Quick, easy and engaging.

Grace Porter quartermaster of the Lady Luck, a pirate ship that is housing only females. They have many rules and one of the most important ones is: No men are allowed on board.
But that changes when Grace saves two boys from the Mordgris, the sea monsters who also stole her mother away. And they might just help her get her revenge, but for what price?

Over Raging Tides was a beautiful and lively pirate story, filled with adventure, romance and betrayal. I wanted to fall head over heels in love with this book but unfortunately the story was a little predictable at times, and I wasn't completely in love with the characters. To be honest I think this book was just a bit too young for me, and once I found out this was going to be a series I decided to give up on it. This is a case of its not the book its me... so sadly I will not be continuing on, but I'm sure fans of YA would love this one.

Lady pirates, mythical creatures, missing mothers, magical maps, and (potential) mutiny!

That sounds like a good combination of things, but this one wasn't working for me. I think part of the reason was that this feels like an somewhat early draft of a novella. I can appreciate a shorter book where we cut out pointless scenes, but I have a harder time appreciating books where the characters and the world-building fall flat because there just isn't enough time devoted to them. We never really get a sense of the world around them, outside of that there is a war going on, and we know there IS magic but nothing more beyond that. There's one species of mythical creature mentioned, and they are supposedly absolutely terrifying but for the first part of the book, I was trying to determine how they were any different from sharks. They are very different from sharks, and rightfully scary, but it was left too long without explaining what they were or why they were concerning.

I didn't connect with any of the characters, so they ended up being very forgettable. Most of the "lady pirates" hardly had any dialogue, which helped to squash my hope of an abundance of tight female friendships. Grace, Leo, and John were the best of the bunch, but even so, I didn't feel like we knew them very well. Grace gets the most characterization, as well she should, but she still has one mission in mind, and that's the main facet of her whole personality. Other than, arrrgh I'm a female pirate, fear me.

Speaking of, I respected that there was a only a bit of pirate speak, but I wasn't totally on board with the general vibe the lady pirates were giving off. It's talked about a couple times that what a good number of the gals were actually after was freedom, but I couldn't help but get the feeling that they really just think they're better than male sailors/pirates because they're female.

There was a plot twist near the end that was the only thing that actually sparked my interest, but it still wasn't enough to make me pick up the sequels.

This book was not for me. I did not particularly like it and ended up DNFing it thus won't be able to provide a detailed review.

Over Raging Tides by Jennifer Ellision was enjoyable. I love pirates-themed books but this one was missing something... It ended and nothing really happened. There was a quest but we never really got to it... I feel like it was more of an introduction to the second book which is kind weird to me. The characters were OK but I didn't really feel attached to any of them. Overall, enjoyable but incomplete for me. Thank you Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange of a honest review.

This was so far a very interesting read for me. LADY PIRATES!! How awesome is that?!!! Often times, we read stories of male pirates but this one is different. It is action packed, full of dark secrets and adventures. I love how different the characters are based on their personalities with several queer sidecharacters which is awesome. I think this novel really has a potential and I can’t wait for the next book!

lots of potential but it fell short for me. the writing and characters felt young and amateur. it didn't feel like a professional book, and in the end i think the cover was my favourite part.

I was absolutely drawn to this book because I am a complete sucker for any books involving pirates. Add in the fact that they are female pirates and I was so there. This book was a great, quick read but it sadly didnt absolutely blow me away. I will still recommend.

Such a good idea! Incredible characters. Great development. Kept me wanting to know more. Ah! It was just a goodie!

Female pirates?

Um, yes please!

I enjoyed this but I do feel like some of it was underdeveloped and could have been a lot better which I'm disappointed about.

Ahoy there me mateys! I received this fantasy eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

over raging tides (Jennifer Ellision)

Title: over raging tides

Author: Jennifer Ellision

Publisher: self-published

Publication Date: Available Now! (paperback/ebook)

ISBN: 978-1986148962

Source: NetGalley



When I saw the heading "A Lady Pirates Novel" well of course I had to check this one out.  A pirate ship crewed by all women?  Well, now that floats me boat.  Arrr!!  This be a fun and fast little romp.

This story follows Grace Porter, the first mate of the ship, Lady Luck.  She has been searching for a way to avenge her mother ever since her mother was stolen away by denizens of the deep.  So when rumors of a magic map reach the ears of the ship, the women go off in search of adventure and treasure.  Only Grace has a different use of said map in mind.

This be light and fluffy.  The main character, Grace, is fun but rather obstinate and seemingly thoughtless at times.  I did like all the crew but found all of them to be rather shallow in depth.  I also wanted a story of women having adventures without men involved.  But of course forbidden men are brought on board from the very first page and a very probable romance begins to develop.  I did manage to get over it and become involved in the story.

The plot had some rather interesting elements.  Who doesn't love fighting sea monsters, a female Code of Conduct written by and for the women, and a mysterious map?  Add in some diversity in terms of sexual identity that, while not the focus, was nice to see.  Those were the highlights.  The plot also had some predictable points including many of the romance elements, some political/class issues, and pretty much everything about the bad guys.  Seriously the crew should have spotted the bad apples from a mile away.  But most of all it just felt underdeveloped.

But I didn't really mind as it was exactly the type of readin' I was in the mood for.  I even enjoyed the cliffhanger ending which normally makes me crazy.  So overall I grant this be a positive experience and I do want to read the next book to find out what happens to Grace next!

Goodreads has this to say about the book:

The pirate crew of the Lady Luck lives by many rules, but chief among them is this: they do not allow men on board.

That’s a rule that quartermaster Grace Porter is willing to break when a shipwrecked young nobleman offers her information of an omniscient map, stolen from his warship by an enemy vessel. Until now, the map was only the stuff of legend… but with its help, Grace may finally be able to hunt down the Mordgris, the sea monsters who stole her mother away from her.

Unfortunately, some members of her crew have other plans...

To find the map and face the Mordgris, Grace will have to confront her past, put the Luck between warring nations, and uncover treachery aboard the ship. And ultimately, her revenge and the destruction of the Mordgris will come at a hefty price: the betrayal of her crew.

Grace promised them they wouldn’t regret this.

She just isn’t sure that she won’t.

To visit the author's website go to:

Jennifer Ellision - Author

To buy the book go to:

over raging tides - Book

To add to Goodreads go to:

Yer Ports for Plunder List

What drew me in was the cover and description. PIRATES? LADY PIRATES? COUNT ME IN! I read the book pretty quickly and loved that it was character driven. It's one of my favorite type of books. However, I did have some issues with it. The main being the writing and plot. I feel like it was lacking something but couldn't put my finger on it. It was a good book don't get me wrong I just wished the writing and plot was more cohesive. 3 stars!

2.5 Stars

I was so excited to pick this up because I've been wanting a book about a crew of lady pirates forever! Sadly this wasn't the lady pirate book for me; the majority of this book was lackluster after that stunning cover.

I don't even know how to beginning talking about all the ways this disappointed me; the writing was pretty basic, the plot was full of tropes and given away almost entirely by the synopsis, the world-building felt like an afterthought, the character motivations and choices weren't believable nor did the progression of relationships between characters feel organic. In fact we hardly saw any relationships between the lady pirates being developed, all the focus was on Grace and Leo...

There was casual mentions of Grace also being attracted to women but there was no evidence to support this other than Grace having said she had slept with women in previous ports.

This felt like the first third of a large volume, not a self contained story which requires its own book. There was nothing truly awful or offensive about this book, it just wasn't great.

Quick Summary:

This first book in the series follows a crew of lady pirates on the hunt for a magical map that will show them any treasure or location they desire. All the while they are being stalked by these dark and hungry creatures known as Mordgris. The same creatures who took our main characters mother years ago. Now determined to get her revenge Grace seeks the map for more than just its magical ability to locate treasure. Anything with lady pirates and Im immediately interested. Not to mention some creepy monsters.

My Thoughts:

I started out really liking our main character Grace, but I didnt like her decision towards the end or the way her captain reacted to it. As her first mate and step daughter I expected the captain to try a bit harder to help her. Theres some different ways our main character could have arrived at that place without making that decision. It also didnt make sense that Graces focus was on asking the map for the Mordgris location instead of her mothers. I did like the idea of Grace having two mothers. Her relationship with the captain could have been great, but it fell a bit short for me.

I also feel like Grace could have done a bit more digging after her crewmate Sams warning. We dont get to see as much female friendships as I was hoping. The only two girls she has any significant time with besides the captain are her rival Celia and Sam. I really liked Sam and would have loved more interaction between the two instead of all the time Grace spent with the new guy Leo. Theres a bit of a slow romance that develops, but not much comes of it before the end of the book. Not enough anyways to justify Leos decision to pick Grace over the brother he's suppose to love so much.

A pirate book with actual piracy. Not as common as you would think. It added some much needed excitement to the story. I was also intrigued by Celias subplot, but not much has come of it yet. The world had these fascinating sea creatures called the Mordgris who take the face of the people you love to lure in the water. Besides that we dont get much world building. I was able to predict most of the story, but I still found it entertaining. I have some questions and theories about those black eyes. The writing was pretty easy to read, but I think the story could have been a bit longer. Ill probably pick up the sequel to see if some of the stuff I mentionned gets resolved.

What made me pick this book up:
The cover caught my eye first.

What did I like about the cover:
It's a beautiful cover. The artwork is wonderful and the colors are perfect. I love the face in the water. I think it fits the book well.

What made me read this book:
I like pirates a lot. Honestly it was one of those I had a credit on audible what should I use it on? And then I saw this. It had been a long while since I read the description.

What did I like the most:
I always find it so interesting reading about pirates. They live so freely, but also so... dirty? I guess. Like when I imagine pirates I think they probably don't smell too good after living at the sea for God knows how long, no showers, and the fighting that they must do.

Anyway!

So I loved reading about pirates. It's one of my favorite things honestly.

The story is interesting. I feel like there wasn't as much to it as there could have been, but more on that later.

It's written really well, it did draw me in, but not as much as I'd like.

The characters are pretty great. I did really like Leo and his little brother. I enjoyed the interactions between Leo and Grace.
Grace is a good MC. She has a goal that she must hit no matter what happens. She wasn't annoying, and I think all in all she was a good MC.

The narrator was perfect I think. She read it well, had a great voice, and I loved her accent. I think it matched Grace really well.

I unfortunately don't have too much to say about this book. It was a good book, I enjoyed it. But I felt like there was so much more it could have been. I'll talk about that under what didn't I like.

What didn't I like:
I feel like the story was under developed. It all happened so quickly, that it was like wait what that's it? I was over half way done and I thought I was only a quarter of the way done.

I think this book had so much potential to be more than it was. Just a few changes, like making the book longer, giving more information, more action. Whatever it may be, could have just made the book that much more.

Like I said, I don't dislike this book, and I definitely think people should read it, but it just wasn't enough for me.

Instead of making it into a series, it might even have been able to made into a longer book. It just came out though, so I'm not sure how many books will be in the series.

I also feel like the Mordgris could have been written better. I was so very confused by them, and they were just too weird. It almost felt as if they didn't fit.

Would I read the rest of the series/more from this author?
I want to see what happens, so yes.




A quick read, great characters but not enough story development.

I picked this one up because of the cover, I've seen her work with other authors like Benedict Patrick and Jesse Teller - it's a very eye catching and stylistic cover.

I was also interested in reading about lady pirates! I don't get to see that very often so I jumped at the chance.

Unfortunately, I didn't like the characters as much as I thought I would. I went into this thinking it was a YA, and it sort of felt that way because the plot was very simplistic. I listened to it on audiobook actually, which was only about 6 hours long. The main character, Gracie, had decent development even though I didn't totally warm to her. Her motivations were clear, she had more personality than most, but the side characters needed some work.

I wanted a little more from the world building, when characters are out at sea I want to hear about the salt, the smells, the rickety boats, the seasickness - and there just wasn't too much of that in this one.

The tone was kind of all over the place as well, I was thinking it was a YA novel, but it talked about sex and other more adult topics so it felt confused. The plot and pacing felt very YA, but the content jumped around a bit.

A Lady Pirates series... count me in!

I enjoyed reading this book, it had great characters and an interesting story line I just wish it had been a bit longer. A lot of the plot and some characters felt under developed for me. No particular character stood out to me and this then made me struggle as I tend to enjoy books where you can bond with the main character.

A good read overall and will pick up the next book when it is released.

* received as an ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*

After finishing the book I’ve decided to give it 3 Stars. I feel like the idea was there, it just fell flat.. I wish it was longer so that the story could’ve grown more. Like I said everything was there to set up a great book, I could see with it being a little longer and more development in the story it would have been so much better!

I could not put this book down and I am so excited for the next one in the series.

This is a book with such strong lead female characters, everything about it makes you want to fall into their world and become them!

I was a little skeptical when the love interested was introduced but it has been handled in such a real way and doesn't distract from the book as I feel some love stories do.

If you love books with twists, badass females and a fascinating (if not a little complicated) narrative this is definitely a book you will enjoy,

I gave this book at 3 out of 5 stars. It wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t terrible either. The tone and the writing style align with the Young Adult genre. But there were moments when Grace swore or tried to make the women more sexual, that it fell flat to me. There were opportunities for character development of the satellite characters, but Ellision didn’t flesh them out enough for me to truly appreciate it.

I would have also liked a better timeline for everything to really ground myself into the story, it might be just me, but I cannot stand when I don’t know when things happened. How old is Grace? When did her mother die? How long have the other members been there? And while we are talking about other characters- if they are considered her family, why doesn’t she interact with them more?

You know a book's good when you reach the last page and go into a panic, because you need the rest NOW.

If you're looking for lady pirates, a magical quest, and facing unspeakable horrors of the seas, then this is the book for you. I love the worldbuilding of the Lady Luck, be it the articles of the ship with a new one listed at the start of each chapter, or the representation of f/f relationships, or the little snippets we get of the women's stories and what made them run away to be pirates. Gracie is an amazing main character and my new hero. The romance felt well-developed, and I was left rooting for them by the end. Plus the mordgris...where do I start? Suffice to say that there was a particular scene where they showed up that had me murmuring "NO" when I realised what was going on.

My only complaint? Too short! Though I didn't feel like I was being cheated with the length (well, other than that I want to find out how Gracie gets out of the mess she's been left in at the end of the book), and that was probably a good thing seeing as how I read this in one sitting.