I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Told in dual timelines through alternating POVs, the Amalfi Curse is atmospheric, well-paced, and deliciously satisfying. Water witches, shipwrecks, scuba diving for treasures, mysterious drownings, hot Italian lovers--what more could a reader ask for? Also, that cover! Gorgeous.

I have loved Sarah Penner's books since reading The Lost Apothecary and while this one came in a little short of that mark, I found this to be more entertaining then The London Seance Society. Having visited the Amalfi Coast, I found the story line very relatable and the perfect escape back to Positano.

With the loss of her father still painfully fresh, nautical archaeologist Haven Ambrose is determined to fulfill his last wish of finding underwater treasure on the Amalfi coast. While she’s not surprised that her quest is less than straightforward, she also didn’t bargain for supernatural forces to be one of the main obstacles she must overcome.

Throughout history, streghe, witches descended from the mythological Sirens, have used their powers to control the seas around Li Galli and Positano. While some of these extraordinary women have wholeheartedly embraced their magical abilities, others like Mari DeLuca see them as a burden. For Mari, the sea has taken from her so much more than it has given, and she’s determined to leave the coast behind to start a new life with her true love. But before she can escape, she must first contend with the nefarious Mazzas, brothers who have hatched a plan to kidnap the streghe and use them to expand their empire of corruption.

As Haven follows the clues her father left behind, she ends up uncovering Mari’s two hundred-year-old story. And in doing so, she must decide whose legacy to honor, Mari’s or her dad’s.

While I appreciate Penner’s attempt to give us two strong female leads to cheer on, I can’t help but feel like Mari ended up being a far more well-developed character than Haven. The notion of finding lost treasure is understandably compelling, but it does take some of the focus away from the Project Relic storyline where we get to see Haven as a woman claiming her own territory in an otherwise male-dominated field. I also wouldn’t have minded less focus on Haven’s relationship with Enzo, though I get that it was necessary to build the plot.

Thanks to Net Galley and Harlequin Trade for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

From the author of The Lost Apothecary, comes another tale of witchy women, this time in Italy along the Amalfi Coast. This dual timeline story follows a set of Italian brothers in the 1800s running a shipping route of questionable intentions and a group of women practicing stregheria (sea witchcraft) to set them off course…along with a current day treasure hunter looking to learn about some shipwrecks off the Italian coast. As a scuba diver myself, I’m always drawn to adventures on the sea and this one foots the bill. Great read!

Just like I devoured Sarah Penner's previous historical fantasy works, I went into this book blind and completely enjoyed the two intertwining timelines. The story follows witches of the sea who protect the Amalfi Coast, and centuries later, a woman archaeologist searches for a mysterious treasure. I was sold from the first chapter.

The gripping, fast-paced storytelling, Mari, Holmes, and Haven's intriguing perspectives, the sea witches' powerful incantations, and the heart-pounding, thrilling fight against the Mazza Fratelli (Brothers) kept me on the edge of my seat. Haven's discoveries, her secret mission to honor her father's wishes, her blossoming love story with Enzo, and the detailed, alluring descriptions of Amalfi that made me want to book an immediate trip to Italy completely drew me into the story.

The past and present timelines perfectly intertwined, and the outcome was far more satisfying than I expected.
Here's a quick recap of the storyline:

Haven Ambrose, a skilled nautical archaeologist, makes an agreement with a startup tech company and assembles her own team of women archaeologists for Project Relic. Their mission is to dive around the Amalfi Coast in search of mysterious shipwrecks and relics. What her team doesn't know is that her recently deceased father had previously dived in the same location and discovered priceless gemstones. He left coordinates and underwater photos for Haven to help her find the treasures.

However, Haven didn't anticipate the tragedy at Li Galli, where a yacht sinks, killing eight people, including popular influencers. The project's chauvinist CEO assigns Conrad, an experienced archaeologist and rival of her father who once saved her life underwater, to lead a new team.
Haven grows suspicious of Conrad's maneuver to take over her project. Could he know about her father's secret treasure hunt and volunteered to search for it under the guise of a professional assignment? Determined not to leave Positano, she visits a diving shop to rent a boat and equipment, which leads her to meet Enzo and start her own adventure.

Simultaneously, the narrative takes us back to 1821, where a young, powerful sea witch named Mari finds herself in a dilemma. She plans to leave Positano with her sailor lover Holmes when dangerous, corrupt men begin hunting down witches to exploit their powers, kidnapping four of them.

Overall, this is an intriguing, innovative, and captivating historical fantasy that you absolutely shouldn't miss!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for sharing this brilliant fantasy's digital review copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I ABSOLUTELY adored this story! It had me hooked from the very first chapter.

Told between two timelines and multiple POV’s, Haven is a marine archaeologist set to find the treasure her father had within his reach in Positano, Italy just before he died. While she’s there, she races an old family friend to get to the treasure and discovers there’s a myth surrounding the islet of Li Galli and why there are so many sunken ships.

We also learn the story of Mari and Holmes in the past and their tale collides with Haven in the present.

Penner also does a beautiful job weaving her past and present timelines together. This story was truly captivating and I really resonate with her writing style. Her characters are so dynamic.

I will read anything she writes. This might be my favorite one yet!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for this e-copy in exchange for this honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW

Once I started this, I could. Not. Stop. Sarah Penner, you wrote with a cocaine dipped quill because MY GOD.

I can’t remember the last time I devoured a book like this!!!

Full, more detailed review coming closer to release!

I absolutely loved everything about this book! I see this being a big book club pick for next year. I loved the dual timelines & the sting female mc’s.

The Amalfi Curse follows follows two women about 150 years apart. One a women co flicked with her calling in Postino & one who is an underwater archeologist studying in Postitino. Part historical fiction, part romance & part adventure,

I love this book & I cannot wait to recommend it to everyone!

Having read Penner other two books, I was so excited to read this one. Much like her other books Penner builds a beautiful two that reels the reader in. I really enjoyed reading about Heaven and Mari side by side; both of these characters were not exactly the same, but they shared the water. I also really enjoyed reading about the stregheria and learning about this type of witchcraft which I have never I heard of this before, and it was fun to learn something new. Again, Penner has given us a wonderful, powerful story.

I am so obsessed with this book! It’s one of those stories that grabs your heart and doesn’t let go. Haven Ambrose is everything I love in a protagonist—brilliant, determined, and full of heart. Her quest to uncover her father’s treasure had me hooked, but the deeper mystery, with its ties to ancient sorcery and a centuries-old love story, absolutely blew me away!

The dual timelines—Haven’s present-day adventure and Mari’s spellbinding tale from the 1820s—are so seamlessly woven together that I found myself unable to put the book down! Both women are so real, so brave, and their connection to the sea feels almost magical. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to see how their stories would collide, and the way it all tied together was just perfection!

Sarah’s writing is absolutely stunning! Her vivid descriptions of Positano made me feel like I was standing on its sun-drenched cliffs, feeling the salt breeze and hearing the waves crash below. The historical and magical elements blend flawlessly, creating a story that is not only beautifully atmospheric but also deeply emotional.

This book is pure magic! It’s for anyone who loves stories about strong, courageous women, rich history, and a little bit of mystery and magic. Do yourself a favor and dive in. You won’t regret it!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Often with dual timeline stories one timeline is stronger or more interesting than the other. Here I'm happy to say that both storylines in THE AMALFI CURSE are equally engrossing. This novel has a wonderful sense of adventure, and you can tell Penner did her research and carefully plotted the two timelines so that both pull the reader in. Ultimately you will be cheering for the strong women who are constantly held back by men. The Amalfi coast setting is delicious and lovingly conveyed through sensory details. I've never been, but now I want to go!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-galley; all opinions in my review are 100% my own.

Thanks for the Advanced Copy!!! I have always been a fan of this time period in History and how women’s stories are told! I absolutely loved the FMC, and would love to read more about what happens next! Would recommend to all who enjoy History!

Beautifully written and I loved the balance between the past and present storylines. I was hoping for a bit more from the romance as I didn't realize it was an extant relationship at the beginning of the story, but I still really enjoyed being immersed in this lovely, sun-soaked story.

Sarah Penner, I owe you.

Have you ever read a book outside of your comfort zone genres, and you loved it and opened your mind to reading more widely?

The Lost Apothecary was one of those books, and so was The London Seance Society. Sarah Penner has done it again with The Amalfi Curse.

The Amalfi Curse mixes past and present, telling the story of the sea witches of Positano, one of the sailors who loves one of them and in the present Haven Ambrose a trailblazing nautical archaeologist eager to uncover the secrets of the shipwrecks off the Amalfi coast.

It’s not ‘one more chapter’ it’s ’three more chapters’ as you get increasingly desperate to read the next part of each thread…And when they start to come together then you’re truly sucked into the whirlpool.

It builds and builds, get better and better as it progresses and the plots twist and tighten.

If you’ve enjoyed Sarah Penner’s previous books you’ll love it. I didn’t think I’d be here recommending a book about 1820s sea witches but the enchanting magic in this book is inescapable.

Very highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Fiction

I simply could not have loved this book more. I absolutely adored Sarah Penners first two books and The Amalfi Curse blows those two out of the water.

In the 1800s timeline, a coven of sea witches use their magic to protect their village from pirates and keep their waters safe and prosperous. In present day, Haven arrives in Positano on a mission to finish an archaeological dive her father started before his death. She unravels the mystery surrounding the island as we flash back to see it play out through Maris eyes.

The way Sarah Penner mixes magical realism with historical fiction feels like crack to me. I could’ve read another 300 pages of this beautiful story. This is the type of book you need a sixth star for.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

“The Amalfi Curse” is a historical fiction dual timeline book by Sarah Penner. In one timeline (1800s) the reader follows Mari - a young woman from a village along the Amalfi coast. The other timeline (modern times) follows Haven, an archeological diver hoping to find the last ship her father discovered before his death. This book explores myth and magic. I thought Ms. Penner’s descriptions of both the coast and the research libraries were rather interesting (yes, not every document has been put into computers yet!). While the love stories weren’t my cup of tea, they were minor enough to hold my interest and not take away from the main idea of the story. I did find it interesting that the words “stregheria” and “strega” were unknown to the Americans in the story (haven’t they read Tomie de Paola’s Strega Nona children’s book series? LOL!) but that was more to my amusement. Both Mari and Haven are strong women - who do not become helpless after meeting their partners. And, totally separate from everything else, the cover of this book is beautiful. I enjoyed reading The Amalfi Curse and look forward to Ms. Penner’s next book.

First of all, I'm obsessed with this cover. Second of all, this is Penner's best work. I've never been to the Amalfi Coast but after reading this I feel like I have, she really brought the setting to life. I love her ability to weave two stories together. Overall, incredibly enjoyable.

Absolutely fantastic. Told in the same duel timeline that eventually collides that "The Lost Apothecary" was, this tale feels cleaner and clearer in its telling and so incredibly vibrant ..like you can almost feel the heat of the Italian sun coming off stone and the salt spray on your face. It makes you want to visit Amalfi and Positano and taste lemoncello in your tongue. I know the author visited these coasts in preparation for writing and it shows, rarely have I felt so transported to a location through pages.

The story itself is spellbinding, if I can use such an on the nose term. I fully believed and embraced the possibility of these women defended from sirens for whom the ocean will heed. Both Mari and Haven are characters with complexity you immediately want to root for. I grieved with Haven since I also lost my father very recently, I felt
blistering outrage on her behalf at her professional struggles.

The pace of the tale ticks up about a third of the way through when Mari's "inciting incident" takes place...from there it's a steady turn of the suspense dial up and up til the very end and it becomes that much harder to put down as you go. This is a "stay up past midnight to finish" story so prepare accordingly.

This is a dual timeline book. One story is from long ago about a group of red haired women who can control the ocean. One day, the strongest is seen and everything changes.

The present day story involves a women who is leading a drive team to do research near the Amalfi coast where many ships have sunk. Secretly, her father found treasure there, but died before he could go back for it.

This is clearly Sarah Penner's best book. She does an excellent job weaving the present and past together with a PERFECT seal as the last paragraph in the book. I thought she did a good job with the storyline lining up in The Lost Apothecary, but even that book had one storyline that was more interesting than the others. I was equally as invested in Mari as I was with Haven. I could feel the urgency to find what Haven was looking for and could feel the disappointment and hurt with Mari's experiences. It will be the book I recommend to people when it comes out in April and beyond. Thanks for sharing your gift with the world, Sarah.