I love the representation in this book (ace rep and mental health) but wasn't as keen on the Villian

3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Christine Callela’s debut young adult novel, The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray, promised a historical fantasy complete with high seas adventure and the weight of a family legacy. While there are elements of that in the book, they did not blend seamlessly and made for a somewhat clunky story. Ultimately, this book is a story of two sisters on separate paths in life who work their way back to each other.

As you might expect from a book promising high seas adventure, a good chunk of the book takes place on the sea (at least for Ophelia). There’s a lot of violence taking place in the book, and it was surprisingly bloody for something marketed as a young adult novel. For example, if you are familiar with movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, you might know what a cat of nine tails is (surprisingly, Ophelia does not). Those who suffer under its use become very bloody very quickly. Another low point was how the villains in the book were predictable (almost stereotypical), instead of being unique. Unfortunately, that detracted from my enjoyment of the story as well. I went into the story expecting excitement and it didn’t really deliver. I struggled with this, and came close to DNF a couple times because I couldn’t get into the story.

The saving grace for this book was the relationships. The two main characters, Ophelia and Betsy, are sisters but they couldn’t be any more different (likely due to the difference in mothers). Ophelia has lived most of her life with the weight of her mother’s, the pirate queen Ophelia Cray, legacy on her shoulders. Betsy, on the other hand, is rather timid and had lived for years afraid to leave the house and practically glued to Ophelia’s side. After Ophelia joins the navy in an attempt to escape the island where everyone knows the circumstances of her birth, the two sisters are separated for the first time in years and forced to find their own way in the world. There is a bit of romance in the book, less for Ophelia (who is asexual) and more for Betsy (who is agoraphobic). However, the main storyline is seeing the sisters growth and while not fleshed out fully, was enough to keep me reading.

Overall, The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray was a decent read. Jesse Vilinsky did a good job bringing the action to life with her performance in the audiobook, but it wasn’t enough to keep me engaged in the book. While the book is marketed as a fantasy, it reads more like a historical fiction or a magical realism novel. Readers who enjoy books that focus on familial relationships with little romance and elements of action may enjoy this novel.

Thank you to the author, the publisher Page Street YA, the team at TBR and Beyond Tours and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary review copy of the book. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review the book immensely. Please note - I voluntarily read and reviewed The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray. All opinions expressed in the review are my own and not influenced in any way.

DNFed at 20%

this isn’t a ‘i hate this book’ dnf i just have so many other books to read but i’m definitely going to come back to this.

This adventurous story narrates Ophelia’s fight for freedom while portraying such a beautiful sibling relationship. I really enjoyed the asexual representation, the sapphic romance, and the pirate atmosphere.

A good premise and smart writing style but I feel like the author didn't delve into any particular character enough. For young readers, this may be a good thing but I felt like there was not enough substance in the characters for this to be a true YA/New adult book but too much detail about piratical life to be juvenile fiction. Also, for something that was billed to me as gay pirates- there was very little gay. Aside from a queer couple on one of the ships and the main character possibly being Ace (was never made clear), there wasn't much gay happening. I did like the overall story and felt that the author did some good world building- I just wish there had been a bit more depth to the characters.

I would like to thank Page Street Publishing, NetGalley, and the author for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

“Storms and pirates are nothing compared to the evil within men’s hearts.”

Read if you like:
🏴‍☠️ Pirates
👯‍♀️ Sibling relationships
📖 Historical Fiction
🫶 YA

Ophelia Young is the daughter of the pirate queen Ophelia Cray, who left her to her father and step-mother as an infant. The pirate queen has been apprehended and Ophelia will have one chance to see her mother, at her hanging. To try to overcome the spite and suspicion she has endured her whole life thanks to her infamous mother, Ophelia joins the navy to prove her honor. Life at sea is not everything Ophelia thought it would be and she has to confront her hatred of pirates and her realization about what makes a family.

This is a fun debut with twists and turns, swashbuckling action, and a great story about sisters. I appreciated that this book loosened the traditional gender roles and feature female pirates, female naval officers, sapphic and aromantic representation. I also really liked that this book focused on Ophelia’s relationship with her sisters. I had a hard time connecting with Ophelia and found myself more interested in the side characters but this would definitely be a fun book for an early YA reader.

DNF @ 25%; Ch 6

possibly a "for now" DNF. I am so sad I didn't enjoy this. I struggled after nearly two months to try to work through this book, however, I just kept feeling disappointed by the plot and the characters. I didn't get far enough to see a majority of the action, but this read extremely immature.

It's been quite a while since I've read a book as thrilling as The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray! Multiple nights in a row I found myself staying up late, thinking, "Just one more chapter, for real this time," because I couldn't stand not knowing what would happen next. There wasn't a dull moment for Betsy and Ophelia in the story, and each chapter ended on what felt like a miniature cliffhanger. The story was cinematic, engaging, and exactly what I hoped for from a pirate novel!

Additionally, one of the two protagonists is asexual, which is a big part of why I decided to pick up a copy of The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray. I love that we're starting to see asexual representation in a wider variety of book genres!

My Recommendation:
If you're looking for a high-stakes book about pirate adventure, you need to grab a copy of The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray as soon as possible! I would especially recommend this book to fans of The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and Assassins Creed: Black Flag.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

There were some things I really enjoyed and appreciated about this book, so I'll start with those:
1. Sister bonds: this sister bond was done well! The amount of fighting/arguments balanced well with the love and appreciation for each other, and I liked that the sister bond was the focal point, rather than a romantic bond.
2. Aro/ace rep: Ophelia's implied asexuality felt very in-character and was described in a period-appropriate way, so it didn't take me out of the historical time period. I really loved this aspect of her character!
3. OCD/neurodiverse rep: Again, the way that Betsy's mental struggles were described felt very period-appropriate and added a lot to her character.

Some icks that I had about the book:
1. Simple villains: the villains felt very unbelievable compared to the well-fleshed out main characters. I wish they had more substance to them to balance well with the complex mcs.
2. Pacing: The beginning of this book REALLY lagged. I was not very invested until around 50% of the way into the book, which is too long. For a title that promises a fast-paced piratical adventure, there sure wasn't a lot of fast paced moments or a lot of pirates.

All in all, this was a solid book, but it didn't hook me nearly as much as I had hoped it would because of the two dimensional villains and the slow pacing.

Publication Date: April 9, 2024

EARC
Huge thankto netgalley
DNF but i will buy it to continue. It's great, i just couldn't synchronized apps so i wasn't able to read it properly at phone, because of my dysortografy.

Tw: Dead sentence (of parent) , violence, blood, sexism, mental illness, angry issues, mother issues...
Now to the review.
I love the writing styl (ws) because it's making the story so relatable and i was able to get use to it immediately! Thanks tl ws character are also believable, their emotions, actions and chemistry is so much real that i could relate so much especially with Betsy. Which is also why i hated Betsy... i have similar mental illness as her but her actions can't be justify by that, which i also love about the ws, because you know, you're supposed to hate her so she could grow as a character. On the other hand we have Ophelia, she's brave and pure feminist. Her actions are totally relatable and you wile understand why she feels lonely.

My so far favorite character is Papa (don't know if there was his name) he's the greatest father girl could ever wish for. His love for them is so pure that my eyes started to tear, every time he has some interaction with them. He's like total golden retriever.

I'm not gonna review because i didn't finished reading, but baste on these trate marks i can tell, with clear heart, that this book is worth your time. My current rating is 4*/5* even though i feel like after finishing it will be 5*/5*

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. Some statements that some may perceive as mild spoilers to follow.

Reading this book was such a good time. I've been in a reading slump on and off this whole calendar year, and being able to devour a book in two days again was so refreshing. If you love pirate adventures, definitely pick this one up. There is a small romance, but it's certainly not the main focus of the book, and in fact, one of the two main characters is implied to be on the aro-ace spectrum, so huzzah for good representation! What I really enjoyed about this book was the way that the ending wasn't your cookie cutter "happy ending", which always makes a book feel more real to me. Good people died. Bad people walked away. Some bad feelings were harder to get over than others. But even so, the ending was still a happy one, and the adventure was an exciting one.

04/09/2024 || The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray by Christine Calella || #TheFinalCurseofOpheliaCray #NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley, Christine Calella, and Page Street Publishing/Page Street YA for making this e-ARC available!
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author and myself.
All of my thoughts are my own~

3.5 Stars - DNF

I wanted to really like this one: pirates, sisterly love and bonds, queer, historical....what's not to love here?!!???!

The writing style is seriously phenomenal along with the story telling and character development, and I was hooked up until around 18% and I just couldn't understand where this was going - queer wise I mean. I didn't catch it, but based off other reviewers one of the sisters is ace which is great, cool! But I didn't get queer vibes that I was hoping for (I am still recovering from the season 2 ending for OFMD and still looking to fill that giant void and wound).

Due to my disappointment that I didn't get what I was looking for, I decided that the fair thing to do is shelve this book for now and come back another day when all I want is family and pirates!!!! I'm excited to be in the right headspace for this book!!!!! :)

The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray is a story about finding your place, family ties, and sister bonds. I’m gonna be honest and say that I thought this was going to be completely different than it was, but I’m not mad about it! This book is one that’s filled with constant adventure and high stakes, so my anxiety levels were going up and down the whole time. I was so invested in Ophelia and Betsy’s journeys and I wanted them to succeed.

My favorite part about this book is the relationship between half sisters Ophelia and Betsy. Many times in books, we’re greeted with the purest, deepest bonds between siblings, but in reality, familial relationships are a lot more messy, and The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray perfectly demonstrates that. Throughout the book, Ophelia and Betsy fight a lot, and they disagree about many things, but even so, they love each other. No matter how much they get on the other’s nerves, when it comes down to it, they will do what they need to help the other. I have a few siblings, and I rarely relate to those in books. Yet, these two, even if they’re nothing like me or my siblings, were relatable in that their relationship felt so genuine.

In addition to family relationships, there are many mysteries in this book. At first, none of them seemed related when they were first presented, but as the book goes on, all of the threads begin to tie together. I was fascinated and always trying to figure out how each new puzzle piece fit into the story.

Those who know me know that I love a good female-lead pirate story, and while the mc of this one isn’t exactly a pirate, it definitely scratched that itch for me. Ophelia, while conflicted and unsure of herself at times, was a strong female character who I loved following along with.

I loved watching Ophelia and Betsy grow as characters. They change so much from beginning to end, and their character arcs are executed expertly. I also love the fact that Ophelia is aro-ace. It’s not explicitly stated in those terms, but she mentions that she feels no romantic inclination toward anyone and she has no desire to be touched. This was an excellent addition to the story. I’m always looking for more books with aro-ace rep!

The only thing I wish is that the plot line surrounding Ophelia’s birth mother (and other parts of it revealed later on) had been expanded on more. I found it so interesting, and I would’ve loved more information about it!

While this book definitely stands on its own, I think there’s potential for a sequel, so I’m excited to see if anything will be announced.

Overall, this was a fun read that had me constantly guessing and always anticipating. I really enjoyed it!

This book was so fun! If you’re looking for a fast-paced pirate adventure with sweet sisterhood and an aspec main character, check out The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray! 🏴‍☠️👯‍♀️🖤🩶🤍💜

🔥Ophelia is the daughter of a legendary pirate queen, she’s fiery and is feeling suffocated in her small town where everyone is mean to her because of her mother’s reputation as a murderous pirate. Desperate to prove herself as different, she joins the Navy. But it’s not as straight forward as she hoped as she navigates mutiny, storms, and has to confront her family’s past.

💪Her sister Betsy couldn’t be more different, happiest in the comfort of her home. But when the Navy discovers that Ophelia lied about her identity in order to join, Betsy has to get brave and go after Ophelia to warn her before she’s caught and arrested.

This book was a blast, filled with DUELS and MUTINY, SECRET TREASURE and PERILOUS ESCAPES! ⚔️

🌈Ophelia is ace/aro and no nonsense about it, which I just loved. And there is a lesbian pirate couple side character that I of course loved.

Thanks to NetGalley and Page Street YA for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

I would have rated this book higher as it held my attention but I really wasn't a fan of the last 20% of the book. It was a fun historical fiction romp with pirates though!

I absolutely loved this charming and adventurous romp, from the asexual rep to the family relationships that form the backbone of the novel. The cover is also just amazing.

This was an absolutely perfect pirate book! I had so much fun with this story, and how I wish it was a series. It was fast paced, with such great FMCs and a great cast of strong characters, and great villains. This author will be a must read for me in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC! 5 stars!

Thank you NetGalley and Page Street publishing for the e-arc!
Queer pirates! This book is literally absolutely perfect for me. It gives me Pirates of the Caribbean vibes with a much more diverse cast of characters. From the beginning, this was such an adventure! If you love an amazing journey story with so much growth and discovery for our characters you will love this. I was also so excited to see an ace aro main character and they ended up being one of my favorite characters to fall through at the story.

Storms and pirates are nothing compared to the evil within men’s hearts.
Yeah, I didn't need anything else to be HOOKED on this amazing novel.
Set sail across the high seas with two sisters, some pirates, a handful of useless navy men, and a whole lot of danger and adventure! It was literally impossible to guess where this story would take either Ophelia or Betsy but I’m so glad I got to be along for the ride!