The Bright and Breaking Sea
The Bright and Breaking Sea by Chloe Neill Published by Berkley Books on November 17, 2020
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
ISBN: 1984806688
Goodreads
Chloe Neill brings her trademark wit and wild sense of adventure to a stunning seafaring fantasy starring a dauntless heroine in a world of magic and treachery.
Kit Brightling, rescued as a foundling and raised in a home for talented girls, has worked hard to rise through the ranks of the Isles' Crown Command and become one of the few female captains in Queen Charlotte's fleet. Her ship is small, but she's fast--in part because of Kit's magical affinity to the sea. But the waters become perilous when the queen sends Kit on a special mission with a partner she never asked for.
Rian Grant, Viscount Queenscliffe, may be a veteran of the Continental war, but Kit doesn't know him or his motives--and she's dealt with one too many members of the Beau Monde. But Kit has her orders, and the queen has commanded they journey to a dangerous pirate quay and rescue a spy who's been gathering intelligence on the exiled emperor of Gallia.
Kit can lead her ship and clever crew on her own, but with the fate of queen and country at stake, Kit and Rian must learn to trust each other, or else the Isles will fall....
Thank you so much to Berkley Books for providing with an eARC via NetGalley!
I think by now we all know that I am a sucker for both ladies in charge, and enemies to lovers romances. So I know that you are all just SO shocked that this book would be something I enjoyed hahaha. This was a very fun adventure story!! There were a few things that I think could be improved, but overall there wasn’t anything I majorly disliked. I am definitely looking forward to the sequel!
Things I liked!
Firstly, I loved the setting and the characters. I personally love ocean adventures, and I love the fun that a good ship crew can bring to a story. This novel was no exception, I loved the characters that comprised Kit’s crew. I like to have a good mix of characters that already know each other, and characters that are meeting for the first time. This way, you can get many different looks at the personality of a certain character. In this instance the different relationships help flesh out the character of Kit.
Also as I said, I do love a good enemies to lovers romance. I love the tension between Kit and Rian, and how through their adventures their relationship changes. However, I do think this could have used some more depth, as it happened a bit fast.
I also like the idea of the magic! And I can really only say that much, as we only really get a glimpse of Kit using her magic. I want more! I hope the future books expand on this more, because I think there could be a LOT of cool things done with it.
Things that maybe could be better?
I’ve mentioned a few things already that I wanted more of (i.e. more depth in the relationship between Kit and Rian and more magic).
In addition, I think my main reason for not rating this 4 stars (or higher) was the pacing and general storyline. The rescue that is mentioned in the synopsis is only about a third of the book. The two then go on to have more adventures that are related to the main plot, but I thought it jumped from adventure to adventure almost too quickly, without very strong narrative ties.
I have no real complaints about the characters other than Kit because I did genuinely enjoy them all – villains excluded. That being said, I think they could have benefitted from more development. If the action had been slightly more limited, I think it would have given more room for the characters to really show more of themselves.
Sequel please??
All in all, this was a quite a fun read and I think the author can only go up from here with the sequel. Soooo I’d really like the sequel now please!! hahaha.
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