and emily clayman are the same age and went to the same schools but because of their families rivalry didnt have a lot to do with each other...thats about to change real fast....

emilys dad has a heart attack and emily has to come back to take over for a short while but she needs a new crew for a boat

remy wants to captain her dads new boat but when he picks an outsider before her she has had enough and is looking for work with her crew...

emily offers remy and her crew a captaincy and a new boat... its make or break time for everyone...

what the fur fly with this one..... is it an act of rebellion or something else

and can remy and emily get past their past to see a future or will family get in the way

after reading this i want to eat crab meat now and also work on a boat... thoroughly enjoyed reading this book

This was my first book by this author but certainly won't be my last. This is a a modern Romeo and Juliette and it was done very well.

Two families have a hatred that goes back generations but the daughters don't agree with the feud.

Remi is from the poor fishing family where her family has their own crab business and she wants to be a captain of her own boat.

Julia is from the wealthy side and lives in Portland running the business side of her family’s company. She wants no part of the fishing side but is drawn back bc her father is sick.

Remi and Julia meet again and sparks fly even though they shouldn't be together, their chemistry and attraction won't be denied.

The detail that went into this crab fishing and etc was wondeful. I felt like I was part of the experience. Highly recommend this book. Wondeful job by this author.

With a slight nod to Romeo and Juliet this is the story of Remy and Julia. Both come from rival crabbing families and there has been a family feud going on for at three generations. Remy and Julia knew each other in high school but Julia continued on to Stanford and helps the family business operations from Portland. Remy grew up with the love of the sea and her only desire is to captain her own ship. Julia returns to their small town when her father has a heart attack and she must run the crabbing ships side of the business while her father recovers. Remy is passed over by her father when he brings a new ship to the family fleet. So she accepts Julia’s offer to work for her and her family. Both Julia and Remy are over the family rivalry and willing to pursue their interest in each other. But that doesn’t mean their families are in agreement.

I like the story and the butch/femme attraction. The first time together hits quickly as more of a hook-up than developing romance. But there are dates and time jumps to show a relationship. I might have wanted to know a little more about the crabbing aspect and was disappointed to mostly hear about Remy’s amazing captaining skills instead of seeing them in action. And I got a little confused with so many female characters having male names. But this works as a romance for me, especially with the epilogue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an ARC and I am leaving a voluntary review.

A strong 4 stars, with a good balance of Remy and Julia falling for each other, family drama, and some more tense action scenes than I was expecting from a romance novel (but thoroughly enjoyed). Remy and Julia come from rival crabbing families, with the feud seeming to build with each generation. They're not quite star-crossed lovers or rivals to lovers, more the "would have been interested, but ran in different circles then and have a chance together now" type. Their relationship does move fast at the early stages, but it feels fairly natural given everything that is happening around them and the fast-paced nature of the crabbing season

There's plenty of familial drama on both sides as both Remy and Julia try to find their footing and how they want to move forward, with or without their family's support. Remy carries a chip on her shoulder, being from a very close-knit family but having been skipped over by her father for the chance to captain her own boat. Julia is trying to hold together her family business after her father is hospitalized a week after the season starts, in addition to repairing the company's relationship with many of the local fishers, so there's pressure all around.

The romance is more about the two of them figuring out how to make it work with everything in their small-town world, but it works because there's plenty else going on in the background. I do wish we'd gotten to see more of Remy's skills as a captain and innate senses for fishing come forth, and the explanation for why she was skipped over as captain isn't as solid as I'd like, but those are lesser things. The epilogue does feel rather abrupt and tacked on, though, given how the main story ended, but it's nice to see them get their happy ending.

Remy and her family have been fishing for crabs for years, she feels it’s time she get her own boat to captain but when the time comes her dad names someone new. Remy has had enough.
Julia and her family have been competitors of Remy’s family and her dad just had a heart attack. Not only that her brother doesn’t want any part of the business and gives Julia a deadline. Julia needs a captain and Remy needs a boat.
This isn’t going to go over well with either family but more so when the two start dating…each other. And they thought the seas were rough.
Great story with two women you want to have a happy ending but will their families ultimately decide their fate?

Thank you #NetGalley #BoldStrokesBooks #TheOnlyFishInTheSea for this SRC

An interesting premise, sort of Romeo and Juliet. It starts well and I’m interested. The first sex scene comes early on and I find myself pulled out of it by one of the words used. Funnily enough this happened in another book recently. I was so pulled out the scene last time that I checked if this word had been used in any of my recent reads. It hadn’t in the last 25, tho I discovered cocktail is a frequent flier in my novels. It was a shame I was pulled out because I enjoyed the rest of the scene.
There are some bits about this book that don’t work for me, including the last sex scene. So personal taste. Other bits I really like and I think there is some great family dynamic observations.
Half way through and all is going well on the romance front. I’m waiting for it to go wrong because the reasons to be apart haven’t gone away tho the boss employee angle hasn’t really been addressed.
There is a really tense action scene, well written by the author explaining so I can picture a scene, but not bogging me down in technical detail.
The family barriers to being together play out fully.
3.5 but not up to 4 because of my personal preferences as mentioned.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

Remy been crab fishing all her life it’s in her blood but when her father decides to hire someone else to captain his new boat she has enough of trying to prove to him she ready. Julia returns home to help her father who is recovering when she needs someone to captain one of her father boats she offer Remy and her friends a chance to captain their own boat but it’s causes conflict since Remy and Julia families hate each other and are rivals. Remy and Julia grow closer despite their families ongoing fued which I find ridiculous that they kept it going for so long that they trying past it on to them. This was a quick read even though Remy father reason for not letting her captain her own boat was stupid because I didn’t find Remy reckless at all why being in the ocean yes she had ideas that can better help but they weren’t reckless.

I got about 15% into this book and had to stop. I’m not averse to a sex scene early in a book if the author does a good job of building up tension, but that was not the case here. They just decided they were going to have sex and that was that. And let’s admit, as romance readers the buildup is most of the fun!

There was no chemistry between the two main characters, no build up or tension whatsoever actually. And some of the language during the scene itself was pretty cringy. Also besides Remy being described as butch there was no physical description for either character.

Not every book has to be a slow burn by any means, but I think it would benefit greatly from taking that first scene out and focusing on the chemistry between Remi and Julia. The story itself is unique and the writing style easy to read, I just couldn’t get invested in a romance story that fizzled less than 20% in.

I received an ARC copy of this ebook from NetGalley and all opinions are my own.

This was fun take on the classic star crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Without the miscommunication and weird suicide pact.

Instead we have sapphic love interests stuck in a generations long crabbing feud between their fishermen families enterprises.

I came for a fun rivals trope romp and definitely “weathered” through the family and romantic relationships with Remy Miller and Julia Claymen.

This was a good emotional read with some solid spice thrown in for good measure.

And I also have a craving for seafood now.

Thank you to Bold Strokes and NetGalley for this digital arc in exchange for an honest review.