Elysandra Winters has always yearned for a life of adventure on the rolling seas and is willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill her dream. When her Privateer father continually refuses to allow his only daughter to sail, Ellie defies him, disguises herself as a boy, and goes in search of a captain who will give her a chance to prove her worth.Thanks to the cursed selkie blood coursing through his veins, Daniel O’Rourke needs the sea to survive. After giving up on his humanity and spending three years in seal form, he decides to give his human side another chance. Daniel goes in search of a job and a sense of normalcy, earning himself a position aboard Captain Winter’s ship, The Siren’s Call. However, his new captain’s first assignment has nothing at all to do with sailing, and everything to do with his headstrong young daughter.
Years later, when the leader of a band of bloodthirsty pirates murders Captain Winters, Daniel and Elysandra’s lives come crashing back together with the force of a hurricane. Both experts in deception, they must find a way to trust each other if they are to have any hope of hunting down the captain’s killer.
My Thoughts:
I didn’t really know what to expect going into this book, but I got a great adventure out of it. See I don’t know why but I really like pirate stories. I really can’t explain what it is about pirate books but they are exciting to me. I love the language, the boat speak, the sword fights, and the daily adventures out on the sea.
The beginning of this book is a little slow and it sounds weird because one of the main characters is a sea creature whenever he wants to be. This part of the story just always seemed wierd to me. I guess I would have liked it better had it just been a pirate story. Plus in the beginning it is hard to see how this story is going to come together when Ellie is a little girl. I guess I thought this was an adult story so this age range just threw me for a loop. No worries though because the book quickly moves along as the characters of Ellie and Daniel start to grow up rather quickly.
Before I knew it the story was moving along smoothly into the pirate/out at sea adventures. This was the part that I loved the best. There was something magical about watching Ellie learn to be a pirate aboard a pirate ship and how fast she learns. Plus a great part of this section of the book is meeting Nelson! I just love this man, he is like a second father/friend to Ellie and he is so accepting and loving that I just couldn’t get enough of him. I also loved watching Ellie meet up with Daniel again because their chemistry just seemed to really click for me. It was great to watch them work together in this story. This is a story where two alternate point of views worked! I could really feel Ellie and Daniel as separate people that had a connection.
Overall, there were a few bumps along the way but the characters really shined for me. I don’t think that there was one character that I disliked…well other than the villian of the story! I’m a very character driven person so when the characters are shining I’m a happy reader. Plus I’m pretty sure at this point that I LOVE PIRATES!! So pick up this debut novel and give it a try because you are in for a good read with some adventure on the high seas.
Pirates ?
That’s really awesome. I haven’t come across many books with them so I’m definitely interested in reading this one.
Too bad that the book started out a little too slow for you, but it’s great that the middle redeems itself.
The characters seem fabulous. Thanks for sharing the great review, Alexa.
I love books with pirates! I also am more into character driven stories. It sounds a little random that one character is a selkie but I don’t know, maybe it works okay. Either way it sounds like a good read!