I really wanted to love this and while parts of it were captivating to me, other times, it felt slow and I would loe interet and LITERALLY fall asleep and have to find my place again in the audio book. I feel bad but, I can't explain that and that "bored" feeling isnt good for audiobook listeners.

Heirs of Bone and Sea had an intriguing premise with its mix of pirates, sirens, and magic, but unfortunately, it fell short in execution. The story follows Queen Evhen, who seeks revenge for her parents' deaths at the hands of Princess Kalei's father. Initially, Evhen plans to kill Kalei but discovers that she’s unaware of her father's true nature. This leads to an enemies-to-lovers dynamic that felt underdeveloped and lacking in tension.

While the world-building was commendable, the pacing dragged significantly, with much of the plot feeling like filler until about 60% in. The characters, particularly Evhen and Kalei, felt one-dimensional and stagnant throughout their journey. Kalei's magical abilities, including raising the dead, had great potential but ultimately fell flat and didn't deliver the excitement I hoped for.

On a positive note, I appreciated the sapphic representation and the concept of the story, but the delivery left much to be desired. The narration sometimes detracted from the experience, making it hard to connect with the characters. Overall, while the book was entertaining enough to finish, it didn't live up to its potential. I’d rate it 3 stars for its engaging concept, despite the execution issues.

What a wild ride this book was. This book gave me Rapunzel vibes plus all the magic was Amazing and all the sailing, pirates was great. It was very revenge heavy understandably with what happened in the book but it got to be a bit much at times and I feel it messed with the chemistry for the romance part of. Overall it was a good book, curious for what the next book brings. I will say the narrators for the audiobook were ok but I’m not sure they really fit the characters either in voice or acting. The audio book wasn't terrible, just wasn't my favorite.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the e-arc!
Vengeful princesses, queer romance, and evil kings? This is the type of book I want. This is definitely a Disney movie with very tangled vibes! The world itself is really enjoyable, especially with the twist of fate that happens early on in the story. The revenge plot gets all twisted up when Evhen changes her plans and works with Klei instead of kidnapping her. I do think there needed to be a bit more development in the romance as I could see why there are some complaints. There needed to be a bit more chemistry and probably more build up in order to get the romance to really work.

I really liked the concept of the book, and was surprised to find it had Tangled/Rapunzel with pirates vibes, I really wanted to love it, but the chemistry between the girls didn’t work for me. Their relationship didn’t seem to develop realistically

This story had a lot of potential, two princesses, pirates, but unfortunately it fell a little flat for me.
The relationship between the two princesses and its progression did not convince me. They start off as enemies then they get to know each other a little, and they seem to have some sympathies for each other and then suddenly they are in love with each other and would die for each other. But actually, there is nothing to back this relationship up. We don’t see intense chemistry, bonding, deep conversations or anything like that. It seems like two introverts (which they are not outside this relationship) having a relationship that no one knows about (maybe not even them). As a result, their relationship dynamic felt more like a friendship or kinship than a romance to me.

The story is told from dual point of view, but the author did not use any advantages of this. In the beginning, each of the characters has slightly different information, and they keep some things from each other, but by the time that was over, it also actually became hard to distinguish the different points of view.

I also did not feel invested in the story outside the romantic relationship. I feel like the reader does not get enough information to be invested in the plot. There was no real suspense, and things just happened like checkmarks.

This was a 2,5-star read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Rapunzel vibes but with pirates! An unlikely princess alliance, too! This was a fun read! The audio got a little confusing as the narrators voice never changed, so sometimes I had to just guess who was speaking. Other than that, I really enjoyed it!

Great story, very much if Moana and Rapunzel were enemies that fall in love with more magic thrown in. It is a great start and I look forward to the next one. The story was captivating and the world building was good, can't wait to see where it takes us.

3.75 ⭐️

I really loved both of our main characters and the push and pull between them. They take a long time to trust each other and to admit to themselves how they feel. I also really enjoyed the magic system and the lore behind it. I wish we got to explore the consequences of the magic more in depth because it was so fascinating.

While I enjoyed the audiobook a lot, there was times when the narrators would make Kalei sound way younger than a sixteen year old should sound. I understand they were trying to convey the naivety of her character but it left an odd taste in my mouth.

I’m very much looking forward to the sequel because I am dying to know what’s going to happen next.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gay pirate romance yes please!! I really love this, what a fun debut!
This is a sapphic Rapunzel cross moana!
I thought both the characters and the world building was decent and I really enjoy Heirs of Bone & Sea.

“Fall in love with a powerful princess and feisty young queen masquerading as a pirate captain as they form an uneasy alliance to end the war between their kingdoms.”

Evhen, the queen of Vodaeard, is on a mission for revenge after witnessing her parents' murder by the king of Marama and his undead army. She plans to kill his daughter, Princess Kalei, to weaken his supernatural advantage. However, when Evhen discovers Kalei might be an unwitting pawn, she hides her royal identity. Kalei, blessed with the power to resurrect her kingdom's subjects, is attacked by Evhen and learns the dark truth about her abilities. To stop her father, Kalei must trust Evhen, her would-be assassin, to safely deliver her to Vodaeard. As they navigate betrayal and danger, they must determine who they can truly trust.

“I wasn’t supposed to be alive, and death was angry.”

What you’ll find in Heirs of Bone & Sea:
Enemies to Lovers
Hate at First Sight
Knife to the Throat
Found Family
Only One Bed
Sapphic
Necromancers

I did enjoy this book. I did have some quibbles that I'll note, but I did have a good time with these characters and this story. Of these two princesses, who have to work together because one wants to make up for the harm that she unknowingly caused, and the other who wants payback for the deaths of her parents, but can't seem to take the easy way to doing so. I had a great time!

Events were happening, but I wasn't sure why. I trust the author knows why the world works the way that it does. I just would like an explanation, or a more simple one, because I just did not know or understand, and I would really like to!

I was pretty annoyed that they kept calling her a criminal, given what they did to her parents, but it turns out they didn't recognize her, and just knew that she kidnapped their daughter. So that makes sense, but it annoyed me until that bit of information came out.

One thing that I'm wondering-why did the people, when Kalei was in opposition with her parents, take the side of the king and queen, against her, the one that brought them back? Seems pretty ungrateful, especially with what happens to them. Unless they knew that that was coming...even so. Not cool!

There is plenty set up to be dealt with in the next book, which I'm really excited to see, between Kalei no longer having her powers, but maybe something darker, Evhen, with her brother held captive by the king of Marama, the bargain that she made to bring Kalei back...so excited to see how things are going to get resolved!

I otherwise had a really good time reading this book and I can't wait for the sequel!

Evhen, now queen of Vodaeard, is fueled by revenge after witnessing her parents' brutal murder at the hands of the king of Marama and his undead army. Initially set on killing the king's daughter in retaliation, Evhen's perspective shifts when she realizes Princess Kalei may be unaware of her father's true intentions. Choosing to conceal her royal identity, Evhen navigates a treacherous path, unsure of who to trust in a world of deception and danger.

Meanwhile, Princess Kalei finds her beliefs shattered when she discovers the sinister truth behind her moon-blessed powers. After an attack by a fiery pirate leaves her questioning everything she knows, Kalei must rely on her would-be assassin, Captain Evhen, to guide her to safety and help put an end to the war.

As the two princesses face betrayal and threats from all sides, they must find a way to break the curse of their kingdoms and forge a path towards unity. With Kirkus praising the book as a riveting tale brimming with tension and romance, readers can expect a captivating journey filled with twists and turns.


For some reason I never got this ARC! NetGalley, I would great appreciate it if you could resend this ARC for better review

Thank you author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!!

I love lesbians and I love pirates. So I really thought I’d like this book but it’s just not the vibe. It was fun and pretty engaging but I didn’t love the love story or the main characters so much.


Something that annoyed me was that the moonstone was described as a piece of obsidian and I was like bruh.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, Emerge, Kay Adams, Catherine Ho (narrator), and Hayden Bishop (narrator) for the opportunity to read and listen to the audiobook of Heirs of Bone and Sea in exchange for an honest review. 

While I do not know if Heirs of Bone and Sea is going to be a duology (it feels like it) or a trilogy, or some longer series, it is the first book in the Dark Depths series, and a debut to boot.

The story follows Evhen, no longer a princess, but rather a queen after the murder of her parents. Consider her the heir of sea, as it were, in that she takes one of her parents ships and becomes its captain. In an act of revenge, she plans to kill the Marama king's daughter. When she meets the princess, she keeps her own identity a secret, and the princess might not be as meaningful to her plans as first anticipated.

Never able to leave her tower, let alone her island, Kalei can be referred to as the heir of bone, as it were, for she has been moon-blessed. Her sacred power allows her to revive the dead. Her father wants her power to become immortal, and when she finds out what lengths he will need to go to acquire that, Kalei is more than determined to break what she sees as a curse. There must be some way to remove her power.

Taken captive by Evhen, Kalei does what she can among the vessel and its crew. She wants to help bring her father down from power as well, so she easily complies. What she doesn't expect is to start having feelings for her royal enemy!

It was a bit hard to get into at first because there seems to be a lot of political aspects in the beginning and trying to get a hold on each character's unique voice was hard to differentiate in the beginning. I did end up thoroughly enjoying this novel. There are some interesting romantic aspects and some unexpected twists that make the plot fun. This novel is great for fantasy lovers and pirate-captive LGBTQ romance enthusiasts.

(I never got to review it while it was available here, but I was able to barrow this title from my local library)
This was such a slowwwwwwwwwww burrrrrrrrrrrn sapphic romantasy.
I was slightly confused on who wants to kill who and who’s parents are alive and dead and want to kill them. I wanted more romance, or more tension at least. I was not sure till very end if this was a romantic relationship or platonic relationship. I wanted more development with “you have to marry my son” or sapphic feelings, or even developing/ establishing the magic system.

Princess Evhen of Vodaeard's parents were tragically killed and she swears revenge on the King who killed them. While seeking her revenge, Evhen runs into the King's daughter Princess Kalei, known as the Princess of Death. Kalei can bring people back to life, and has been doing so for years. What she didn't know about her power was that every life she saved was being used to fight the King's war. Evhen kidnaps Kalei and mishaps ensue.

I listened to the audiobook of this. I'm not sure if it was the reader or the story itself, but I had a hard time really getting into this. The voice of Kalei made the character sound older than she was though I think she was meant to sound young.

There were pieces of the journey that captured my attention such as the battles, the ballroom scene, and when Kalei was using her magic, however some of the other scenes felt too slow. The characters lived a lot in their heads and I think the romance was lacking though it was supposed to be there. I didn't really buy that the two characters were in love. I think that romantic connection could have been stronger, possibly with more action/dialogue rather than internal thoughts.

I was excited by the description of the book and I think it has a lot of potential. If there is a sequel I would probably still read it (or listen to it) to see where the main characters end up.

This one had a lot of potential but unfortunately fell flat for me. The premise of the story was intriguing but it was maybe a little underdeveloped. There were times I was losing interest and it was moving a bit slow. I feel with a little more development of the characters and a little more action, this story could have been really good.

I wanted this to be great but think it came up short. I finished it a couple weeks ago but forgot to write the review. I had to read the synopsis again to remember what it was about. That says everything about the book. It’s not bad but definitely not memorable.

Gay pirate romance? Enemies to lovers? Necromancy? This book has found it’s target audience. (Me. Hello. I’m the target audience.)

Maybe the concept got my hopes up a little too high but you can’t just lure me in with all my favorite buzzwords and then expect me to be unbiased. This book was, in a word, underwhelming.

⚜ The… Romance

I wanted the romance to be good so bad, man. I’m still a little upset about it. Look, it wasn’t all terrible. There were moment that probably would’ve been really cute. If the romance was well written.

These girls had zero chemistry. For the entire book. The enemies to lovers tension was sort of there in the beginning but even then, it didn’t last long. The entire time the romance just felt so… Empty. As the characters became closer and the romance plot was progressing, the whole time I just kept wondering ‘Why do they even like each other?’

On paper it makes sense. They build trust over the course of the story, right? They get to know and understand each other. Sure. But there was never any romantic chemistry. Their bond felt more like vaguely friendly acquaintances for a majority of the book while acting like far more. Their actions felt so disconnected from the story because their romance just wasn’t that convincing.

⚜ Pacing and Plot

The pacing of the romance was weird and stilted but the rest of the book wasn’t much better. The frequent changes in POVs probably didn’t help. I really felt each chapter, if that makes sense. There was a very clear beginning middle and end to each plot line. It was like I could see the author’s planning document ‘Chapter one: X happens. Chapter two: Aftermath of X. Chapter 3: Y happens.’

While we’re talking about plot- I don’t think the antagonist had a motive. They were just kind of… Evil. I think it was meant to be a ‘power corrupts’ type thing but if it was, it wasn’t done well.

The antagonist was boring. Not much else to say about that.

On a more positive note- I was promised an undead army and hey, spoilers, there was an undead army. Kalei’s magic was pretty sick. Some of the descriptions got a little repetitive but overall- I was having the most fun when Kalei was using her powers.

⚜ The Audiobook

If you’re going to read this book, don’t listen to the audiobook. This is probably the first audiobook I’ve listened to that has made dialogue sound more unnatural than the written dialogue. There were multiple times (Mostly in very serious moments, unfortunately) Where they just miss the tone entirely.

While both narrators had this issue, at least Evhen’s voice actor seemed to fit the role. Kalei’s narrator was just a strange casting choice. Her voice was just too mature for the role and her weak voice acting skills totally killed the more emotional scenes. Sorry, girl.

⚜ Final Words

Again, underwhelming. A sub-par romance lacking in chemistry. Characters with basically no depth. An okay plot. No amount of buzzwords or potential can make up for that in my opinion.

One day I’ll read the lesbian pirate love story of my dreams and it will destroy my life. This one was just too good to be true.