Title: Curious Tides
Author: Pascale Lacelle
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada
Publishing Date: Oct 3, 2023
Pages: 544
Genre: Dark Academia, YA
Rating: ☆☆☆☆

I enjoyed this book and it was an excellent story- especially if you love dark academia.
Curious Tides is a debut novel by Pascale Lacelle, and I have to say, what an amazing novel to debut with. There are a lot of components that Lacelle incorporated into this story that I absolutely love. Very immersive writing (a must), duel POV, a love triangle, and a secret society! Yes, yes, and yes please!
Although there were a lot of components that I loved, I just didn’t get as into the story as I would have liked, which is why it didn’t make 5 stars for me. It also kinda bugged me that there was a dual POV in a love triangle… It was well written and I get it, but it was just kinda weird in the beginning and threw me off.
Overall I enjoyed it, and I would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for sending this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

This was dark academia at its absolute finest. There was something so magical about jumping into this world because Pascale does a brilliant job at completely immersing the reader in the world of Curious Tides.

I flew through this book and I could not put it down because it had me hooked and not wanting to let it go. I'll be honest, I'm going to need the next book as soon as possible because this book was EVERYTHING.

Not only is the cover stunning, but the way that Pascale writes is also incredibly poetic and beautiful. The way things are described, the way the characters feelings are written is something only a handful of authors hit on the nose. And I think Pascale did a fantastic job at that in Curious Tides.

There's romance, there's fantasy, and so much dark academia, I loved every minute of it. There were twists that I couldn't see coming, which I think was absolutely amazing and well done on the author's part.

Every time an author mentions souls, it sends shivers down my spine, and when the author wrote "... the images were imprinted on his soul..." I just about threw the book down to process those words, because OH. MY. GOD. Obsessed.

Here's me hoping that we get a sequel because I need it!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

[arc review]
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Curious Tides releases October 3, 2023

- debut novel
- first in a series
- dual pov
- magic system
- college setting with a secret society
- grief

Emory is starting her second year at Aldryn College for Lunar Magics and is learning to navigate a world without her best friend Romie, who recently passed away.
Emory is the only one out of her freshman class to have survived since all 8 of the initiates that went to the Dovermere caves met a tragic ending (for more context, read the prequel short story called <I>Uncharted Dreams</I>).
Four months later, the dead initiates start washing up ashore alive.

I kept waiting to reach a point where I’d finally feel invested, but it never came. Honestly, the prequel short story was much more compelling.

There’s no way for me to sugar coat this — Emory annoyed me!
Who in their right mind would insert themselves into a blood binding ritual that was in progress without knowing anything about it?! And then to think that this secret society that you’ve barely just learned about would automatically accept you because you just so happened to survive that night? Girl, you weren’t even invited as an initiate in the first place, and there’s probably a reason for that.
Emory was such a pick me character, but the thing that really rubbed me the wrong way was how poorly she treated everyone around her (Baz and Penelope) in order to serve her personal gains, to the point where she would even admit to being embarrassed at the thought of being associated with them. Yikes. Don’t forget they’re grieving, too.

What I can’t understand about the world building is if they’re all born with magic, why does it take them until college to be able to learn about the history and what they can or cannot do? Something about them wasting all those formative years feels off to me and this should have been aged down.

Additionally, for a secret society, it doesn’t feel too secret when the freshman class was only 9 people large, and they recruited 8 of them…

From the synopsis, I was under the impression that all of the drowned students would eventually was ashore, but only 2 of them did… and it takes 60% for that to even happen.

The dueling narratives didn’t always feel cohesive. Baz’s plotline that incorporated his father and Collapsing was the stronger half, and hopefully that’ll be explored more in future installments, as well as bringing more of an academic element to a story where I found the “dark academia” to be lacking.


<i>“A book was all it ever took to hold him captive, make him forget to eat, to sleep, to exist in his own body. Naturally, nothing contented him more than libraries.”</i>

Curious Tides is a dark academia fantasy, also has a secret society. This book has very similar vibes to Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, so I think if liked Legendborn you'll probably like this as well. Both books have a secret society thing going on and the MFC in both books joins the secret society to search for answers regarding a recent loved one’s death.

At first I found this read to be quite slow, everytime I pick this up again I wasn't that excited to continue it, more like I just wanted to finish this as soon as possible. Only after the 60% mark did I start to actually like the story and was invested in what was going on, so yes, it was a very slow start. I was confused about the magic system and everything at first, but just kept reading on and then I started to understand as the book progresses.

There is a bit of a love triangle going on, I was rooting for Emory and Keiran until something major happened which changed my mind. Even though I had hope for Emory and Keiran, Keiran didn't even have a POV? The book's duel POV, but it alternates between Emory and Baz so technically we already know who's endgame regardless?

I loved a lot of the characters, but I did find Emory to be kinda unlikable at first. She lowkey took advantage of Baz's feelings for her and used it for her own gain... I love Kai and Baz's friendship so much, Kai “if anyone happens to him I’ll make your life a walking nightmare” best friend. We love a overprotective bestie.

I did see part of the ending coming, but a lot of the twists that came was really unexpected and threw me out of the loop. The last 20-30% of the book was wild, everything happened so fast I barely even had time to process it all.

This has nothing to do with the plot, but I loved the chapter headers and the 'Sacred Lunar Houses & Their Tidal Alignments' shown at the start of the book, the guide tells you all the lunar houses and it's powers which I found interesting to read about (I didn't end up referring back to it at all because I read this on kindle but still found it interesting).

🌙 thank you simon and schuster for the e-arc through netgalley!

Unfortunately this was a miss for me. It's got all the ingredients (and cliches) typical for this trope, but just reads as formulaic rather than ever coming to life. I would imagine that the author is setting up for a trilogy or such, and therefore devoted so much of this book to world-building and character introductions, which made the first half in particular very slow and tedious, and didn't excite me for the next instalments or make me want to continue reading this series (if it becomes one).

Wow! Such an incredible debut! I honestly have nothing to say other than anyone who likes fantasy needs to read this. and I can't wait to see what Pascale releases next!

I don't think this was the right book for me, it was extremely well written but it could not keep my attention. I highly recommend the book if you are into dark academia.

Believe me when I tell you that the HIGHEST compliment I could pay this book is letting you know that I would dive straight into the sequel if I could. I don't binge read series often, but I need answers!

I loved (almost) everything about this! The mystery, the lunar magics, the characters (Baz and Kai especially).

My one 🤏🏻 gripe is with Emory. For someone so smart/capable, she kept making poor decision after poor decision. I'm sure we'll see the necessary character growth in book 2, but Pascale Lacelle definitely heard me yelling at her across the ocean.

Curious Tides has everything that I love- dark academia, unique magic system, and secret societies! Unfortunately it fell flat for me, as I just could not get into the story.

I felt the first half was a complete info dump, that I just could not wrap my head around. With the 15+ types of magic, plus the myths, etc. It felt that the entire premise of the book was about the magic system instead of the actual story. While I do appreciate the authors extreme attention to detail with the world building, and how fleshed out everything was it just wasn't for me.

Ended up DNFing at 45%, but I want to thank NetGalley and Simon & Shuster for the arc!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Curious Tides and I couldn’t put it down. Curious Tides is the first book in the Drowned Gods series and I can’t wait for the next book to see how the series continues. This book is released October 3,2023. Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Pascale Lacelle for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

I love a soft boy who just wants to read and learn mixed with a girl who just wants more it gets the party going. Now, this had such a cool premise with the lunar "housing" of sorts within the school, and the powers based on which phase of the moon you were born under. However, I found the writing to be so unbelievably generic and juvenile and I just wasn't caring about much going on in this book. Great premise, but lame execution.

If I was going to think up my perfect fantasy book, it would probably look nearly identical to this. Absolutely would recommend this to anyone who is even remotely interested in fantasy - it's accessible and interesting and has some really great non-binary and queer representation.

This book absolutely gripped me - you have dual POVs, each with interesting sub-plots that have a super satisfying crossover in the later stages of the book, multiple twists that have the ideal amount of foreshadowing, and a super interesting and layered magic system. The magic system is a bit overwhelming at first (given there's 16+ types), but it's explained again multiple times that I didn't find myself confused by any particular scenes.

Every character is interesting and charming, and there is excellent pacing and suspense in this throughout. Several of the twists caught me off guard, and by the 80% mark I was torn between wanting to find out where everything would lead, and not wanting things to end. Some twists are certainly predictable, but the additional background information you learn adds some surprising elements and set things up so nicely for subsequent entries. Even the villains are sympathetic and understandable, which I appreciated since it's not a strict 'good versus evil' narrative you often see in this genre. The writing in this is surprisingly rich and layered for a YA book that I think even adult fantasy fans would really enjoy it.

This ends on such a big cliffhanger I know I'll be waiting impatiently for the sequel to come out. This is easily going to be my favourite fantasy of the year, and despite receiving the e-ARC from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley, I've already pre-ordered the physical copy on release date. Thank you!

I enjoyed this book and found the mix of fantasy elements mixed with moon cycles super interesting. Plot was slightly predictable but still an enjoyable read.

I struggle to rate this book. I DNFd at 35%. I love the concept. The setting was super cool and the tide magic was unique. However, I found it very difficult to keep everything straight. There are like 15 magical types in 5 different houses and I think I could have kept that straight on its own, but add in the myths and legends that are basically the entire reference point for one of the characters POV and I kept getting lost with what was "real" in this world and what was from the legend. I do think I will come back to this at some point because I want to love it and think perhaps my life is just to busy at this time to really sit down and digest it.

Curious Tides is a glamorously dark fantasy full of lunar magic, secret societies, love triangles, and dark academia.

In this cleverly crafted story, being born under a specific moon phase allows certain individuals access to powers unique to their phase- New Moon, Waxing Crescent, Full Moon, Waning Crescent. Those wishing to learn more about their lunar magic are able to attend Aldryn College (a Hogwarts-esque magical school) helping students to hone their craft. The school is surrounded by the Dovermere Sea, which is home to caves that have something dark and deadly lurking in its depths. It is in the sea caves that one of the story's protagonists, Emory, awakens something ancient and powerful within her that will have her enlist the help of her shadowy friend Baz, whose own dark magic is curiously tied to the caves. Drownings, tragedies, and strange goings on connected to the caves and college force Emory, Baz, and other students on a quest using rituals, forbidden magic, and esoteric books, to uncover the truth of their powers. With the help of secret societies, mysterious maps, and the pull of the tides, all will become illuminated by the moon's glow.

The magical system created by the author was ingenious. Combining moon phases with the tides of the sea was a perfect combination as they are both scientifically connected. The magic system of the lunar magic was cleverly crafted as each moon phase corresponded to a particular power that was based off of mystical interpretations of each phase. The college was every dark academia fan's dream come true, with its moody atmosphere, dark glamour aesthetic, and old books. The world building was very well done, as it never outshone the plot, but rather, supported the intricacies and details of the complex storyline. The plot was layered and wove many silver threads throughout the story that connected in unexpected ways by the end of the book. The characters were well-rounded, interesting, and angsty, and I liked the dual point of view of the story. The book had a story within a story as the author included mythological and literary elements to the imaginary world which enriched the overall plot.

Themes surrounding power, identity, family, friendship, were explored in this dark fantasy, that was full of tension, suspense, and seductive magic.

Harry Potter meets Locke & Key.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Every once in awhile a book will come around and speak to your soul—that it’ll get you on a cellular level and you’ll fall head over heels in love with it. Curious Tides was that book for me.
Emory, the girl who has felt mediocre her entire life, is the sole survivor after a ritual gone wrong in the Dovermere sea caves claims the lives of her classmates and best friend, Romie. On her return to school she’s discovered her healing magic has changed when one of the bodies of the not-quite-dead-yet students washes up on shore and her magic turns to something more…
I loved Emory’s arc because I could relate to it. That feeling of being unseen and perhaps jealous of your best friend because they are what you want to be. It’s that feeling of not being enough and what happens when you get what you think you want, but deep down you know it’s not what you need. And yet, you can’t help but be swayed by it.
Then we have Baz (my heart!!) the man—and Romie’s brother—who hides himself away, content to live quietly with a power that is formidable but he’s terrified of using it so he locks it down, and spends his time among books and solitude. He’s afraid of himself, afraid to face the past. His interactions with Emory causes him go challenge himself and shakes him out of his carefully constructed world and then… ah! Magic. No spoilers here people!
There are a million things I could say about this book, and yet I’m struggling to capture the words. The atmosphere, the incredibly realized magic system, the threads that flow through the story and connect in a way that I never anticipated, the world building, and yes… the secret society because I love a good secret society and this one was *chefs kiss* and the dreams and nightmares, and the weavers who walk through them! I love love loved this book. A massive thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for this arc!

Moody. Melodramatic. Moon magic. (I tried?)

This is one of those books that will appeal to teens who are new to dark academia. It contains all the right elements for the soup: dark school, dark rituals, troubled students, tempestuous relationships... but none of the spice. I might as well have been handed a Pinterest board. It was rough being in the head of Emery and Baz because they kept taking turns feeling sorry for themselves; the woe-is-me inner dialogue got tiring for me - especially when it was all telling.

I lost my interest very quickly into the book and did not wish to finish it,