Where to begin?

Objectively, this book is great. Exceptional even, when you take into account the fact that this is a debut novel. Why the 3 star rating then? Well, there was nothing particularly wrong with it, it just wasn't to my tastes. This was one of those "it's not you, it's me" situations.

The thing is, I was just really bored throughout it. I couldn't connect to either the characters or the plot, the overly embellished writing got tiring after a few chapters and there wasn't anything going on to actually capture my interest. Fantasy is kind of a tricky genre for me. If my fantasy books aren't plot driven, I just always end up struggling with them.

As main characters, Margret and Bash were fine. They were a tad generic but still sufficiently fleshed out. I just wasn't invested in them. In reality, the only forbidden aspect of their romance was them denying themselves.

I think the writing style really was another major factor why this book didn't work for me. I found it was way too heavy handed in its descriptions.

Plot wise, the novel was more about world-building and setting stuff up than about events actually taking place. Nothing much happened for the first 75% of the story and then all the action was crammed in the last few chapters. That's not my preference since it means the beginning of the book drags a lot and by the time I get to the fun part, I just don't care and want to get the whole thing over with. Another me issue. But,I know there are plenty of people out there who love character-driven story-arcs who this book would be perfect for. I'm just not that type of reader.

I would hope now that the brunt of the world-building has been done and the relationship set up, the next two books will be a lot more plot forward. Maybe those will be more my speed.

**I received an e-copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Victory Editing, City Owl Press and the author**

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I have a love-hate relationship with enemies to lovers trope. This book exceeded my expectations incredibly well and I found myself quickly immersed in this science-fiction fantasy world that had me craving for more. I really loved the feisty and wild attitude of our main character, and how she refused to back down simply because she was a girl. If you loved books like the hunger games, then you will absolutely love this book and all the characters have to offer. It was so incredibly hard to put this book down and I cannot wait to see with the author comes up with next!

Thank you to net galley for the advanced copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Katherine Quinn is a brand new author to me and I was dying to start this. The cover and description are both beautiful. While I liked this story, I was never fully hooked.

Unfortunately Margrete & Bash's relationship was the downfall of this story. I didn't like them together and I felt like their relationship happened way too fast. I loved the sea and overall vibe to this, I just wish the romance was done totally differently.

I will be curious to check out more of Katherine's work, but this one didn't work for me.

After feeling like I was in a little book slump, The Girl Who Belonged to the Sea pulled me right out of it! It was addictive, magical and enticing. I adored these characters, and found myself easily rooting for Margrete and Bash.

‘I’d forgotten what it was like to feel, Margrete Wood… But my heart has never beat as fast and sure as it has when I’m in your presence.’

Margrete lives in Prias, under the rule of her power-hungry father. The only thing she cares about is her younger half-sister Birdie. Margrete spends a lot of her time locked up in a dark box and lives a rather constricting life. Her father then announces she is to marry Count Casbian. Margrete agrees, but only if Birdie can leave with her. The day of the wedding arrives and their home is attacked by pirates, and Margrete is stolen away by their leader. Bash, King of the Azantians, takes Margrete to his kingdom, a place that Margrete didn’t think existed. Bash plans to use Margrete as a bargaining chip to get something extremely important that her father stole from his home a long time ago.

‘She’d lost enough. It was time to take something for herself.’

Bash was a perfect, swoon-worthy pirate king in this book! I adored him, and loved how he quickly became powerless to his feelings for Margrete. This book starts as an enemies to lovers, and yes there are threats to kill one another. Both Bash and Margrete are reluctant to admit how they feel for each other to begin with, but as time passes, it becomes very clear how attracted they are to one another. I loved their character arcs, and how they slowly let down their walls to reveal their past and become closer. I can’t believe this book is the beginning of a trilogy, and I can’t wait to read about more of their progression in two more books!

”I’m flesh and blood, princess. Prick me, and I bleed. Kiss me, and my skin grows hot… But just because something bleeds and wants doesn’t mean it’s human.’

The side characters were great in this too, and I found them to be quite funny and I wanted to know more about Adrian and Bay’s relationship too. I loved how they were friendly to Margrete from the get go, and almost respected her for her escape attempts. Bash and the other characters allow Margrete to have freedoms that she didn’t have in her previous home life, she is taught how to fight, which she loves. Margrete finds a family in a place she never expected to, and that’s part of the reason I loved this book so much. Margrete has been through hell, and there is an insane amount of character progression as she finds herself in a new home. Bash is so much more than a pirate king. He is selfless and always puts his people before himself.

‘You are the freedom I’ve been searching for, Bash.’

This book is mainly told from Margrete’s perspective, however, there are a few chapters that are from Bash’s, which allows us to see inside his head and his true feelings are revealed. The world-building in this book was amazing, I could easily picture Azantia, and I was transported to a new place as soon as I started reading. This was a wonderful debut from Katherine Quinn, and I could not recommend this book more! It is perfect for lovers of fantasy, pirates, and swoon-worthy (and spicy) romance!

The Girl Who Belonged To The Sea is beautifully written, with some great characters and aesthetic. Margaret is definitely a fun character to follow around since she tries to escape anything and the side characters were very well done too. But I found Bash's character to be a little too perfect to invest in.
But it also suffers from writing that is bloated with adverbs and adjectives so much that it is often confusing and an incredibly slow pace following a very predictable plot. Overall, I enjoyed it but found it too slow

If you love fantasy/romance then you will definitely enjoy this one! The story was fast paced and left you wanting more.

I would definitely recommend this book to fantasy/romance readers, although I warn you that the end is quite sudden and leaves you feeling unfulfilled as you wait for the second book in the series.

It all started with a desperate prayer for freedom.
Margrete is whisked away to the magical island of Azantian where myths are true, water creatures loom and romance sparks.

I am so glad that I persevered through this book. It's a little slow to start with plenty of description and no intrigue, but if you can fight your way through to the 4th chapter, then you will be rewarded with a heartwarming story that you will fall in love with.

An abused woman finding her power and freedom on an island that has its own dark past. Unconventional friendships which will make you laugh and a swoon-worthy romance that will leave you smiling at your kindle.

Where to begin with the characters. Margrete ages like fine wine. At the beginning of the story, she's a little dense and can't make up her mind about anything. As the author develops her character, she becomes a strong woman who has been through a lot, but still succeeds in seeing good in the world. Margrete and Bash’ relationship brings romance and comedy into the story.The secondary characters keep things interesting and help to make the booking engaging.


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

Faced with an unhappy choice (stay with an abusive father or commit to an unwanted marriage), Margrete prays to an unnamed god and hopes for a reprieve. The first in a planned trilogy, it’s hard to tell if Margrete’s prayer is answered when she is kidnapped and taken to a far away land where magic is common and the sea calls to her…literally. The world building could use work, the hero is named Bash, and while the heroine is decidedly intrepid, the swashbuckling is a miss, the climax is predictable, the sex could make this a controversial choice for YA (vs. Adult) shelves, and the writing style is almost jarringly colloquial for a high seas fantasy. For libraries where fantasy is in high demand, or a high population of new adults.

I've approached this book because of a very intriguing plot with a great potential. The Girl Who Belonged to the Sea is a story that makes you want to read it and keep going because so much happens and you want to know how all would end!

We have an interesting worldbuilding, with a peculiar religion and powers that still have to be discovered and deepened better, combined with two main characters that take the scene and lead the story without giving the idea of being fake.
That's a great point from my point of view, because often drama is everywhere and Katherine Quinn, instead, has been able to give Bash and Margrete a shape and an entity that with pros and cons make them feel relatable. Around them I've found other interesting characters that I hope to know more in the next books. Anyway, I believe that these lines and details forming all those characters could be delve into even more than that, so they can break away some common tropes and be more recognizable among tons and tons of other figures existing in fantasy books.
Same for the relationships that grow during the book. If she and Bash have a gradual approach (excluding that sort of attraction at first sight that I've seen too many times already) and the way they start to rely on each other and open up is real tender, her friendships are really cute but at the same time they also seem to happen in a sort of superficial way. I see characters that match together but not real events that create a concrete bond. Not to mention the fact that Margrete is admired by all and showered with compliments - that she quite deserves, yes, because she is a determined and brave young woman, but at the end of the book I've read them so many times they became excessive. I would have prefer underlining Bash as a real leader too and see it, because it seemed granted by all, but the reader saw it too little to have its own idea.

The plot is difficult to predict and I have to gladly admit it took a way I didn't expect at all. Plus, I've found very interesting the idea of the role of the Heart, that I hope would be explained more in the next book. Same for the mythology. I have the impression to have had just a taste of that, still missing something important to understand the whole situation, and that makes me very curious! At the same time, some points seemed to happen too fast, becoming a little bit confusing, and the epilogue has been weakened by this. The final confrontation I was waiting for the beginning took too few lines and I was a little bit disappointed because Margrete deserved more, especially due to all the torture she had survived in the past.

In the end, it was a good start and a book I enjoyed reading but I hope some details would be deepened and refined in the sequels because it has a great potential to become something great (**EVENTUALLY SPOILER* but please, no love triangles)..

The Girl Who Belonged to the Sea
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟

When I saw this book on netgalley I was immediately drawn to the promise of high seas and high stakes fantasy. Let me tell you it did not disappoint. Margrete is the perfect unlikely heroine and Bash is… well he’s Bash and I promise you want to know what that means. The story plot was exquisite and I found myself thinking I knew what was going to happen just to be proved wrong with every turn of the page. I adore the world building, attention to detail of the mysterious island of Azantian was breathtaking and painted an amazing world that I was all to happy to escape to every time I picked it up. I will say this for the steam it got hot and definitely got me to blush a few times.

Over all as enduring as this book is my fave component is the character development. Every character in this book stirred some sort of emotion with me. The main cast grew and morphed right before my eyes, while the secondary cast was more than you could ever want out of supporting roles. I absolutely cannot wait for the rest of this trilogy, and predict that it will capture its fair share of hearts.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing to read an ARC of The Girl Who Belonged to the Sea.


I loved this book!!! If you love fantasy, love stories, and mystery this is the book for you. I was so happy when I learned this was a trilogy and I can’t wait to read the rest.

I very much enjoyed this book, a lovely romance! Would like to read more about the back story of some of the characters and maybe a novella for the story of the gods!

Looking forward to what comes next!

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book that I couldn’t stop thinking about when I wasn’t reading it! I really loved this. There was high-stakes adventure, a fantastic love story with great chemistry, interesting and enjoyable side characters, and great writing that transported me directly into the world. I highly recommend!

I can see where some might get a bit put off, thinking that the romance is a bit insta-lovey, but it didn’t feel that way to me. It felt like insta-attraction (which is for a sure a real thing) that turns into love, and I really appreciated the way the author developed the relationship.

While this is a romance, it’s way more than that and has a very intricate plot. I need the next book, now please! I already can’t wait to reread this one.

Okay, so this one is enemies to lovers, forbidden love and so much more. I loved the world that Katherine Quinn has created and it was way better than what I had expected. The story has action, steamy romance, adventure, pirates, gods and magic.

The characters are fantastic too especially the leads, Margrete and Bash. It was just a fast thrilling read and I can’t wait for the next one. The development of the female character is pretty immersive and I loved the way she is portrayed.

A very engaging read. This book has so much, it has pirates, enemies-to-lovers, magic. The side characters were more lovable in my case. It took a while to warm up to Margrete but i admire her fierceness.
The authors writing was great, it flowed easily so i wasn’t easily put off even if the beginning was a little slow paced for my liking. The world building was unique and the world Katherine builds is very enticing.
Overall the book ended on a note that has me looking forward to the sequel.

Before I begin I want to emphasis how much I wanted to adore this book. From pirates, to enemies to lovers to the main character discovering she has magic, it sounded right my alley. However, the whole thing felt rushed, lacked any emotional depth and ultimately fell flat.

The book follows Margrete after she is kidnapped by Bash on her wedding day and taken to Bash’s secret, mythical island kingdom in order to be ransomed back to her father. During the course of her stay on the island she and Bash grow closer until they can no longer deny their feelings and the ransom plan grows more complicated.

The things I liked about this book were the side character of Adrain and the description of the island. Adrian was an interesting, fun character and the island sounded truly beautiful. The things I disliked about this book were, unfortunately, everything else. This book starts essentially right in the middle of the action, which can be perfectly fine expect this story really needed to build Margrete’s emotional state before she meets Bash. She had been abused by her father her entire life but she was super nonchalant about it and was like “this is fine”. While she could definitely be in denial the story would have been better served if Margrete had actually felt those feelings. I think had we spent more time with Margrete before the action really started it would have given the author a chance to build more of Margrete’s personality because, unfortunately, she had none. She really felt like a feistier version of Bella Swan which made Bash’s insta love even more baffling.

Bash seemed much more fleshed out as a character but his insta love with Margrete made zero sense. Insta love in general is just a bad idea but him immediately falling for a character that has zero descendable personality traits, apart from liking plants and wanting to help her sister, was really off putting. Since their attraction to each other happened so quickly we really didn’t get any emotional depth to their relationship. It was mainly just mean banter which if one member of the relationship is technically a prison doesn’t really sense since she should probably have kept her mouth shut in order to survive.

A few other issues I had with this book is that the only two female side characters weren’t even a part of the story. They were just kind of there and only briefly. In fact, one of them was only in two scenes and the when she started talking in the second of those two scenes I had no idea who she was at first. The author’s extreme overuse of italics in the first half of the book almost made me DNF this book. The pirate aspect was almost nonexistent which I was really disappointed by. Also I know this is minor but it really bothered me, the main charter had never been on a boat before but was able to walk around just fine with absolutely no mention of the ship rocking.

As much as I wanted to love this book I just couldn’t. I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Margrete Wood has been under her abusive father’s thumb her entire life. Soon she is to be married off and can take her little sister Birdie with her and she cannot wait for that relief. However on her wedding day she is kidnapped by Bash, the swanky pirate, as random for her father to return what he has stolen from the kingdom of Azatian.

Margrete wants nothing to do with this Bash or his friends. But as time passes and she learns she’s the only one that can decide her fate, she’s also drawn to her pirate captor and soon her passion may be her undoing.

Loved this so much! Can’t wait for the rest of the trilogy to come!!

I fell in LOVE with Margarete and Bash. So much mystery surrounding them at first glace. But slowly as we read along, things start to become much more clearer The love and loyalty Bash feels for his people but the betrayal he has felt puts him in a difficult position. Margarete has only ever known hate and loathing. All she wants is a home and love. Will these two people, seemingly with nothing that connects them, be able to pass over adversaries and come together? If you want to find out. Buy buy buy!! Loved it and I CANNOT wait for the next book! It cannot be here sooner

Beautifully written! I loved this story and I'm excited for more. It's full of adventure, mystery, growth and love, as well a betrayal and madness. Would definitely recommend!

The Girl Who Belonged to the Sea by Katherine Quinn was just okay for me. I was excited to read this one but I felt the pacing was very slow and and I found myself losing interest. I did want to know how it would end so I kept going but found myself skimming at times. The story is good and I liked the characters, I just think it was too wordy in some places.

Thank you to NetGalley and City Owl Press for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.