I didn't realize that this was the second in a series, and while I was still able to loosely follow the story/plot, I felt as if I was missing some vital information to really enjoy it. This could be my fault so I will be lenient on the rating.

I really enjoyed the book but it took me a long time to finish it because I had to keep putting it down - the villein was so conniving and evil that I just couldn’t take reading a lot of it at one time. Finally, I could see that she would get her just due so the last quarter went quickly. Aside from the story, the book gave me an insight into England and America in the 1700. I always enjoy historical novels so am happy i could read this book.

Loved reading the mesmerizing and enthralling second book in the series. After two decades, James comes back to Alinor wanting to make amends, but she doesn't want anything to do with him. Meanwhile, Alinor's son's widow, Livia, comes to town with a baby telling them that Roberto drowned, but Alinor feels that Roberto is still alive. Livia stays with Alinor, and her daughter, Alys, selling her antiquities and catching her prize, James. Read the highly recommended, wonderfully written, with a riveting storyline and captivating characters.

"#1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory’s new historical novel tracks the rise of the Tidelands family in London, Venice, and New England.

Midsummer Eve 1670. Two unexpected visitors arrive at a shabby warehouse on the south side of the River Thames. The first is a wealthy man hoping to find the lover he deserted twenty-one years before. James Avery has everything to offer, including the favour of the newly restored King Charles II, and he believes that the warehouse's poor owner Alinor has the one thing his money cannot buy - his son and heir.

The second visitor is a beautiful widow from Venice in deepest mourning. She claims Alinor as her mother-in-law and has come to tell Alinor that her son Rob has drowned in the dark tides of the Venice lagoon.

Alinor writes to her brother Ned, newly arrived in faraway New England and trying to make a life between the worlds of the English newcomers and the American Indians as they move toward inevitable war. Alinor tells him that she knows - without doubt - that her son is alive and the widow is an imposter.

Set in the poverty and glamour of Restoration London, in the golden streets of Venice, and on the tensely contested frontier of early America, this is a novel of greed and desire: for love, for wealth, for a child, and for home."

I'm always here for a new Philippa Gregory book, but start it on Midsummer's Eve and it's a must read no matter the author! Unless it's the play Miss Julie.

Dark Tides is the second installment of the Fairmile Trilogy from Philippa Gregory, following Tidelands. I think it would probably be hard to follow and enjoy this book if you haven't read Tidelands. This book picks up 21 years later. Alinor Reeky and her daughter Alys Stoney are eking out an existence operating a warehouse business and wharf on the poor side of the Thames River in London. One day, they receive two significant visitors who will change the course of their lives dramatically. The first visitor is Sir James Avery, a wealthy nobleman who was a tutor to Alinor's son Rob many years ago, and also Alinor's lover for a few brief but passionate days, back when they lived in the Tidelands of Foulmire. 21 years later, he wants to return to her life. He has been haunted by her memory and this time, and he wants to marry her and whisk her away from the struggles of daily life. The second visitor is a beautiful Italian woman named Livia. She arrives at the warehouse clad all in black with her infant. She was married to Alinor's son Rob in Venice and is now widowed - telling the family that Rob was drowned in the dark tides of the Venice lagoons. She has no one else to turn to and wishes to join the family with her baby. The backgrounds, desires and motivations of these two visitors propel the plot of this story and change the lives of the family - from the matriarch, Alinor, to her granddaughter, Sara, a milliner's apprentice.

I'm a huge fan of Philippa Gregory and I thought the first book in this series, Tidelands, was quite good. It really created an atmosphere of the Tidelands and led the reader to relate deeply to Alinor's character, her place in the world and her impossible choices. I didn't dislike Dark Tides, it wasn't bad. I read it within a few days and I was interested to see what happened next. I thought it was average, and not quite up to the standard that I expect from Gregory. I think that Gregory's strong suit is writing about historical figures and events and interpreting them as dramatic characters - she has written many books about the royal families of England over many years of history. She's written some other books that are more entirely fiction, and I seem to enjoy these a bit less. The characters in Dark Tides had less depth than other Gregory books, sometimes feeling one dimensional, particularly the new villainess, Livia. She and her nefarious strategies were pretty transparent. It was a fun twist that the book was set in three different locations - London, Venice and the New World - I enjoyed the descriptions and learning some background on Venice. However, I didn't see how the plotline of Ned in the New World and his struggles with loyalty to England and personal freedom related to the rest of the book. Maybe that will become more clear in book 3. And I thought the final third of the novel, with Sara traveling to Venice to uncover the truth about Livia, was interesting and compelling. Despite this book being an overall just-average read, I'm still 100% here for Philippa Gregory and look forward to the final book in this series. I gave it 3 stars - I liked it but didn't love it. Thank you to Goodreads, NetGalley and Atria for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love this series. I love that these are normal people, trying to make the most of their lives. But, to be fair, I haven't read any of her other books.

This takes up the story about 20 years after the end of Tidelands. And this is just as good. There's intrigue, romance, mystery, and all of the other good things that make for a great story.

It's hard to write a review about the second book in a series. It's impossible not to give out spoilers about the first book if you go into any sort of detail.

If you're looking for a great story, love historical fiction, and want to be entertained, this definitely gets my recommendation. But start with the first book because it will be even better from the beginning.

...dark tides rising!

1670 and King Charles II has been restored to the throne of England. Alinor Reeckie and Alys Stoney have moved fromm the Tidelands at Foulmire to Southwark where they've set up a warehouse catering to smaller businesses. Brother Ned, a soldier with Oliver Cromwell, would not live under a king. He has migrated to the Americas searching for the freedom he yearns for, but he might just find that independence threatened by war between the settlers and the First Nations peoples of the area.
A Venetian woman claiming to be Elinor's son Rob's wife visits along with a baby son. Rob, a physician is dead, drowned in the dark tides Venice Lagoon. Not only does  Elinor not 'feel' it. After all Rob grew up in similar territory "in the paths between sea and land”. That's important given Elinor's gifts. I do not like his widow Livia "Nobildonna da Ricci” at all. 
Added to this, James Avery, Elinor's former lover who repudiated her, has returned looking for absolution.
As Ned's story and that of his family merge I find myself somewhat distracted by the switching between his story and that of the women. I'm sure it's going somewhere, only not now.
Is Darktides as as powerful as Tidelands? I'm unsure. I have been completely engrossed with how Livia cajoles her way into people's lives using her wit, her beauty and her vanity. She's so manipulative! How this plays out is compelling. I do like the way the action crosses between all the players, from the widow to Rob's niece Sarah. A story that in part intrigues and closes earlier circles.

An Atria Books ARC via NetGalley 
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read and review.

I'm loving having a new series from Philippa Gregory that isn't set in the royal circle. I really enjoyed the first in this series and love how we meet a lot of the same characters, even though it is 20 some years later. The story was compelling with just enough mystery to keep me wondering. I do wish that Livia wasn't so obviously false right from the start - it seemed a bit obvious. Overall I really really like the book and hope there will be more in this series.

Philippa Gregory is known for her historical fiction novels set at the Royal Court of England, but in her latest Fairmile series, she exposes us to the grittier side of English life. ⁣
⁣
Set 20 years after Tidelands leaves off, we are reunited with Alys and her family. Its a new location, with new threats, and devious people. While parts of the novel were predictable (I had Livia figured out IMMEDIATELY) this was a story about the journey. I loved seeing New England, Venice, and London through the eyes of Aly’s family. ⁣

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for this oppurtunity to read Dark Tides. I absolutely loved this book! It is the second book in a series (The Tidelands is the first) and I thought it really delivered as far as carrying on the story of Alinor and her family in an entertaining and suspenseful way. The story begins 21 years after the last book left off and is set in London, New England (Massachusetts Bay Colony) and Venice. I learned so much about the history that was going on in these different areas of the world in 1670. It was obvious, once again, that the author thoroughly researched before writing. The plot kept me on the edge of my seat as she shifted between the different settings and characters. It all begins in London when a mysterious woman shows up on Alinor's doorstep claiming to be her son's widow. I highly recommend!

This was my first book of Philippa Gregory. I found myself drifting off as I read. I was on the fence until after the release date, because I grabbed the audiobook. This is a fantastic audiobook! I am a bit of consuer, and I would rank this one pretty high. I am definitely going to go back and check out her earlier titles.

I struggled with this book. I enjoyed the first book in this series, Tidelands, and since that book ended in a huge cliffhanger, I thought that this book would pick up right where that one left off. It didn't. This book picked up TWENTY ONE years later, so there was a significant chunk of their life that was just not talked about. Then you have Ned, Alinor's brother, who after being shamed by his sister and niece leaves for the new world. For me, Ned's story didn't go anywhere. There was a lot of time spent with Ned and his story just was stagnant. This book, though good at times, picked up speed with about 1/3rd of the book left. Sarah, Alys daughter, was the best character out of the ones in this book. Alinor, who was very prominent in the first book, was not very prominent in this book and that was unfortunate. 3⭐

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books and Philippa Gregory for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I always enjoy Philippa Gregory's historical fiction. She's certainly one of the best. I also love a book with a good villain and this one sure has a couple of them. I read this as an ARC from netgalley. It is certainly worth reading and I would recommend reading it. I wasn't as excited about Ned's storyline for quite a large portion, but I can see that we're building up to something in the New World.

So amazing. I love her writing and it’s always so informative. I highly recommend. She is great about weaving a story into history and making it accessible. I highly recommend.

This 2nd book is a great addition to the series and I recommend reading them in order. The story is beautifully written and rich in historical detail. The characters are well developed and easy to engage with. There is much in the story to keep you captivated.
Many thanks to Atria Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

2.5 stars

When I saw Tidelands was coming out, I was so excited. I wanted to read something by Philipa Gregory so badly and I jumped at the chance to read Tidelands. But I came away feeling a little underwhelmed.

Most of the time, I love Gregory’s novels and have really enjoyed how rich and nuanced her history, characters, and romances are but in this one, I just felt like the story itself was cumbersome and dry.

However, at the end of Tidelands I felt invested enough in the characters and the story to continue reading the series, in hopes that it would get better and the characters more exciting along with the story. So I leapt at the chance to read this installment of the series.

Summary
Midsummer Eve 1670. Two unexpected visitors arrive at a shabby warehouse on the south side of the River Thames. The first is a wealthy man hoping to find the lover he deserted twenty-one years before. James Avery has everything to offer, including the favour of the newly restored King Charles II, and he believes that the warehouse’s poor owner Alinor has the one thing his money cannot buy—his son and heir.

The second visitor is a beautiful widow from Venice in deepest mourning. She claims Alinor as her mother-in-law and has come to tell Alinor that her son Rob has drowned in the dark tides of the Venice lagoon.

Alinor writes to her brother Ned, newly arrived in faraway New England and trying to make a life between the worlds of the English newcomers and the American Indians as they move toward inevitable war. Alinor tells him that she knows—without doubt—that her son is alive and the widow is an imposter.

Set in the poverty and glamour of Restoration London, in the golden streets of Venice, and on the tensely contested frontier of early America, this is a novel of greed and desire: for love, for wealth, for a child, and for home (summary from Goodreads)

Review
I think one of the things the surprised me about this novel was that I expected it to be better and it just wasn’t. In the first book, there was a lot of ground work that needed to be laid for the characters and their ultimate choices, however in this book I hoped that things would pick up more and that there would be more in the way of actual plot rather the ground laying. But this one read equally as slow as the first book. Tidelands had a lot of atmosphere and this one just didn’t have the same level of atmosphere as I had hoped and frankly expected in this one.

Gregory has such a knack for writing great atmosphere and Tidelands was no exception but this one just lacked a lot of mood and atmosphere. In the first book, I didn’t love the characters. In fact most of them I didn’t enjoy in the least but at the same time I could sympathize with the women who in the story because they simply lacked ‘good’ options in that time so they did the best they could. But in this one I hoped for more redemption of the characters and I just never felt like I obtained any redemption, in fact I ended up disliking some of them more in this one than I did in the first book.

I also felt like Ned’s story was completely pointless to the larger narrative. In the first book I thought he would bring more to this next installment but he just didn’t and I was actually sad about that because even though I didn’t like him, I did want to see how and if he could impact the larger story.

So where does that leave me with this book? On one hand, I didn’t love it but on the other hand I did finish it so I liked it enough to keep reading but I didn’t love it enough to give it anything over 2.5 stars. It was ok but I don’t know that I loved it in the way I had hoped.

Book Info and Rating
Hardcover, 464 pages

Expected publication: November 24th 2020 by Atria Books

ISBN150118718X (ISBN13: 9781501187186)

Free review copy provided by publisher, Atria Books, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.

Rating: 2.5 stars

Genre: historical fiction

This is the first series that I have read by Philippa Gregory- and I am on the fence as to whether I will be trying another one.

I read "Tidelands" once I received a copy of "Dark Tides." While "Dark Tides" can be read on its own, I do recommend that "Tidelands" is read first- it will make so much more sense.

At the same time, I do not highly recommend this series- the romance is unbelievable, the antagonist awful and obvious, and the character development (continuing from the first book) poorly done. Where is the capable, smart Alinor from book one? Why does James have to be a stuttering idiot? Why is there a completely different story line for Ned? (This question is what brought down my star-rating of this book-- a complete side story that is unnecessary for the plot is... well, unnecessary.)

I wanted to enjoy this series. I may have had higher expectations because of the fame of the author. There have been many positive reviews for this book, so there is definitely an audience for this story.

Thank you Atria books and Netgalley for an advanced reader's copy of this book. This book was published on 11/24/2020 and is now available.

Dark Tides - Philippa Gregory

This is book two of a series, “Tidelands” being the first book. I have read an ARC print copy (Thank you to Goodreads) as well as an ARC of the e-book (Thank you to @netgalley, Simon & Schuster, and Philippa Gregory). I’m excited to also hear the audiobook narrated by Louise Brealey.

Simply put, I loved this book! Philippa is a masterful storyteller, her scenes truly come to life. Her vivid portrait of London, Venice, and New England are remarkable. You will find yourself cheering and hoping for the Tidelands family and cursing those who do them harm.

The Tidelands family is a hardworking, honest, loyal and caring family. Cross them, and you will not be given a second chance at their love and admiration. This book has Alinor, Alys and her adult children living in London. Alinor is ailing from her (no spoilers!) cruel previously employed punishment in Tidelands. Alinor’s brother, Ned, is surviving as a Ferryman in New England befriended by the natives and torn with his loyalty to the settlers. Two new characters are introduced into the novel, Livia and Felipe of Venice. Livia travels to London to entrench herself into the life of Alinor and her family. Felipe comes into the book (toward the end) when Sarah, Alys’ daughter, travels to Venice to uncover the truth of questions troubling the family.

I’ll start by saying that I didn’t realize this was part of a series until after I started the book, and although the book held up pretty well on its own, I think I might have liked it better if I had the context of the first book. My main issue with the book was that I didn’t like the characters, but maybe if I’d seen their character arcs in the first book, I would have understood or empathized with them more.

This book is the first Philippa Gregory book I’ve read, and I know she’s known for romance in her historical fiction, but this book seemed to be more pure historical fiction. I don’t know a lot about the 1600s in England, but I did appreciate that this book centered every day folks struggling to make ends meet instead of the rich and powerful nobility, which I think is more typical for medieval historical fiction. I also liked that the story alternated between England and the new world of America, giving us a more global picture of the historical period. That said, I had no idea how the plot line in America was related to the main plotline, and I felt like the book could have done without it (perhaps this is something that would have made more sense if I’d read the previous book).

My main disappointment with this book was the characters. None of them are particularly intelligent, although they aren’t characterized as foolish or naive, so that was frustrating. The main instigator (I don’t think antagonist is quite the right word), Livia, was supposed to be slimy and infuriating, but I never felt as viscerally angry with her as I’ve felt about similarly manipulative and selfish characters in Robin Hobb or Ken Follett’s books. Alinor was supposed to be a wise matriarch, but she had very little role in this story and was extremely passive aside from a few sharp one-liners directed at her daughter. Alys, I think, was supposed to be a competent and intelligent women who has the wool pulled over her eyes, but she came across as a naive and foolish woman instead. James was similarly just not that interesting, I think I was supposed to feel pity and disgust for him but I didn’t feel very strongly about him at all. Ned was an interesting character and I enjoyed reading about his perspective, I just didn’t think his story was relevant to the main plot. The only character who really takes action to help her family is Susan, which doesn’t even happen until the last third of the book. Although I liked Susan, the end of her story arc left a sour taste in my mouth.

This is a mild, sort of spoiler, so I’ve left it in white text so you can highlight it if you’d like to:

I felt like queerness in this book also wasn’t explored very well. We never really understand if the two characters actually love each other or if one is just using the other (I’m leaning towards the latter). I also got really annoyed with the “I love you like a sibling” business.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy this book very much, but I think people who read and enjoyed the first book in the series may enjoy this more than I did. I am still interested in Philippa Gregory’s other books, maybe I will find those characters more compelling.

I'll start off by saying I didn't realize this was the second book in a series so I dove into this one not having read the first book. I really wanted to like it, but I found it to be a little slow. Maybe if I read the first book I would have a better understanding of the characters. I also felt it lacked a lot of historical description that I was hoping for. Maybe I'll try it again after reading the first one. Thank you to Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.