Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for letting me read and review this interesting story. I have only read one or two other of Adrienne Young's books and they all seem to be written in the same way although they have different stories told in each one, of course.
I liked this one alright, but it was a bit of a letdown for me in comparison to all the hype, which seems to be a common occurrence for me with books that have a lot of hype. After reading and finishing the story, thinking about it for a little while, and letting it speak for itself, I liked it more than when I had been interested because of the hype.
This is a pirate story with adventure, intrigue, some romance, and troubled relationships with family and such. There's a lot of great and exciting journey while figuring out how to find their way in the cutthroat world of pirates, slavery, and such. Fable finds a way to get back to her father after having been left by him on an island after her mother died 4 years earlier because she wants to be on the crew and sail with her father, who is the most powerful trader in the Narrows. She recruits and becomes friends with a trader, West, and his crew to help her to get back to her father so she can claim her rightful spot on her father's ship as his crew member.
But there's more that Fable doesn't know about West and who he is and about the rivalries and dangers of the trading business that her father runs so they have to survive through worse than the Narrows to beat all the things that come up in their path.
If you like Adrienne Young's writing and other books, or pirate books with intrigue, secrets, treachery, and romance with a strong female MC that goes through a lot and still keeps on going no matter what then you'll enjoy this one too!

I managed to snag a copy of FABLE during a limited-time Read Now listing from Wednesday Books, and I am so endlessly happy that I did. After loving SKY IN THE DEEP and now FABLE, I really have to call myself an Adrienne Young fan. NAMESAKE cannot come soon enough.

Fable will probably become one of my favorite YA heroines. She's tough and a survivor, yet still caring and open to letting people in. I knew I'd love her from the first chapter, and once I'd cracked the first 20% of the ARC, I was sucked into the story like a riptide. I didn't put it down until I was done.

It combines the romance of the high seas with the dynamic of a ragtag found family, an enthralling bit of magic, and a budding romance that warmed my heart. I cannot wait to see where NAMESAKE takes Fable and the Marigold crew in the next book!

Fable is the daughter of a powerful trader and gem sage. On the night her mother died in a disastrous ship wreck, her father abandoned her on a island full of criminals and thugs. Fable learned to survive, and now, four years later, she is determined to find her way off the island and back to her father. She enlists the help of a trader named West, and sets off with his crew of misfits.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. To be honest, nothing much *happens.* The sail, they dodge storms, they walk around shady towns, they trade, they sail, the dodge thugs....but like....why? I just wasn't invested in Fable's search for her father. And the love with West just happened *too* quickly. I wasn't emotionally invested in that either. I liked the variety of the crew, but I wish I had gotten to know them more.

I do think the story was beautifully written; so even though I wasn't excited, I still enjoyed the task of reading it. And, I am very intrigued about book two because this one ended on a stunning cliffhanger. I am hoping the story picks up after all of the groundwork set in this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

**edit. I originally rated this 3 stars for the above reasons but I've been thinking about Fable and the crew of the Marigold a lot the past few days so I think that deserves a bump in stars. This book and these characters really stay with you.

So I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did! But I really did end up getting swept up into the world and falling in love with the story! Fable is brilliant vibrant story that you can’t help but appreciate it and want to be apart of ! There is a danger , romance and of course my favourite part: PIRACY! It is so beautifully described that you can easily reach out and touch the elements themselves!

I will say that I did struggle to get into the story, so word of advice is that you need to give it at least five chapter and than you are good to go! I am so glad that I didn’t give up on this amazing story ! I am equally glad that I have the ARC for the second one because man that cliffhanger isn’t something I would want to be dealing with !

Read this book ! Fall in love with Fable and the Marigold crew ! Trust me you won’t regret it ! Big thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy!!

wow this book was fantastic. Holy crap. I did not expect to love it as much as I did. Fable is now on my list as favorite female characters. She’s strong and independent and everything I wish I was. I loved the side characters and just the entire world building. I didn’t want to put the book down.

Thank you so much to Net Galley and Wednesday books for my arc!

I enjoyed reading Fable, and enjoyed following Fable's (the title character) adventures across the ocean. Fable bootstraps herself from the ground up, to leave an island where her father left her after the death of her mother. Occasional flashbacks fill in Fable's background as she finalizes her plans to leave Jeval and move on with her life. As part of her plan, Fable pays a shipmaster to take her from Jeval to Ceros, where she intends to enact the rest of her plan for her future. When her plans don't go the way she expects, she has to change them abruptly. Fable then follows her new plan with the intent of completing her original, but now modified, plan. The only part I disliked at all was that the novel ends on a cliffhanger that is a lead-in to what I can only assume is the next novel - a plot device that I have no problem with in established series, but one that I dislike in the first book by a relatively new author.

There’s something about Adrienne Young’s writing that makes me fly through the pages and pulls me headlong into the story. Fable is a non-stop seafaring novel full of action, found family, and high seas adventures.

I’m always impressed by this author’s writing, and Fable was no exception. The vivid descriptions and atmospheric setting transports the readers into the story. I could almost feel the wind in my hair as we travelled across the sea, smell the salt, hear the seagulls. The worldbuilding was strong and easy to imagine. Once I dived into this, it was difficult to pull myself away from the pages.

Fable, our heroine, really shined throughout the book. She’s strong, determined, and resourceful; she’s a survivor. Abandoned on an island by her father when she was younger, she will do anything to escape and win back a place in her father’s crew. I absolutely loved reading about her and following along on her journey.

One of the themes in Fable is found family. Fable managers to barter her way off the island via the Marigold. I really loved the dynamics that emerge once Fable is aboard. It’s clear the crew is a very young, tight-knit group, but Fable eventually becomes a part of them. All of the side characters were so fun to read about and I cannot wait for more of their adventures in the sequel!

Fable easily captivated me with it’s powerful imagery, strong heroine, and seafaring adventures. The writing will draw the reader into the story, but the wonderful characters and intriguing plot will keep them there. I’m really thankful Namesake is releasing soon; I’m not sure how I would stand to wait an entire year for the sequel!

*I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

I have now read three of Adrienne Young’s books, and I can’t wait to read a fourth. I dare say that I will read just about anything she writes. She’s that good.

Her characterization is fantastic, with vivid characters that come to life the moment you meet them. Even minor characters, like the Dern gambit and Leo, were quickly fleshed out through their words and actions. I love Fable (17); she is strong, determined, and smart without being an unbelievable superhuman without any flaws or weaknesses. West and the crew of the Marigold were initially somewhat cold, but I immediately knew I liked them. (No definite ages are given for them, but Fable guesses that none of them is much older than she is. Considering West has been helmsman for the ship for two years, I'm guessing he's probably between 19 and 21.) Saint is a little ambiguous, for the most part--I felt like I was only starting to figure him out by the end of the book. Right from the start of the book, I cared about the characters, which was a good sign.

Her writing is perfect. She gives just the right amount and type of description to make me really experience the book without overloading the page and drowning the story or characters. Everything comes to life in a natural way rather than stopping to describe every single thing surrounding her characters (because who goes through life carefully studying each and every object encountered?). Every word feels important, enhancing the story and characters rather than distracting from them. Nothing is superfluous or unnecessary.

Something I've liked about each of this author's books that I've read is that she has both strong female characters and strong male characters. It bothers me when authors choose to emasculate and weaken their male characters in order to make their female characters appear stronger. It's unnecessary and rather insulting to both groups--men don't have to be weak for women to be strong, and strong women don't make men weak. But Young's characters complement each other. They have weaknesses and flaws in addition to their strengths, but they're believable. I love it.

The only thing wrong with this book is that I've finished reading it and now have to wait seven months for the sequel. Cruel, cruel time.

Note: Mild swearing. Possibly implied sex (cuts out quickly).

I was lucky to receive an arc of this wonderful book.
It held me from the first page right until the last page.
My heart broke for Fable so many times, bit she is strong a a survivor.
Look forward to the next installment.

Get ready for a very unpopular opinion because I didn't enjoy reading this book at all. I REALLY wanted to love this book, as it mostly has five stars, but it turned out to be a very disappointing read for me.

We follow a girl named Fable who wants to leave a dangerous island where her father left her to fend for herself and survive. Her goal is to find her father and demand her rightful place on his crew. And to do that, she gets help from a young trader named West. Fable's journey starts here.

Even though this book has pirates, lost treasure, secrets, and romance (all of the things that I love!), I found the book to be very slow for my taste, and I skimmed most of it. Though, the biggest disappointment for me was the romance (I didn't DNF this book as I was hoping for something to happen, and it never happened!). I honestly thought she was going to end up with someone else, with whom she had more chemistry than the person she ended up with. But I guess we can't always get what we want. Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I just read the ending to this book and I'm hurt. I'm really upset at the fact that I can't read the next book immediately. I have not read any of Adrienne's books before, so I wasn't aware of how emotional her storytelling is. I felt every high and low Fable felt. Every tender or intense moment she was experiencing. And the ending just threw the bundle of emotions and hit me square in the face. I am honestly so upset that I can't read Namesake immediately because I need to know what happens next!

In terms of this book, I really connected with these characters. I love West, even though I didn't particularly like him at first. I wasn't sure what Fable saw in him until we saw his true side - his loving side. And man, I love him so much! Willa is also such a kick-butt character; tough but sweet and ready to fight for West at any given notice.

Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book when I started reading it. We came in slowly before building up to this final scene and I'm still very upset with the ending. I was going to rate this lower, but after everything, I feel like I have to give this five stars. It met every trait that I like in a book: solid world building, fun characters, good dialogue, exciting action, and a gasp worthy ending. So, even though I wasn't a fan at first, this book won me over and I can't wait to read Namesake!

Fable was a book that I’ve been so excited about for a while now even before I really knew what it was about. It was one of my most anticipated reads for later this year – possible even next year here in the UK, I’m not sure – so the moment I saw it was available as a Read Now book on NetGalley? I downloaded it straight away.

Fable follows the titular main character as she fights to escape off the island she was abandoned on and travel back home to prove to her father that she’s strong enough to work for him. Only it’s not that simple with the ship that saved her not wanting her and there being many other dangerous people around.

This book had some excellent worldbuilding in it. I did maybe expect a little more magic. Fable has this ability with gems but not much detail has been given on that yet. So it wasn’t perfect. But I loved how dark the world was. No one was really safe on any of the islands and all the characters are fighting to survive in their own way. This made for something fascinating and I’m hoping in the next book we can maybe explore the Unnamed Sea and Bastien.

The characters were pretty good. I didn’t have issues with any of them but I also didn’t really feel like you got to know any of them other than Fable all that well. But I think that’s mostly because they were pushing Fable away for a lot of the book and that’ll be improved upon in the next one. I also was a little disappointed in the romance. I seem to be finding that a lot recently where the main focus of these YA books is on the settings and plot and characters which is completely amazing. But then there’s romance that if it’s going to be in there seriously needs to be built on.

But I think this was definitely my favourite of Adrienne Young’s books so far and I’m so excited that it’s the first book in a series.

Roll on the next one!

Thank you NetGally and Wednesday Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Release date Sep 1st, 2020! (Swipe for synopsis)
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Read. This. Book. Oh my gosh! 5/5 stars! ⭐️ Full disclosure, I have a soft spot for all things pirates & mermaids. So it is no surprise that I fell head first into this story. Fable as a main character is so fun to follow. She is flawed, kind, determined, and gets shit done! We stan!
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This book has one of the most epic kiss scenes I have read in a long time. Like, upside down Spider-Man & Mary-Jane iconic! I can’t wait to see how angsty the sequel is...
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Speaking of sequels... I need it!! Namesake isn’t projected to come out until March of 2021... don’t mind me while I die a little on the inside. Thank you Adrienne Young for writing one of my top five favorite books of 2020.
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This was such a happy surprise of a book for me! I absolutely loved it.

Things I Liked:
♥ The atmosphere of this book was incredible. I feel like I could picture every unruly nail, every scratched plank of wood, every errant cobblestone.
♥ I loved all of the side characters SO much. They were well fleshed out and practically jumped off the page.
♥ The world building was great. I had a really good grasp of the traders and how everyone worked together.
♥ This book was really well paced and flew by.
♥ The ending!!! I love a cliffhanger, and this was a great one.
♥ Fable was a really strong MC. She had a perfect mix of strength and vulnerability, she didn’t try to be likeable, and I loved her.

Things I Disliked:
♡ I like West a lot, but I wish I’d connected to him more. He definitely felt the flattest of all of the characters but I did find his chemistry with the others was pretty good.
♡ I think there could have been more build up for the romance. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t feel it until it actually happened. I like a little bit of yearning.
♡ For a fantasy, there wasn’t a lot of magic in this book. There were hints towards someone with a magical power, but we didn’t see much of that in this book. Honestly, I don’t think the story suffered for it, but it’s not what I’d expect from a fantasy.

I am absolutely dying for book two. This was SUCH a good little book. I’ll definitely be picking up more of Adrienne Young’s books.

Content Warnings: Mutilation, slavery/servitude, violence, murder, poverty.

Truly exemplary storytelling at work here. I went in to Fable never having read any of Adrienne Young's previous books and knowing only vaguely what this one was about and any expectations I had were totally blown away. Despite being literally dropped in to the story and an unfamiliar world, I was immediately drawn in to the world-building and the character of Fable. I was tense basically the whole way through navigating this treacherous path with her and then that ending!! I could not request the sequel fast enough. This is going to the top of my booktalk list for schools and the top of my favorite books of the year list.

I'm so glad I gave this book a shot! It went REALLY quickly for me, sped by honestly, but I was happy to be along for the ride throughout.

Four years ago, Fable's father left her on an island to scavenge for her life after her mother's ship sinks. Her father is a feared and respected pirate, and no one can know their connection. She struggles dredging the coves for anything of value with thieving eyes on her constantly. When she finally escapes, it's on a ship with a crew that wants nothing to do with her. She has to make her way to her father without getting caught out as anything more than a harmless dredger.

This book does something vital: it delivers on piracy. Think of this book as the Black Sails of pirate YA books. Short of a pirate ship cannon battle, it gives you everything else you might be looking for in a pirate book that others tend to ignore. Pirate islands where the folk all scam each other? Check. Trading posts where you can trade less than legal items for gems? Check. Raging storms and.... actual ship maneuvering??? in a pirate book??? Yup.

I think I'm rating it so highly because of that, but I will be honest about some issues. There are some issues with prose, moments where lines are repeated but it feels almost like there's no actual emotion there, like the author thinks it will mean something in that moment but it just doesn't connect. This happens most often before we learn the full story about Fable's mother, and lines are repeated to emphasize things, but we don't have the full story so it's just like "please reader, be sad about sad mom until I tell you more". It's a personal preference, really, I just didn't like how much some line repetition seemed to be like "this should make you feel something, it's dramatic" and then just close the chapter off.

The romance is nice, a little out of nowhere and kind of like a heel-turn, but I wasn't angry about it. West is sweet, and respectful, and I will always simp for men doing the bare minimum.

My favorite part of the book is what we learn about Fable that I won't write out for spoilers. I like the idea of it, and I like the idea of where I thiiiiink book two will go (especially from the cover). It has me hoping that Netgalley will grant my wish to read it so I can know before March.

Read if: you want a pirate book with pining, a main character who is uniquely talented and has reasons for her development. Has a cliffhanger ending, but the book's arc is wrapped up.

There are so many things I loved about this book. Starting with the cover. Adrienne Young has always had beautiful covers but this one has to be my favorite.
Once you get past that you are greeted with an intense story that keeps you captivated until the end. I loved how fast paced the story was and how the writing was so easy to get into when you would pick it back up again.
The story itself is an interesting tale of vengeance and courage.

The only thing I didn't enjoy was near the end. It felt rushed and seemed to skip ahead faster than I would have liked especially when I knew there was a second story coming.

Overall fable is a great story around love, family and those we choose over blood. I highly recommend it.

Once again Adrienne Young amazes me with one of her books!
Sky in The Deep was one of my favorite books of 2019, so I was really excited waiting for Fable and I am happy to say it did not disappoint me.

This book is the beginning of a duology, and we follow the main character Fable, who after losing her mother in a storm at sea, is abandoned by her father on an island of pirates and criminals. For four years, she will have to endure very hard times on the island of Jeval learning to fend for herself, until she can raise enough money to buy passage on board of the Marigold. There she meets West, the young captain of the ship and his crew. Fable want to find her father, who is now a powerful trader, and demand him retribution for abandoning her.

I had an instant connection to this story thanks to the setting and the protagonist. Fable is a strong girl, determined and willing to fight for her goals. Since her father abandoned her, she had to face constant danger from the criminals of the island where the rules are to survive at all costs. She is the kind of female main character I like to read the most in books. She is defiant and determined, but we can also see all the insecurities and fears that torment her, and how despite the pain suffered, she has a generous heart wich long for a place where to belong.

The characters are well built, they have clear motivations and moral values that guide their actions. They all have been through rough situations and are struggling to remain standing in a world rule by cruelty. Throughout the book we will see how the relationship between them develops, how they gain mutual trust and end up forming a great friendship. I love these kinds of dynamics where the characters find a “family”, it was something that is also present in Sky in The Deep, and it is one of the reasons why I like Adrienne Young's writing style so much.

The setting is amazing and really well ejecuted, with precise and beautiful descriptions. I love stories of pirates, ships, and the sea, and this book felt like experiencing every adventure first hand.

As for the plot, this is not a novel that focuses on epic action moments and that worked for me. The first half of the book is more calm and centers on introducing basic aspects, but in the second half the greatest conflicts begin and many truths are discovered. I could enjoy the pace of the story because it was exactly what I was looking for: a story with good characters, settings and adventures that did not require me to learn about a complex world.

I recommend this book for those who want to enjoy an easy-to-read story that makes you feel engaged and part of a pirate crew.

Thank to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for a digital arc of this book!

I would give this more than 5 stars if I could! #fable is a remarkable fantasy with a fully formed world dependent on the sea and ships and the people who inhabit this world are full of secrets and rules and an as-yet-unknown backstory (some of which is revealed along the way). It is also a love story of multiple types—for the lifestyle, for other people, for the past. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series! Thank you to #netgalley, the publisher and the author for this ebook to read and review ahead of publication.

I absolutely loved this book! The beginning was a bit slow, but it really picked up and I enjoyed the characters. There was a lot of action, but the relationships between the characters was also important. There was a great cliffhanger at the end, and I can't wait to read the next to see how it ends!