Sirens, pirates and vampires and biting? Sign me up!!
This is great for all fans of morally grey characters, grumpyxsunshine, forced proximity and string female characters.
I devoured this read in one sitting.

I’ve been a big fan of Katee’s writing for a while but the first book in this series I wasn’t that fussed with, so I went into this one a little dubious but I was so wrong, the storytelling was immaculate and the spice (as always) was jaw dropping at times!!

My only issue was the writing was slow in parts, filled with info we the readers didn’t really need to know and that’s why I rate this a 4 star read.

I requested this book because it contained some of my favorite things: pirates, selkies, vampires, and revenge. I thought this was going to be a silly and smutty sapphic read where I could put my brain on low power and just have a good time. Jokes on me because REALLY it's about the brutal colonization by a totalitarian world government and the violence committed against innocent people who are supposed to be protected under that government. Oh and also rebellion.

Maybe if I read the first book I'd know that already. Don't come for me about that, I'm a PhD researcher and I can only read so many books!

That being said, I devoured this book. It was fun to read, thought provoking, and incredibly sexy. I am actually not really a person who cares for sex in books. It's fine, it doesn't put me off, but it doesn't add all that much for me. This book? CHANGES THAT FOR ME COMPLETELY. I have read some of KR's Dark Olympus series and never connected with sex scenes the way I did in Blood on the Tides. It might have been the fact that this time it was sapphic and that was unique enough to make an impression or it could have been the characters involved, but dang. This is a sexy book.

KR's characterization is off the charts. Every character introduced, even the villains, are compelling and diverse-- and the diversity doesn't feel like virtue signaling. Instead, it feels like the world is as varied and resplendent as our reality. I'm a non-binary person who uses they/them pronouns and there were *several* non-binary characters just existing in this world. One even used neo-pronouns with no explanation. I got such a thrill from that!

KR's worldbuilding feels like a little kid playing in a sandbox, and I mean that as a huge compliment. There is a freedom and joy in the wealth of magic and fantastical creatures and people within Threshold. There is no sense of limitation which means anything can happen, truly anything.

I read with the intent to analyze and draw inspiration for my thesis and KR has given me a lot to think about as far as rebellion and decolonization are concerned. There is a difference between being in a position of power within a rebellion and being a person on the ground who the rebellion directly impacts whether or not you participate and this book shows the reader what it's like to be on that ground level and still be devoted despite your own limited power. I'm looking forward to including Crimson Sails in my thesis!

Sapphic fantasy romance with both fun and feels.

Lizzie is a vampire who ended up in Threshold when trying to chase her thieving ex-girlfriend. Still trying to track down the jewels that were taken, she teams up with Maeve - a selkie whose pelt has been stolen.

This is the second book in Crimson Sails, a pirate fantasy romance series. Lizzie appears in book 1, which also contains a lot of the setup for the rebellion Maeve is part of. But because this series is mostly fantasy vibes rather than a super formal world setup I'd say you can read this standalone (you just might not get as many references).

This was one of my most anticipated releases this year (I was always going to be sold at fantasy romance, vampire, sapphic and Katee Robert). With such high expectations I was nervous going in, but it DID NOT disappoint. I love Lizzie and Maeve so much, both individually and together. Honestly I just couldn't stop smiling while reading.

With both main characters hunting down items stolen by an ex-lover, there were clearly a few trust issues going on. And there was also a big theme of loyalty to a cause (the rebellion). The build up of feelings from the initial mutual lust was done beautifully.

Of course, being a Katee Robert book, the spice was top tier. Beautifully written scenes, and very creative use of blood magic...

This is not a book to read if you have a phobia of the ocean, but I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a fun and steamy sapphic romance with pirate and fantasy vibes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free copy. All thoughts are my own.

I love Katee Robert's so I was so excited to read this! I loved Lizzie's character and found myself really rooting for her.

An ok sapphic pirate romantasy, this just felt quite meh, there wasn’t a lot of plot, the characters didn’t have a ton of chemistry and it didn’t need to be as long as it was..

This book was brilliant and had me hooked throughout.

I love Lizzie and everything that she is, how cold and brutal she can be with her emotions. However, what I will say the moment that made me love this book was the image I got in my head of Maeve during a fight, running around like captain Jack with his jar of dirt leaving lizzie to fight them off like Will Taylor 😅.

Action packed, not just the usual one fight and call it a book, I am extremely grateful I was able to pick this book up as an ARC!

Will look forward to keep up with Lizzie in the future.

Blood on the Tide is the second instalment in the Crimson Sails series, and it picks up not too long after the first novel, Hunt on Dark Waters ended. We have a switch in perspectives for this one, and instead of following the point of view of Evelyn and Bowen, our protagonists from the first novel, we follow Lizzie, Evelyn’s cold hearted murderous ex who tormented her for much of the first book.

It’s a shock to me that I read this as I was on the fence about continuing this series, considering my strong dislike and issues with the first book. I thought the plot, pacing and world building were all messy. However, this book seemed to pay heed to my criticisms and course corrected. I found the characters much more bearable, interesting and better written. The plot felt better paced and didn’t give me as much of a headache as the first one did with all that dang whiplash I was getting.

Now don’t get me wrong, this one wasn’t perfect and I’ve rounded up I think from a 3.75, but this was much better. I still think the plot moved in some places felt weird, especially in between jumping between the narratives. We would often get a character be adamant they wouldn’t do one thing in their POV chapter, only to do it in the next that conveniently wasn’t in their perspective. So, we never got to see what changed in between the space of a page. This wasn’t a massive problem, but like I said, it just felt very convenient and like Roberts was taking the easy way out to move along the story rather than spending time with the characters.

I really liked Lizzie and Maeve and thought they had great chemistry. I in particular really liked Lizzie, which is funny because I don’t really remember liking her much in the first book, but I really enjoyed the complexity of her character.

I couldn’t say this with confidence at the end of the first book, but I can see it here — I will be looking forward to the third and seeing more of the rebellion plot be carried out (get on with it already Jesus!!) and I’m interested to see who we are following next although my guess is on Siobhan (which I’m happy about, if I’m right).

I rated this three stars because, whilst the plot and the characters were ok, there was something lacking. At some points, the plot felt a little rushed, mainly so that it could get back to the main characters and their complicated feelings for each other. There is a lot of action going on alongside the romance, I feel like that would've built up more of the tension that I felt was missing at times. As it is, I know there are plenty of people who will enjoy this book, but it just didn't hit the spot for me.

I read this as a stand alone