Daughter of Tides is a romantasy that throws you headfirst into a world of sea gods, forbidden magic, and a love triangle that’s… well, not really a triangle by the end….and it’s glorious. If you’re into slow-burn chemistry, mythological worldbuilding, and characters navigating both palace politics and stormy emotions, this one’s for you.

We’ve got Aleksi, the God of Love, who’s literally dying but still trying to complete one final mission: a diplomatic visit to the ice kingdom of Akeisa. Naturally, he’s joined by two very different companions, Einar, the broody Kraken pirate god with serious “don’t touch me” energy, and Naia, a sweet but secretly fierce water nymph. Together, they set sail into danger, secrets, and… longing. Lots of longing.

What starts as a political mission slowly transforms into something much more personal. Naia and Einar have the most immediate tension—they’ve clearly been circling each other forever—but Aleksi’s presence adds this tender, knowing layer. He’s flirty and observant, but also carrying his own heartbreak beneath the charm. Watching their connection shift from a will-they-won’t-they pair to a fully realized throuple? Chef’s kiss. Einar brings the intensity, Naia the emotional spark, and Aleksi the heart, and when things finally heat up, it’s absolutely worth the wait. The spice is perfectly timed, not rushed, and deliciously character-driven.

Is the political side a bit undercooked compared to the romance? Sure. One or two plot moments resolve a little too cleanly, but honestly, you’re here for the gods and the yearning and the forbidden tension…and on that front, it delivers. The side characters and deeper mythology also hint at a lot more to come in future books, and I’m very much along for the ride.

If you love a romantasy with sea-soaked vibes, emotionally complex characters, and a love story that doesn’t shy away from being messy and magical, Daughter of Tides is your next read. It’s sensual, heartaching, myth-heavy, and just the right amount of chaotic. Basically? Throuples, pirates, and ice queens—oh my.

Daughter of Tides, I liked you but didn’t love you.

lt tosses you right into the world-which I can see might be confusing for some readers (it was for me anyway). A lot of information that felt slightly overwhelming at first. But I do feel like if you stick through it, you’ll piece it together and have a good time! From reading other reviews, it seems like readers would benefit from reading Kit Rocha’s other series, Bound to Fire and Steel. I have not read them myself but some say it helps with context/world building/understanding of the gods and goddesses.

The writing is really lovely and lyrical. But I feel like the pacing was off. The beginning is kind of chaotic, the middle moves slow and the end is very fast with a ton of spice.

The romance is a slow burn that turns super spicy!!! Like, really really spicy. Maybe too much sexy time back to back for me personally but those who want all the spice, you’ll love the last portion of the book. I did love the throuple relationship and the way they all came together through the story though. That was very well written.

I loved that the audiobook was a full cast and the narrators all did a fantastic job with this story. Shane Easy, Avery Crais, Tim Campbell and Joel Froomkin kept me interested-even when the story slowed.

Thank you Brilliance Audio and NetGalley for an early listening copy!

For Fans of:
- Neon Gods

This book has a decent setup and I could see myself enjoying it. However, it feels very obvious that this is a spin off of an original series and this book can not stand alone without it. I felt like I was missing so much context and dynamic nuances. Also the political landscape felt very random without background. It was clear there was some great battle and I wish this book had been marketed as part of a series.

That being said, the narration was fantastic. One of the male narrators, the one who played Aleksi, in particular stood out as phenomenal. I was trying to figure out which actor was for which voice so that I could listen to the rest of the best narrators I have ever heard and he has a gorgeously distinct voice too.

I received this audiobook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Kit Rocha, and Brilliance Publishing for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted across my socials under the username @tinynightingales, check out my GoodReads profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863
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Sloooooowburn, hot and steamy mfm fantasy. Highly entertained by this sequel series to Consort of Fire. I would recommend reading the previous series or you will be confused about events that happened prior. I love the unique gods and dreamers of this world. All the narrators did an amazing job, but the male narrators really hit the ball out of the park.

Thank you to the author, Brilliance Publishing, and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review. This book is now available for purchasing.

This book is about the God of Love, Aleksi, a water nymph, Naia, and the Kraken, a pirate lord, Einar traveling to a former adversary on a diplomatic mission. Except Aleksi is dying and he wishes to use his last days playing matchmaker between Naia and Einar. They unexpectedly get caught up in political perils and seduction as dark secrets are revealed about one’s dark past and one’s epic destiny.

Let’s start from the beginning; I was very confused the first 20% as so many characters were mentioned and not much background was given to understand who they were and what importance they had in the book. This book read like the second book in a series and I skipped over the first one hoping to still understand what was going on. After the 25% mark, we got to the destination but through out the whole time being there, I did not see and “political perils”. We were told about some meetings and passive aggressive comments from the court of this island, but that seemed about it. I did not understand the magic system that well either and what some powers could do.

This book kept my attention just enough to want to see it through to the end, but I wasn’t really invested in the story. I did like being able to see through all 3 of our MC eyes and getting their perspective on what was going on. One reason it did not keep my attention was all of the “twists” did not surprise me. I was able to figure out all of them just by context clues and much faster than any of our MC or anyone else in the story; I think part of that is because we got all 3 POVs, so nothing really came as a shock.

The end of the book was just okay. We had about 3-4 chapters of just sex, which was not bad, but it felt misplaced as it was the only place in the book that had that much, in compared to the 2-3 scenes we had throughout the book. By the end, I was still confused as to who some people were and what kind of magic they had.

I have seen some other reviews stating that this authors other series should be read before this one as it gives a lot of background information to some events mentioned in this one and introduces a lot of the characters too. I wish I would have known that before starting this one as it probably would have made me enjoy it more, as I thought this was the beginning to a new world.

I did enjoy this book. I might read the second one that comes out, but I am not sure yet. I think this would be great for someone who has read the other series by Kit Rocha (Bound to Fire and Steel) as it seems it expands from that series. I would definitely recommend this to someone who enjoys intricate worlds and slow burn fantasy.

I've enjoyed this authors stories previously and Daughter of Tides sounded like a great story. While it left me a bit confused in the beginning I did overall enjoy the story. Audio narrators did a fantastic job bringing it to life!

I received an audiobook ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.

Unfortunately that's going to be DNF @ 10% for me.

I really wanted to give this and the romantasy genre a fair go, but I could tell this just wasn't for me.

The generic fantasy world-building, tone, and bodice-ripper prose just aren't for me. I wish I knew what happened to make me so hard to satisfy when it comes to fantasy, I used to love it, and still do when something knocks it out of the park, but they are few are far between for me.

From what I read so far, I am sure fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarro will enjoy it (no shade)

Definitely a slow burn. Once we got to the physical intimacy, it was great and explicit. I felt and enjoyed their chemistry. But man, the first… 60%??? of the book I was just constantly wishing I had read the Bound to Fire and Steel series. I really felt like I was so late to understand all the world building— which sucks, because it seems like a really cool world. I also felt like I was missing out on character info and vital plot pieces. Honestly, I picked this fantasy up thinking it was the first of a series— a fresh start to a new-to-me-world. I guess I should have done a bit more research. If I had read the other series, I think it’s likely I would’ve rated this book higher— so anyone reading this, please consider that.

I don’t think I’ll continue the series unless I decide to pick up the other series. So, I guess we’ll see if that ends up happening.

Audiobook dual narration was really great. I thought that the narrators gave wonderful performances. Of course, I especially love Shane East 😅 but really they all elevated the listening experience.

I wasn't expecting anything less horny from Kit Rocha.

It does overlap a bit with the characters from Consort of Fire/Queen of Dreams, so I would say it's a bit of a spoiler for that series, but damn if it wasn't a yearny/probably shouldn't but will/maybe I can be loved, soup of horniness.

It was a wonderful time, and I enjoyed the tortured hero aspect, and how she was open to having this relationship. Unappologetically themselves, and what a time. Audio experience was very immersive and the narrators did a great job.

Thank you to Brilliance Audio and Netgalley for an early copy.

I was lost right at the beginning. Usually I don't have any problems following an audiobook in English (I'm French so English isn't my first language) but this one... So the two issue combined leads me to dnf this book.

thank you netgalley for the copy

As someone who greatly enjoyed the Bound to Fire and Steel duology, I was excited to dive back into the world and follow Einar, Aleksi and Naia's story.

Daughter of Tides follows the Kraken, the Lover and the water nymph as they embark on a dangerous and crucial diplomatic journey.
I liked that the book picks up in the continuation of the events of Queen of Dreams as our protagonists try to solidify alliances in the aftermath of the battle against the betrayer. I will say I feel like this book can be read with no prior knowledge of the world but a lot of background (worldbuiding and character work) has been laid in the previous books and I don't know if I would have had the same reading experience lacking that information.
It was overall an enjoyable book as Kit Rocha always deliver with the poly romance and spice. The court intrigue and politics aspects of the story were also well done and I really enjoyed the expanded world building as we discover more about our characters and Akeisa and the lore surrounding the island.
There's nothing about this book I necessarily dislike, what I struggled most with is pacing and the build up to the romance. While Einar and Naia's connection is established from the get go and evolves pretty organically throughout the book, I felt Aleksi's feelings for both of them a bit rushed and lacking proper set up. I felt the story needed a bit more page time to build toward the triad and set the events up in a smoother way as things unravel and resolve too quickly in the last 10% of the book.
The cast of narrators do a fabulous job at bringing these characters to life. I thoroughly enjoyed the listening experience.

I think Daughter of Tides is one of those books that I should have read instead of listened to because I was confused as fuck in the beginning. It’s also a part of a larger world, and I felt like I missed out on some things because I haven’t read the series this is connected to.

Overall though it was a solid listen. Kept my attention and has plenty of spice!

I will admit I had a few mixed opinions on this read, but the more I stuck with it, the more engrossed I became. The description did not mention that this was a spin off of another duology by the same author, which I have not read, and it would be beneficial to read that before diving into this book. The world-building at the start was super vivid and descriptive, and there is a brief synopsis given of the previous duology, however, I felt that it was all done in such a way that it would have probably made more sense for past readers. So it was a rocky start, and I thought this would have been a DNF after the first few chapters, as beautiful as the world building was, I found myself a bit too confused about the system of magic and Gods, and some references that would have probably made sense had I read the previous series, but I’m glad I stuck with it because the storytelling was gorgeous and gripping the further it went on, and the relationship between the three main characters was so lovely, I’m looking forward to see how the story plays out in the next book.

This audiobook was a prime example of how a cast of narrators can enhance a story. As a dual narration, Shane East, Avery Caris; Tim Campbell and Joel Froomkin have done phenomenal performances with this one. Avery Caris and Tim Campbell were both new narrators for me, but oh my goodness, I am obsessed. How each narrator brought all of these characters to life and the engagement they created was fantastic, and perhaps the main reason I stuck with this story to the end.

This is definitely my kind of fantasy novel, and I look forward to reading more of Kit Rocha and to the next instalment.

Dual Narration- Shane East; Avery Caris; Tim Campbell; Joel Froomkin

Great Narrators! I truly enjoyed all their voices.

This book has some fabulous world building. Slow burn but it burns so good. Throuple was done very well. Really good fantasy storyline with a bit of mystery and throw in the romance of it all. Overall I enjoyed this audiobook.

Sadly, I'm DNFing this one.
I think, this book suffers from a big 'not for me' syndrome. High seas adventures are always a hit or miss for me, and this one was all misses.
First of all, it's in no way advertised as a spinoff of author's previous duology. This book does really poor job of world building without knowledge of the other books. Even as someone who read them, I was confused.
Second, this book is instantly lusty because all the main characters already know each other.
Third, not even audiobook saved this for me, since I only enjoyed one of the narrators.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.