"Dean, Sam, John and ... Cas"

I literally laughed out loud when I read this line.

Evelyn is a witch equipped with impressive thievery skills which she uses at every opportunity as she is a strong proponent of the "work smarter not harder mindset. Bowen is a sea captain who has no memory of his time before joining the Cwn Anwnn as a boy. When Evelyn accidentally finds herself forced to join his crew, she is determined to find a portal back to her realm despite Bowen insisting that she will be found no matter where she goes.

I found the attraction between Evelyn and Bowen a little too quick but I loved the way Evelyn makes Bowen pause and question what he has taken as gospel his entire life. I utterly love how Evelyn questions the basis of everything that is done to understand why which I personally feel is so important.

This series promises to be very interesting based on the plot development and I'm eager to follow Evelyn and Bowen's journey, both together and in their quest to understand the truth.

Thank you to Penguin Books South Africa, Netgalley, Random House and Del Ray for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

PS Bonus points if you get the reference in the quote I included.

“A lot of people look at something Other and decide it’s monstrous simply because they don’t see themselves reflected back.”

A cinnamon roll pirate with telekinetic powers? A chaotic bisexual witch that likes to steal things? Add forced proximity and a vampire ex-girlfriend hunting for her missing jewels and I’m in.

Hunt on Dark Waters had a lot to love about it and the book started off really strong. Part of her larger multiverse, but you don’t need to have read her previous books, Katee Robert brings us her usual easy-to-read dual narratives with action from the start.

I loved Evelyn’s snarky voice and Bowen was a surprisingly noble pirate captain that created some fun banter together. There were some adult ‘Daughter of the Pirate King’ vibes at the start and the premise of this other world witch falling straight onto a pirate ship intent on hunting her or making her join their crew was hard to put down. There was some fantastic rep; Evelyn, as previously mentioned, is bisexual and there are multiple side characters that use they/them or ze/zir pronouns integrated into a queer normative world. Plus, Evelyn was plus size!

The struggle came from the second half of the book. The plot was simple and after some midpoint conflict, it became incredibly drawn out just to set up further books in the series. So much of the second half could have been condensed and a larger end conflict added to increase the pace and tension. Instead, the second half became more reflective and romance fluffy with a couple of loose end tied up. I get that the characters themselves were feeling a little lost and unsure what they should do next, but the plot shouldn’t feel like that for too long too.

In the first half I was debating 4 or 5 ⭐ but by the time I finished the book, I could only average it out to a 3.5 ⭐ It was still a bit of fun and after all the time taken to set up the next book, I’d be interested in seeing what punch book two gave.

I'm conflicted. I love reading Katee's work, and there were all the bits in Hunt on Dark Waters that keep me coming back for more - good monsters, good spicy scenes, great pacing and tempo. That being said, I don't think my romance itch has been scratched this time, but hopefully more of that will appear in the subsequent books, and it just felt a little unrounded (though I can't put my finger on why, which is unhelpful!).

Will I continue to pick up Katee's books whenever they're released? Absolutely. Am I desperate to know what happens next in this series? Not really...

As an aside, the formatting wasn't great for the Kindle version, so I might be tempted to read again if a more finished version is released to us.

I loved this book. The pace is really good and the slow burn enemies to lovers is so good. It has every trope imaginable includ9ng one bed, close proximity and alot of spice. I found the characters were well developed Along with the magic system (although I'm still intrigued about these portals). This has to be one of my favourite fantasy romance books I have read. I would 100% reccomend this book! (Please note review has already been posted to goodreads and would rate 4.5 if I could do half stars)

So this didn't quite work for me and here is why:
1. It's a fantasy romance so it should've focused in the romance, but it really didn't. Evelyn and bowen weren't really insta love more insta lust, but somehow all tension was missing anyway. There was no build up to the characters or feelings.
2. Telling not showing. A little telling is fine but when it comes to romance I want to be shown how the characters feel about each other, not just told. It disconnected me from them and I wasn't invested in their relationship.
3. While I enjoyed the piratey parts of the story, nothing really happens and the end is more a big to be continued.

Some positive aspects were Robert's fun writing and easy prose that made it a quick read.

I have to say for a Katee Roberts book this was quite tame and very more based on the storyline than it was based on the explicit scenes. Not to say that I did not like the book and the storyline itself was quite compelling and engaging. The characters had an intrigue to them and I did enjoy reading this book.

For those of you who are definitely wondering about the sex scenes, because we all know that if you’re into Katee Roberts books you are going to want the sex scenes. The first one is about 50% of the way through, and there are two in total, though there is a sexual scene that isn’t a sex scene as well slightly before that .

If you are a Katie Robert fan, then I would say this is a really good book, personally though the Dark Olympus series will always be the one for me in my heart.

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

I didn’t love this book but I didn’t hate it either. It has some good world-building and plenty of action (of which I sometimes could not keep up), but I just couldn’t connect with the characters as much as I wanted to. The lust and subsequent love between Bowen and Evelyn is beautifully written and made me swoon at some points. However, I wish there had been more depth to their relationship-building, but maybe this will follow in future books in the series.

On another note, the formatting from the eBook is TERRIBLE. I don’t know if this is an issue everyone with the ARC eBook has had on Kindle, but words were randomly broken up and there was no separation between chapters which sometimes made it very difficult to try and maintain a good flow of reading. There were also a fair few grammar and spelling errors which hopefully is corrected before being published.

Some of my favourite quotes:

“Give me a few more orgasms, Evelyn.”

“I’ve wanted you too long to be satisfied with a single time. I want you again and again and again, until we’re both too exhausted to f*ck.”

“Don’t you dare die.” “And lose out on even a moment with you? Never.”

“I think I started falling in love with you the moment you stole my flask.”

“Eternity with you would never be enough.”

Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone and Netgalley for providing me with the ARC of ‘Hunt On Dark Waters’ by Katee Roberts in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise of this book in which a thieving which, after stealing her ex-girlfriends some jewelry enters a portal into an unknown world to escape. She lands in Threshold which can only be described as portal-hopper transfer hub as there is many portals to many different worlds and all kinds of magic creatures (even including dragons). She gets fished from the sea and gets to make a choice regarding dying immediately or swearing her life to become a pirate and hunt monsters.

Since I gave this 4 stars, it is needless to say I liked this book and I absolutely flew through it. I don’t normally read about pirates.. but this makes me think hat maybe I should ?? Maybe it’s the fact paced storyline or Katee Robert’s writing that kept me hooked from the first page and made sure I don’t put this one down at all - bar 50 pages at the end did almost read it in one sitting.

The only thing that didn’t work for me and reason why I couldn’t justify giving 5 stars is the insta-love aspect between the main characters. I think there was great potential in the story for some brooding, slow burn romance with insane tension, but the way their love story developed made me cringe and I found it slightly unreadable at times. I do think the characters have chemistry but as their love story progressed so insanely fast and went to 0-100 in like 2 minutes I felt like this was lost and it sadly manifested into a typical run-of-the-mill love at first sight, gooey romance.

On the same note I did start off by liking the main characters, thinking that they have some sort of badass edge but after developing an extremely intense insta-love I felt like they lost some of their individualism and at least this aspect of the book became predictable, cringey and all together too sickeningly sweet for my liking. That being said I would have also liked to hear more about Bowen’s background and past but I am sure that this will be revealed in later installments in this series.

That being said and to be honest, I don’t know why I do this to myself and start a series with book one where only the first installment is even out. I have just finished this story and I’m itching to find out what happens next. It’s a series I am definitely keen to continue with and already can’t wait for the next installment.

>> Review also posted to Goodreads

Katee Robert writing a series about queer pirates in a fantasy world... as soon as I heard this was happening I was excited, and it didn't disappoint.
Hunt on Dark Waters is the first book in the Crimson Sails series, which mostly takes place in Threshold - a realm with portals to all other realms.
Evie is a witch with a thieving habit, who accidentally portals to the sea in Threshold while trying to escape her vampire ex-lover-not-girlfriend. She's fished out of the water by Bowen and his crew, who give her a simple choice: join the crew and hunt monsters, or be killed.
And so we have a captor/captive romance with a whole heap of forced proximity. The romance thread starts with lust woven into the hatred, and adds grudging respect over time. Because it's Katee Robert writing, the steamy scenes are obviously top notch.
For the rest of the story, we have Bowen doing a lot of soul searching on his place in the world and the rules he's been brought up with. This book does a lot of heavy lifting to set up the world and series, which does make the plot balance feel a bit off at times. But it's also made me excited for the rest of the series.
I absolutely adored the bisexual rep in this book - Evie started the book with a female lover, flirted with non-binary characters, and ended up in a relationship with a male character. Side character rep is also found in heaps.
Read this if you like steamy fantasy romance, and think that monster hunters are the real monsters.

Katee Robert has been on my TBR for a while, and I'm so glad I started reading her with Hunt on Dark Waters. I devoured this book. It was captivating from page one, and not only because of how spicy it is.

Evelyn is not the typical heroine. She's more like a villain, so when the vampire she was in a situation ship with dumps her, Evelyn takes the dumb decision to steal from her, and in her attempt to escape ends up in a different world. Here, she's forced to join a crew of pirates until monsters. But witches are considered monsters by many too in this world, so she needs to behave. Funny, isn't it? Evelyn behaving? So she does the only logical thing. She tries to escape and find a way back home. But Bowen, the captain of the pirate ship, won't let her. Thankfully Evelyn can start showing him the truth of what's going on in this world, and things aren't all black or white has he was made to believe. And now they are ready for a revolution.

I wasn't sure I'd like this book as romance isn't my thing, but it sounded so interesting I had to give it ago... and I loved it!

I read it pretty quickly and it kept my attention throughout. The women are amazing and, although, I am not a romance fan - it was great.

I would definitely read more from this author and will be recommending this to people.

Katee roberts is an author that I will pick up any book she writes and this is no different! Fantastic and just what you want when you know her books! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my eArc of this book.

Loved the world-building and Katee Robert’s constant expansion of her ‘multiverse’ - the possibilities are endless with Threshold as a hub for ‘portal jumpers’

I really enjoyed Evelyn’s character - quick with her wits and thievery, curvy and confident! Bowen is every bit the hulking sea-farer we would hope for in a pirate story, although I liked that he arguably is more ‘honourable’ than Evelyn!

Wouldn’t say this is one of my favourites, but I’m excited to see where the sequel goes with this world!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.
What can I say? I absolutely loved this book. I'm a sucker for pirate stories, with strong heroines, action and spice. And ohhh... this book delivered. Well, I also can't get enough of Katee's writing.
Is it a good idea to flee through a portal with an unknown destination? Maybe not. But when you're fleeing from your vampire ex you don't think twice. That's how Evelyn landed in Threshold, a plane between worlds with lots of portals. And that's how she meets Bowen, the captain of the Crimson Hag and member of the Cŵn Annwn. Once a member, you're not allowed to flee. But does that prohibit Evelyn from trying to? Nope, absolutely not.

3.5 stars rounded up. I did enjoy Hunt On Dark Waters, the characters were fun and the romance had me invested. Also, there was good gender identity rep.

For me, the story dragged in the middle a little and the writing was simple. Also, the characters motives were a little hard to understand at times.

But overall, a fun spicy read.

This was such a disappointment, I feel like this has so much potential but it fell so flat for me. I’ve read a few Katee Roberts and this has been my least favourite.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

3.5 stars for me.
I enjoyed the characters and the world building.
I found the romance to be a bit too quick for my liking, I like more of a build up.
The plot was a bit messy at first but by the end I’m definitely eager to read more and see what happens next.
I liked the introduction to the different creatures and want to see more of this and the world.

I would really love to read and properly review this book but the ebook copy is unreadable.
The ebook has no layout and random letters are separated from words and places elsewhere on the pages.
I have reached out to someone on netgalley and reported it in which they contacted the publisher around a month ago. Nothing has been done about it and I have tried re-downloading multiple times to see if anything’s changed.
It’s such a shame because I think I would have really enjoyed this book.

I adored this. It’s a katee Robert, so you know it’s going to be hot, but the plot, the feelings, the descriptions are everything. I loved the story and how it developed. It is not fast paced like some of her others, but it weaves the story through and you can’t help but sail along with it.

It’s a masterpiece that throws you head first into a new realm with no lapse at all. I was firmly on that voyage.

If I have to choose, I’d take the vow for Katee any day.

Thank you to Random House UK for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book really kicks off the new series with a spicy bang!
The pacing felt a bit off at times but the world building was good and didn’t feel forced. The story was interesting and I got a strong impression from all the characters.
Very excited to read more from this series!