Actual rating: 4.5

Though it took me forever to really get into this book, I really did like it! It’s funny, it’s well-written, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever read. I knew from the first two chapters that I would love the story, and meeting Alexandra Bracken at this year’s Y’allfest solidified her as an author I will love.

The reason that this book doesn’t get a full five stars is because of the romance. Now, though I don’t prefer it, I don’t mind a little romance in a book. I do, however, mind insta-love. And that seems to be what’s happening here with Etta and Nicholas. The first time he sees her on the deck of a ship, he describes her as being “like a queen on a battlefield”. He is drawn to Etta from the start, which is excusable, but the fact that he seems to regard her as some kind of otherworldly figure, and the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, screams “insta-love”. They “fall in love” far too quickly, and all in all only know each other for little more than a week. It’s infatuation, is what it is.

However, as I do like the story and both the characters themselves a lot (so much that I am going to start the next one ASAP, easy since I got it as a Christmas gift), I can ignore that.

Also, my favorite line: “All I hear are Satan’s hammers and the war drums of Hell, thank you.”