I really enjoyed Mira's story of trying to save her dad from execution and uncovering her mother's secrets.

I loved the seaside setting, the islands and differences in their customs, and the affinity Mira has with the sea.

Compass and Blade is packed with brilliant characters, gorgeous friendships and heartbreaking betrayals.

I'd love a sequel to this because that ending was everything.

Mira and the rest of her crew lure ships in to wreck, but as a way to help their island and people survive, however, when one such trip doesn't go as planned, Mira finds her group separated and she will have to dig into her past to find a way to help secure the future of her crew that are being threatened with the noose

Such a journey comes with perils, and Mira will need to learn who she can and can't trust along the way.

Very in the vibe of Daughter of the Pirate King, Fable, To Kill a Kingdom etc so if you like this, this might be another seafaring adventure for you to get stuck into

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the review copy... out now!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

I am giving it a generous 3 stars despite the fact that I DNFed halfway through, but I think I might not have been the target audience.
In my opinion, if you liked Daughter of the Pirate King, you will probably like this one as well.
It's quite YA (which is fine since that is the target age group) and I do generally enjoy YA fantasy, but this had me rolling my eyes a lot. It comes with a lot of standard YA tropes and the FMC was very special, it just all felt a bit dull to me.

The plot was decent but predictable and there were some logical flaws. I DNFed but I did read some of the ending and the ending was pretty much what I expected it to be, because you could smell the plot twists from miles away.

The main character was okay for the most part except for her being very gullible which was quite frustrating, especially since it was quite obvious that something is going on with the male main character.

I liked the world but I think it could have been a bit more fleshed out.
Overall, the book wasn't for me, maybe if I had been in a different headspace I would have enjoyed it more, but it fell flat for me.
I think others might have a better type, and I can especially see young adults having a good time with it.

This was an interesting and exciting concept that fans of Daughter of the Pirate King will enjoy. The world, inspired by the Isles of Scilly, had so much potential and generally i liked Mira as a MC. I loved that this started off by going straight into the action, with a fast pace that hooks you in- it was a strong start however it unfortunately went a bit slow for me after that for a while before picking up again half way through and it was a shame it wasn’t consistently paced.I really struggled to rate this one because while there were some things i really liked but other things I didn’t.
There was a bit of a love triangle in this and I have a VERY strong opinion on it. I found the romance between Seth and Mira irritating- it felt so unfounded, forced and rushed and I just didn’t feel any kind of spark. This was completely opposite to how I felt about Mira and Eli and I really enjoyed their interactions. It’s possible that the author intended for readers to feel like this about Seth and Eli but I also feel like the intention was for Mira to be conflicted and torn between the two but for me Seth just fell flat.
Overall this was an enjoyable YA Romantasy which many readers will love but for me it just didn’t quite hit the mark.

Mira is a wrecker on her small island, Rosevear until one day when it all goes wrong.

She finds a survivor, Seth. Then her Dad gets arrested and Mira goes on a mission to save her him....but I'm still not really clear on why she goes down the route she does however! Then she hires a crew to take her to coordinates left by her mother....

This book has such a great premise and I really wanted to love it more than I did but it was quite predictable and I found that for a girl having such an affinity with the sea, she certainly gets injured in the water a lot!

It was an ok read and I am really drawn to the cover but one thing I did love about this book was...trust no one!

"I have always been the hunter of treasures, the wreck swimmer, the one who lures the ships in. But now I stand on the other side. As though I am the ship they have lured and trapped.."

A wonderful romantasy set on the high seas in a wonderful world with great world-building. Mira was the perfect character to follow in this adventure with a sassy, fun personality that fits perfectly as a high-seas wrecker who wants to keep her town and those she loves safe. As my first siren romantasy, this was an amazing concept and sub-genre that I will definitely be looking out for in the future. Compass and Blade is the perfect read for any high-seas lover who wants a new look at sirens, shipwrecks and adventure.

Thank you, NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, Children's for sending me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Compass and Blade is a wonderful romantasy, set in a very imaginative world, with a MC determined to do anything to protect those she love, with magic and romance, dangers and so much more-

This one drew me in from the beginning, but unfortunately this didn't last throughout the story. The pacing was quite slow in my opinion, with not a lot happening. I couldn't really connect with the characters either, but they were decent enough that I wanted to keep going. All in all this was an okay read for me, just entertaining enough to make me want to continue reading. It wasn't anything special for me, though.

While the writing style was good and it certainly kept me going when the plot went off the rails, I needed a more flushed-out magic system for sure. I don't even want to comment on the romance...I still don't totally get what happened there. It was also marketed as having a love triangle which I think was a bit of a stretch.

This was my first ever siren romantasy and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I ended up devouring this book in less than a day, it held my attention from the start to the very end.

"I have always been the hunter of treasures, the wreck swimmer, the one who lures the ships in. But now I stand on the other side. As though I am the ship they have lured and trapped."
--
Mira lives in a seaside town which survives only by pillaging boats which have wrecked upon their shores. When her father is captured by the authorities to face consequences for these unlawful acts of survival, Mira sets out on a quest determined to rescue him. During this adventure, she also hopes to uncover the secrets her Mother took to her early grave and which her Father won't dare speak of, in fear it will lead her to succumb to the pull of the sea that she has felt calling to her as she comes of age.

I found myself regularly saving quotes and some of the imagery was absolutely stunning - I felt transported to somewhere between the ocean and the night sky, particularly during this scene:
"The sky is a bowl brimming with starlight. I gasp in wonder, tilting my head up, and breathe in the quiet and the cold. There are stars layered over stars. So many, I can hardly pick out the constellations. The night blazes silver, navy pockets of true dark rippling like velvet between. I have never seen so much brilliance."
--
"The water is a crisp reflection of the sky above. We are floating through a sea of starlight. I laugh softly, watching as a shooting star blazes over the still water."

I definitely felt some parallels with A Court of Thorns and Roses, most noticeably when Lord Shadow Daddy made a very Rhysand coded appearance (hands in pockets and all) to mark our imprisoned heroine with a bargain tattoo (or two). I personally didn't mind the starlight and Night Court vibes, I think they matched well with the tone of the book and the inclusion within a pirate and siren story was original enough that it didn't feel like a carbon copy.

The second betrayal within the book felt a bit empty and sadly lacked impact, as it happened so soon after the first. I hope we see the vengeance and impact play out over time in future books, which I will very much be looking forward to reading.

Thank you Harper Collins and Rachel Greenlaw for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I thought the pacing was great and kept me engaged throughout. Some of the character relationships could maybe have been developed a tad more, but the last 50 or so pages were so action packed that I could not stop reading! Looking forward to the sequel!

This book scratches all itches for a YA Fantasy, I had been in a reading slump and this really brought me out of it.
I cant wait for the second book and the hope of a focus on a certain love interest.

I requested this as I really liked One Christmas Morning and was intrigued by this change of genre. I don’t generally read YA or fantasy, so it was a real departure for me and one I’m glad I made.
I enjoyed following Mira on what is a coming of age journey. There’s plenty of action, some romance and a lot of twists and turns. I liked the fact it was set around islands and the sea, the writing was very vivid in its descriptions and there was a real sense of place. I also liked the fact that Mira was a strong character in her own right and the romance element wasn’t what defined her. I hope there’s more to come from the Islands as there are still scores to be settled! I think this genre suits the author well and I’ll keep my eye out for what comes next. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my early copy.

Compass and Blade was a fun, sea-faring YA fantasy romance.

While it was full of overly written YA tropes, it ticked all the boxes to be successful for its target audience. There was drama, suspense, intrigue and two romantic interests, one of which kind of gets put on a back burner in this book, but has me hoping for more of a focus in the next!

Some elements of the plot were predictable, but I dont feel like this drew my interest away at all. I found it such an easy and enjoyable read, that it was great to just sail along and enjoy Mira's journey of discovery, even if I did know where it was heading before she did.

Overall, a fun-filled adventure set on the high seas which I will definitely be continuing to read.

This was spectacularly good.

Mira is a wrecker, this means that she and a select number of other peope purposely wreck ships to steal the loot. Mira is one of 7 wreckers on the island of Rosevear. Mira lives with her father, her mother had died many years before. Mira is unique in that she can swim underwater for a long time without coming up for air and on this wreck they steal lots of glass beads but she also rescues a boy. Seth is handsome and she hides him in a friends house.

The magistrates arrive on the island and arrest Miras father and friend, and Mira hires Seth to take her across the sea to find a secret left there by her mother. The problem is, not only is Seth not who he claims to be, but what Mira discovers not only changes her life, but puts her in danger.

I stayed up until 2am with one eye open to finish this. Too tired to keep both open. It is sooo good, i didnt want it to end at all and i really hope that there are more to come. It doesnt say there are, but its crying out to be a series. I really want to read more about Elijah and his secrets.

I am in my 50's, and this is not just a book for children or young adults, i strongly believe adults should read literature like this, its good for the soul!

Compass and Blade is a YA fantasy romance, set in and around the ocean. There’s love, boat adventure and betrayal. While it may have a lot of tropes and cliches to it, I honestly didn’t care. The vibes were great, thanks to a great cast of characters and my soft spot for stories about adventures on the high sea. The sailing and traveling around the seas were easily my favorite part of the book.

I also really liked Mira. Her motivations, her character and her actions all are understandable and likable. These are mostly shown and not told, which made Mira feel real. Her interactions and platonic relationships with the other characters were wonderful. It’s honestly a shame that we didn’t get more with them. Everyone, from her island friends to the pirate crew, had so much potential to be fleshed out into interesting characters in their own rights. Not to mention that the sailing and traveling around the seas were easily my favorite part of the book.

Something I didn’t like though was the romance. There’s supposed to be two love interests, but it honestly just feels like one. That guy sadly has less personality than even some cardboard cutouts. He’s made out to be this guy Mira has this deeper connection with, but I never quite understood what, besides his appearance and kisses, made Mira fancy him. The second guy definitely has more personality to him, but he sadly doesn’t get much space in this book.

So great adventure and vibes. It’s full of twists and turns, you never know who to trust. Overall a good cast of characters, but the romance left me disappointed.

The book starts off following wreckers luring ships onto rocks to break them and then plunder them. It's a fascinating crime and has been featured in shows like Poldark, and I was looking forward to a book that grappled with the society that grows up around that, the sort of people and reasons involved, and the brushes with the law involved.

That is not what this book is at all. It ends up being a magical boat adventure with disreputable boys who are too handsome for their own good. it just seems to entirely forget the wrecking part of the book, using it to simply set up Mira's motivation to save her dad. I did find that very disappointing and it felt like it wasn't utilising the change to be deeply morally grey.

This feeling of forgetting things reached items like the watch. They're the big villain in the opening, capturing Mira's dad, and then are out of the picture until the end. But they're supposed to be this big threat to root against at the end, to triumph over, but it felt rather hollow as there hasn't been time spent establishing these characters as dangerous on page (there is a reference to the captain clearing out another island, but it's all off page.) Instead, new characters unrelated to wrecking are brought in as threats.

In short, it feels like a two different books shoved together, with an opening that doesn't seem to match the rest and fails to set up threats that get faced, robing the book of a sense of triumph or completion

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Compass and Blade' by Rachel Greenlaw.

'Compass and Blade' is a beautifully written story featuring the sea and more drama than you'll probably see in a soap. From people being taken to a love interest who kinda sucks but has reasoning, Greenlaw really added in all common pirate/seafaring tropes and I'm all here for it. I loved all the characters and the woven in fantasy aspects which led to overall a great reading experience.

This was a fairly fast paced adventure book which was full of mysteries. It was a really quick read for me as I able to read it in just under two days.
I loved how this book sucked you in with its mystery element, it made me want to keep reading to find out what was happening.
The book follows Mira who is a wrecker for her village. It means that her and 6 others swim out to sinking ships to plunder the ships of their goods for their island Rosevear to help them survive.
After her father and village leader are taken to be hung for this, Mira ends up on a mission to try and free them. It takes her far beyond her small island village and soon she ends up on the Ship Phantom where she thinks they are helping her but soon learns you can’t trust anyone.
Mira soon learns the secret of her mother and why she is different to her friends. She also learns who she can trust and who she can’t.
I really enjoyed all the twists and turns that this book had and I’m looking forward to reading a book 2.

Thank you to Netgalley, the Author and the Publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book.
The pace is fast, full of adventures and mysteries.
Whilst the plot is quite common, the story was still catchy and you get attached to the characters quite fast.
I was left hungry for more and are really looking forward to book 2.

The format for the e-book isn't quite right, it skips to the next line half way through a sentence. Also chapters starting half way down pages and the C from chapter on the previous page


NETGALLEY ARC

"They say we are wreckers, that we take and plunder and kill. And maybe we are what they say. But we call it survival."

For fans of To Kill A Kingdom and The Daughter of the Pirate King with danger, betrayal, and adventure.


This was far too predictable while trying far too hard to pretend it wasn't. The clues were obvious but Mira was super naive , refusing to see what was right in front of her face which I felt frustrated by.

I didn't like or connect with any characters and I wished there would have been more depth to some of the characters and storyline to make the reader invested more.

It wasn't a bad read but I just feel it fell short and could have been so much more.