I enjoyed this but didn't love it. I think the setting and atmosphere were stunning, but the book felt too long to me. There just felt like there were elements and scenes that could have been condensed. Also everything in this book was just leading up to a sequel which isn't really my favourite type of book, I like it more when the first book still feels like it has its own story

I absolutely adored Curious Tides (just bought my copy of it! I love dark academia, and this did not disappoint. The magic system was so interesting; I loved that it was based on the tides and the moon; it was such a fascinating system! I also loved the main characters. Baz and Emory were both a lot of fun to follow, and they contrasted quite a bit, which I enjoyed when the POV switched. The plot moved pretty slowly but it was really interesting (very mysterious, loved how the plot centred around a mysterious book), and the vibes were immaculate. I can't wait for the second book!

Curious Tides is a wicked debut YA fantasy / dark academia novel written by Canadian Author, Pascale Lacelle. Going in, I wasn’t sure what to expect and ended up loving it. Pascale’s writing swept me up and I was immersed in the story relatively early in the book. I enjoyed the world building aspect and how descriptive it is. The plot was unique and interesting, the alternating POVS between Emory and Baz were fascinating. That cliff-hanger got me, so I’ll be continuing the series for sure.



Come on, a secret society that may be involved in a good friend’s death. Say Less.



Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada and netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I heard about this book in the S&S Indigo fall preview presentation I knew I would absolutely love it, and boy did it live up to my expectations. Curious Tides has everything I love in a book-- a magical school setting, exploration of female friendships, a diverse cast of characters, a textured and interesting romance, and heaps and heaps of whimsy. Pascale Lacelle managed to include well-loved tropes while writing a book that feels fresh and unpredictable.
To start, the magic system in Curious Tides is so well thought out and compelling. The moon and the tides hold power over the character's magic. This system works for me in two big ways. First, intangible magic being tied to something tangible in the book's universe rather than just being an inexplicable ability makes the whole magic system and world at large feel more real and plausible. Second, the limits to the magic characters are able to wield at any given moment keep the plot and characters grounded and the stakes of the book believable. Too often in fantasy, characters (especially protagonists) are able to access limitless stores of power, giving them the upper hand in every battle and making every obstacle they face obsolete. This was not a problem in Curious Tides, as even after Emory uncovers her greater tidecaller powers and Baz discovers the truth about Eclipse-Born, there are still limitations to how much power they can wield.
Now, about the setting. It's clear that Pascale Lacelle set out to write a dark academia book that would scratch that itch for those of us who simply cannot get enough of that genre, and she executed it wonderfully. The descriptions of the commons and libraries made me feel so warm and at home, which balanced perfectly with the sense of foreboding coming from the nearby caves and rising tides. The result is a beautifully atmospheric campus that I can so vividly picture myself walking through at this very moment.
Each character in Curious Tides was given the grace and time to become rounded individuals. This is rare, especially with side characters. Of course some characters are more explored than others, but I really felt a sense of understanding of each side character. Kai, Virgil, and Jae are some of my favourite side characters that I've read in a long time. Even Romie, who for the majority of the book is revealed to us through flashbacks and memories, feels like a friend I've known my whole life. The exploration of Emory and Romie's friendship especially felt very personal and real to me. I think the complications of female friendship-- oscillating between fierce love and shameful jealousy-- is a very common experience for women and Lacelle hit that bittersweet feeling right on the nose. The love triangle is the only thing that I had reservations about, since that's a trope I don't usually love (despite my formative Hunger Games obsession), but I actually ended up quite enjoying it here. I think it illustrated really well how power-hungry men often take advantage of women's love in order to get what they want, and the shame and regret that comes with realizing you've been taken advantage of by someone you trusted. I slightly suspect Kieran's betrayal but found myself questioning my judgement often while in Emory's POV chapters as he continuously lied to her to get his way. And Baz-- I'm not sure if I can put into words how much I love his character. He is so sweet and curious and good. I cannot wait to read more of these characters in the next book (please, please, let there be a next book!!!)
Finally, the plot. I was kept on my toes the whole time and by the end of the book there were enough questions answered to satisfy me, but enough left up in the air that I am itching to get my hands on a sequel to find out. As soon as I see any announcement of a sequel ARC I will surely be first in line to request it.
I will absolutely be hand-selling this book to every customer I see lingering in the YA section, every person picking up other dark academia and romantasy reads (The Atlas Six, Fourth Wing, etc), and babbling on about it to my co workers until they have no choice but to read it too. This has been one of my favourite reads of the year and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to read the ARC before release.

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle

What an amazing start to a unique new fantasy series!

Loved - the setting. A magical school rich in history, mysteries, secret clubs and cozy libraries.

Loved - the magic. Set by the moon, the magic was fascinating and complex.

Loved - the twists and overall storyline. The mystery, the relationships, the unexpected turns and developments.

Loved - the narration. The audiobook was amazing and had me switching back to it often over the ebook.

Didn’t love - the characters. Unfortunately I often got the side characters confused with each other and never found a character to obsess over like I normally do with a fantasy! They were all fine, just nothing all that special.

Overall I am very impressed and can’t wait to read what comes next! Thank you to @simonschusterca for my copy. This one was out on October 3rd and really is a perfect atmospheric novel to read this month.

#curioustides #simonandschusterca #simonschuster #netgalley #kindle #ebook #bookreview #newbookreview #booksta #canadianbookstagrammer #reading #newseries #booksbooksbooks #bookthoughts

I was absolutely hooked on this book from the very first page! The writing is stunning, the interior illustrations are also stunning, and the characters are so fleshed out and well-developed. This book was unlike anything I've read before, it was so unique and beautiful in every way.!

This main character is Emory, who is starting a new year at the Aldryn College for Lunar Magics.

At the end of the previous school year she followed her best friend Romie to the magical Dovermere sea caves. She witnessed Romie, and 7 other students participate in a mysterious magical ceremony before tidal waves swept in drowning everyone except for Emory.

At the start of this book, Emory is clearly traumatized by last years events, but determined to determine what the other students were doing in the caves and why she, the student with the weakest magic was the sole survivor. She turns to two other students for help. Baz, who is Romies brother and is serious and shy, but possesses extremely powerful but potentially dangerous magic. Keiran, who is also a powerful wizard but is handsome, magnetic and popular. Emory isn’t sure which boy to trust, so she ends up keeping secrets from them both.

What I enjoyed about this book:
-unique magical system
-the untangling of all the mysteries
-some of the characters, especially Kai and Baz

What I didn’t enjoy:
-Emory is an ok character, but her self doubt and poor decision making drove me bananas. It’s hard to root for someone who keeps making the wrong choices
-the plot really meandered in the mid section of the book, and my attention started to wane. I think some serious editing of this section would benefit this book. If not for this section, I probably would have rated this one four stars.

However, the magical system and mysteries were unique enough that I will definitely be reading the second book in this series!

I would rate this one, ⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book to read and review!

Gifted copy provided by Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for my honest thoughts.

I ended up DNFing this book at 25%

This book is very heavy info dumping for the whole 25% I read. It was a mix between an explanation of the magic system and the different classes coupled with history on the characters.

Honestly this felt like stepping into a sequel rather then the first book in a series. It felt like we were playing catch up on a story that had already been told without enough present action / storyline to keep me interested.

That being said this book was interesting, the lunar magic system is unique while the school setting adds depth. But none of the positives were enough to keep me reading.

This is one of the best book I’ve read in a while! I love Dark Academia and the magic system is amazing!

I loved the initial explanation of the moon cycles, tides and eclipse that explain the powers. It helped a lot to understand it!

I truly cannot wait for book two!

Amazing debut book for Pascale! Also her dedication for herself very well deserved!

A world with magic governed by the phases of the moon, a mystery with hidden depths, and a truly profound story within a story. Well? Sign me up already.
•
Curious Tides combines the beauty and ethereal atmosphere of lunar magic and unpredictable tides together with the lure of dark academia and secret societies. I was captivated by how truly real the world in this story felt, and how much thought was put into its construction. I’d like to step foot in it, if only in my dreams. I appreciated that the author leaned into characters with a flexibility that pushed them out of traditional roles and monikers (hero, villain, victor, vanquished- what if they are each a part of all of those?)
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There is room to grow in how the reader is introduced to the characters, the structures of government and magic, and the intricacies of the various mysteries contained in this book, but I would consider this an incredibly strong debut. I am anxiously awaiting the announcement of a sequel to Curious Tides, there is so clearly an incredible part of the story left to tell.
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It was an honour to get to read this debut novel from a hometown author. Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for providing access to an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

Well, I think this was one of the great surprise of the season. I didn’t much about this book before getting my hands on an eARC on NetGalley, and I’m so glad I requested and got approved. I find that Dark Academy books can sometimes be hit or miss for me, and I have so say that I really enjoyed this book. Pascale Lacelle created a really interesting world, with the dark academia vibe, but with a pace that kept me in the story (I find that I often struggle with getting into the stories in dark academia).

I’ll be honest, I was a little scared when I saw the description of the different Moon and powers, and thought it would get confusing, but I find that everything just work nicely and I could follow the story without having to look back at those first few pages.

I think it was quite interesting to follow both Emory and Baz, and even though Emory really was the main character, Baz’s story does add without feeling just like a filler to support Emory’s narrative, which I enjoyed. I liked them both, and it didn’t feel like the dual narration was something we could have taken out. I like Baz, so I wouldn’t want less of him.

Overall, it was a great book, and I’m so glad I got to read this book. Definitely can’t wait to read more!

3.5 stars

This one is a bit difficult for me to rate. It was an overall enjoyable and interesting book, but there were a couple of things that really shit all over it for me.

#1 Emory is kind of an asshole. The way she treated Baz made me want to backhand her. In my opinion, she wasn't redeemed enough by the author. Her choices all pretty much seemed opportunistic and selfish, the things she chose to share and chose not to share, etc. She didn't even seem that interested in Baz in the scenes where she was meant to be interested in him. She would take advantage of him or lie to him, feel briefly guilty, and do it again and again.

#2 I saw this Keiran shit coming right off the bat, and I think almost anyone probably would, so a good part of the book was just kind of frustrating. I wanted to punch Emory in the side of the neck. I hate it when books make me want to yell at the characters because they're doing stupid shit. This also meant that I couldn't get into any aspect of the Keiran romance and did not have that strong urge to pick the book back up once I put it down. During most of their scenes, I just wanted to slap every face multiple times.

I'd read the next one if it crossed my path, but I won't seek it out.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. The following opinions are my own.

I'm admittedly a bit on the fence with this one. It was an interesting idea I'm just not sure of the execution. Maybe it wasn't for me. As I read other reviewers comparing it to Maggie Stiefvater. It clicked that was why I wasn't loving this one like everyone else.

Thanks so much for the chance to read this early - the vibes and writing of this were more than I could have DREEEAMED of but the pacing was a bit off and the world building was slightly repetitive.

PUMPED for book 2 though.

• 3.5 stars • (rounded up for the rating system)

This book is a dual POV following two students at Aldryn College for Lunar magics, Emory and Baz. Both characters have their own unique magic that correlates to the lunar cycle they were born on. Full moon, waning moon and eclipse for example. Following the drowning of four students in the previous term, Emory is grieving the loss of her best friend and Baz his younger sister. They are both determined to figure out the mystery of the caves of Dovermere and figure out what happened that night. Emory and Baz work together to learn the truth and are confronted with dark secrets, a mysterious cult and much more.

I think this story has a lot of potential to it. The magic system is very unique compared to other fantasy books/schools for the magically gifted books I have read and the world seems very interesting. However, I felt at times the story was very dragged out and was slightly over-explained at times. There were a lot of points throughout the book where I was taken out of the fascination with the world because of the extensive worldbuilding. Sometimes that can be a good thing but it felt as though 50% was just reexplaining things that had already been explained in the beginning.

I've seen other reviews say that the two main characters felt boring compared to the side characters, and I have to agree a bit. I feel like Emory and Baz are complex characters that can be explored more in the sequel but felt underdeveloped and were slightly 2 dimensional. I want to learn more about them and for them to have a bit more personality to them like some of the side characters were given.

Overall, I think this is a good debut novel with room to improve in the sequel. I am still looking forward to what comes in the next book and will still try to continue with the series. Hopefully, now that the world and characters have been introduced, the plot can pick up a little in speed for the sequel.

I loved the unique magic system in this book! A unique plot with interesting characters and emotional depth. This book kept me on my toes solving mysteries, analyzing clues and rooting for my favourite love interest. It gives angst, mystery, found family, dark academia and more. The perfect fall read!

This was really good! It takes a while to get going and I think the first half of the book could be a little shorter, but the payoff in the second half makes it worthwhile. Set in a magic college, I think this would be perfect for both adult fantasy readers and YA readers. To me this is somehow reminiscent of both Harry Potter and Ninth House, odd as that pairing may be. The magic system is like nothing I've read before, and the world-building is amazing. I think the sequel will be even better since a lot of the world-building elements that slowed down the beginning of the book are already established. Really well written, only complaint is the pacing. Can't wait for the follow up.

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle is an absolutely incredible debut into the world of fantasy and dark academia.
Readers will get to experience both lost and found family, estranged friendship, forbidden magic, romance, betrayal, a secret society, and many twists and turns.
The story mainly takes place at a school of magic, where students are sectioned into groups based on their magical affinity. The magic system itself is fascinating, centered on the phases of the moon, with users having access to their powers based on what phase they were born under.
There is, of course, forbidden magic, which causes no amount of emotional angst for several of the characters.
The story is slow moving at times, but the writing and descriptions are beautiful and detailed, while avoiding being overly flowery. The pacing of the second half of the book really accelerates, and while there is a heavy amount of foreshadowing regarding one twist, the story still has several surprises in store for the reader.
Ending with a breathtaking cliff hanger, readers will look forward to the second book in this stunning duology.

I've finally found the feeling i've been chasing in dark academia books. how do i put into words how ecstatic i was to finally find this gem dark and gloomy academy vibes, perhaps the characters are all hot and sleep-deprived (maybe that bit is just my imagination), secret societies, myths & legends, a touch of forbidden magic, immaculate world-building, and sooo much more. this was one of the few books that i fell in love with on the first page.
i love that the chapters alternated between emory and baz (also one of the rare times i enjoyed the love interest's pov more). this book has a love triangle (not a spoiler) but the other dude doesn't even have a pov sooo
LMAOOOO i was baffled. so we know who's endgame already???:^ (unless the author is trying to bamboozle me...)
baz's pov oh my godddd HE IS SO IN LOVE WITH HER !! the way he describes and thinks of her is poetry

Title: Curious Tides
Author: Pascale Lacelle
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada
Publishing Date: Oct 3, 2023
Pages: 544
Genre: Dark Academia, YA
Rating: ☆☆☆☆

I enjoyed this book and it was an excellent story- especially if you love dark academia.
Curious Tides is a debut novel by Pascale Lacelle, and I have to say, what an amazing novel to debut with. There are a lot of components that Lacelle incorporated into this story that I absolutely love. Very immersive writing (a must), duel POV, a love triangle, and a secret society! Yes, yes, and yes please!
Although there were a lot of components that I loved, I just didn’t get as into the story as I would have liked, which is why it didn’t make 5 stars for me. It also kinda bugged me that there was a dual POV in a love triangle… It was well written and I get it, but it was just kinda weird in the beginning and threw me off.
Overall I enjoyed it, and I would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for sending this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.