This was a decent read, but It didn’t particularly wow me. Though I confess part of that is due to the expectations I had about this book a pirate book about two sisters marketed as queer? I assumed we’d get some main character sapphic content, which there wasn’t. One of our mains is presumably asexual, however, the reference is so minor one could easily fail to infer that's what was intended since all she says is that she’s “not interested in anyone” which doesn’t necessarily mean she’s ace. There’s also a sapphic side couple but they’re pretty minor. So for me, this was a massive letdown.

In terms of the story, it was a well-executed plot but I just didn’t feel hugely invested in it. There were lots of cool pieces like Ophelia’s mother and the island but they just didn’t click as well as they might’ve.

Thank you, NetGalley and Page Street Publishing for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was a wild, adventurous book that I found easy to read and engaging throughout. On every page the stakes were raised and surprising twists were revealed, with fast paced action sequences in-between. The sibling dynamic between Ophelia and Betsy was heart-warming, realistic, and the driving force of this book. I was hoping for there to be more exploration of the world and the Cray sisters but hopefully this will be included in a sequel. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a page turner that takes you on on a fun adventure centred around familial love and helmed by strong female leads.

DNF at 16%.

I thought this book would be right up my alley. An aro/ace girl who runs away to join the navy sounds absolutely fantastic. I just couldn't get into the story, though. The first chapter bounced back and forth between the characters without warning. The writing wasn't awful, but it could have used another editing pass to tighten it up.

I did receive this as a digital ARC, so I'm hopeful that the final version will be better, and I'd like to give it another try then.

i really enjoyed the first few chapters and then got confused and lost for the rest of the book. 

the writing style was fine and the story had some potential but it lost my interest and my focus after 100 pages.

DNF at 32%

I wasn’t enjoying the writing style and the two main characters felt incredibly one dimensional to me. I wanted to love this but I found myself skimming whole paragraphs just to try and get through it.

A really enjoyable read filled with pirates and strong FMC’s!
I do love the aro/ace rep that was sprinkled in.
I do wish there was more information about the Cray family tree as I felt like that section was a bit rushed.
Lastly, the betrayals and twists in this book made me want to read more!

Two sisters, deadly pirate adventures, a family legacy, and all the trouble the sea could offer. Ophelia Young has lived in the shadow of her mother's death ever since she was young, she is the bastard child of the notorious pirate queen who was hanged... and before she was hanged she cursed the island. Ophelia has tried to play by the rules her entire life to avoid people's suspicion and to beat her mother's reputation. All she dreams about is escaping the island filled with people who hate her and she plans on joining the navy to redeem her own reputation for good. Betsy Young is as different from her half-sister as can be, she's shy and timid and longs to find love. Betsy lives in her sister's shadow and wants someone to notice her, yet when the son of their family's business partner brutally rejects her hand in marriage thinking it was meant for her sister, it's the last straw for Betsy. To make matters worse, Ophelia runs off to the navy and their father contracts a life threatening illness, which means Betsy will bring Ophelia back no matter what to save the family business... yet nothing is easy for the Young sisters as they realize that life at sea is much more brutal than either of them could ever imagine from being attacked by pirates, lashed on a navy ship, nearly murdered (multiple times), and facing hurricane season.... they'll have to find a way to survive before they can even meet each other again. This book was nothing like I thought it was going to be, it just felt kind of bland if I'm going to be honest. I was expecting a fun high seas pirate adventure with a dash of romance and while this book did have a lot of action and a tiny bit of romance it just didn't really feel all that exciting. The characters didn't exactly feel like they had a lot of dimension and I just felt like they weren't all that fleshed out. I did love the representation of an Aro/Ace female protagonist and other queer relationships shown in this though. The overall story was fine but it just wasn't great, I didn't hate reading this I just don't think I would recommend it. Overall, if you want a pirate book with a strong sister relationship give this one a go, maybe you'll have a better time with it than I did.

*Thanks Netgalley and Page Street Publishing, Page Street YA for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Ophelia is strong and brave, and made stronger and braver by the strength and bravery of sister Betsy.

This book is a wild adventure, with a clear message: the world is harsh, but you can survive by being yourself and surrounding yourself with the people who care most about you.

And, fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise will love this book. At least, I sure did!

4 stars

(Not going to lie, I thought this was going to be a book about pirates -which it is, just not in the way I was expecting)

This was an action packed, adventure about family, identity, and finding where you belong in the world.
This book starts off with Ophelia, who just wants to leave her home, and Betsy, who doesn’t ever want to leave home. For the first part of the book I found Betsy to be really insufferable. She was really selfish and cruel to Ophelia and I was worried I wasn’t going to like her at all. However, I thought she had a really good character arc and actually ended up being the more interesting part of the story in my opinion.
As the daughter of a notorious pirate, Ophelia has always felt like an outcast and wants to redeem herself by joining the navy. Everything that could possible go wrong does and she instead goes on a journey to discover family and that she is content being exactly who she is.
I thought this was a really fun and exciting book and was a neat take on a coming of age story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Page Street Publishing for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. Pirates, adventure, and tough female protagonists are usually my bread and butter. Unfortunately, I DNF'ed this book after the first few chapters because I just couldn't get into it. The characters read as very one-note and clunky. After the dinner scene with the possible suitor, I found myself completely thrown out because of one character's behavior. Many reviews said to try and wait it out because it gets good by the middle, but my TBR list is too long to read a book that might get good. I might try again later, but it's doubtful.

“The sea was dangerous—and they were meant to be the most dangerous things on it.”

Ophelia Cray just wants a chance to live outside the shadow of her pirate queen mother who terrorized the seas. Betsy Young, her half sister, just wants her family to stay safe from the dangers outside their doors. When Ophelia finds her way into the navy she soon realizes that the morals of the sea are complicated ones and it leaves her adrift. Will Betsy be able to face her fears on the waves to bring her sister safely home?

Alright, let’s start out with what I liked about this book. I liked the ideas behind our two main characters. Ophelia is an asexual young woman who is determined to work hard enough it will convince people to overlook her family history. Betsy is a fat young woman with anxiety who is extremely talented at needlework. I adored how both of these characters were meant to be strong female characters, despite being very different.

Aside from this dynamic between the sisters I found the book to be fine, but nothing I would go out of my way to recommend. The side characters felt very unfinished, and it made some moments that should have been extremely emotional fall a little flat.

The Finale Curse of Ophelia Cray was just “okay” for me, but maybe you’ll love it! Let me know when it comes out on April 9th. Shout out to Page Street Publishing for the arc.

This is a fun YA adventure! I enjoyed it on the surface level, but think it could have had a bit more depth and structure.

The writing is a little young for me. I think it has this silly/satirical element of the plot and caricature-villains that the prose wasn’t quite funny enough to make work, so parts just felt a bit random and undeveloped to me? I genuinely love a lot of MG and younger YA, and this one is on the side of a writing style that didn’t quite work for me. But also, it’s for teens, I’m an adult, so maybe that’s fine!

It’s quite slow to start (it doesn’t get into it until half way?), and the two storylines felt a bit disconnected. All the different things happening felt all over the place, and I felt the ending was a bit unsatisfying re: everything about her mother’s legacy. Betsy’s love interest seemed like a nice interesting character but it was such instalove, I felt like there was no development between them.

I do always like to see an aroace MC who mentions it casually throughout the story, and the central sister relationship. I think it has some fun parts and some good characters! I would still recommend to teens looking for queer piratey stories.

*Received as a free ARC*
I was really excited about this book and I was kind of a let down. It wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't great. Neither Betsy nor Ophelia quite captured me. And there was quite a lot of graphic violence, which I understand is historically accurate for pirates! But still. However! I do appreciate a good aroace protagonist, so good on Ophelia for that.

This book started out strong, lost some steam, but really picked back up.
A mix of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' meets 'Our Flag Means Death' (regarding many LGBTQ+ characters). Bound to be enjoyed by those who crave asexual character representation.
Ophelia and Betsy, our dual points of view, are the definition of 'strong female leads', while every other character had a surprise twist to them that you don't expect. A solid 4/5 stars.

This book was so good! I'll be honest it took a bit to get into but once I was in I couldn't put it down! the character dynamics were so unique and felt truly special and I loved the growth we got to see along the way. I adored the represantation and I look forward to reading more buy this author!

3.5 rounded up

I want to thank NetGalley for the arc, this has no influence on my opinion whatsoever.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. It felt like a very round up tale, but with room for a sequel.

I especially liked the aroace rep, and how it was mentioned multiple times, instead of being a one off thing.

The dual perspective was nice, cause it told the story from two different perspectives and two people who have different opinions on the same situation.

However I would have liked to have more information about Crays past and the other Cray sisters. It sometimes felt a bit rushed and the characters sometimes changed their minds very quickly.

Overall I liked this book well enough that I would recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book took me a while. To be completely honest, I almost dnf'd it, because the beginning of the story was very slow and the characters of Ophelia and Betsy so bland that I simply didn't care about what happened to them. Once the story really got started, with Ophelia joining the navy and Betsy setting out to find her sister, I was happy that I didn't give up. I loved the crew, I loved the pirates, and I especially loved how brutal life at sea was. Pirate life sucked. Naval life sucked. When all was said and done, I found this book to be fine.

This book HAD me at the stunning cover, I love a good pirate tale. A nicely spun story of adventure, family, betrayal and loyalty— Holes meets Mulan, but with lots of Piratey fun.
This was a very YA book which wouldn’t be my usual taste, but I enjoyed it. Very easy to read, full of action and interesting twists and turns.
Lots of LGBTQ characters, a Sapphic couple of side characters and an ace/aro FMC that hates being touched by strangers.

The family are so wholesome and the sisters love each other fiercely, even when they’re arguing like cats and dogs. Really close to each other and protective. A truly accurate representation of sisterly love! They are equally contrasting and complimentary to each others personalities, and I loved going back and forth to find what each of them were up to as the story went on.
All of the characters were easy to love (and hate), and the writing was lovely— pretty and a nice tidy introduction.

This book was super sweet and fun to read, a little dramatic, particularly a lot of the dialogue, but if you like YA and Pirates— I recommend!

I really enjoyed The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray.
It was a great read that I managed to finish in one sitting. I couldn't put it down as I was having so much fun with it!

It had great characters, and I really loved both Ophelia and Betsy. I found their sister relationship really well done.
Also, this book has pirates! Recently, I've been really into pirates, so this really was the perfect read!

I definitely recommend this book!
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book! An exhilarating read, surpassing expectations. I was constantly kept on my toes by Ophelia’s adventures. Betsy was also an interesting character, the likes of which rarely gets a POV in novels.