REVIEW To Ravish a Rogue (Dangerous Tides) by CM Nacosta

To Ravish a Rogue (Dangerous Tides) by CM Nacosta
Rating: 5 Stars
Format: eBook (Kickstarter)
Publisher: Bonkers Romance 

Out of all the books in the Peculiar Tastes Kickstarter or the Dangerous Tides Kickstarter, CM Nacosta’s To Ravish a Rogue has been my favorite so far. With some of the most unique supernatural creatures from mythology and lore being included, I absolutely had to finish it in one sitting. 

Lady Charlotte Davenport is willing to do whatever it takes to get home and get to her sister. She could care less that having a woman onboard a ship is usually considered a bad omen, but no captain she approaches (directly or covertly) is willing to take the risk. Her last chance is to pretend to be a serving boy and sneak onto Captain Lin Jurel’s ship, The Malediction. However, the ruse is not as simple to maintain as she might think, given that the captain sees through it immediately and starts messing with her to get her to reveal herself. A hilarious high seas adventure ensues as the two clash, and inevitably give into their feelings. And once they did, boy was it entertaining and worth the wait.  

To Ravish a Rogue shares a world and some side characters with the other books in the Dangerous Tides Kickstarter. There are some Easter eggs present that reference other books. I loved the paranormal aspect of Charlotte and Lin’s characters, and while I don’t want to spoil anything I must say I was super shocked with the reveal of what they are. I’ve never seen Charlotte’s species appear in a romance book before, but the author did a fantastic job with it. I was most certainly not expecting one of the biggest things that happened in their bedroom interactions that involved Charlotte’s ‘downstairs teeth’ (do with that reference what you will) and a prized part of the captain’s anatomy, but it made for one of the most memorable moments of the book. 

Overall, To Ravish a Rogue by CM Nacosta was an incredibly unique, entertaining, and enjoyable read. Now that I’ve been introduced to their writing, I will definitely be going back and checking out their backlist of other monster/paranormal romance titles as soon as possible. If you enjoy mature paranormal romance reads, this would be a great choice. I also think readers who enjoy series that share worldbuilding but are designed to be able to be read as standalone novels should give this book a look-see. 

CONTENT WARNINGS (Courtesy of the Author): Sex work, sex bargain, female main character’s (FMC) reliance on gender binary, light gore and violence, soft vore, somnophilia, non-human anatomy, It’s a good thing he has two of them, and SO MANY teeth.

About the Book

Charlotte Davenport is a woman on a singular mission: get onto a ship bound for Atlantis by any means necessary, and get home to her sister. When she joins the crew of the Malediction, she has no idea she's made herself an unwitting captive of its pirate captain. Lirian Jurel is cocky and secretive and infuriatingly handsome, and she can't shake the feeling that he's laughing at her . . . but Charlotte has a secret of her own, and she'll do anything to keep it. After all, who could possibly understand the life of a monster?

Captain Lirian Jurel has only one thing on his mind — the next adventure. Fucking, feasting, and fighting — it's a pirate's life for him, and he loves the watery path he's chosen. He's never been able to stay away from danger, and Charlotte Davenport — the impudent little witch disguising herself as a member of his crew — seems like the most dangerous creature he's ever encountered.

Striking a bargain to bring her home is an easy trade for having her warm in his bed . . . But bringing her home means saying goodbye, which is harder than he anticipated.

When you're a vicious sea monster like him, being alone is the wisest course of action, but once they reach Atlantis, Lirian vows to help Charlotte see her journey through — wherever it leads.

About the Author

C.M. Nascosta is an author and professional procrastinator from Cleveland, Ohio. As a child, she thought that living on Lake Erie meant one was eerie by nature, and her corresponding love of all things strange and unusual started young. She’s always preferred beasts to boys, the macabre to the milquetoast, the unknown darkness in the shadows to the Chad next door. She lives in a crumbling old Victorian with a scaredy-cat dachshund, where she writes nontraditional romances featuring beastly boys with equal parts heart and heat, and is waiting for the Hallmark Channel to get with the program and start a paranormal lovers series.

REVIEW To Kidnap a Princess (Dangerous Tides) by Katee Robert

To Kidnap a Princess (Dangerous Tides) 

by Katee Robert

Rating: 3 Stars

Format: eBook (Dangerous Tides Kickstarter)

Publisher: Bonkers Romance

Katee Robert’s To Kidnap A Princess, part of the Dangerous Tides series produced by Bonkers Romance, promises a sexy swashbuckling sapphic romance tale. While the swashbuckling was definitely there, the romance between Juliette and Maura fell a little flat for me. 

As opposed to some of the other sapphic romances that I’ve read (including the one in Queen Takes Rose also written by Katee Robert), I never really connected to Maura and Juliette’s story. So much of their problems seemed kinda childish, and it was weird that with all the power that Maura accumulated in her rise to captain of the Kelpie, she never thought of smuggling a letter to Juliette so Juliette didn’t have to resort to kidnapping herself to escape her father. I liked the two of them as characters, and I liked all the side characters we met on the ship and on the island; their relationship just wasn’t compelling enough for me. I did want to note that for those who appreciate books with LGBTQ characters that Maura and Juliette are not the only ones present in the book; the author includes others such as a new non-binary character who uses ze/zeir pronouns. 

Like the books from the Peculiar Tastes Kickstarter, the books from the Dangerous Tides series exist in the same universe and share worldbuilding. Compared to some of the other books, To Kidnap a Princess spends a lot of time in Atlantis, and I loved it! Exploring Atlantis was definitely the highlight of the book for me. It was fun getting to meet all the different characters, like Eloise and Seiko. It was also fun getting to visit locations that have been teased like The Bawdy Banquet, and see some of the dangers that lurk in Atlantis’ waters (multiple different species of mermaids, including cannibalistic ones)

Overall, To Kidnap a Princess was an entertaining book but it definitely wasn’t Katee Robert’s best. Despite my reservations with the romance in the book, I was excited to learn more about Atlantis and be introduced to the character Bowen, who will be part of her series Crimson Sails (the first book Hunt on Dark Waters releases in November 2023). If you enjoy series that share worldbuilding but are designed to be able to read as standalone, this would be a a great choice. 

Content Warnings (Courtesy of the Author): Explicit Sex, Blood, Violence, Murder, Threat of Sexual Assault (Non-Explicit, Briefly Referenced), Near-Drowning

About the Book

It’s been ten years since the love of Juliette’s life sailed away and never looked back. The date they agreed to meet again has long since passed, and Juliette isn’t interested in waiting around any longer. So she kidnaps herself! Unfortunately, things start to go wrong immediately… Maura might have fallen in love with a princess as a teenager, but as an adult she’s all too aware of the obstacles between them. She’s the most-wanted pirate captain in the kingdom Juliette is princess of. It will never work. But when she receives a distress call from her princess, she doesn’t hesitate to ride to the rescue… But it’s not the reunion Juliette wanted. After saving her, Maura is determined to stick her on a ship home. Juliette is having none of it. She’s got a secret key to Atlantis…she just doesn’t realize the portal will take Maura and her entire ship, too. Whoops.

About the Author

Katee Robert is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Entertainment Weekly calls her writing “unspeakably hot.” Her books have sold over a million copies. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, children, a cat who thinks he’s a dog, and two Great Danes who think they’re lap dogs.

 

Katee is represented by Laura Bradford at Bradford Literary Agency.

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REVIEW To Seduce a Siren (Dangerous Tides) by Jenny Nordbak

To Seduce a Siren (Dangerous Tides) 

by Jenny Nordbak
Rating: 4 Stars
Format: eBook (Kickstarter) 
Publisher: Bonkers Romance

“You need to know you can do it yourself. It’s yours to give before it’s ever mine to take.”

I enjoyed the books from the Peculiar Tastes Kickstarter (created by the Bonkers Romance podcast team), so it was super exciting to hear about their latest Kickstarter, Dangerous Tides. Jenny Nordbak’s The Death God’s Sacrifice was one of my favorites in the first set, and her newest book To Seduce a Siren did not disappoint. 

Talon and Astrid’s relationship suffers from a boatload of miscommunications. From the first night they are set to be married, to the night circumstances tear them apart, and finally to their inevitable reunion years later, it’s one miscommunication setback after another. Usually, this would be annoying for me as a reader. However, it worked for the story and it made the eventual resolution so much sweeter. Specifically, if you know anything about Jenny Nordbak’s books, you can rest assured that the reunion between the berserker and his siren is capital H-O-T.  

Like the books from the Peculiar Tastes Kickstarter, the books from the Dangerous Tides Kickstarter exist in the same universe and share worldbuilding. With both Talon and Astrid having their own pirate commands, a lot of the book takes place on the open water and readers don’t get to actually visit the much anticipated Atlantis until towards the end of the book. That was a little disappointing to me since I wanted to get more on-page time for the pre-introduced characters like Eloise and Seiko. Thankfully, the time we did get was a nice little snippet (especially with the Kickstarter bonus epilogue) and I’m excited to see their appearances in the other books. 

Overall, To Seduce a Siren was another entertaining and steamy read from Jenny Nordbak. I recommend this book to those who enjoy mature romance books with elements of fantasy thrown in. I’m excited to read about the stories of Talon’s siblings, Thorin and Sigrid when the author releases them in the future. I believe Sigrid’s story, To Wed a Warrior Queen, is projected to come out later this year. 

CONTENT WARNINGS (Courtesy of the Author): Explicit sex, violence, murder, the threat of sexual assault (non-explicit, briefly mentioned), threats of torture, aphrodisiac sex magic (doesn’t compel anyone to do anything they don’t want to do), kidnapping

About the Book

Astrid is a lowly tavern wench on an island ruled by pirates. If anyone discovers what she really is, she’ll be executed. Her world is turned upside down when her father bargains her to pay a debt, and she's forced to marry Talon the Destroyer, a ruthless pirate captain known for his brutality.

Talon Thorvald is an exiled prince of Daneland, a berserker who’s near-invincible in a fight. But he’s powerless to fight what he feels for his treacherous wife. She ran from him seven years ago, and now she’s a feared pirate captain in her own right.

Now he's hunting his wife...

About the Author

Jenny Nordbak earned a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Archaeology from the University of Southern California. After graduating, she spent two years leading a double life, working in healthcare construction by day, while secretly working as a dominatrix at a dungeon in LA by night. Her memoir, The Scarlett Letters: My Secret Year of Men in an LA Dungeon (St. Martin’s Press, 2017) is a candid look at that time in her life. 

Jenny is an advocate for sex positivity and intersectional feminism. She writes the Stocks and Bondage column for Penthouse magazine, cohosts the Bonkers Romance podcast, and delights in narrating the steamiest of audiobooks.

She lives in Southern California with her handsome Viking husband and two adorably feral children.

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