Feature Friday ARC Review: A Ship of Bones & Teeth by Karina Halle

 

*Feature Friday ARC Review is a meme hosted by The Tattered Page to review books not yet released.  

*Warning: This review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Publisher: Self-published 
Release Date: May 25, 2023

Pages: 466

Genre: Adult Fantasy Romance

Source: E-ARC 

THE STORY:

A standalone adult dark fantasy pirate romance re-telling of The Little Mermaid from the New York Times Bestselling Author of River of Shadows and Blood Orange.

Princess Maren is a woman with a secret.

Ten years ago, she sold her soul to the sea witch Edonia, giving up a life underwater in exchange for the love of Prince Aerik on land. But after a decade of abuse and misery inflicted by the cruel prince, Maren wants nothing more than to leave him and her royal role behind and find Edonia to reverse the spell.

An opportunity for escape presents itself when the prince and princess are traveling overseas and are taken hostage by a band of notorious pirates, led by the fearsome Captain Ramsay "Bones" Battista. Maren has heard the sordid stories about the infamous pirate--not only is his ship supposedly haunted and crewed by the damned, but that no prisoners ever survive.

 

Fortunately for Maren, she learns that the captain also has a score to settle with the sea witch. With any luck, Maren may be able to get her old life back, even if it's being held in the captain's wicked hands.

But Ramsay gets more than he bargained for when he learns who--and what --Maren is, and that her appetite for revenge, freedom, and bloodlust rivals his.

Meanwhile, Maren finds herself falling for the pirate's dark nature, even as she discovers that Ramsay has a secret more deadly than her own.

When it comes to the high seas, not all monsters lurk beneath the surface.

LINK: Goodreads 

RATING: 

SPICE RATING: 🌶🌶🌶/5 chilies

ONE-WORD REVIEW: CAPTIVATING

OPENING LINE: There was no moon the day I decided to sell my soul. 

REVIEW:

Huge thank you to Karina Halle and her PR team for an ARC of A SHIP OF BONES AND TEETH!

A SHIP OF BONES AND TEETH was a darkish, gothic, and spicy twist on a beloved childhood fairy tale, and it did not disappoint. The world-building was sweeping and gothic and sucked me in. When I found out Karina was doing a Pirates of The Caribbean and the Little Mermaid mesh-up, I could not have been more excited. When I heard Halle was doing a dark, spicy retelling of The Little Mermaid, I knew I had to read it! And I was totally right! As always, she did not let me down! Just like I could not put this damn book down—I was traveling when I read it for 7 hours straight. Best. Flight. Ever. The story was enchanting and thrilling and dark and didn’t let up. The pacing was perfect, and the balance between action and tension and mystery and spooky vibes and romance was sublime. The characters jumped off the page and stole my heart, the whole morally grey lot of them.

𝒴𝑜𝓊’𝓇𝑒 𝒶 𝒻𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓈𝑜𝓊𝓁, 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝒸𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝑜 𝒸𝓊𝓇𝑒.

Captain fucking Ramsey “Bones” Battista . . . what a hot slab of man beef 🥵. My God, what I would do to take a bite *IYKYK 😉* out of him. He was a possessive and mysterious hunk with a panty-melting mouth.

𝐿𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼'𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓈, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹, 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝒹𝓇𝒶𝓌𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝑒𝓃.

Maren was the little mermaid in the story, but way less docile—in fact, she was a bloodthirsty badass. But she had to find her way back to herself after decade-long, abusive marriage to the cruel and violent Prince Aerik who she gave up her life as a Syren for. Her character journey was so fun to read as she went from a lost girl to a forceful, empowered, ruthless woman.

Marne and Bones’ chemistry was off the charts from the first encounter. The banter? Loved it. The sexual tension? Delicious.

𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝓈𝓌𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝓎 𝓅𝓇𝒶𝓎𝑒𝓇𝓈. 𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝓈𝓌𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝒶𝓎𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝒾 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓀𝓃𝑒𝓌 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝒹. 𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓃 𝑒𝓃𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓉𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉, 𝒶 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓈𝓊𝓇𝑒, 𝒶 𝓅𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒸𝓊𝓇𝓈𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝒾𝓉𝓈 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝐜𝒶𝓂 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒽𝓊𝓃𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒸𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝓁𝓁.

One qualm about the smut though: Ramsay was dirty, nasty kinky, and I would have loved to really see that on page. We were only given hints of his darker, kinkier nature, and I was dying to read more.

𝑀𝓎 𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓉 𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝑜𝓃 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹, 𝒶 𝓈𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝒾𝓈𝒽 𝒷𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝒾𝓉. 𝐻𝑒 𝑔𝓇𝓊𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓈 𝓊𝓅 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹, 𝓌𝒾𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓎. "𝒟𝑜 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃," 𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓈𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓈, 𝑒𝓎𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝒸𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀𝓁𝓎. "𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓉𝒽, 𝓅𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒." 𝐻𝑒 𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓃𝓈 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓂𝑜𝓊𝓉𝒽, 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝓃𝑔𝓊𝑒, 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓉.

See what I mean? I. Am. Sweating. Over. Here.

All in all, I really enjoyed A SHIP OF BONES AND TEETH  and could not put it down. This is a must-read!

𝒯𝓇𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓈 & 𝒦𝒾𝓃𝓀𝓈

✨Captor/Captive

✨Forced proximity

✨Enemies to lovers

✨Morally grey characters

✨Villain gets the girl

✨Monster heroine

✨Found family

✨High-stakes adventure

✨Hidden identities

✨Dirty talk

✨Sp@nking

✨Bond@ge

✨Br@nding

✨R3v3ng3

𝐸𝓁𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈

✨Kinky f#ckery

✨Spooky vibes

✨Gothic fantasy

✨Magic

✨ Sea witches, mermaids, pirates, & more

𝒯𝓇𝒾𝑔𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈

✨Abus3

✨Murd3r

✨Grief and loss

✨Viol3nc3 and gor3

✨Explicit s3xual scenes

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books. Halle is represented by the Root Literary and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.

Connect with Karina

Facebook: https://bit.ly/3LCSTIw

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2vo9pq4

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3LHKB21

Join her Reader Group: https://bit.ly/3wAzpQt

Stay up to date with Karina by signing up for her newsletter here: 

https://bit.ly/3PAEqQy

Website: http://authorkarinahalle.com

Happy Reading!

 

Feature Friday ARC Review: From the Grave by Kresley Cole

  

*Feature Friday ARC Review is a meme hosted by The Tattered Page to review books not yet released.  

*Warning: This review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Publisher: Self-published 
Release Date: April 6, 2023

Pages: 535 

Genre: Adult Dark Romance

Source: E-ARC 

THE STORY:

Kresley Cole’s New York Times bestselling Arcana Chronicles series comes to a spectacular and fiery conclusion in this final installment.

When even the gods hold their breath . . .

To defeat the Emperor and Fortune, Evie, the great Empress of Arcana, must repair her bond with Death, despite the earth-shattering developments between them.

And danger lurks in every shadow . . .

Their allies—a sea witch, a band of roving warriors, and more than a couple of rogues—overcome terrifying obstacles to help them. But when Jack makes a shocking discovery, the fallout threatens to tear their alliance apart.

One girl could deliver salvation—or doom.

If the Empress and her friends can remain united, will their powers be enough to defeat a catastrophic curse on the world, or will hellfire reign forever? The end looms for us all until the best hand wins. . . .

LINK: Goodreads 

RATING: 

ONE-WORD REVIEW: BITTERSWEET

TAG LINE: When even the gods hold their breath . . . And danger lurks in every shadow . . . One girl could deliver salvation—or doom.

OPENING LINE: I watched the drive long after there was no sign of Jack, the love of my life.

REVIEW:

Huge thank you Kresley Cole and Naomi for sending me an advanced copy of FROM THE GRAVE to review!

𝒜 𝒷𝓁𝑜𝑜𝒹𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒸𝒶𝓃'𝓉 𝒽𝓊𝓇𝓉.

 am writing this review with a heavy heart. I am so sad to see THE ARCANA CHRONICLES series come to an end. . . but may what a way to go out! FROM THE GRAVE was so worth the wait, even if it did gut me—I still had a smile on my face as I bled out. Bravo Kresley!

FROM THE GRAVE  picked up right where DARK CALLING ends—so no time jumping or flashbacks—and you’re drawn right into the plot. The stakes were high and the romantic angst was higher. Who will win the games? Which Majors will betray their allies? Will Death sacrifice his life so his wife and child can live? Who will claim Evie’s heart when it’s split between two great loves? 

It was a wild ride!

𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑒. 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓈. 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒽. 𝑀𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝒸𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒽.

Kresley is such a talented writer. Her ability to have a broad cast of fleshed-out characters who each have their own unique voices and navigate a nuanced plot filled with action, romance, angst, witty banter and more attests to Kresley’s talent. The world-building was above measure—detailed and immersive.

Death was devoted, stalwart, and supportive as ever. Jack was steadfast, protective as ever. Both were also selfless when it came to Evie and the baby.

And Evie was annoyingly indecisive as ever. But also, I get it. How does one choose between two such amazing men??? No matter which she chose she’d still lose out. No one really wins.

𝐼’𝓂 𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝒻 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼’𝓂 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝐼 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓂𝑒. 𝐼 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒜𝓇𝒾𝒸.

All in all, I am obsessed with FROM THE GRAVE  and highly recommend THE ARCANA CHRONICLES to anyone who will listen. Please go read the series if you haven’t, you will not regret it!

TROPES & TRIGGER WARNINGS:

- Love triangle

- Teen pregnancy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kresley Cole is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the electrifying Immortals After Dark paranormal series, the young adult Arcana Chronicles series, the erotic Gamemakers series, and five award-winning historical romances. A master’s grad and former athlete, she has traveled over much of the world and draws from those experiences to create her memorable characters and settings. Her IAD books have been translated into 23 foreign languages, garnered three RITA awards, a RWA Hall of Fame induction, and consistently appear on the bestseller lists, in the U.S. and abroad. Cole lives in Florida with her family. 

Learn more about Kresley at: www.kresleycole.com & www.thearcanachronicles.com

Email her at: Shanteltessierassistant@gmail.com

Happy Reading!

 

Feature Friday ARC Review: The Sacrifice by Shantel Tessier

 

*Feature Friday ARC Review is a meme hosted by The Tattered Page to review books not yet released.  

*Warning: This review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Publisher: Self-published 
Release Date: April 6, 2023

Pages: 535 

Genre: Adult Dark Romance

Source: E-ARC 

THE STORY:

HIS LADY

A Lord is to marry after he graduates from Barrington University, an elite college for the rich. A Lady’s job is to help him fit into a world unaware of his secret society. The Lord does not get to choose who he spends the rest of his life with. But there is always an exception to the rule. And I just so happen to be his.

I VOW. YOU VOW. WE VOW.

I was to wed a Lord of my parents’ choosing. Wealth can’t buy you everything, or I would have had freedom years ago. Instead, my strict parents made sure I lived a dull life in a mansion resembling a prison.

But on my wedding day, I was handed over to another man—an even more ruthless Lord that my family hated.

Tyson Riley Crawford only wanted me for his revenge. I’m nothing more than a debt to be paid. I didn’t have a say in the matter. So when I said my vows before the congregation, I knew I’d break them. Consequences be damned.

Too bad I underestimated my husband and didn’t realize he was more determined to punish me than I was to succeed at escaping. He’ll make me choke on those words I used to bind myself to him.

Yet even he couldn’t have seen what our future held. Ultimately, we’re all just pawns in a game that none of us can win unless you’re willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice … and even that may not be enough.

LINK: Goodreads 

RATING: 

ONE-WORD REVIEW: HOTTTT

TAG LINE: Blood is required to solidify their marriage. Only death will release them from their oath.

OPENING LINE: “As a Lord, one must prove to us that we can count on you.”

REVIEW:

Huge thank you Shantel Tessier and Candi for sending me an ARC of THE SACRIFICE!

Shantel Tessier delivers once again!

My first book by Shantel was THE RITUAL and it hit every one of my sweet book trope spots so I was excited to read THE SACRIFICE. And she did not disappoint!

“𝒲𝑒𝓁𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓁, 𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝒴𝑜𝓊’𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒸𝓇𝒶𝓌𝓁 𝒶𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝓇 𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝒾𝓃𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊.” 

Ever since meeting Tyson in THE RITUAL, I was curious about him and couldn’t wait to read his story. Tyson was HOTTT and dark and dominating. He was also possessive and clever and mean.

𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝑒𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓁𝓎 𝓌𝒶𝓁𝓀 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝒾𝓈𝓁𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝑒, 𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝓇𝒶𝓌𝓁 𝑜𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓀𝓃𝑒𝑒𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝓁𝒶𝓇 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓃𝑒𝒸𝓀 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝐼 𝒹𝓇𝒶𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒷𝓎 𝒶 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝒽.

The spice was chef’s kiss! Dark and spicy and plentiful. Well done, Shantel!

Now for some of the bits, I didn’t care for. For the most part, Laiklyn was too meek for me. She literally thought Tyson murdered her sister and then forced her to marry him but yet never raged against him or asked questions. That character flaw drove me crazy! So, when Lake grew a backbone for like two seconds, I literally pumped my fist in the air—wish we got to see more of that side of her.

"𝒟𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝒶𝒷𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝓊𝓂𝒾𝓁𝒾𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝓃. 𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓃𝑜𝓌, 𝐼'𝓂 𝑔𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝑜𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓉 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓋𝒶𝒸𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝑒, 𝑜𝓇 𝒾𝓃 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓃𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒."

As for the plot, it was very murky—which is both good and bad. We didn’t know what was driving Tyson to force Lake to marry him. We didn’t know the actual villain’s motive either. And, honestly, a couple of the plot threads didn’t make sense. But it was a fun, hell of a ride trying to make sense of it all—*spoiler alert: like why did Luke and Whitney get married? What was the purpose?* Be prepared for plot twists on top of plot twists. 

Also, some story threads were left untethered—they weren’t followed through. For example, when Lake’s asshole father gave her the cell phone to keep in contact with her about Initiations and whatever other nefarious plans he had for her, nothing ever came of it. It was essentially “cleared up” by saying she simply forgot about it—how convenient.

Lastly, don’t expect the villain's motives to tidy up until the Epilogue. I was confused and annoyed as to why we weren’t told WHY the villain did what they did. I don’t know about you, but I need to know what the driving force of the plot in the book I’m reading is. In my opinion, waiting until the Epilogue to spell it out was too late. 

“𝒮𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓋𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝓌𝒾𝓃𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝒶𝓊𝓈𝑒 𝓃𝑜 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑒𝓁𝓈𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓇𝓊𝓉𝒽𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝑒𝓃𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝓉𝑜 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝒽𝒾𝓂.”

All in all, I really enjoyed THE SACRIFICE and recommend it to anyone who enjoys dark romance. Please see the tropes and trigger warnings below.

TROPES & TRIGGER WARNINGS:

- Non-con/Dub con

- CNC

- Breath Play

- Degradation

- Butt play 

- Bondage

- Punishment

- Virgin h

- Implied/referenced rape

- Graphic depictions of violence & serial unaliving

- Forced Marriage

- Forced proximity

- Revenge

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Shantel is a USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author. She lives in Oklahoma with her high school sweetheart, who is a wonderful, supportive husband and their two daughters. She loves to spend time cuddled up on the couch with a good book. Although she has a passion to write, her family is most important to her.

Email her at: Shanteltessierassistant@gmail.com

Happy Reading!