I absolutely adored this book! Angela did such a beautiful job of writing a fantasy with cultural representation and diversity (LGBTQ+). The characters were intriguing and captivating. They each were battling their own demons yet managed to make room in their hearts for friends and loved ones. The found family trope was so well done an possibly some of the better character connections in the book. My one critique is the lack of emotional connection between Rosalinda and Mariano. They had very little time together throughout the book and I struggled with their instant connection—it is fated/soul mates trope. I wanted more of an emotional bond between them and I didn’t quite get that from the two main characters. This book featured strong capable women who do not need saving. No damsels in distress her, they save themselves! This was a fun and refreshing take on pirates, witches, and magic. Overall I enjoyed this book including the inconclusive/open ending. Oh and it did have some high sexual tension that comes to fruition.

I enjoyed this YA fantasy full of romance, magic, pirates and mystery! I thought the main characters were well written and had great chemistry. I look forward to reading more books from this author.

✨SLAYYYYY (literally)✨

*Spoilers below*

I’ve loved everything Joy Revolution has put out so I knew I had to read this. Fantasy isn’t my go-to genre, but Sinner’s Isle was absolutely perfect!!! The world was easy to understand, and the romance (there was even a little secondary one) was really charming. It was definitely a slow burn in terms of both romance and justice.

I was immediately so ready for violence to befall those villains. I was quite literally pacing around my room waiting for her to unleash those phantoms of hers on those terrible people and HOOBOY the emotions I felt when that time finally came. It was so satisfying. Not gonna lie, I was STRESSED at points there because it had me in the first half.

Real talk the way I screamed when the King Sebastian was [redacted] but the way I SCREAMED when he [redacted] Santi. And let’s talk about that big reveal??? My heart!!! Ugh the ending really solidified how good this book was. Everything just made my little vindictive, romantic heart so happy.

I’m wondering if there could potentially be a sequel??? Or another book in the same world??? I’m very intrigued by the sirens and more pirates because I definitely wanted more boat action!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5


Thanks so much to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.

A slow start, with questionable magic explained. Hang in there, by the middle, I wanted Mariano and Rosa to be together forever, Lord Morales needed to go. The magic got more believable. Each girl had a unique power. Mariano had an understanding of what he could do to change things. Spanish words are sprinkled throughout the text. The ending is very satisfying.

Sinner's Isle by Angela Montoya is a YA Romantasy about Rosalinda, a powerful witch trying to escape the remote island she’s being held captive on. There's pirates, fated mates, found family, and queer representation. If you enjoy books by Nisha J. Tuli and Natalia Hernandez, you most likely will enjoy this book too.

For me, this was a very gentle 4 star, high 3 star rating. Montoya, Tuli, and Hernandez have similar expository and descriptive writing styles, that while not something I gravitate to, I still do enjoy on occasion and I know a lot of people enjoy that kind of style. They're very prose heavy writers and there's a steady thrum of world-building that I wish was just a little more in depth.

Here's a few things I really loved about the book:
it's highly feminist in a non-feminist society,
empowerment of women,
accepting of disability/scars,
the humor and the juvenile insults had me flip flopping between laughing out loud and literally face palming (for example, there was an insult to a character using "hijo de puta" (son of a whore) and the other guy being insulted goes like it’s rude to speak of a man’s mom that way especially yours birthed one as a ugly as you)

One thing I didn't like at all was the instalove and fated mates. The romance was so extremely cheesy that it triggered my a-specness. There really wasn't much of a buildup for the romance. it just existed and was featured heavily in the story so for me, that knocked off a star on its own. I only enjoy fated mates when they still need to work on themselves and each other rather than falling into a heavy romantic relationship.

Nonetheless, I do believe that there are quite a number of people that will love this book a lot, so give it a chance.

I truly wish I loved this book. I really really wanted to love this book. It has pirates, witches, romance, what’s not to love? Well, I didn’t love it. Didn’t even really liked it and it makes me so sad to write this review.
The plot had so much promise, it was interesting and I hoped it would evolve into something great. Unfortunately, the politics fell flat and the end wasn’t truly resolved. In terms of the politics, you’re only left with the idea that things will get better but nothing really does.
Romance is most times my favorite part of any story but I can say with confidence that it was not my favorite of this one. Which is kind of the whole point since the is a romantasy. The insta-love was just too sudden and a bit much for me. They only had one true conversation but they were both smitten with each other. No, one glance and they were in love.
The whole time I read this I didn’t feel any emotions at all. There should’ve been at least some pleasure in reading but instead I was mostly bored.
I think this book had promise, it just needed some work. I’d love to try something else from this author in the future!

5 🌟!!

Sinner’s Isle- Angela Montoya ❤️⚓️🌴

This magical, mystical story that is Sinner’s Isle
follows Rosalinda and Mariano, two individuals whose lives cross in an unforgettable way. Both trapped on Sinner’s Isle, they must find a way to survive without destroying or killing each other. This book had magic , love, betrayal, loss, close proximity, and the characters' only option of survival waa to use their combined creativity and wit.

This did not feel like a debut book it was so clearly and personally written. The lesson of being an overcomer and exhausting all one's options doing things you'd never think you would do to make it . I lived this story , the setting, the characters so much!! The imagination behind Sinner’s Isle is excellent!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

*edit: you know what? I need to clarify something because I've been raging about this to a friend since writing this review. The thing that makes me angriest about this is how casually homophobic it is and how it doesn't even try to hide it. I touched on it below, but here's what we have:

- gay best friend. He's clearly supposed to be the comic relief. Which... is not great but could be ok, maybe? Except he's just sad. Whenever he shows up he ribs Mariano a little, tells Mariano how great he is (even though Mariano is like I don't even like you), then is gone when Mariano turns around and he just thinks "he's always going off in search of drink" and then when he finds him drunk and crying in a corner later he just thinks "lol he's just like that" and ignores him. What kind of best friend behavior is this?

- lesbian best friend. She's supposedly Rosa's closest friend in the world, they would die for each other, etc. Yet when she is immediately locked up in order to force Rosa to do everything her evil matron wants, she basically disappears from the pages and Rosa only occasionally thinks about her. She'll be like "but how am I supposed to find out where my best friend is being locked up while I'm being forced to spend all evening dancing with these awful rich men?? Oh, look, a handsome boy, better run off to talk to him and forget about my best friend for another few chapters."

I can't even remember their names (because they are hardly ever mentioned) and have had to resort to 'gay best friend' and 'lesbian best friend.' They don't have any more depth of character than that - they're hardly even characters.

Also, there's an awful lot of page time given to a lot of rich old men leering over pretty young witches and saying how they'll outbid each other to control their powers. And some of the girls are excited to be binding themselves to rich men? Like Rosa sees another girl passionately kissing her rich man on the dance floor and is like well, guess she's happy to be bound. I hope I don't ever look like that when I kiss anyone."

And that's it? 50% in and all of the plot has been devoted to this event where the rich men come and bid on the girls. Where is the pirate action I was promised? For that matter, we only see the barest hints of witchy power. It's all just... sleazy politics?

0/10 Do not recommend. Run far, far away and don't let that gorgeous cover fool you.

----

This was a huge disappointment. The cover? Absolutely stunning. The synopsis? 100% here for it. The execution? nope.

I have been "reading" this book for almost a week now. Actually I've been doing everything *except* reading because I can't bring myself to pick it back up. I decided to finally buckle down and actually read today and had to eventually give up at 50% because I can't. I have... nothing good to say about this book. The characters? flat. The plot? confusing, shallow, and disney-fied. the villains? over the top evil. the romance? insta-love. I think? I'm not sure they've interacted enough at this point to call it a romance. The gay best friend/ comic relief? not funny. Mostly kinda sad. Why is the gay character always comic relief? the lesbian best friend/ supposed reason the plot happens? mia after the beginning when we are told (but not shown) what a great friend she is and how much they love each other. It's just... such a different book than the synopsis and that gorgeous cover led me to believe.

I do like the diversity and how many of the characters aren't white. But that's... all I like. It feels like watching a soap opera. Everything 0ver-the-top drama, not a lot actually happening. Also the writing is... not great. Honestly getting to 50% was a huge struggle and completely tanked my motivation to read. I saw a few people saying it changes after 60% but I can't do it. Also a book shouldn't "get good" after 60%. That's terrible writing.

The audiobook narrator is good but she can't save it and her performance just highlights the level of drama.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Joy Revolution for providing an early copy for review.

READ IF YOU LIKE:
☨ YA Romantasy
☨ Pirates/Witches
☨ Fated Mates
☨ Diversity

"There can be good within the bad if we search for it, and that is a beautiful and powerful thing."

MY REVIEW | What an interesting world Angela Montoya has created. You get witches that are controlled by the Church and bound to people to make sure they aren't dangerous, mixed with pirates and royalty as well. It was all very entertaining.

The romance part of this story is definitely like a love at first sight type of romance, which I am not a fan of, but that being said, I think I'm mostly okay with that trope in this particular setup. Fantasy is probably the only way I can enjoy it because I'm like: "Oh yeah, but there is this supernatural pull, they feel like they've known each other forever, it's all magic, it all makes sense, you see!"

I did have time where the stuff happening didn't make sense to me. They would be in a room full of people and Rosa is supposedly THE most important Majestic, so all eyes should be on her but somehow no one saw her interactions with the Pirate... I just couldn't understand completely, it felt like my mental images weren't on track with what was happening in that book sometimes so maybe it's just a lack of description of the surroundings that created that feeling, I don't know. But overall it didn't alter my reading experience that much.

I'd say that the second part of the book is what really pulled me in. It took a while for me to care for our main characters but once I did, I DID. Our main characters got more and more interactions together, lots of things were happening and plot twists. I did like the scenes between our MCs, with all the tension, the fact that they weren't sure if they should trust each other and all. I also really enjoyed the side characters which always makes for a better reading experience too. Santi and also the King were probably my favourites. I was so looking forward to seeing them.

I'm glad Rosa had her shadows to protect her, this whole character arc for her was really nice, how she got to understand herself better throughout all that happened and finally was able to understand her true power. Very satisfying.

Thanks to the publisher for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

This young adult romantasy absolutely blew me away! I loved absolutely everything about this book! A witch and a pirate fall in love, what could be better?

I was immediately drawn in by the gorgeous cover and was quickly captivated by the story. There was so much to love about this book, and the world the author created and the magic throughout the story are high on that list. I found the characters to be perfect in every possible way, you definitely remember them after the book comes to an end.

This is a must read for fans of ya fantasy, romance, and adventure.

Thank you to the publisher (Random House Children's, Joy Revolution) and the author for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review (sorry the review is a little late; I *did* read it before it came out, however).

I really wanted to like this book. The theoretical framework was all there--diverse characters, interesting setting, pirates and magic, romance, strong family bonds, close friends, and fated mates.

The problem is, the execution was very lackluster. I have to wonder if some of this is the length--was the book too short to properly develop the characters and the plot? Did this need to be a duology?

Anyway, the characters are 2D and don't really give readers a reason to care about them or their relationships. I'm told the mains ~love~ each other (also after a very short time period!!), but it feels very superficial and only because of the heartmate bond and a few shared experiences--not because of time, effort, and romance. (their attraction feels very superficial, too.) I'm told the two sets of best friends love each other and are very close, but don't actually see why they care about each other besides (again) that they're stuck in the same circumstances.

The comic relief best friend of the MMC's also fell short and I didn't really laugh at any of his (lame) jokes.

The villains also felt somewhat superficial and 2D, but I guess if you're going to go Disney black and white villain on us, they feel appropriate.

I got sucked in by a pretty cover and the actual book didn't have the substance I was looking for.

I'm glad others enjoyed this book, but I certainly didn't. Wouldn't recommend.

I remember being so excited about a non-yt romantasy coming out that I actually cheered. And then when I met the author, I was even more excited to read it because she was so nice and actually hilarious. And then the cover was released and I knew even more so that I NEEDED this book. But then it showed up on my PRH app and I excitedly downloaded it, and the rest is history!

I really don’t have anything to complain about. This was honestly so much fun! I will say that the writing style was flowery and a little over the top, but it didn’t bother me at all. I DID have to slow down the audio because I was losing my train of thought in some places, but once I went to 1.85x’s I was fine. It was mostly like details about like the characters and stuff. I would have preferred if it was about the world surrounding them.

Even with all the extra details, I still didn’t see (hear) anything about the world building. I really wanted more. I read so that i can throw myself into the whole world, and I just didn’t get that. The island seemed like it was a dark, scary place, and I would have loved to have read about it more. I also thought it could have dealt with a bit more info on the magic system. I know they had these gifts and they were given to them from a goddess and the church wants control, but I guess I wanted an explanation of why? And like of all things, why the eff would you have someone that can control arachnids? Because Lordt knows I almost DNFed this book. I am terrified to of them and I ended up changing her power in my head because I couldn’t. Ew.

Action wise tho, I was hooked. Montoya literally had me rewinding constantly to make sure I had all the details because there was just so much going on. I’m also hella glad that this was a stand alone because everything and all questions were answered at the time. Because ain’t no way my nerves could have handled not knowing where her friend was, or any of the other things that happen. (I don’t wanna say it for spoilers, but it really was a crazy ending lol)

I really think you’re going to love this or hate it depending on what you go into it looking for. As someone who’s a light fantasy reader, I loved it and I really enjoyed the caste system and the magic. But someone who’s more heavily into fantasy and goes looking for that might feel different. The good thing is, nothing about this book is terrible and everyone will enjoy it. It’s just the difference in ratings.

Fun romp full of lore and characters you can’t help but root for. I loved the world especially, and its Latin influence. The romance was swooney too!

I wasn't a big fan of the writing style for this one. The insta-love trope also made it hard for me to really care for the romance in the story. The love interests also only have a few scenes together which made this "high stakes" love story a bit underwhelming.
I did however enjoy the world that Montoya created as well as the Hispanic representation.
I rated this book 2/5

I absolutely LOVED this one. What a tale and so well written! Romance, fated mates, pirates, magic, a brewing rebellion with plot twists that make you gasp but you probably should have seen coming... It was so good. I loved the Hispanic representation and language use (though listening to it via Spoken Content aka Siri hurt my soul at the pronunciations) and really helped me settle into the story, feeling represented myself. I wished for the best for our main couple and even the King, but I really wanted to take Doña Lucia down a few pegs; what a witch— pun intended. Also how disgusting a lot of the suitors- just an accurate reflection of what that kind of wealth does for greed. I highly recommend picking this one up!

Thank you TBR and Beyond Tours for my gifted copy, this one is definitely going on my Favorites shelf.

I’m giving this 3 stars because I know it’s a book that will find its audience.

I’m honestly just not a fan of the writing style.

If you’re planning on picking this up, I recommend you read a sample of it first. You can tell pretty quickly if you’ll enjoy the writing style or not. If you like it, you’ll like the book.

Montoya has done an excellent job of unfolding this engaging plot, carefully. Sinner's Isle has high stakes that fall into each other like dominoes. Every new revelation pushes the dominoes harder, the pressure mounts, and the pace becomes almost break-neck. This book will make you dream of magic, and mayhem, and wild romance.

By the time you make it to the end of the novel, you'll fall in love with a snarky band of unforgettable characters, a rich world beautifully painted, and a wonderful story of resilience and strength. Sinner's Isle is about friendship, hope, courage, and standing up for what you think is right. If this book teaches you anything, it's to stay true to yourself the way the characters in its pages do

Sinner's Isle is a young adult, romantic fantasy, for fans of Serpent & Dove, Seafire, and All the Stars and Teeth. I recommend this book to anyone who loves Pirates of the Caribbean as much as I do.

I absolutely loved this debut from Angela Montoya!

Found Family ✔️
Fated Mates ✔️
LGBTQ+ Characters ✔️
Magic ✔️
Overthrowing Government ✔️
Badass Women ✔️

"For generations, the wealthy and powerful had lorded over the Kingdom of Coronado like the unrelenting sun, beating down on anyone daring enough to say, No more. They kept them separated by class, by abilities, by keeping them uneducated. And yet, those beneath them still fought against tyranny. They still resisted."

Was everything perfect with this book? No. I wish the character's relationships were a little more developed. A relationship in the book didn't specify if they were "heartsongs" (i.e. fated mates), so it felt like instalove. Which... Meh. But I still squealed when they kissed. 🥰

"The connection between a Majestic and her heartsong was like the roots of two white oaks, breaking through granite and earth just to get to each other. And when they did, their souls wove around one another, creating an eternal, unbreakable bond."

So many amazing quotes in this book... I had a hard time choosing my favorite. 😭🙌🏼💕

"Sometimes we must cause an uproar in order to be heard. To change the world."

"What would happen if all those who'd suffered, who'd lost, who had nothing, came together and fought against the sovereigns who'd taxed them to starvation?"

DNF @40%

I think the premise of this story is promising, and it's possible that I will finish this at a later date, but for right now, the writing and the narrative is not holding my interest.

The main point of criticism is that the commentary on the power dynamics between the Majestics and everyone else feels very heavy-handed. The way the Majestics are treated and talked about is purposefully very sexist and demeaning, and the obviousness of this was just not enjoyable to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 3/5 stars (late review, pub 10/31)

I love the cover and the concept and the fact that there's pirates, but....there's not a whole lot that happens? The plot revolves around Rosa and Mariano who kind of end up having an insta-love situation and Rosa has shadow powers and he's the prince of pirates, and this whole book is supposedly their forbidden romance...but they only have like....5 scenes together? The action in the book also didn't pick up until the last 15% or so...

Like, it wasn't bad. I enjoyed the court politics and the crafting of the system with the Majestics and the world building that happened in this standalone, but it also just didn't keep me hooked the way I thought it would from the synopsis.