Not only am I a fan of hate-to-love stories but this involves a f/f romance and I was instantly intrigued. It's been a while since I was this excited to read an arc, which I thank Netgalley for.

Eva and Lina weren't expecting to fall for each other when Lina takes her love, Thomas's place, as a sacrifice. But as they spend more time together and open up, it just starts to happen. I wanted more time with them together, connecting, but that is a personal preference. I always want more time with the love interests as they fall for each other.

One of my least favorite parts is Lina's "love" for Thomas, which sadly took away my excitement too often. I didn't understand her reasoning and it came off as more as admiration. Lina tries to prevent her brother from being taken, and Thomas is instead, but if Thomas would've been cut out completely and instead, she takes her brother's place, I would've felt more.

Overall, world-building and magic are explained well. Lina and Eva are likable, but as I said, if there was more time between them and them learning about one another, I think that excitement I had at the start would've stayed the entire time.

The spark that ignites in the first few pages continues through the story and the reader gets taken along a familiar but engaging fairy tale, with romantic twists and turns throughout the magic.

I really enjoyed the characters in this novel as well as the author's approach to gender fluidity in many character. Lina is strong and impulsive but also loving and protective. It was a love story that wasn't. The Dark Tide was an easy read, but I also felt like there were times when details had been glossed over and I really wish it hadn't felt so rushed. I liked the author's voice and her wordind but found myself adrift several times.

This was a nice read! The story was engaging all the way through and kept me flipping the pages no matter what. The characters were a little bland, but overall quite likable. It didn't stick out much to me, but I still cared enough to finish it. I would definitely pick up more by this author in the future!

I was so incredibly excited to pick up this book, because of ( my friends mainly, I must admit. ) I've heard mixed feelings about this book and wanted to chip into the reviews.

I feel that it was incredibly hard for me to connect with the characters, which disappointed me a bit. I usually feel that when reading a book, I like to root and resonate with the protagonists of the book, so I can relate to them, and wish the best for them in their journey. It's what makes the plot interesting because you deeply care for the characters and don't want any problems to go their way. To be honest, Linda's decisions threw me off more than a few times, and if this was meant to be a character flaw, I feel that I don't connect with her the same way I would have wished to.

The writing style was very calming, I felt relaxed by the atmospheric feel of the book. While I wouldn't say this book has the best style, it was lyrical and poetic. I feel like it deeply suited the myth and fairytale vibe the book was going for, but it was easy enough to understand yet still enriched the plot and scenes in the book.

I liked the world-building, I liked that we learned the source or magic, and different ways to use the magic. There weren't many plot-holes ( at least none that I caught.) The culture, methods of magic, reasons for problems, However, the mainland wasn't explained in-depth, but at least the reason for the conflict is explained.

This book includes witches and female to female romance, so if that's your kinda thing, then this book might suit you!

I was intrigued by the premise of this book, but ultimately it fell a little flat for me because I wanted more detailed world-building and complex character development. I would recommend it for fans of THORN by Anna Burke.

I was expecting a lot from this book (definitely one of my more hyped debuts of 2020), and it honestly met all those expectations.

The writing, while not quite up there with my favorites, was just lyrical enough to carry the fairytale/myth style of this story well. It was also still practical and simple enough to generally understand what was going on, even in fight/action scenes. It definitely, when combined with the story itself, made some scenes hit quite hard, and I loved the style it gave to the book as a whole.

The setting/island is also wonderful, and there's so much left still in this world to discover. The dynamic of witches and normal residents of the island was interesting, as both seemed to need the other while not actually liking the other all that much. The way the mainland existed in the story as well left a lot to be explained while still providing a strong reason for all these people staying on an island intent to drown them, meaning there weren't that many holes for the world building. Additionally, the magic system was also fascinating while also just making sense. There wasn't just one way of using magic, and instead the methods were a mix of all the cultures that had fled to the island (almost like a shared language can come out of many groups being forced together, there were still distinct traits from each original magic tradition but it all started to blend together well).

I also just loved the characters/romance/relationships in this novel. All felt full and intriguing, whether it be familial or romantic. The main focus was on Eva and Lina, of course, and while I loved where their paths led them and how they dealt with each other, the dynamic between Eva and Marcin or Natalia as well as between Lina and Finley were deep too. It wasn't just a flat sibling or friend relationship, all of them had variation. Lina didn't purely love Finley, her brother, or hate him, but almost both at the same time, and it felt authentic and reminiscent of real life frustrations and emotions with siblings. The same can be said of Eva and her relationship to her (now dead) sister Eva, and her long time friend Marcin. All of this just strengthened the overall story, as it is these relationships that motivate the characters.

All in all, definitely put this book on your tbr and preorder it! It hits all the boxes: witches, f/f romance, strong sibling relationships, etc.!

Loved it. Loved the f/f characters and omg adored that amazing book cover. Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review*

The Dark Tide is one of those books that you get lost in and you find that you stayed up all night to finish it. I love how you had the point of view of Lina and Eva it really connected you to each character.

I really loved the writing and story of this one! Wonderful dialogue and world building. The one thing I didn’t like was the romance. It was strange that this girl went through going to save this boy she loved from the sea witch but then her emotions flip around so quickly. I think it would’ve worked better if maybe a brother or friend had gotten kidnapped so it wouldn’t seem like the lead character was fickle with her emotions. However, I really liked the ending on this one!

Not for nothing, I would read this book again for the cover alone. I wonder, however, if that would be the only reason.

**3.5**

For a book about drowning it’s not lost on me that all I wanted was for it to slow down and have more time to breathe.

“The Dark Tide” sees a city sinking beneath the waves slowed only by a ritual which calls on a local boy to be stolen by the Queen and sacrificed to the sea but this year Lina refuses to lose the boy she loves and bargains her life for his and is desperate to save her city and her life before it’s too late.

This book starts strong it has this great dynamic set up between the siblings and throws you into the middle of this tradition that sees the townsfolk willingly attending a revel and playing with magic despite the risk of being chose by the witch queen and I loved every second. The entire atmosphere was filled with chaos and illusion that threw me into the book so fast I couldn’t stop only to realize that was the set pace for the novel and made myself put it down because I could no longer keep up.

This book tries to do a lot and though it may be mentioned I can’t recall how long Lina was to stay with the queen before the sacrifice and though part of me wants to say a month the way the plot was presented makes it feel like a few days if not hours which made it harder for me to buy into the changes in the dynamic between Eva and Lina. there is so much here from Eva’s history and the tragedy of her sister and the bitter hatred she has for Thomas and ultimately Lina when she takes his place and the pull for Lina to find a way out without betraying her homeland was everything I wanted and I never felt like we had the time to explore it all.

Changes were made quickly and the plot shuffled forward without so much as glance back that I had a hard time keeping track of those in Eva’s circle and their importance to her that when it was time for the climax it didn’t have any sort of emotional weight that I felt it was supposed to to the point that I thought it was going to go in a completely different direction, which arguably it did but without spoilers it’s hard to comment on why that seemed out of place rather than perfectly placed foreshadowing as I expect it was meant to.

This one is kind of a bummer honestly because I feel like it had everything I so desperately wanted to love but instead it knew it had to get from point A to point B without the freedom to explore the journey which would have made their entire relationship and dynamic hit differently.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

We finally have a Beauty and Beast retelling that is f/f!! I. Loved this, both of the characters are great and the cover is so pretty!