This is an ARC from NetGalley. This book has so much promise. I enjoyed the aspects of adventure on the high seas and a badass female character. Too bad all that ended in the first 50 pages. The plot of this book just did not exist; girl finds out her true family is not who she thought, get chased around the countryside, out of the blue romance , random Werewolves for 5 pages that got no backstory or development, found family, Vampires, again that got no backstory or development for 20 pages, family is evil, girl defeats family, the end. It felt like this would have been the introduction to a much longer story. Everyone needed much more character development and the story needed more space to breathe and engage the reader. #netgalley # thevengeance #vampires #werewolves #pirates

The premise of this book is definitely what drew me to it the most! And I feel that the premise was definitely true to the book.

I loved Morgane, and I loved following her story. The world building and imagery were also done beautifully!

Unfortunately the book felt a bit slow at the beginning, and then everything happened towards the end of the book. I felt that it definitely could’ve flowed a bit better. I will say that once it picked up, I couldn’t stop reading but I did struggle with the start of the book.

This book is a solid 3-star read for me. There were things I really enjoyed about it, and things I felt could have been explored a little better.

Let’s start with my likes! This book is like if Pirates of the Caribbean had a baby with Underworld, and it was set in a cozy fantasy world. It’s decidedly not cozy fantasy, but there are some elements of it. The pirates and vampires are self-explanatory, if you are aware of the plot of this book.

Overall, the story is interesting, and despite any issues I may have had with this book, I wanted to keep reading to find out how everything ended. It was worth the read, and I would recommend this book to my pirate-and-vampire-loving friends. I don’t think I’ve read anything similar to this book, at least, not in regards to the pirate involvement. I definitely have seen the dichotomy between vampires and other supernatural creatures, but adding piracy into the mix was a nice change of pace.

A few things to note - 1.) The pirate talk/language is a little over the top and hard to move beyond, especially in the beginning. I know why the author does it - to immerse you in their world - but it’s a lot, right off the bat, and in some areas feels forced. However, it’s easy to move beyond it, so I don’t let it hold you back from reading. Some things were funny, some things leant to the ambiance, other things were a little “cringe,” but just keep reading beyond that. 2.) This is, ostensibly, a book about vampires, but they aren’t introduced until almost the end of the book. There’s a lot of buildup to that point, and you kind of suspect, but I knew that there were supposed to be vampires, and was waiting to get to them the whole time. I felt as though there could have/should have been more of them, sprinkled through out. While they aren’t specifically discussed as such, the werewolves were introduced, prior to the vampires. 3.) The ending was super intense, and with all the build up, almost felt rushed. The vampires are only in the last 10% of the book, but I wanted more time with them, prior to the book ending. 4.) There was A LOT OF BUILD UP, and traveling, and developing of relationships and the world. However, the most intensely anticipated part of the book happens and is over in the blink of an eye. I’d like to see more balance between the parts of the story.

It does look like, from my review, that I had more issues with this book than things I liked, however, the majority of many of my points of feedback are due to me wanting MORE. I wanted more details, more vampires, more of certain aspects, so it comes from a positive place.

I’m sure this will be caught in the editing stage, but some of the names changed. Particularly, Lavois, who started as Valois. It didn’t change anything for me, and was actually really neat to see it in the uncorrected ebook. I felt like it was a peek behind the curtain!

This book was fine! I genuinely believed it needed a good alpha reader or something to go through and say "she needs to confirm with someone that that's really her dad" or just hold the main character's hand a little because she made a lot of questionable decisions that kind of burned the plot for me.

Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers over at Solaris for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Vengeance was sold to me as The Vampires of Dumas. As someone who was surprised by how much they liked The Count of Monte Cristo, I was all in immediately. In this one, we follow Morgane who grew up on the sea as the daughter of a pirate captain. But her world is turned upside down when her mother is shot and gives Morgane a deathbed confession: she's not really Morgane's mother, she's the aunt who stole her when she was a baby. Morgane is given the choice to either stay on the ship with a new captain or set out to find her real mother. Once on the road in France, Morgane comes to realize that something's just not right. The Vengeance comes out on May 6th and is available for preorder now.

As someone who read and enjoyed The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh, I'm not going to complain about the vampires not being present for the majority of the novel. I know that this author is setting up a series and that there are bound to be more vampires. What I will say, however, is that this book felt so aimless. Or maybe it's just that it bounced from action scene to action scene with little in the way of character development. From the second that Morgane steps off the dock in France, there is nothing but a constant struggle to stay out of someone else's clutches. People lie to her over and over and she just seems to fall for it every time. She's supposed to be someone who was raised around pirates but falls for anything and everything other people put in front of her. She gets kidnapped like three times. It's so dumb. I wish we had taken the time to have fewer action sequences and more time developing the characters and their desires. When the romance hit I was kind of shocked. Not because I didn't like the couple together. It just felt like it came out of nowhere. Where were these feelings in the first half of the novel? I feel like I don't know these characters or their motivations at all.

When we did get to the vampire stuff, I enjoyed it. I wish there had been more of it, but I liked the way the vampire lore worked and I'd love to see even more of that in the future. Maybe with Morgane and her girlfriend hunting vampires? I think this author can do better with longer stories so I think the foundation is there for this as a series. This feels like it could be a good place for people who enjoy historical novels to dip their toes into fantasy. I think that's really going to be the target audience for this one.

It says a lot about an author's talent when you pick up a book you just can't stop reading; when you really care about all the characters; and when you feel like the book added to the way you see the world after you finished reading it.
This is a very well rounded standalone, but as usual, when it comes to Emma Newman, you always hope for more books with the same lovely and interesting characters and well constructed story world.

OK, so I did enjoy the book - but also feel a little mislead by the marketing.

The characters are wonderful, and often corny (almost starting to verge into cosy fantasy). Which I am here for. But the supernatural element was lacking - for a series called the Vampires of Dumas (which kind of spoilt any kind of twist the ending may have been), the vampires only feature at the end.. And it's after 60% through that any kind of supernatural thing happens (fleetingly).

It's also marketed as Adult, but I think it may lean more towards YA in how it reads. The pacing is FAST. Which again I am here for lately, but we have very little time to process things before galavanting off past that plot point. Some things do circle back which I liked, but I do wish we had seen more of certain characters and interactions. Morgane also just sailed through fights which diminished the action and tension any conflict had.

I'm interested how this series progresses, especially as this ties up nicely as a standalone.

<i><B>Thank you to Netgalley and Solaris for the arc, in exchange for an honest review.</b></i>

The premise of the book is great, pirates yes please.
I think the book is more aimed at Pre teen and for that reason I struggled.

Thanks to Netgalley and Rebellion for this eArc in exchange for a review.

I have really mixed thoughts on this one. Loved the premise, though the execution fell short. Actually really liked Morgane as a character, although I couldn't tell at times how old she was meant to be. She came across as about 10 at times.

As a book sold as a sapphic pirate book with vampires, there was no hint of fantasy until 64% with a pretty random werewolf appearance. The romance again, came from nowhere at 73% and 90% found the vampires.

Wish I could say I liked it more than I did, but I can't. Sorry.

The Vengeance is a book that has excellent plot but suffers a bit with pacing. Morgane is a pirate, kidnapped by a family member at birth who thrives in her life at sea until a mystery draws her back to France. I loved the side characters in this book and wish there had been more time spent on them-I think this is a book that actually would have done well being longer with more lore than shorter. Overall it’s still a satisfying read, more for those looking for an adventurous book than a fantasy/paranormal book. Thanks to the author and Solaris Books for this ARC!

The Vengeance was awesome in the beginning but I didn’t enjoy the entirety of it.

Absolutely loved all the pirate ship stuff. It made me wish it were more of a pirate tale I guess.

The vampire coming in late in the book just didn’t make sense to me either. Besides the beginning and the end of the book. It was the middle of it that just felt boring.

I will say Morgan, although she is dumb and too trusting I’m glad to see this author have a flawed character in the book. You do not see these kind of characters that much anymore.

Thank you for this arc. I think this has a lot of potential and the writing is great don’t get me wrong. It just felt dragged on to keep the story longer.

I actually finished this book about 3 months back, but I struggle with reviews if I DNF or if I just don't gel with it as I understand how much soul goes into the creating.
Sadly for me the fact that I was way, way, into the book before we got so much as a whiff of the vampires suggested with 'the vampires of dumas' really let the overall down, I wanted pirates and vampires and while I got the pirates to begin with they were soon left behind. I know there will be readers out there who will love this, the ships, fights, and period descriptions are well researched and well written, but to call this a book about pirates/vampires, I feel, is misleading so it's only a 3 from me.

Vengeance by Emma Newman!


This young adult novel brings you an adventure of a young woman on the search for answers involving her family. 

This adventure (without plot spoilers) has a mix of it all!


•fun new cussing expression (read it to find out what!)

•an illiterate 

•Pirates

•Kidnapping/attempted kidnapping

•Royal balls 

•Murder 

•Feminists 

•a character who's never used a fork before 


I would not recommend this for an adults enjoyment, but for a pre-teen or young teen this is a great read. It's written with juvenile humor. Something that really added to the story and characters interactions. Adult themes that could add to the story lack adult commentart making it a better read for a younger crowd! 


There are brief mentions of sexual acts and the word rape is used maybe 3 times. But the act it's self is not described. And they are in past history discussed conversationally. I think it's important to note this as a possible trigger. 

Some chapters could be used for educational purposes as well.

This book moves quickly with a death before chapter 3.  And doesn't stop until the book ends!

I absolutely adore the premises of this book. There is a lot of potential for a good story, and I am saying I enjoyed reading it but unfortunately I did feel like it was lacking a bit.

I feel like this book only scratced the surface of everything. It was lacking depth in many aspects, and I was just left wanting more. The synopsis was sightly perhaps misleading since it was marketed as having vampires. And yeah there are some... like after 90% of the book. I just felt like there was too much going on in the end which just made it somewhat confusing.

That said I did like the characters, especially the main character. The world building was nice and relatively easy to follow. I also enjoyed that it was fast paced! The adventure parts were definitely interesting!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy! All thoughts are my own.

An adventure historical fantasy filled with lots of travel, mystery, sapphic main pairing, and sword fights.

DNF at 50%

I am not sure how I feel about this one.
The writing on a prose level is exactly what I want from a YA fantasy - it's voicy and not overly dressed up, allowing a reader to enter that lovely space where you forget you're reading, and feel more like you're being told a story.
However, I'm very unforgiving of pacing, and poor pacing is one of my main reason for DNFing books. The start of this story is, for me, too slow and the mystery around Morgane's mother was not enough to keep me going. It takes until around 40% in for Morgane to get to France, and then we spend pages upon pages running around as different groups of people try to kidnap her in a series of scenes that feel more at place in scooby doo than in a YA fantasy book.
The pacing also suffers due to too much internality from Morgane. Internality, especially in YA, is vital; however, having paragraphs of reflection mid-scene breaks up the flow of the moment, and honestly, sometimes there isn't that much for Morgane to be thinking about, so she repeats things we've already spent ages agonising over.
My final quibble is not insignificant, but I was willing to let it slide given I was enjoying the voice. I cannot figure out why Anne-Marie told Morgane she wasn't her real mother. I get it - she's dying, but she uses her dying moments to tell her adopted child 'I'm not your mother, your real mother is a monster, don't go looking for her.' but if she hadn't said anything, Morgane wouldn't have known there was anyone to go looking for? The narrative tries to grapple with this, but at least insofar as I got, only handwaves it away as a 'oh she was dying and it was a big secret to keep.' For me, this doesn't hold water.
(also, I get it. She was raised on a pirate ship and doesn't know how to act like a lady. Point made x10000)

This was a delightful adventure story about a young woman discovering herself on her quest to find her parents and revenge. It was fun to read Morgane's culture shock while travelling through historical France and being baffled by the inequality inherent to that society as opposed to her more egalitarian childhood aboard a pirate ship. I can't wait to read about what happens next for these characters.

Hmm, I was really looking forward to this, Vampires and Pirates? Yes please! Except there is a very distinct lack of vampires, pretty much a footnote at the end actually that was wrapped up way way too simply. This was more just a romance, which was fine and quite lovely at times. The swashbuckling start was enjoyable but over quickly and the extent of the promised pirates. It just sadly disappointed on the two aspects I was excited to read this for. I might of enjoyed it more if I wasn't constantly waiting for the supernatural elements to appear.
Thanks to Netgalley and Rebellion for the arc, all thoughts are my own and left voluntarily.

The idea of this book sounded really good, but I got bored at 27% and had to DNF.

It started well, but the FMC quickly became an idiot and I lost interest.

This book, sadly, was not for me. I ended up dnfing this book at about 75%. The book has “vampires” in the series name but I saw no signs of any vampires at the 75% mark… I was really excited for this book and I thought it had a lot of potential but it should not take that long into a book for something like that to play out.
The beginning was really fun. I enjoyed the pirate part and the initial part when she got to France and couldn’t tell who to trust. But from there I feel like it kind of fell apart… the story was really slow and I felt like her dad was a really weird character with pretty much only saying 4 words to his daughter (that he just met) and then disappearing???
Idk I just needed a lot more dark and vampire vibes (like even any subtle hinting throughout the book would’ve been nice) and more from the characters.
I’m really bummed I didn’t enjoy this one :(