I just finished this book a few days ago and was really excited to read it after having it on my “want to read” Goodreads shelf. I was expecting the story to be epic, adventurous, romantic, and somewhat female empowering since this IS a pirate based story, starring a female pirate as the main character. However I didn’t get that. The story development wasn’t really good with the plot and characters since there were some scenes in the plot I felt were dragging and pointless and the character development didn’t really seem to suit who they were. For example, the love interest Riden was introduced as charming and cocky and after awhile the charms were somewhat there but the cockiness was gone after two chapters. Cockiness is who he was supposed to be as a person (and perhaps with a bit of stubbornness) but that quickly changed as soon as he met Alosa where there wasn’t really a development in his change. And the main character, Alosa gave me a pick me girl pirate vibe who didn’t really appear realistic as a character. Just a wanna be. And the scene where Alosa gets tied up and hung up on the boat for the whole crew to see while the rope was painfully cutting into her wrist, I didn’t understand the significance. Was it to show how strong she is as a character as well as maybe determined? Or just an excuse for Riden to save her and have a moment with her while he tends to her wounds? The start of the story was great and the goal is ideal, but I think the plot needs to change to make it more adventurous, action-packed, romantic, and even female empowering like the author intended. I don’t know that’s just my take. Usually I sticky tap certain quotes in all my books and this is the first book where nothing stuck out for me to put a single sticky tab on.
Perhaps I’m missing something which is why I’m asking what y’all think for those who read it. Is the second series (Daughter of the Siren Queen) good enough to consider reading? Because I didn’t like Colleen Hoovers’ “It Ends With Us” but absolutely loved the second book, “It Starts With Us.”
by Blossoming_tulip99