A pirate story with potential that unfortunately got bogged down enough to not make it feel like an adventure. Ximena made for an interesting protagonist though I struggled with Marquesa's character. Her role seemed way more convenient to the plot than believable. This is also being promoted as a story with sizzling chemistry... and that was lacking as well. I didn't buy the romance at all and Dante was just your stereotypical rich kid who wanted to rebel against the path in life his parents have set up for him, his character was flat. I would have loved more from Pía's character to provide more depth to her character outside of the librarian stereotype too.

At almost 400 pages, I can see this being a struggle for some teen readers to stick with. Especially given that this is a duology so most plot points are not resolved by the end.

Frankie Corzo does a good job with the audiobook narration.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, HarperAudio Children’s, and Quill Tree Books in exchange for an honest review.

I was not a fan of this book. Honestly, the premise sounded so good. I love a pirate story and was so excited about the world from the synopsis but the actual book did not do it justice. I found that the main character was extremely unlikeable and it didn't feel like that was intentional. The "romance" if you can call it that was basically nonexistent and the twist at the end basically made no sense. It felt so far out of left field that it was almost implausible given the rest of the story.

I probably would not read the sequel to this book. I'm not interested in the world enough or invested in these characters enough to care what else happens.

I also probably would not read more from this author. I know this is a debut, which is why I gave two stars but overall, I don't think this book was ready to be published as it was. It needs a lot more refining.

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I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I really liked the concept of the book, but it fell flat in the delivery. It was hard to focus and follow at times.