An interesting idea weighed down by YA genre pitfalls, cliche tropes, and lack of a clear vision of what the story wanted to be.

Unfortunately, not the most compelling read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC copy of this book, in exchange for this honest review.

This book is a decent YA novel, but I didn’t find anything exceptional in it. The writing style is fine, and the characters have some depth, but unfortunately, the story didn’t captivate my attention. The plot seemed familiar to me, like a patchwork of stories I had read before, making it predictable. It’s not a bad book, but it’s not original. I guess it just wasn’t for me.

Brilliant and gripping. I loved the story so much I was sad when it ended! Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for this review.

Apologies for my delay, I’ve had a very hectic few months.

But this book wasn’t really for me unfortunately. Never got into it enough to really care and don’t remember a whole lot of it. Might give it another chance in the future though, we’ll see.

This book was a tad bit confusing but other than that I absolutely loved it! It was slow in places but the storytelling more than made up for that!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the advance reader copy.

This book was hard to get through. I’m still unsure what the point of the story was and the why of it all.

The FMC made some very weird decisions that didn’t feel like they aligned with the main goal of the story, and there’s also just a random ‘villain’ who pops up.

This book ended like it was trying to set up a sequel and I don’t think that’s a good idea.

I have also found that so many YA books forget they’re for young adults and have sexual themes but have characters who act like children so you aren’t sure why most things are happening.

This took me a lot longer to read than it should have. My rating is based on the cover being quite nice and because I finished the book.

I loved this book! I found the world building and naval themes to be really interesting, and the characters were fantastic to read about. I found it really picked up when Mira set off to find a way to save her father, and loved seeing her learn more about herself along the way. This is a great book and I’d recommend it to any fantasy fans!

*Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, Children's | Harper Fire for providing me this book in exchange for an honest review*

I do believe that this was one of the best books I've read in 2024, minus the romance. The world-building was really good, the characters were all likable but the romance was a miss for me. Re-read it without the romance and it's a great book. The romance felt like it was forced and predictable. Other than that a solid 3.75 star read.

I loved the setting of this story, but it failed to keep my attention as I couldn't help but think that I have read very similar books that were much, much better. The plot didn't make a lot of sense to me and I was easily able to guess the reveals.

Where to start with this…

The plot of this book didn’t make much sense to me. We follow Mira who lives on an island where the people make a living from wrecked ships. When her father is imprisoned for luring the ships to be wrecked, Mira must find a way to save him. To do so she opens up an old chest of her mothers that happens to have coordinates and so Mira decides to follow these. How is this relevant to her dad being imprisoned?

Along the way there is a romance and some highly predictable turns.

I didn’t really enjoy it and hoped it got better the more I read but it didn’t.

The download date was unfortunately missed, I would be happy to re-review if it became available again. I have awarded stars for the book cover and description as they both appeal to me. I would be more than happy to re-read and review if a download becomes available. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

I felt things really only got going with the story towards the end of the book, which was a little frustrating but then I guess you need to get people to really want book 2! The characters were okay but I didn't really feel drawn to any of them particularly. It was an okay read for me,but this will definately have some appeal to our Romantasy readers in the library and there are a lot of them!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, for a full review see my Amazon or Goodreads page.

Omg! I adored this book! Couldn't put it down it flowed nicely and I enjoyed the writing style I was half way through this book before I went and ordered the special edition hardcover on Waterstones 🙈

I think we may have the new Romantasy favourite on our hands here. Strong world building, characters you root for and swoonworthy romance too!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the chance to read this ARC, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Compass and Blade is action packed from the first word, the main character, Mira, is an adventuress, initially trapped on an island, retrieving washed up items and helping survivors, a threat to her father spurs her head first into adventure and a world of secrets and sirens. I loved how far she was willing to go for her father and Kai, the descriptions, the peril. I felt towards the end, it was hinting at a love triangle, if a certain betrayal hadn’t occurred. The last chapters had me gripped. I hope there’s a sequel.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, Children's, Harper Fire for this eCopy to review

Compass and Blade was an ok romantasy following Mina as she uncovers the secrets of her mother and her magical abilities in order to save her father and friend Bryn

There is lots of danger and exciting escapes, plus a healthy dosage of betrayal. The romance angle added a little extra to the story but it was quite slow and predictable.

This book… well it didn’t blow me away. I enjoyed reading it enough, but it was very predictable in places and it just left me unimpressed to be honest. I wanted to be swept away on a magical adventure, but I was not.

I liked the character, but she was a little underwhelming. It seemed at times like her only character trait was not leaving people behind, which was overemphasised and led her to some very reckless decisions that for some reason worked out for her.

I also didn’t really see how going away would help her island or her father. I saw how it made sense for the progression of her character, but she seemed to be pinning all her hopes on there being something valuable there, that could save them all, with no evidence that there would be anything of the sort. I felt it was just an excuse the author was using to progress the story.

All in all, I won’t be reading on with this series.

Loads of twists happened, kinda fast. Screaming at Seth and at her for repeatedly trusting him when shes warned against him

Did i know i was a fan of a piratey romance? No i did not, Did i enjoy this piratey romantasy? too right i did!

This is a fast paced fun adventure with plenty of twists and turns a bad ass female character and a lovely romance!

I couldn’t get through this one- finished at 25%.

I just could it to be overly complex for no reason. I didn’t feel connected to the characters or the story. I think this has potential as the setting is really interesting and different but it just didn’t fill that for me.