Avalina Jones has a fairly boring life in The House of the Forgotten, an orphanage for girls. Well...except for the fact that she can stay underwater far longer than anyone else and water seems to behave strangely around her. And there are the hints that Miss Ward, the owner of La Maison des Oublies, can't seem to finish uttering. Avalina thinks life will go on this way indefinitely, but then Scarlet Read shows up and kidnaps her. Things happen very quickly after that - her education as a Pirate Heir begins aboard a floating schoolship along with other heirs. Classes in knot tying, map reading, and other essential skills fill much of their time. When they are not in class the students explore the ship, learn about new foods such as "Plankton Pizza [that] had glowing green algaeroni that swam around in the cheese," or playing "Water Wars, a popular but sloppy board game." Avie makes friends, but rumors of a curse on the ancestors of Davy Jones also earn her enemies - and someone is out to sabotage her standing on the ship and get rid of her. Can she and her friends find out what is really going on and reveal the villain in time?

Readers who enjoy stories like Harry Potter with a magical school setting, loyal friends, family secrets, mysterious enemies, missing treasures, and even a cranky cat, will want to give Avalina Jones a try. This first adventure has a satisfying conclusion, but still leaves plenty of territory to cover in future titles.

I really enjoyed this book . The book was written beautifully. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good middle grade story as well as children who love to read .

Avalina grew up in an orphanage, but starts to develop weird gifts after her 10th birthday. She does not belong on land, but on the sea! 🌊🌊

This book was basically Harry Potter, but make it pirates. ☠️
I found SO many similarities, it was madness. 😅

But, that did not make it any less fun! 🤩
It is very adventurous, there are mysteries to be solved, secrets to uncover! 🤯
Totally my kind of middle-grade book. 😁

The only surprising thing, is that it took me SO long to read. 🧐
I think it might have been just too long. It eventually became somewhat of a drag to pick back up. 😅

But I would still recommend it, though! 💙 Let's hope the next one will be just as good. 😍

trigger warning
<spoiler> frequent mention of abduction/kidnapping, being orphaned, animal death, grief </spoiler>

Avalina Jones knows she is special, but is reluctant to hide this from her fellow orphans in the orphanage, though the headmistress tells her she really should. Then, one night, she is taken - abducted - brought to a magical school for pirates!

Especially in the beginning, this felt a lot like Harry Potter. Our protagonist is taken by a kind adult to a mysterious school that has a certain magical aspect to it, and is sorted into one of four houses. There is one arch-enemy nobody from her house likes. Pupils compete on who can gain the most house points, only since they're pirates, it's coins.

I had some problems with this, but they both boil down to me not being in the mood - I kept thinking about real life pirates and how their deeds are cutified in this novel, but I can hardly fault a middlegrade pirate book for not talk about certain things - and me having read tons of books about magical schools, because that's a trope I usually really like.
I think that if you were in the target audience, you'd love this. Heck, I would have gobbled this up in my early reading years.

The author is very creative in all the small details. Weird signs on board of the school ship, the food they eat if they manage to trick it, things learned in lessons.

I am not very interested in reading the rest of the series, hoewever I would love to come to this author in a few years and see where she has been going with her writing.
The arc was provided by the publisher.

in my opinion this is the perfect for middle school children that are keen to read about pirates, fantasy and adventure. Avalina Jones, a 10 year old orphan, leaves her life behind when she learns of a mysterious threat. She follows a woman to a wonderous new life of magic and piracy. Learning new skills and meeting new people, she begins to learn where her true home is. when things begin to go wrong for Avalina it is blamed upon a curse. She must work her hardest to overcome her setbacks and find the treasure! I found this book exciting with wonderfully creative writing. Lori Adams really brought her novel to life with imaginative scenes that make the novel really swallow you whole until you are immersed in the thrill of the pirate heirs. While pirate adventures is a common topic within middle school reading, Adams provides some unique twists and insights that keep the story intriguing and engaging.
thank you netgalley for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book!

What worked:
Avalina’s been living in an orphanage since the age of four but later discovers she’s the daughter of magical pirates. Both parents have died, and now Avalina is retrieved and taken into the world of pirate Heirs. Magical pirates may sound strange, but their world is similar to most stories with unusual and amazing events and characters. The pirates don’t go around casting spells, although some have unique abilities, life on the pirate ship school is full of magic. Below the deck, readers will find a world of caves, beaches, and classrooms that are magically enhanced to reflect the mood and needs of the ship. The setting underneath the ship’s deck is clearly larger than the size of the ship itself.
Avalina lived most of her life as a Landlubber, so she’s not readily accepted by many of the other pirate students and Heirs. Plus, she may, or may not, have the family curse, and she’s rejected by the bullying Renegades, the house of pirates she was assigned to. Luckily, she’s accepted by her new friends in the Buccaneers. She has a natural connection to water (she can breathe underwater), so she wonders if it might be evidence of the curse. In addition, the ghost of a treacherous, dead pirate captain has sworn to kill every last relative of Davy Jones, and Avalina is the last one still living. The threat of his attack looms throughout the entire book.
Rather than writing two separate books, the author divided the book into two parts. The first half deals with Avalina’s efforts to graduate from Pog to Shellback, and problems and characters complicate things for her. She’s blamed for everything that goes wrong due to thoughts about her curse, and she’s charged with a serious crime that could expel her from living among the pirate Heirs. Avalina recognizes one teacher is not as nice as she seems, and this teacher seems out to get Avalina. She’s the one who accuses Avalina of the crime. The second half of the book sees the crew in a contest with three other pirate ship schools to decode a treasure map and retrieve the long-lost booty. Avalina is a key member of a select group trying to figure out the clues, even though the prejudices against her continue. Mysteries thrive as the plot progresses, and several surprises spring up as the events near their climax.
What didn’t work as well:
The Renegades are presented as antagonists in Avalina’s life, but they come off as more annoying than actual threats. They tease her whenever possible, and some skirmishes arise during the course of events. They especially enjoy when the teacher mentioned earlier punishes Avalina, usually unfairly. The Renegades aren’t as evil as they could have been, but maybe that’s due to a pirate code of loyalty. Treating other pirates dishonorably is something most of the characters avoid, lest they be kicked off the ship.
The final verdict:
Magical adventure on the high seas! The story can be compared to other books where characters discover an unknown world of magic or fantasy. The addition of pirates creates some interesting and unique twists, and the story feels fresh despite its similarities to other middle-grade books. Overall, lovers of speculative fiction will enjoy this book and will anxiously yearn for the sequel once it's published.

Fun middle grade read, great character and a fun, action packed adventure story. Will be gifting many copies next year to the younger readers in our family.

Avalina Jones and the Eye of the Storm is a fun and exciting read. I would highly recommend it for Middle to High School readers! It would even be an exciting read-to-them story for upper elementary.

Avalina is an orphan that knows there is something special about her. When she discovers her pasr and her heritage, a fantastical adventure begins. With loyal friends, fascinating classes, and a court case mystery too, there is something for everyone here.

Adventure awaits on the high seas. Avalina Jones has spent the first part of her life protected within the walls of the orphanage. But, the headmistress knows her secret and shares it with Avalina when strange occurrences begin to take place. Water snakes follow her and she can breathe underwater. Danger creeps closer and Avalina must leave the orphanage to embrace her destiny as the heir of Davy Jones. She is taken to a special school, just for pirate heirs. Unfortunately, there is a curse on the Jones Heirs and Avalina could become its next victim. There are treasure hunts, lessons to be learned and lives to be saved.



This book was the perfect middle grade action filled adventure. It kept me intrigued from the start. There were a few moments at the very beginning that were a little slow, bogged down with backstory, but it did help to build the colorful and creative pirate world. Once the pace picks up, the prose flows with lots of descriptive imagery that paints a picture of the magical pirate world Avalina finds herself immersed in. Avalina is a fantastic character. She is bold and brash, a bit of a troublemaker at times, but she is also compassionate and curious. She has an amazing blend of character traits that young readers will connect with and aspire to be. She stands up for what is right and isn't afraid to get her hands dirty in the process. The book's description says it is perfect for Harry Potter fans, and it is very apparent that the author took a lot of notes from that series and transplanted them into this one. It has a familiar feel, but at a much younger level. There were times with the wording that I had to remind myself that this was written for middle grade and was not a YA, although this very easily could have been lengthened to become a YA with no problem. The content has a couple of scary moments, but very little of the violence a parent may worry about with pirates being the core plotline.



The book is the first of a series of seven planned books so there is a lot more of Avalina's wild adventures still to come. The series will captivate readers and they will find themselves eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this!

a very cute children's read! I was excited to pick up a middle grade and this was fun in between all the fantasy and horror I have been reading! I highly recommend!

What an interesting twist on the descendants of gods or superheroes theme--Pirates. Avalina Jones is a descendant of Davy Jones and with it comes a curse.

4.5 ⭐

I picked this book because I love pirates. Add in the fantasy element and I'm your girl. Half a star was nicked because I thought it was incredibly info dumpy at first, which significantly slowed down the storyline. But then passed the 60% mark it was just non stop action, mystery and fun. When the blurb said <i>"any Hogwarts fans might find themselves equally enthralled..."</i> I was a little apprehensive at first. To have a new magical middle grade story compared to such a much loved series made me worry I would feel biased and not give Avalina Jones a fair chance. And while I can draw some parallels to HP, aside from it being a magic school, certain teachers and a group of close friends, I feel this story has the potential to become what HP was for the generation back then.

Can't wait to read the next one!

*Author's Description:
When a young girl learns she is the Last Heir of the infamous pirate Davy Jones, she is whisked away to begin life aboard an enchanted schoolship for Pirate Heirs where danger and excitement awaits.

*Overall Opinion:
I just adored this book! Despite being well into my adult years, and this being a middle-grade book, I found I couldn't put it down, lol. Lori Adams has an amazing knack for whimsical descriptions that just made me smile every page. From food that actually tries to run off your plate, to sea-creature deckhands, I was quickly immersed in a very colorful and fun world. She manages to do a lot of world building in an age appropriately small amount of pages. If you are a fan of the ocean, pirates, fun adventures or mystery, then there will be something in this book for you to enjoy!

The only reason this book was not a 5 star for me was that it borrowed very heavily from Harry Potter. Story beat by story beat you can see the connection. It was enough that I might have given it a bad review, except Lori takes very familiar story beats and puts them in such an imaginative and creative setting that I honestly stopped caring about the similarities because the differences were just magical.

*Parent Perspective:
This book was definitely written for younger middle aged readers. There was a little bit of scary content, but for the most part if your child is capable of reading this book then it will be appropriate for them. It's very light hearted, filled with great friendships, over-coming bullies and good-natured fun.

The book takes place on a pirate school ship where everything is enchanted and nothing is easy.
The story follows a ten year old girl called Avalina Jones. Avalina grew up in an orphanage on land and has no knowledge of the enchanted world she is a part of. One night after finding out that she is no longer safe at the orphanage she goes with a mysterious woman to start the adventure of her new life.
The book has mystery and excitement and a very entertaining plot I had a hard time putting it down I liked it so much. I really liked this book. I have never heard about anything like this. The idea of a pirate school ship is a brilliant one.