What a perfect sequel! I really think this could have been two books with how much it had to offer. Fable is a character you can’t help but root for. She’s strong and knows what she wants and is willing to fight for it. By far some of the best books I’ve read all year.

A heart-pounding thrill ride to the Narrows and beyond. This one picks right up after book 1. It's full of delicious deception and maneuvering and twists and turns that forced me to keep reading. The crew is back, but the inner-workings of the islands and the trade are quickly becoming a bigger worry for Fable and her crew. I can honestly say I didn't see many of the twits and the last 15% left me holding my breath as I raced to the conclusion. So well done, so absolutely enjoyable.

I know this is supposed to just be 2 books, but can't we have more? I absolutely love them!

This series is one of my favorites. Its a page turner with so many plot twists, betrayal and games. Adrienne Young is becoming one of my favorite authors.

This is book 2 of Fable and the story just keeps getting better. I dont want to spoil it but its a must read especially if you loved the first book.

I was SO HYPED to be able to receive the e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review-so thank you NetGalley! I really enjoyed Fable and so I was super excited to dive into Namesake. Namesake was pretty good!!! I will be honest; I did give Fable a higher rating, but I can totally see myself re-reading this book and giving it closer to 5 stars. I loved learning more about the world (a map would be so appreciated just saying) but I think the main drawback for me was Fable and West’s relationship. I wasn’t a fan of them in the first book, but then it was more like a sidenote because it sprung out of nowhere at the end but in this book their relationship kicks up a notch in intensity and I was just not a fan. To be perfectly candid, they are pretty low-rated on my YA Fantasy couple’s list (you know, the non-existent one that just floats in my head). Their main issue was communication-which UGH I just don’t think works in books! And also, Fable struggling a little with the stereotype of falling for someone like her father (yikes/lol). I like Fable by herself and I am just not a fan of West but whatevs. To each their own! I did enjoy the politicking in this book but one of the points of conflict <spoiler> with the crew of the Marigold </spoiler> just seemed pretty contrived and like it could have been avoided if there was COMMUNICATION <spoiler> side-eying you here West </spoiler>. And that’s a personal pet peeve of mine.

HOWEVER, that being said, the characters were so flushed out and I really enjoyed getting to know everyone more, especially <spoiler> Koy!!! What a plot twist-I was lowkey rooting for him to DIE in the first book, whooooppps </spoiler>. Getting to learn more about Fable’s past and family history was also pretty awesome and without giving too much away, the name of this book is so spot-on and perfect I am a little in awe. Also, in awe (and drooling) at the covers and how amazingly they match!! A book-lover's dream come true.

The ending was great and wrapped up neatly and I will definitely be adding this bad boy to my collection!

Fable and Namesake feel less like a duology than like two halves of a whole. They read like one book that ended up split into two parts due to length, and organically meld into one story. Namesake picks up immediately after the end of Fable and continues Fable’s story. These books are a fun, distracting romp across the seas, keeping up the tension and a fast pace throughout. They are not deep literary novels, but great YA reads to get one’s mind off the real world in the current climate – I raced through both of them and if I had them at the same time, I would probably have binged the series.

Fable is pretty much your average YA heroine. Beautiful, smart, with an unusual power and in a precarious situation at the start – oh, and a heir. Fable and Namesake are not hugely inventive books or ones that avoid tropes, but to be entirely honest, for one I did not mind. I was out for entertainment, and Adrienne Young delivered. There is some character depth, but I feel like this series isn’t as strong as Young’s previous work. Much of what happens between characters is predictable, but that makes the books comforting to read in their way.

I really enjoyed reading Fable and Namesake and would recommend them to anyone looking to escape the real world for a while.

Today I am thankful for @Netgalley and having Namesake ready to read as soon as I finished Fable because we all know I am impatient!

Namesake picks right up where Fable left off. There’s more fighting and danger on the high seas! Fable is forced to once again figure out how to survive and who she can trust. There is a shocking reveal about Fable’s family, we learn more about her mother’s life and of course West and his band of misfits are back too!

Namesake is long, over 600 pages, but I fully enjoyed escaping into Fable’s world! If you loved Fable then Namesake is a MUST read! We visit new ports and meet some new villains I loved to hate.

Namesake is available March 16, 2021!! I preordered this one so we can buddy read it together!! I’ll be rereading it in March!!

Thank you @adrienneyoungbo oks @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my advanced digital copy of Namesake to review!!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Highly recommend!!

With as many twists and turns as Tempest Snare, Namesake will keep you hooked from the first page. Adrienne Young has a wonderful talent of making pages fly by with very little effort. She is such a fantastic story teller, and the Fable duology is definitely her best work yet.

Namesake by Adrienne Young
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Thank you netgalley and wednesdaybooks for this digital arc to read! This book will be available 3/16/21.
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Fable was such a lovely book, that I was very excited to be able to read an advanced copy of Namesake! Namesake picks up right where Fable left off. This book is just as fun, sassy and full of feelings and the first one was.
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I don’t want to say too much but I think everyone that read and loved Fable will enjoy this book just as much, if not more. The characters grew on me even more in this part of the story. Fable continues to feel all the feelings. People continue to plot all the plots. And there are several surprises in store for Fable!
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I loved it ❤️❤️❤️ Put it on your lists now for March reads!
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4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 and highly recommend both books.

Adrienne Young did it again! Namesake is the PERFECT conclusion to the story begun in Fable.

Namesake picks up right where Fable left off, and while there is not as much character or world building in this one, it works because the development was so strong in Fable. Namesake therefore gets to be just the continuation of the original story - with none of the slower story lines that were necessary in Fable to set up the background.

If you are looking for a love story with a strong female main character set in a world of pirates and shady business enterprises, look no further because you have found it! Fable proves that women can be just as cutthroat and scheming as any man. I just love this story. This is a series that I will definitely be adding to my bookcases and so should you.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to review the e-ARC of this one in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved Fable and was so excited to learn about the upcoming sequel. I was able to get the ARC and blew through it in one sitting. Namesake picks up right where Fable left off and continues on the action-packed adventures of Fable and the Marigold crew. I felt that Adrienne Young gave a satisfying ending to the story and the YA and regular old adult reader like me will enjoy the storyline in the second book. I loved Fable and West's romance and we see her grow and build on some other relationships as well.
Young did a great job of world-building and creating memorable characters that you want to root for or love to hate!

I am so beyond excited that I got an early e-arc through netgalley because after that cliffhanger in Fable I needed the rest of the story ASAP! Namesake, like Fable before it, was a fast paced action packed adventure that I enjoyed from beginning to end. It picks up the story right where it left off with Fable and reaches a satisfying conclusion that I think ya fantasy readers everywhere will love it too. I highly recommend this fun read!

I was so excited to read this advanced copy from Netgalley. I loved the first book and Namesake surpassed my expectations! Lobed the romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC of this book! All opinions are my own.

I feel like Namesake was the opposite of Fable in terms of writing style. While Fable was very much lyrical and a story about growth as a person, Namesake was much more action packed. While it was still lyrical, it was much more fast paced. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Fable, but Namesake easily topped it.

Continuing on Fable’s journey, Namesake takes you on a journey of power, deceit, growth, and lots of gemstones. As Fable learns that the sea is much harder and much more deceitful than she ever thought, you learn right along with her. Some of the twists at the end, I didn’t see coming.

I loved watching the relationship dynamics within this book. They were fantastic in Fable, but delving into the deeper truths and characteristics of these characters was incredibly enjoyable. Especially the development of her relationship with West and Saint.

If you liked Fable, I think you’ll love Namesake.

4.25/5

I moved immediately onto Namesake because of Fable’s evil cliffhanger - yes, evil! Be warned!

Thank you St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for my early e-copy. Sorry I couldn’t wait to read and review it.

Anyway, Namesake was everything that I hoped and needed it to be! Fable took me a little while to get into but then I flew through it and Namesake picks itself straight up after Fable finishes (THANK CHRUNCHIE). If I had had to wait to know what happens I may have combusted and that wouldn’t be pretty I don't think!

I will try and keep this spoiler free but my fingers are literally dancing writing this - I can’t keep it in! I will most definitely include Fable spoilers though - this is your last warning.

After aligning herself with the crew of the Marigold in book one, we rejoin Fable after she sweetly went into the town to buy West his ring back but is captured while doing so. My heart broke to think about how West would feel waking up without Fable there but that’s why I loved this book so much! Namesake wraps us up once more in pirate-y adventure goodness, Adrienne Young has a magical way with words that really takes you into the world she has created and that makes my heart soar.

Fable grows even more in book two, into herself and into a leader, her story-arc has been one of my favourites in 2020 and this duology will be in my Top 10 for a while I imagine. Fable is strong-willed and clever, a fab role model and a deep character in general. Young builds the character up over the course of both books which is impressive considering most series’ take far longer to do the same thing. We learn more about Fable through her relationships and what she doesn’t say than what she does - while the relationship with her father wasn’t great, I really appreciated how it was written and unfolded. He abandoned her but she stood by him, a position I can relate to so it was great to see it written down and not used manipulatively. This was a huge part of Fable’s story and it showed us not only how ruthless she could be but also how compassionate and moral.

In terms of her other relationships - her connection with West was lovely. Nice and subtle, I didn’t feel like it was shoved down my throat and it didn’t seem forced. I did find that it was suggested a bit too often that we shouldn’t be trusting West but it didn’t affect my enjoyment and it didn’t overwhelm the narrative in my opinion. It was quite nice to have a YA Fantasy that focussed on the story rather than the love life (I think I may be over love-triangles haha). Fable’s connection with the rest of the crew was also refreshing - while they are all definitely side-characters, they all do bring something to the story and it works well to complement the main narrative.

Adrienne Young has done it again. Namesake continues right after the events of Fable. Adrienne plays with our hearts and take us on an even bigger emotional rollercoaster than book one.
I personally found the beginning a little slow, but it picked up and I read the last 70% of the book in one sitting, I could not put it down! I had a hard time guessing where the twist/story was going to go but loved how she did it! I know its a duo but I would love more even though it wraps up beautifully.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Adrienne Young!

I really loved Fable and honestly think that it should have been a stand-alone. Namesake was very repetitive and anticlimactic. I keep waiting for the story to develop but it never really did. There were a few new revelations but overall I felt it was all stuff I already knew from reading the first book.

I did love where the characters ended up in the end but like I said I think this would have been better as a stand alone.

Another fantastically written adventure from Adrienne Young!

Fable is a resourceful, stubborn, extremely loyal girl. Even after her father abandoned her on the shores of a very unwelcoming island she still strives to protect him. And that protection could cost her everything, including the love of her life West.

The world Young has dreamed up is full of cutthroat sailors, scheming merchants and a band of fearless outcasts who sail the Marigold, their ship to safety and freedom. The first book in the series introduced us to the crew and I wish they had starred a little more in this sequel looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC, this is my honest review.

Now that I am done and digested, I give this a solid 4. I thought the beginning and ending were much stronger than the center part of the book. I personally found the main relationship to be the part that stopped this from being a five. It just didn't blend well with the rest of the story. The relationships between Fable and her Father/other characters in the story were much stronger. I would have also liked more of the secondary characters because they were so strong (like Koy). I also really loved the setting. The plot could use a little more flushing out, but I enjoyed the way everything worked itself out in the end. All in all, solid follow up to Fable. I enjoyed this second book more than I enjoyed her second book, A girl the sea gave back.

*** WARNING - THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOOK 1 ***

First of all I owe a huge thank you to the fellow booknerd who mentioned that this book was available on NetGalley. I’d just read, and loved, Fable so I immediately downloaded a copy of Namesake. I couldn’t wait to dive back into this amazing world created by Adrienne Young and see what would become of these wonderfully complex characters...

Namesake picks up where Fable ended, and I was instantly thrust back into the action and adventure. Fable finds herself in quite a predicament. Kidnapped and held against her will on Zola's ship, seperated from West and her crew and forced to help Zola on a job, she is surrounded by enemies, all with their own reasons for wanting her dead. All she wants is to survive this job and get back to The Marigold. But Zola's job is not what it first seems. In Bastian, the past is revealed and new foes are encountered and Fable is left questioning the motives and loyalty of those closest to her. She will need to tread carefully to ensure she can get back to the life that she's always wanted without losing everything.

As with book 1, I loved the writing style in Namesake. I felt fully emerged in this high seas adventure and did not want it to end. Having said that I was desperate to see how the story would play out. I wasn’t disappointed. Unlike book 1 where this new world needed to be built and explained, book 2 was free from that obligation. The world was created and the scene set in Fable, so in Namesake the focus is on plot. And what a plot it is! Full of twists and turns, I never quite knew what to expect next.

All of the main characters from book 1 make an appearance in book 2 and I definitely fell more in love with The Marigold and it’s crew (especially their rather dashing but morally grey helmsman!).

My only disappointment is that this is a duology. I’m really hoping (and praying) that we get some more books set in this world looking at some of the other characters (although I’d be equally excited to read more about Fable and West). I’d love to know the backstory of Willa, Koy, Paj and Auster (pretty please Adrienne 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻).

I genuinely cannot recommend this duology enough. I loved everything about it ❤️

* I was granted permission to read this book early through Netgalley, for my honest review.”

Man oh man do I love this little duology.. it really needs to be a series! I’m talking at least one more story with the certain main characters having a baby(Ha a girl can dream) and then some spin-offs; Isolde’s story, Saint’s story, Isolde and Saint’s story, and even West’s story. I mean I would devour them all. I wants.. no.. NEEDS them!! *Gimme Gimme Gimme*

Adrienne has a way of grasping a reader and pulling them in. She ends chapters with you like “well I can’t set this down now, I need to know what’s going to happen.” And she does that with this story, for both books. In Namesake we meet Fable again, but this time stolen by Zola and set to be the dredger of his ship. He has ties he’s like to cut and people he’s like to impress. But of course on the tails of her kidnapping is West. He’s pulling out every punch to get her back. And then we meet Fable’s grandmother and learn some interesting history of her mother’s past. We also get a lot of scheming and backstabbing and all together learning of people.

I have this a 4.5/5 stars just because there were parts I felt needed more attention or needed less. For example, a character gets a small redemption arc and I felt like it was just a weak slap for what he’s done in the past. Honestly I feel everyone got a weak slap for petty shite they’ve done. And I felt West was being a bit of a brat. Like come on!! Fable just to set out to right a lot of things and everyone knows nothing goes perfect in those situations, so I didn’t enjoy him being kind of a brat in some parts.

All I all, I really love Adrienne’s writing and really want more!