Thank you Ace Pub and Netgalley for the eARC, all thoughts are my own.

I’m undecided between rating this a 3.75 or a 4 but I think I’ll do a solid 4 since I can’t stop thinking about it!

I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. I went in not knowing anything about it so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a pirate adventure with some romance and a marriage of convenience! Every time I picked up this book I did not want to put it back down. The adventure was intriguing and the relationship between Saoirse and Faolan was what made me want to keep reading.

My favorite thing about this book has to be Saoirse’s character. I loved the self discovery journey she goes on and it was amazing to follow along with. Faolan was also a great love interest and all the characters were equally captivating. Back to Saoirse, “soft girl” archetypes are severely lacking in the romantasy/fantasy romance genre so I really, really loved how the author wrote her. AND no dark haired morally grey MMC, instead he’s a chaotic man with golden retriever energy and wild stories. Loved everything about their relationship.

The Irish influences were great too. My only gripe is that if you’re going to write a book heavily influenced by Irish myths and culture then you could at least spell “Kiara” as “Ciara” lol.

I do think the world building could have been explained better in the beginning, especially Saoirse’s “curse” and the soul stones but I did have a good grasp of it by the end of the story. I also think the book was a touch too long.

All in all I really enjoyed this one and am looking forward to book two!

Thank you Berkley Publishing for my gifted ARC!

Yo ho! What a fun debut!

This story had me in my pirate feels with Celtic brogue lore, and adventures over the seas.

Saorise runs off with Faolan, the legendary Wolf of the Wild, to avoid an arranged marriage to the cold-hearted Stone King. Together Saorise and Faolan journey to search for a lost mythical isle.

The writing is a little poetic, and the world-building and magic were initially a little hard to decipher. About 40% into the story, I was able to settle in and enjoy the adventure.

Saorise was isolated most of her life, and the conditions with her family were rough. What life she had, she tried to live very small so she wouldn't bring attention to herself. Faolan swoops into her life with a big, roguish personality and coaxes Saoirse into the woman she's meant to be. He's antagonistic and playful, pushing her to remember her purpose, and when he calls her "Wolf Tamer" and says: "Tell me who hurt you, love"... I'm dead!

I loved the unique creatures that carry magical elements and the family Saorise found in the ship's crew and Wolf pack.

This is book one of a duology, and I'm excited to see where book 2 takes us.

Romance Content: It's open-door but very vague.

“I don’t need to be a story, but I won’t be nothing either”. - Saoirse

Saoirse is cursed with a magic that she cannot control and wants nothing to do with it. After a tragic event seven years ago, and being locked away for the last seven years, she’s now betrothed to the heartless Stone King.

In order to get out of this marriage, and break this curse, Saoirse strikes a deal with the one they call Wolf to help him reach the Isle of Lost Souls, which will free her and everyone.

This was emotionally devastating in the best possible way.

Saoirse lives a very sheltered and horrid life. She’s treated like an object and not a person. She’s not treated as if she has a choice or control over the cursed magic running through her veins. It’s so awful to read about how she’s been treated and how she’s this rather meek, reserved person that comes off as naive, and yet, she’s survived some horrible things, and to me, that makes her one of the strongest in this book.

When she decides to take her life into her own hands, it’s like her true self comes more into the light. She goes from living this sequestered life, to marrying a pirate captain, to living with said captain and his crew on their ship sailing all over trying to find this lost island, while also trying to fight this draw she has to the captain.

I loved Saoirse and her story. She was so inspiring. I loved that for once we don’t have this female MC whose first instinct is to stab someone. She’s kind, and soft, but she also has a fiery side that comes out sometimes, especially when the captain aggravates her 😂 which just made the banter and the interactions between the two and the rest of the crew very entertaining.

I also loved the way a lot of the relationships developed. It wasn’t a found family that developed quickly. They were suspicious of her and wary, they warmed up to her and then something happens and they’re wary again. They all truly built a relationship that seemed more normal and real to me. They EARNED the trust from the other and turned into this adorable found family of wolves.

And then the romance. Gahhhh, the romance! It was a lot of push and pull. Such a slow burn. Faolan is such a sassy attention-grabbing sort of person. He loves the spotlight. And then we have Saoirse who’s the opposite and yet they attract, and I have to say, opposites do attract. They are so opposite of one another it’s amazing they got along, but they balanced each other out and there were just some scenes in here that made me swoon and want to throw the book. Especially at the end. When it gets emotional, it’s the best part, even if it’s heartbreaking, but wow, my heart went through A LOT. But again, in the best possible way.

There’s also other wonderful characters I loved, and some that show up at the end that I hope will have a bigger part in the next book.

There’s also adventure, and I always love a book set at sea. My favorite setting, and then make it a fantasy romance, even better.

This was such a wonderful and emotional adventure. I’m very much looking forward to the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I had to sleep on my thoughts, and it pains me to say this but I didn't enjoy hardly anything about this.

This has all the markers of a story that I should enjoy with pirates and magic, but everything about it felt so...surface level. In addition, the elements actually in the story were so underdeveloped that I ended up with way more questions that answers and the longer it went on, the more questions I had.

The characters all were sort of giving too stupid to function, and the romance didn't make a shred of sense. Everything happening in this was dragged out for what felt like no reason because every answer they need is so clearly obvious, but you have to watch the characters running around with intentional blindfolds on for almost 500 pages before they acknowledge what you figured out in chapter 10/55.

The worst part though is that I just straight up didn't care about any of these characters or anything that happened to them. By the halfway point, I felt like I was reading just to read.

The plot: First of all, this story starts and you're dropped into a festival scene that clearly is supposed to be important, but is never explained. You can make inferences with context clues but it's sort of silly to have this be the main catalyst for the actual adventure (the bulk of the story) and you don't know wtf is going on.

As it goes on, this literally just reads as scenes strung together. Nothing about what they're doing actually ever makes sense within the context of the larger plot. You know they have to find this island, but every decision BOTH main characters make seems directly in contradiction to that plot? They are also doing this under a time frame of 6 weeks and literally spend like HALF of those 6 weeks doing literally nothing of value to the quest???? WITH a timejump!

The characters: I'm sorry but Saoirse the fmc was an idiot. She has this unexplained magic and her evil father abuses her and literally starts the story trying to marry her off because "her magic kills people" so she runs away. The whole reason she runs away is to discover the truth about her magic and ~to be free~ but then for the next 60% of this story she literally AVOIDS thinking about her magic and NEVER ONCE thinks "maybe my father was lying to me". Literally every stop this pirate ship makes involves a magical creature or scenario and every single time Saoirse's magic reacts, she crashes out like NO IM CURSED MY FATHER TOLD ME THIS SHOULDNT HAPPEN!! NO!! I CANT GIVE IN TO THE MAGIC! why tf are you on this quest then?

It's annoying because it's so blatantly obvious that her father is a liar and is trying to subdue her magic by every means possible and she never once questions anything he's told her OR done to her even after she runs away TO DISCOVER THE TRUTH ABOUT HER MAGIC. stop wasting my time!

Faolan is also sort of an idiot because he gives away the literal treasure map thats the key/point of this entire story before the book even begins and it's like ...what type of pirate that can find mystical fairytales in real life is stupid enough to give away the treasure map? Someone gave you a magical ring through a vision during which you made a bargain TIED TO YOUR LIFE FORCE and didn't think it was important????

The romance: perhaps the biggest offender? First of all, it's strange that the basis for Saoirse wanting to even run off with "The Wolf" is because she heard stories of him growing up and "it was amazing what someone only 4 years older than me could accomplish" and that 4 years is such an oddly specific sticking point to me. Why make him 4 years older? Why not just make him...OLDER??? How old is she supposed to be? People call her a child, and treat her like a child, but she's clearly at least 21 but I'm supposed to believe that this man being 4 years older is like....part of his charm? what?

The basis of this romance is ~fake-marriage~ but Saoirse picks and chooses when she wants the marriage to be real and when she doesn't which was annoying to me. It was her idea to get married because it was the only way to escape her ACTUAL marriage and her excuse for her father not coming after her (I got married to someone I chose instead) but then she'll say "this marriage isn't real Faolan!"

She'll call Faolan "my husband" when thinking to herself, but when he refers to her as wife she goes "this marriage isn't real!" WHICH ONE IS IT? IS IT REAL OR NOT?

Faolan wants to kiss her but she's like "no you said this marriage wasn't real!" but then in the next breath goes "I just want to be free!" idk how much freer you can be on a literal pirate ship away from home, but PLEASE make up your mind!

She gave me so much whiplash it was honestly starting to piss me off a little 😭 like girl make up your mind! She goes on and on about wanting to be out of her father's cage and experience life and it's like...the only person putting cages on your life experiences for these 500 pages is you.

On top of that, they just have negative chemistry. You can tell that the author wants to think it's deep and that they ~see each other~ but Faolan just flirts with her and calls her different nicknames every chapter, while Saoirse tells him the marriage is fake. Until of course, they are suddenly in love for reasons.

IDK! The more I think about it the less I like it which is really unfortunate because I feel like the premise is so good but the world building was severely lacking, the romance was unbelievable in a bad way, the main characters both acted like immature idiots the entire story, and the side characters are attempting to give found family but you don't really get enough background about anyone to make any of this worth the 500 pages.

I was starting to skim at the end because I was getting increasingly frustrated because this gave me way more questions than answers and even the characters themselves seemed to be confused at wtf was going on for most of it. This just needed....more. It didn't feel deep but I could tell the book wanted me to take away that this was some deep journey about finding yourself and finding romance but I didn't buy any of it.

I didn't mean to rant in this review, because I've read worse, but this just wasn't good 😭. I'd be willing to read the sequel to see if these issues get cleared up but this felt to me like it needed another round of editing to flesh out the bones of the world and the magic....which are the entire point of this story.

I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Berkley, Ace, and Netgalley!

This book is everything! I am so obsessed with it! This makes me want to become a pirate even though I get super sea sick lol. I don't know if I should start with how much I loved the characters, how much I loved the storyline, or how much I loved the world. It was honestly all amazing. I wouldn't change a thing other than I wish book two was already out.

Faolan and Saoirse were amazing main characters and the romance was great, but I loved how the crew was such a great found family too. I'd like to join their crew immediately!

Maggie Rapier created a fascinating world and wrote a great story. You really just get it all with this book.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC.

Soulgazer is hands-down one of my FAVORITE reads of the entire year. Rapier's voice is gorgeously lyrical, detailed, and utterly evocative. Saoirse is a unique FMC; she stands out in a sea of "bad-ass" FMCs (which I also love; no shade!) as someone deeply wounded and hurting, and yet those wounds are what make her brave and strong. Faolan is hilarious and charming, making him easy to love. His song for Saoirse still makes me giggle. But I also love his depth-- he's clearly a man who wants to be loved but is scared of what happens when he does, and watching him fight to reconcile that over the course of the book is something to cherish. I am absolutely feral waiting for the second book to drop!

**Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for an advanced e-book in exchange for an honest review.**

When I read that this was a pirate romantasy, I was in. I feel like anything pirates? Bring me the adventure.
This book definitely has a lot of difficult topics and serious moments - dealing with so much loneliness and grief, emotional and physical abuse, and this ever persistent feeling that you just need to be more, or that you are nothing. The dichotomy of those two is played so well through the main characters, how they collide but are similar in their guilt, their grief, their secrets. Sure, at times it was difficult to like Saoirse or Faolen, but the characters are real. All of these complicated feelings, emotions, moments, secrets - they are written in a fantastical way but they are at the true heart of how so many people feel.

All of the serious and heartfelt moments are of course cut with the banter and humour that I would fully expect from a pirate adventure. And the found family that is shaped and loved with the crew of wolves. Brona? An amazing character. And the friendship that her and Saoirse form is one that I truly cherish - as I love seeing supportive female friendships blossom in stories.

In case it isn't clear, I really enjoyed this book. It has everything I enjoy - a good romance, friendships, great side characters, political dealings, adventure, tales and myths, and some fantastic writing!
I will note that I felt there was one section that I didn't love for how the story played out, with how everything ended with Saoirse's dad and that some characters from earlier on seem non-existent for the ending. But this is a fantastic debut in my opinion. Rapier weaves an adventurous tale filled with the magic, romance, and moments that I love to read about. I even teared up at one scene, which is not something I do often when reading ;)

Definitely recommend for the romantasy fans who would like some piracy in their reading!

TW: blood, injury/ injury detail, emotional abuse, death, physical abuse, drowning, death of parent, child death, confinement, sexual content, fire/ fire injury, violence

Overall, this was a good pirate romantsy book. I did struggle with grasping the worldbuilding but eventually grew to enjoy it. I wished that we had seen more development of the minor characters who seemed to get lost towards the end of the book. The adventure part of the novel worked fantastically as they sought the lost isle. Faolan had a deep personality to him that helped keep the story afloat. If you're looking for a meaningful novel, where the heroine begins to make way for herself, this is definitely your book. Plus, the ending was an absolute cliffhanger, that has me questioning what will happen to Saoirse and Faolan.

Soulgazer is a swashbuckling, magical pirate novel featuring Saorise, a soulgazer, who thinks she’s cursed because that’s what her horrible father has taught her. She’s dreamed of escaping her imprisoned life with the Wolf of the Wild, a legendary handsome pirate. So on the eve of her wedding to the Stone King, a match orchestrated by her father that would lead from one prison to another, she runs away to the Wolf’s ship and convinces him to marry her instead. Luckily, with her colorful and ever-shifting ocean eyes (cue Billie Eilish’s song), she’s just the girl he’s looking for.
Faolan, or the Wolf, who wears a single leather glove like he’s Michael Jackson, is looking for the Island of Lost Souls and Saorise’s magic is just what he needs to find it. So he agrees to their marriage of convenience and sets sail with the stolen bride.

The premise of this was so exciting and promising but failed to deliver in my opinion.
The beginning of the book was so confusing, I almost closed it up, didn’t finish and moved on with my life.
There’s so little description of setting it was difficult to understand where the characters were. I didn’t even realize entire chapters in the beginning took place on a ship.
The author writes in lyrical prose that made everything sound pretty but overall lacked substance to hide the lack of setting and minimal world building.
That being said, I was hooked in the middle by the story and quickly read the rest of the book. Was I confused a lot? Yes. Is so much of the magic system and world still a giant void of nothingness that is yet to be described? Also yes. Will I read the sequel? Maybe, but mostly because I’m a curious person and need to know what happens next.

I was lucky enough to get an e-ARC of yet another one of my most anticipated books of 2025 back in February and yet, it took me months to finally read it. Why? Because I was so afraid to be disappointed. But once I finally jumped in, I couldn't look up and break the surface. I was completely immersed in the story, and I fell in love with the characters. Also, the tension, the angst between the couple was to die for!
Soulgazer is releasing July 8th, a month from now, and I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy. This book was so great, I already want to re-read it. And you won't want to miss out on Maggie Rapier's beautiful writing style, let me assure you.

Well, fairly certain this is my favorite read of the year 2025!

Not only did this fill the pirate romantasy void in my heart, but it also made me weep and heal something in me.
So for the fun bits! Pirates!! Marriage of Convenience!! Reluctant allies to lovers!! Found family!!
Ever since Pirates of the Caribbean, I have been dying for more pirate romance fantasy stories, and this one fit the bill so well! You are thrown into a fantastical world where old gods were slain and their blood seeping into each island left them with magical properties. I truly enjoy the novels where you are just along for the ride and the world building is done along the way, instead of an info dump in the beginning. Learning the world as you go on this adventure with the main character makes it fresh and keeps you on your toes.

Now for the soul ripping part. This book is for the girls who are tired of being angry. Its for the ones who just want to heal and not burn the world down (yet) Saoirse's inner dialogue felt so so similar to my own. I was also naive and innocent to the world. I was taught the outside world was full of evil people, but instead what I found like her was a found family. People who accept me for me. Saoirse's journey shadowed my own but in a fantasy setting.
The author's note at the end of the book was what finally had me crying my eyes out. I reread it twice and then a third time to my husband. I cannot WAIT to get a physical copy of this book. It has carved out a special place in my heart.

Absolutely loved this! I knew from the description that this story would be right up my alley, but to say that this book does not disappoint would be an understatement. The story was beautifully told, the romance was perfect and the character progression was great! At times, the plot does lag a little but it picks up immediately after, it was thoroughly entertaining until the end!

The cover is what immediately drew me in and the description sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately, the writing style of this one isn't for me and I ended up DNF'ing.
Thank you to Ace for allowing me to be an early reader. All thoughts are my own.

4 stars. It seems like all I'm reading this year is romantasy. I know that's not 100% the case, but there have been a lot of romantasy reads for me this year. And a lot of them have been from the Ace/ Berkley publisher. And I've enjoyed every romantasy release from Ace that I've read this year, but Soulgazer is my favorite so far. Personally, I haven't read THAT many pirate type romances, and I think that's one of the reasons I really enjoyed Soulgazer-- it felt fresh and new to me. And I mean, the book is essentially a romance between Rogue from X Men and Captain Jack Sparrow. Truly, this is 100% the book for someone that loves Pirates of the Caribbean, but wanted Jack Sparrow to be the love interest. Faolan was just as cocky and jokey and frivolous and morally grey and so much more than meets the eye. And Saoirse is my favorite type of heroine-- one that is completely underestimated. Everyone in the book minimizes Saoirse, but Saorise also minimizes herself. I think both characters show a ton of growth. I also loved the ending... a lot of the plot is wrapped up, but it still leaves enough open to be excited about the next book. All in all, I really enjoyed Soulgazer. A big thank you to Berkley/ Ace, Rapier, and netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Many thanks to Ace and NetGalley for the preview. All opinions are my own.

OMG Y'ALL THIS WAS SO GOOD! I read it in one sitting and could not put it down. So if you read the acknowledgements and author's note (WHICH YOU SHOULD), Rapier says this book started as "sexy pirate, the saddest girl in the world, and BIG FEELINGS,." And honestly that's incredibly accurate, no notes from me. But it's also just so much more.

This story has a high-stakes plot with lots of action, danger, and a quest. But this is the most character driven book at the same time. Saoirse has been so abused by her father; she's made herself into the smallest version of herself, and believes the awful things he's driven into her head. She both desperately wants to escape, but it also incredibly scared. Enter Faolan, a sexy rogue if ever there was one, who jokes and flirts his way through life while making a legend of himself. But those jokes hide a lot that he isn't willing to share with the world. Together they have a very bumpy road to healing.

There is so much tension, ANGST, longing, yearning, mistrust, hope, and heartwrenching hurts. Saoirse has a lot to unpack, and Faolan slowly teases her out of her shell. This is a slooooooow burn, but everything is earned here. But Faolan is as frustrating as he is sexy; he manages to ruin so many perfect moments by adding a joke because he's just not willing to reveal his heart yet. And it hurts! I cried a couple of times, ngl. But to quote Rapier, "the point isn't her sadness. The point is that she heals."

The ending sequence had my heart in my throat. But these 2 have my entire heart. This book wraps up the first arc pretty cleanly. It's incredibly bittersweet, but hopeful. I am already feral for the second book to see where we go from here, and hopefully get more happy moments.

Highly recommended!!

Soulgazer completely pulled me in like a tide! 🌊⚔️ Maggie Rapier has crafted a dazzling pirate romantasy filled with magic, Celtic lore, and a slow-burn romance that had me clutching my chest the whole time. I won’t lie I’m not one for pirate romances normally but this sounded to good to not give a shot and I’m glad I took the chance on it.

Saoirse is vulnerable yet fierce, soft yet determined, with a journey of self-empowerment that had me rooting for her on every page. And Faolan? That rakish pirate with charm, bite, and hidden depths? Pure perfection. Their tension, their banter, their slow dance toward trust and love — I was obsessed! 😍

The world-building was phenomenal, from the magic system to the stormy seas and the quest for the mythical isle. This book gave me everything: marriage of convenience, found family, pirate adventures, emotional healing, and that delicious push-pull dynamic between the leads. I’m marking myself down as fully hooked and counting the days until the sequel. If you want a romantasy that will sweep you off your feet and leave you breathless for more, Soulgazer is it! 🖤✨🏴‍☠️

If you're looking for a pirate romantasy, look no further! This had some of my fave tropes of golden retriever MMC and found family. Also, marriage of convenience. All in all an enjoyable romp of a tale!

I really enjoyed this debut! I think it'll be a perfect recommendation for patrons looking for their next romantasy read. I can't wait for the sequel.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. all opinions are my own.

3.5 | I have so many conflicted feelings after reading this book. Did I enjoy the experience of reading it? Definitely. Did I find it challenging to grasp the plot? Without a doubt, yes.

Let's discuss the positive aspects of this book.

The main highlight of this story was certainly the two lead characters. Saoirse definitely reminds me of Elide from the Throne of Glass series. She is a kind, shy girl who has endured many terrible experiences that made her doubt her worthiness of love and feel as though no one truly cares about her. She is quite insecure and often fears disappointing or hurting those she loves. I appreciated that during the course of this book, she managed to break out of her shell and pursue what she truly desires. However, I think she still has some personal growth to achieve, as she remained quite insecure and lacked the confidence to express her true wishes by the end.

Now, let’s discuss my Faolan, the famous pirate. He certainly came across as a stereotype of a flirtatious pirate, but I enjoyed it. The playful exchanges between him and Saorise were fantastic to read. He really assisted her in building her confidence and breaking out of her shell. This book reveals that he relies on humor to deal with his challenges, which helped us gain a deeper understanding of his character. I wished we could see things from his perspective, as he is undoubtedly a fascinating character to explore.

The connection between Saorise and Faolan was delightful to read. He took his time to earn Saorise's confidence by consistently supporting her. Additionally, I enjoyed the instances when Saorise openly expressed her wants to Faolan. I will always appreciate the dynamic of a shy girl and a golden retriever guy.

My main problem with this book is that I struggled to grasp the story. Typically, I don’t have trouble comprehending a story after reaching the 20% point. Yet, in this particular book, I never felt confident that I grasped the storyline. Frankly, I would say that I only understood about 40% of the book.

I think it’s likely the style of the writing that makes it difficult for me to grasp what is taking place. The prose is excellent, yet quite challenging to follow. There were some lovely and poetic lines, and the sections I did comprehend were fairly engaging. However, many moments lacked background or detail. Events would simply unfold, and I would need a moment to get my bearings in the scene.

The creation of the world felt a bit like an excessive amount of information and often did not register clearly for me. I was confused about the ceremony or ritual at the start, which was intended to be quite significant. At multiple moments, I found myself puzzled by the magic system and the island's objective.

To wrap things up, the main problem I encountered was that the writing made some scenes unclear and difficult to understand. In many areas, there was a lack of sufficient context to follow the storyline, and there were also several gaps in the plot. While the writing is definitely powerful, the book required additional clarity and context.

The ending had me confused, yet I plan to keep reading this series since I really enjoyed the characters and remained engaged with the storyline in the sections I grasped.

TROPES
- Soft & shy FMC / Golden retriever MMC
- Pirate on a quest
- Mariage of convenience
- Irish mythology
- Found family

saw this compared to the relationship between caption hook and emma from once upon a time and came SPRINTING. bless you berkley/ace, i cannot wait to dive in and will post my review to all retail sites!!