I have mixed feelings about this. It was a good read but I found it be lacking in something . . . But I can’t say what.

It’s not one of my favourite books by Katee, and I just found it to be a little rushed. However, I will be picking up book two. I want more of the characters. They’re really likeable.

The synopsis sounded promising but I don’t think I’ll continue this series, especially since the romance fell quite flat

Hunt on Dark Waters was my first Katee Robert book and I already cannot wait for its sequel Blood on the Tide to come out next year. This book was a wild ride, full of adventure on the high seas, monsters, magic and sizzling chemistry. 4.5 ⭐️

Hunt on Dark Waters finds witch Evelyn falling through a portal into another realm, where she is fished out the waters by a fierce group of seafarers. She’s given the choice join - them or die. At the helm of the ship Evelyn now finds herself on is Bowen, a captain bound by honour and his vows to protect Threshold and fight any monsters who threaten it. The longer Evelyn and Bowen spend in each other’s presence the greater the tension sizzles between them, but so too do the dangers they face.

I really enjoyed this one, it was a fun and easy read. It’s short chapters, with duel POVs keep you hooked into the story, and with its high stakes action and adventure it makes it nearly impossible to put down. I loved the world building in this, with Threshold acting as the world between realms, where each island reflected the different realms. The monsters and magic was all very cool as well, with many reflecting different myths and legends. Also this book has pirates, which I’m loving at the moment!

Evelyn and Bowen’s relationship is very much insta-love which I know isn’t everyone’s vibe but I’m ok with it. They had great chemistry and I enjoyed how they played off against each other. They’re both forced to deal with some pretty big things throughout the book but come to make a formidable team. As seems to be a hallmark of Robert’s writing this book is very spicy throughout.

Overall this was a fun read and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next and to finding out more about Lizzy, Evelyn’s vampire ex.

This book was an easy read. The magic and paranormal aspects were enjoyable to read. Who doesn’t love to read that stuff? The romance choices are questionable and felt forced/undeveloped.
If you enjoy insta-love, quick attraction then you’d enjoy this book but not for me

I really enjoyed Robert’s Wicked Villains series and while I have yet to read the Dark Olympus one I was excited to read Hunt on Dark Waters that has witches, vampires, mermaids and more. The premises was good and I loved the crew of seafarers and the idea that they patrol through the magical sea between realms to keep the worlds safe. I found Evelyn an interesting main female character and Bowen was a good male counter part to her.

There were a few things that just nudged this down to four stars for me. The first was the insta-love. I know lust is a thing and accept that but I found the love aspect just a bit too much for me. That said Wicked Villains was one of my first forays into romance genres so it may be trope that is common. The other thing I found a little off putting was the pacing. It seemed to go from fast to slow, to fast, to slow and it was just made it a tad hard to settle in.

That said I did enjoy the story in all, the world is interesting and I loved the cast of characters on the crew. I will definitely follow the series since I think sometimes the pacing can be a tad temperamental in a first novel in a series. I also want to know more about the characters as well, particularly Bowen. If you are a fan of fantasy romance this one will be on you will enjoy.

I was so excited to read this book. Sadly it didn't live up to my expectations. I didn't like the main character Evelyn and struggled to get into the story.

Hunt on Dark Waters is the first book in a new fantasy romance series by Katee Robert, and it promises to have it all: a light-fingered witch, a murderous ex-girlfriend vampire, portal travel to other realms, seafaring monster hunters and a hunky telekinetic captain.

I loved the premise of Evelyn, our FMC and thieving witch, trapped in another dimension, where she is coerced into joining a ship crew. The Crimson Hag, which is part of the Cŵn Annwn, polices the the seas of Threshold and keeps the portals to other worlds safe. Bowen, the captain of the Hag and our MMC, is a stickler for rules and sees himself firmly as one of the good guys who is enforcing the laws of the realm. When Bowen and his crew fish Evelyn out of the sea, she has to make a non-choice on the spot: join the Crimson Hag for life, or be thrown back into the sea, facing certain death. Evelyn takes a vow and joins up, but is planning to desert at the first opportunity. This would result in a hunt being called, and she would find herself pursued to the death by all crews of the Cŵn Annwn. But Evelyn is already being hunted - her ex-girlfriend the vampire Lizzie is tracking her across realms, intent on recovering her family heirlooms and taking her revenge...

For me, the first book in the Crimson Sails series delivered on world-building: I enjoyed the mythological monsters and the queer-normative world. As for the main characters and the romance, it was a bit too much insta-love for my taste. Bowen, who had potential at the outset, was a bit too willing to abandon his lifelong ideals at a simple comment from Evelyn. Also, an upstanding guy, but he never questions the ideals he's been given? And a leader who's just waiting for his crew to vote him out, not taking any action? He turned out to be a bit too much of a wet blanket, albeit a handsome one. The ending felt abrupt - it isn't a cliffhanger, but I felt that it left me hanging and that there could have been a neater finish. However, I will probably continue with this series, particularly as Lizzie was an interesting side-character, and from what I gather, she will play a central role in the second book.

Thank you to Del Rey, UK and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. The review copy contained grammatical and spelling errors on a much larger scale than I'm used to seeing in review copies (hence me commenting on it in the review), but I assume that the book will have undergone some rigorous proofreading before publication.

I really struggled with this, and I found that really surprising as normally I devour any Katee Robert book. I think I found Evelyn really difficult as a lead and that may have been why, the world building was very good!

Pirates, witches, vampires, mermaids and other fantastical creatures come together in the first in a series, Hunt on Dark Waters.

Our FMC, Evelyn, is a witch who is currently in a situationship with a vampire. But that all changes when her lover coldly tells her to leave her house before her mother showed up - who would more than likely kill Evelyn. Annoyed and angry, Evelyn steals some jewellery and escapes through a secret portal hidden away.

But this portal leads her to another realm - The Threshold - and onto the boat of Captain Bowen. Once there, Evelyn has to take a vow to serve this realm, or die. We follow Evelyn and Bowen as they fight their feelings for each other, while trying to stay alive.

'The laws are the laws. I can't bend them without risking myself and my crew. Not even for a cute, mouthy little witch'.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
I loved the world building of this, it felt so magical stepping into another world with all sorts of fantastical creatures. However, the insta-love was a bit of a downside for me, but that is personal preference. I felt there wasn't much of a build up to their romance or chemistry, however the spicy scenes were great, and very creative!

Overall, it was a really fast paced story and the writing style definitely held my attention - just the insta-love wasn't for me, but Bowen was a very cute, golden retriever MMC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for this copy. This review is voluntary.

The insta-love in this was fierce! It was generally as a whole book very rushed, very surface level and as such I just didn't care about any of the characters or plot. It should have been very interesting, but I just didn't find it well written enough to work.

Having read some of Katee Robert's other books I was looking forward to reading this. The story was fun, Evelyn and Bowen have chemistry (although it was a bit too insta love and lacked some tension) but I felt it needed more world building. Overall I enjoyed this and look forward to reading the next in the series.

DNF at 5% into the book. I honestly could not read this. Maybe I got a poor copy, but the grammar is horrendous. The chapters are laid out very strangely, and the book just does not flow at all. Reading it was like pulling teeth.

I already don't like the main character, Evelyn, at all. I want to give this book a chance, but I can not get around how poorly put together this is.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as Katee Robert's Dark Olympus series.
Plot was good and well-paced. World build was lacking in some areas but overall quite easy to follow.
I didn't find the characters very likeable. Both MMC and FMC came across as a little whiney at times.
I found the ending quite disappointing. Knowing that this was part of a duology, I was expecting some sort of cliffhanger at the end. Quite lacklustre.
I gave this 3 stars and I'm not particularly excited to continue with the next book.

— 2.5 stars
⭐️⭐️💫

"Very well. Do your worst, witch."
"Oh, Captain. I plan on it."

📖 | 400 pages
👤 | author Katee Robert
🏢 | publisher Del Rey, UK
📅 | release date 7 November 2023

What you can expect:
— Book one in a Fantasy Romance
— First-person POV
— Dual POV
— Based on Welsh mythology
— Queer representation
— Dark Paladin pirate/Chaotic Bisexual witch
— Portal Fantasy
— Pirates, witches, vampires, dragons, selkies and more
— Forced proximity
— Insta-love

Trigger warnings include: violence, grief, death (off-page), blood, gore, sexually explicit scenes, adult language/profanity, near-drowning.

Hunt On Dark Waters is the first instalment in the new Fantasy Romance Crimson Sails series by author Katee Roberts. Evelyn is a feisty witch with a lust for danger who has a knack for helping herself to things that are not hers to take. After stealing from her dangerous vampire ex, Evelyn is on-the-run and falls through a portal to another realm, The portal leads her to Threshold, a magical place between worlds where the Cwn Annwn rule the seas and force any trespassers to either join their band of monster hunters or die. After a near-drowning Evelyn finds herself aboard the Cwn Annwn's ship with their telekinetic, broody captain named Bowen, Bowen has no memory of his life before he became one of the Cwn Annwn. He and his pirate crew are bound by vow to patrol through Threshold and keep the portals to other worlds safe from malevolent paranormal creatures. The last thing Bowen expected is to be attracted to the brassy pickpocket with quick-wit and a razor-sharp tongue. The longer he spends in her presence, the more he begins to question if his heart is the next thing she'll steal. But what will happen as tension heats up and stakes get raised as Evelyn has no intention of keeping her vows to the Cwn Annwn. If Evelyn betrays the crew then both she and Bowen will be forced pay the ultimate price. Can Bowen make it out of this encounter with his heart still intact... or will this chaotic witch be the one to steal it from him once-and-for-all?

I was so excited by the early premise of Hunt On Dark Waters. A paranormal Fantasy Romance based on Welsh mythology filled with adventure and danger? Pirates, witches and other supernatural creatures? A queer-normative world? Sign me up. As a first for me from author Katee Roberts, I was very eager to experience their writing-style for the very first time, as Roberts' is an author I hear many positive things about. So trust me when I say that nobody is more disappointed than me that Hunt On Dark Waters didn't resonate with me as I'd hoped it would. The world-building and overall storyline showed so much potential and premise. I genuinely enjoyed the atmosphere that the author was building and have found myself really disappointed that it hasn't worked for my tastes as a reader.

My biggest issue with this book was the inconsistent pacing and subsequent insta-love that evolved as a result. We're immediately thrust into action as Evelyn steals from her hot-vampire-ex and finds herself entering a portal in a desperate-bid to save herself from Lizzie's wrath. What started off as strong and engaging quickly lost its appeal with its lack of chemistry and engaging conversations, inconsistent pacing and repetitive internal monologues. I really wanted to like Bowen as a main-character and as a love-interest. Bowen is portrayed to be honourable and loyal without a fault, which reflects true-to-character but overall I found him to be fairly unmemorable. There was nothing overly-interesting that gripped me and had me looking forward to the chapters filled with his narrative voice. His attraction to Evelyn is immediate but lacks any real substance or chemistry. Bowen goes from threatening her life if she fails to swear the oath of the Cwn Annwn, to being simp-y and devoted within a couple of chapters. A particular conflict for Bowen's character arc is that his crew have lost faith in his ability to lead and therefore Bowen is constantly anticipating the day he is challenged for Captain. We got some insight into his background with the prior Captain which I appreciated and enjoyed, but I couldn't understand why Bowen didn't just organise a chat with his crew to better understand where their mistrust and lack of belief stemmed from? It showed a lack of leadership skills that it never occurred to him to attempt to address the issues first as opposed to just waiting to be challenged. Bowen definitely had potential to grow and evolve as a leader, however unfortunately I feel his character was demoted to being a bland uninterested love-interest for Evelyn.

Evelyn as a main character was fine enough. She was feisty and chaotic, albeit a bit arrogant and selfish. I understand when being given the choice to either swear an unbreakable vow or die... you'll choose the vow. But almost immediately Evelyn sets out on a quest to break said vow with no care for the consequences it will have on Bowen. She's the kind-of character that has to be right at all times and it become a bit infuriating at how black and white Evelyn's approach was. Also, I found that Evelyn shared far more chemistry with her bloodthirsty ex-girlfriend than she did with the tall, dark and handsome Pirate Captain. Bowen and Evelyn would've better benefitted with a more slow-burn approach to their relationship as personally I, as a reader, would've better appreciated their development. Insta-love truly is my least favourite trope of mine as I find the relationship to lack the development it needs to feel authentic.

I'm truly gutted that Hunt On Dark Waters didn't work for me. A truly exciting and thrilling premise that showed potential with its captivating world-building filled with a variety of paranormal creatures, adventures at sea, and exploration of the characters and their stories. I had hoped for more and unfortunately in this case it did not deliver for me. I will not be continuing with this series, however if you are a fan of Katee Robert's previous works then I urge you to give this book a chance and form your own opinion! I hope that this story resonates with more readers and that my experience is in the small minority.

Thank you to Del Rey, UK and NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.

When I tell you I screamed with excitement at the email to say I'd been approved for an eARC, I am not exaggerating.

I love Katee's work and have read so many of her books. The premise of this was everything I wanted to read, and I wasn't disappointed.

I loved it!

A great premise from Katee Robert - a magical land, Threshold, that is the liminal space between thousands of worlds, while also having its own distinct characters, history and politics - the possibilities are literally endless and I can't wait to see where she takes this series.
Evelyn is a likeable character, and her interactions with those around her are always fierce with a strong dose of snark - she's my favourite kind of heroine being one that knows her own mind and isn't afraid to cause waves in pursuit of what she thinks is right.
The romance with Bowen was spicy, but a bit too insta-love for my tastes, despite the friction that comes from Evelyn's opposition to his choices. That said, the addition of Lizzie (Evelyn's ex-lover) creates a little tension that might keep them from being too sickly sweet as the story moves forward. I think we could see a little jealousy there despite Evelyn and Lizzie being a strictly physical relationship.

Didn't love the ending - Hunt on Dark Waters just seems to stop mid-story. I expect this when a series is planned, but in this case it seemed like an odd point to finish. We don't really get a cliffhanger - fine- but then an ending is usually following a revelation or an accomplishment. This one felt a bit like it came from nowhere. I started reading the acknowledgements before I really processed that the book had ended. That being said, it won't stop me picking up the next book to see what happens with Evelyn, Lizzie and Bowen. It just didn't leave me on tenterhooks like I'd been expecting.

Massive thanks to NetGalley, Katee Robert and Cornerstone/Random House for the chance to read an advance copy in exchange for a independent review.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for giving me an eArc copy for this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first book I have read by Katee Roberts and I was so excited coming into it! However it did fall a little flat for me.

I did really enjoy some parts of this book, like the setting and the magic system. The settings and the background were really well written and I loved the world we were brought into. I loved the idea of a ‘Threshold’ between worlds, with portals leading to different realms and people who are there to guard them.

The characters were written well and were complex, but a lot of the relationships I found between them just seemed to fall a little flat. Especially between the two main characters and POV’s, Bowen and Evelyn. Maybe because it was an instalove type of situation, I’m not too sure… but it just felt very surface level and I didn’t get any chemistry from them at all. I felt more chemistry between Evelyn and Lizzie.

It was a very fast paced story and easy to keep up with, however the ending just appeared kind of sudden and was an abrupt change of pace. I will probably end up reading the second one in this series, as I want to find out what happens next. However, if the next one in the series is similar to this one I might not continue.

My first book by this author, it was ok. I enjoyed the world building, the spice was great but their relationship felt a bit off, like something was missing for me. An enjoyable enough read.

3.5 This was so entertaining, and a lot saucier than I expected. I guess that’s why this author is so popular. It was fun to read about two characters that were very much equal partners, it was actually quite wholesome in the fact that they both fell head over heels for each other.
I enjoyed the world building and the idea of all realms being connected via portals, also pirates are always a winner, especially pirates who are linked to the wild hunt. Some great twisting of classic myths and legends.

✨ E-ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ✨
With full transparency in mind I’m starting this review by saying I am a huge fan of Katee Robert’s work.

I loved it. I loved it I loved it I loved it. This world is so fun and I’m really enjoying the setup for the crimson sails series, I loved the characters and I loved the way this panned out.
I wanted it to carry on about another 100 pages into the story and I cannot WAIT for crimson tides!!! Beautiful book!