I Felt Like I Was Sinking on the High Seas!

 

TITLE: Hunt on Dark Waters (Crimson Sails #1))

AUTHOR: Katee Robert

PUBLISHER: Berkley

PUBLISHING DATE: November 7, 2023

PAGES: 320   

SOURCE: Library

FROM GOODREADS: Evelyn is a witch with a perfect storm of impulses: terrible taste in bed partners, sticky fingers, and a lust for danger. After she steals from her vampire ex and falls through a portal to another realm, she’s fished out of the waters by a band of seafarers and their telekinetic captain. She’s immediately given a choice—join their group or die. 

Bowen has no memory of his life before he became one of the Cŵn Annwn. He and his pirate crew are bound by vow to patrol through Threshold, the magical sea in between realms, keeping the portals to other worlds safe. When he rescues Evelyn, he doesn’t expect to be attracted to the unflappably brassy pickpocket. The longer he spends in her presence, the more he begins to question if his heart is the next thing she’ll steal. 

But as tension heats up between Bowen and Evelyn, danger escalates as well. Because Evelyn has no intention of keeping her vows to the Cŵn Annwn, and if she betrays the crew, both she and Bowen will pay the ultimate price....

MY THOUGHTS: This freaking book took me over two months to read.  For a 320-page book that isn't non-fiction, that's unheard of in my world.  But hear me out, I don't think it was the book's fault.  It was a physical loan from the library and one that I picked up here and there between other things. I'd read a chapter or two, sit it down and move on.  This past week it was making me feel slumpy, so I made a commitment to finish and I'm glad to report the overall result was really interesting read that definitely has me interested in the next installment.

Evelyn is a witch who is having a fling, for lack of better words, with a powerful vampire. Things go wrong one evening and to escape Lizzie's mother, Evelyn jumps through a portal and lands in Threshold, a completely different land.  The only problem is she took many of her lover's precious and expensive jewelry with her.  Evelyn lands in the middle of the sea and is rescued by Bowen, captain of the Crimson Hag.  Sparks fly and soon Evelyn has Bowen questioning his purpose in Threshold, which centers around killing mythical and magical creatures on demand without question.  Evelyn is trying to get back to her world while managing to stay alive.  Can she do so without leaving her heart behind and what will happen when Lizzie catches up with her.

I really liked Evelyn's character.  She is pretty carefree and reckless, but she has heart and spunk.  She is also quite comical at times and a expert thief, which sometimes gets her into a lot of trouble.  Bowen is don't-ask-questions kind of guy who takes orders from the Cŵn Annwn without thinking of the overall consequences or why he is being asked to do certain things.  Evelyn makes him start questioning this which in my mind was a good thing.  

This book has some fairly spicy scenes, and it was definitely interesting to see magic infused into them.  I've read another book by the author, so I knew what to expect but I think her scenes throw some people off. There are tons of pirate action throughout and never a dull moment which really makes me question why it took me so long to finish. Basically, that alone took away one rating paw but overall, I loved Hunt on Dark Waters and am looking forward to the next installment in the series.

MY RATING: 4 PAWS