Bloody Black

At first, I did not like Bloody Black. The beginning felt slow and I was not sure I was going to care about the characters. Then Anne of Celestia became Blackbeard and suddenly, I could not put the book down. I loved Anne. She was fierce, smart, angry, violent, and iconic. She had every right to become a menace after what happened to her. Her revenge was not random either. She had a plan, followed through, and took it seriously all the way to the end. I was on the edge of my seat during the final face off with William. Anne’s calculating wit in that scene was amazing. I was cheering for her the whole time. William made my jaw drop. This was the husband Anne chose. She fought for him and trusted him. Then, he betrayed her and handed her over to his crew like she meant nothing. I hated him so much and I needed Anne to destroy him. I am so glad she never forgot what he did to her. Anne’s relationship with The Devil was so interesting too. The Devil gives her the chance to become Blackbeard, but the deal comes with a cost. I liked that their dynamic felt dangerous, but not boring. The Devil was pleased with Anne because she met every part of their bargain. I also loved that Anne got her crown back, which she thought she wanted all along. Then, Anne realized the ocean was really where she wanted to be. Giving the throne to her sister felt perfect because Anne had already built a new life for herself away from her royal duties. Robb surprised me. At first, I was annoyed by him right along with Anne. Then, he slowly won us over. He respected her boundaries, admired her strength, defended her, protected her, and risked his life for her revenge. Also, he worshipped her in the bedroom. I do love a man with priorities. He was obsessed with Anne with devotion instead of being controlling. They ended up being such a good match. The narration by Nell Stevenson was great. I usually prefer duet narration, especially for romance. She did a fantastic job as a single narrator. Each character felt different. I stayed immersed once the story grabbed me. The writing was a little slow and clunky at times, but I was able to look past it because the story became so addicting. Bloody Black gave me pirates, revenge, a demon bargain, female rage, and a romance I ended up loving. Obviously, I have to pick up book two now. I already signed up for Rhiannon Hargadon’s newsletter for new release updates and hopefully ARCs. I have also started down the rabbit hole of finding Robb and Anne artwork to keep me fed until the next book. Pick this up if you want a dark pirate romantic fantasy with revenge, rage, betrayal, a terrifying heroine, and a man who knows exactly who he belongs to.

“To the victors go the spoils, to the losers go the scars!”
There’s no better way to start off spooky season than with a spicy Blackbeard retelling. I’m so glad I moved this up my TBR bc this book had me HOOKED from the very beginning. First and foremost, check the triggers bc this one touches some dark topics. It’s not romantasized, nor is it easy to read. You can skip that whole chapter if you need to (chapter 6). The FMC goes through love and loss, betrayal and revenge. Speaking of revenge… her revenge tour had me kicking my feet. The boiling oil?! Incredible. At no point did I feel like I knew where the story was going. It was completely unpredicable (for me, at least). The world building is phenomenal, not to mention how much research went into it to make the story as accurate as it is. Truly one of the best standalones I’ve read and I’m honored to have been able to read an ARC (sorry my review is after pub day, even though it was released 2 weeks early hahaha). Thank you so much to the author for the chance to read Bloody Black!!

I DNF'd at 37%. I'm bummed because I was very excited for the premise of this book - Blackbeard retelling is SO up my alley!! But unfortunately it didn't deliver for me. At almost 40% there just wasn't much happening in the story, I wasn't invested in any of the characters, all aspects of Blackbeard were glossed over. It was supposed to be spicy and there wasn't even any of that by this point. So just wasn't what I was hoping for.