Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle!

This is an atmospheric and gripping tale, with dark academia, fantasy, and mystery.

I really loved the world building and magic system in this book! It made the story magical

I loved Emory, she was such a great main character. Her emotions were so moving and I felt as though I was also confronting and dealing with her grief, determination, and love.

I also enjoyed seeing Emory and Baz’s character growth, both independently and together. The character development was just really beautiful to read. I feel as though all the characters were confronted and challenged with a harsh, but also moving, truth

This was such a beautifully written story, I was immersed in the plot and the characters from the very beginning — the world building especially impacted how hauntingly beautiful this story was. The world and the characters felt so familiar, increasing the hold this story had on me, as I was completely submerged into the world.

I would really recommend this to people who love dark academia and fantasy, and who have also loved and read A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid!

Curious Tides is a little bit mystery, a little bit fantasy, a little bit dark academia. I loved the magic system and world building in this book. Unfortunately the plot was pretty slow and the book started to drag in places. A shame, because it started off with real potential!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Rating: 5/5⭐️

What a marvellous book! This is the best dark academia fantasy I’ve ever read! If I could, I would give way more than just 5⭐️ to this book. 5 is not enough to rate this book.

Emory is such an amazing FMC and I loved her! She felt so human, in her grief, in her determination, in her love for her best friend, Ronnie, and hope to find her. She is so charming in her quiet yet forward and transforming personality.

I loved Baz, I loved how quiet, reserved and shy he was; how caring, and fearless he would become while with Emory; how he would look out for her, to protect her. I think he’s the character with more growth and I absolutely loved seeing him transform into his best self. I love Baz so much, I am, after all, a sucker for good boys!

Kieran is very charming, he has all the right words in all the right right times - and he has a very strong connection with Emory. After all, he found her after the traumatic event. But he is as full of mystery as he’s charming. He’s always two steps ahead and will stop at nothing to achieve what he wants.

The writing is simply beautiful. Over and over again,I felt myself inside the book. I could see every scene, all the characters expressions and feel all their feelings - the grief, the disappointment, the fears, Emory’s determination to find answers (no matter what), Baz’s shyness but trusting nature, Kieran’s focused drive. All characters decisions throughout the book felt justified (right and wrong), felt real. They were all so complex, so relatable, all so human, all so gorgeous to read about.

This is a very strong debut: strong plot, relatable characters, plot twists done to perfection, beautiful writing. Just finished and wished I could read this again for the first time! It’s that good! Definitely on my top 3 of favourite books of 2023 and I cannot wait for the sequel! Curious Tides is a book you will not want to miss out!

Oh, what a treat of a book! I adored it. It’s dark academia meets fantasy, filled with secret societies, mysteries by the dozen, a dash of horror, and enough intrigue to shake a stick at.

This book is split between two POVs- Emory, who’s entering her second year at Aldryn college, still reeling from the loss of her best friend, Romie, and Baz, Romies older brother, who wants answers as to why his sister ventured into a local sea cave last spring, alongside seven other students, and never came back. Emory wants answers too, but she seems to know more than she’s letting on…

This book truly feels like what a dark academia fantasy SHOULD feel like. I couldn’t get enough, eager to unravel the mysteries, swept away by the locations, the characters, and by its magic.

Speaking of - the magic system in this book is fascinating. Everyone gets a power that relates to whichever moon phase they were born in, and they can only really use their powers when those moon phases are active. Then there are eclipse borns, who wield different powers, but have access to them at all times, regardless of the moon phase. It was so unique, and I loved learning about it, and seeing how it worked within the world.

A magical school setting is usually a winner in my eyes, and this one is no different. I loved that the school is perched on a cliff by the ocean, I loved that there’s a fabulous map at the start of the book showing it off, and I LOVED the descriptions of the various libraries dotted within the school. I could picture it all so well, that by the time I’d finished the book, the school very much felt like a real place in my mind.

The whole story is so well fleshed out - it’s so in-depth without feeling overwhelming. It’s polished and fast paced, while still leaving you with enough breathing space to enjoy the simpler moments, before it ramps back up once again. Oh, and ramp up it does.

This is the first of a duology, and I cannot wait for the sequel. Like, notifications are being turned on for this author. I need more answers, and I’m so looking forward to diving back into this world once more to get them.

Thank you to the publishers, and Netgalley, for the early copy to review!

I do love a new dark academia books that I know my students are going to fall head over heels for! A fabulously spooky magical adventure that I'm intrigued to know so much more about.

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Curious Tides
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: Book 1 of Drowned Gods
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Pascale Lacelle
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Dark Academia
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 3rd October 2023
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: 2nd September 2023
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★★★★

”There are tides that drown and tides that bind, tides with voices not all kind, moon-kissed tides with pitch-black eyes, and those that dance ’neath stranger skies.”

This worthy addition to the world of dark academia is full of mysteries, secrets, and magic. The magic delivered by the characters in this novel is derived from Moon Signs and is utterly brooding and enthralling.

Curious Tides is a dual POV book that follows two main characters: Emory and Baz, best friend and sister to Romie, who died in a tragic ritual-gone-wrong accident last spring. Searching for answers, both characters break the boxes they have been squeezed into and set off on separate quests to unravel the truth about Romie’s death.

I loved both their character arcs but I felt way more invested in Baz than I did Emory. Sometimes I did not like Emory much at all, she is the centre of a strange semi love triangle where Baz holds a flame for her whilst Emory holds a flame for Kieran in a chain of unrequited love. In fact, I found this element maddening, becoming increasingly frustrated with Emory until it all tied together in the end.

I also enjoyed the thematic explorations such as manipulation, friendship, and particularly how the author explores the feelings of inadequacy through the two main characters. Emory spent so much time in Romie’s shadow that she’s always felt awkward and mediocre at best, trying to fit in in a world which ignores the less talented. Baz grapples with the guilt of his father’s actions, and is paralyzed by the fear of following the same path, instead tries to be content with a life living as a scholarly recluse. Both characters were given an opportunity for growth after Romie’s death. And grow they did.

The setting was phenomenal. The Oceanside school with common rooms and fountains and secret libraries was a tantalisingly seductive, haunting, and toxic place to be. Also the warped Dovermere caves where the tide floods in almost like clockwork and where students go to drown. Both settings provided such a chillingly tender atmosphere.

Which was aided by the writing. I adored the writing, there was some serious spellbinding storytelling occurring and although it could be repetitive, I found it too alluring to really care.

”We are born of the moon and tides, and to them we return.”

—Kayleigh🤍

Thank you so much Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing and Netgalley for sending me an eARC of Curious to read and give an honest review of!
What an amazing debut! Curious Tides is Dark Academia fantasy book perfect for everyone who enjoyed Gothicana, Hollow Heathens or The Coven. You’re not going to find there any spicy scenes, but it’s pretty dark, so you may want to check TW before reading. In my opinion it’s going to be great book for YA and NA readers. The book is full of mystic rituals, dangerous magic, dark secrets and mysterious deaths. The magic system and world-building in this book is completely unique. I haven't read anything like that before! I've read a lot of fantasy books and Curious Tides surprised me several times with unpredictable plot twists. I love it! Be aware that the book ends with cliffhanger. I just can't wait for another book in this series.

I think this book was a little bit too long for a debut novel, but since the world in this book is so complete, I can understand it takes time to describe it to the reader. Don’t be afraid to read this book if you don’t like love triangles. Just trust me. It won’t be that bad 😉


⭐ 4.5/5
🌶️ 0/5

Tropes:
Dark academia
Gothic Romance
Love triangle
Unique and Complicated Magic System
Secret Society
Cult
Betrayal
Murder Mystery
Hidden Worlds
Book in the Book

First of all, I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. It was a lovely read, I enjoyed character development and, since it's my first dark academia adventure, it made me look for more of the genre, so the author did a good thing. The story makes you want to follow next steps and anxiously await them. All in all, a good, solid read for me.

Ok, so finally after a week I finished this book! I want to start off by saying I was fully expecting this to be a 5🌟star read for me but I was ultimately disappointed. I don’t know if I hyped this book up too much and set my expectations too high or if it was just simply the format of the book. (I had to read it on the NetGalley app and the font was NOT it.) While the book synopsis made me eager to jump into this book and seeing other arc readers have a 4-5 star rating for this book had me excited, I just didn’t feel the same way. I felt like this book dragged for the first 70% of the book and I had to force myself to continue picking it back up. There was a lot of world-building, meeting the characters and such that felt a bit too long or I would just flat out get bored and found myself counting the pages till the next chapter. I didn’t particularly like any of our main characters except for Baz but even with him I wasn’t moved or impressed (until the very end). I liked the representation in this book but at times I would feel it was hastily done. Like Jae for example, uses they/them pronouns but it doesn’t really explain that at first and there were he/him pronouns used as well, so I was genuinely confused on Jae’s pronoun preference as a whole. Often times I would find myself thinking, didn’t I just read that? How many times are they going to say or think that? Why is Emory and Baz so naive and gullible? Why is everything about Romie? I just felt that they were in a cycle that repeated itself until the last 30% of the book. That’s when the story really picks up, you start getting some action and some answers and I was actually sort-of enjoying the story. This book does end on a massive (and baby) cliffhanger(s) and I hate that because I wasn’t planning on continuing this series until the last 30%. Now I have to know what happens !! Overall, I was sitting at 2.75🌟 rating for this book but the ending bumped it up to the 3🌟 range. I can’t say I’d recommend it unless the second book is 10x better from start to finish.
((Thank you to NetGalley and Pascale Lacelle for sending me a free downloadable copy in exchange for an honest review.))
-SallieBelle

3.75 stars
I stumbled upon Curious Tides purely by chance while I was browsing through NetGalley. From the premise itself, the book promises to be a dark, tense and mysterious tale set in a world with magic inspired by the tides and the moon. In terms of world-building, it was easy to understand but I personally found it to be info-dumping at certain parts. Because of this, I think the pacing was affected and I thought it to be a bit slow in some parts, though the last quarter of the book was action-packed and heart-pounding.

I quite liked Emory and Baz. Both of them have been left severely traumatized by certain events in their life, and it was very interesting to see how each dealt with it, while working together to solve the mystery plaguing their lives. Pascale Lacelle has done a great job at showing us how they grow from reluctant partners to friends and then to something more.

Lacelle leaves us with an intense cliffhanger, that will leave you wondering what's going to happen now. And like its comp title, Curious Tides will pull you into a world of hidden secrets, power politics and dangerous enemies as you watch the characters try to solve the mysterious deaths that have previously recovered. I loved this book and I cannot wait to find out what happens next.

Unfortunately, this one wasn't for me. There are so many great ideas in Curious Tides, but they quickly began to feel completely overwhelming, to such an extent that I needed to take prolonged breaks from the book. I wanted to be pulled into this story, but alas, it simply never did.

I absolutely love the ideas of the world of CURIOUS TIDES and was so excited to pick this up. There's so much about the setup that's intriguing, and I did find a lot of the ideas underpinning the world building impressive. However, I found the execution a bit heavy and overwritten in the first half and this stopped me from loving it as much as I wanted to. I do think it could have been pared back as for me something in the slow pace/overwriting/info dumping held it back. It did really pick up for me - perhaps around the halfway mark - and I got caught up in the story and the ending. It does feel similar to THE ATLAS SIX in that way (a book I had similar pacing issues with), but I think CURIOUS TIDES will definitely appeal to fans of that book and will find its readers! 3.5 stars.

The world that Pascale Lacelle is created is quite literally, magical! The system is so intriguing and the way she has built the school and the magical houses just makes me want to go and see what magic I would have!

Emory and Baz are wonderful characters, with depth and flaws, which makes you love them even more.
The story itself is wonderful and rich. There wad the perfect amount of twists and turns. I saw a few of them coming, but it didn't take away from the story at all

Overall, I adored this book, and once it's released in October, it's gonna be huge! So I would definitely recommend pre-ordering it now, so you can dive headfirst into this stunning world on day one!

As an avid high fantasy reader and a huge fan of dark academia books like Ninth House I was very excited to get a hold of Curious Tides as an advance reader from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley.

The novel is set in a world of magic, where an individual's magical talents are aligned with the phase of the moon they're born under, with those born under an Eclipse being viewed with suspicion and are much aligned. We start the novel months after a mass tragedy killed 8 of the school's brightest minds, following along a dual POV to uncover mystery and intrigue.

The plot was great, there's a lot of potential storylines to uncover as there were a lot of characters mentioned throughout the book who played minor roles throughout, I would have loved to see more of Jae, Kai & Vera throughout and I can only hope they make a larger appearance in book 2. Unfortunately because there is quite a few characters named, it could be quite easy to get muddled if you're not a particularly fast reader.

The world building was good, but the pacing felt off at times. I would have liked a more steady build to get to know some of the context of what was going on.

The main POVs are Emory & Baz - I loved watching Baz grow into his own and become more comfortable, there was a good level of character growth, which I am predicting can only get stronger in book 2. Emory drove me a bit mad at times (can we please stop with the female characters that are easily swayed by the male minds around them!) however she does show a level of depth I can't wait to see in book 2

All in all, this felt more like the prequel or build to a much larger story. It does well to capture my attention and make me want to read the next one, however I'm not sure it's one I'll return to time and again.

This book was just — a lot.

Don't get me wrong. The prose is really pretty, filled with a ton of colorful similes and metaphors about the sea. It was a bit on the nose, but the quality of the writing made up for it.

The world-building is incredibly detailed. There are eight pages before the prologue that are solely dedicated to listing and describing each of the magic houses and the types of magic its occupants wield. While I appreciate the intricate amount of details and care Lacelle put into her story, it's also very overwhelming. There's also numerous points where the story stops in order to give additional exposition about how the magic works in this world. I was annoyed at this; I just wanted the story to keep going and not stop every page or so in order to overexplain something.

As for the story itself, it kept me interested but it really lost me at the end. The mystery around Romie's death and how it fit into the wider prejudice society has against the Eclipse users should have pulled me in a lot more, but it got really muddled for the aforementioned world-building stops. The plot easily could have been cut down a hundred pages. Also, the love triangle was very predictable and probably the worst element. I just really struggled to connect to anything — the characters, story, or otherwise.

All in all, this was good but not for me. I can definitely tell this will reach its audience I'm just not among them.

Wow. I am fascinated with this magical world. Pascales immersive world building takes us to the enchanting Aldryn College for Lunar Magic, with houses based on the phases of the moon. Each phase having their own set of magic makes for so many interesting characters, which we follow throughout the book.

The story completely swept me away with the magical atmosphere, mystery, gripping character building and simply fantastic writing.
I really enjoyed the alternating chapters from different characters perspectives which made for an exciting read.
The twists in the plot kept me gripped and the ending had me completely shocked!
Cannot wait for the next book in the series….I need more!
Thank you to Net Galley and Simon & Schuster Children’s UK for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

This book is definitely a 5 star read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for providing the ARC in exchange for a review!

I was absolutely hooked on this book from the very first page! The writing is stunning, the interior illustrations are also stunning, and the characters are so fleshed out and well developed. This book was unlike anything I've ever read before, it was so unique and beautiful in every way.

The story immediately piqued my interest and I was so intrigued as to how it would progress and I was also really invested in the romance plot with Emory.

Baz was such a charming character, and I loved getting both perspectives throughout this book, so it all felt more fleshed out and I also liked how each character was finding out things individually.

The magic system is complex but so unique and I loved it! It's based on the moon phases and tides, and I think that's such a cool thing to include with magic!

I recommend this book to anyone who likes dark academia, dark fantasy/fantasy, magical schools, dual POV, secret societies, murder mystery, developed characters and world building, strong friendships and lots of plot twists!

I'm absolutely going straight onto the short prequel book, and will be highly anticipating the sequel after that ending!!

An interesting read using a really unique magic system of lunar magic. Lacelle creates a vivid mystery set against a dark academia and sea based world.

Book Review 📚
Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle - 4.5/5 ⭐

Oh I wish I had of read this as soon as I was sent the ARC! It was utterly phenomenal. The characters, the plot, the story, all of it was magical and brilliant!

Firstly, the characters. They were extraordinary. Lacelle perceived them in such a riveting way. The description of their personality was flawless and I felt like I understood exactly what Lacelle was telling us. The POVs were handled amazingly and throughout so thoroughly. It really brought the book to life.

Secondly, world building. Oh my goodness. It blew me away. It was so descriptive and had an amazing quality to it. It was so easy to imagine the scene when Lacelle done such a fantastic job of writing it. Unreal.

Thirdly, the mix of fantasy come romance was perfect. There wasn't to much of either and it was so perfectly balanced. I can't put into words how beyond amazing this book was to read. This is a definite recommendation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

This was a compelling read filled with magic and wonder. It reads so well and the story is sublime. There are warnings of some natures and those are handled well in the story itself.