This book starts on a debtor ship The Brackish where Silverfish is gutting a fish and cleaning it. A debtor ship is basically a fishing ship who employs CHILDREN as SLAVES to work on it to pay off their or their parents debt or basically random children who are sold to clear someone's debt.
This is a revenge story!
Silverfish remember the time she was Amaya a modest pearl merchant's daughter who has her life torn apart when her father is murdered and she is sold off to a debtor ship to pay for her family's so called debts.
One day she rescues a stranger from the sea, judging by his outfit and thinking that he is rich she thinks that he would help her get rid of her debt in exchange for his life. Soon she learns that he may not be rich but landless(basically exiled). Once she starts having conversations with the stranger she thinks she may have a chance after all.

She want's to find out who sold her, and take revenge on the captain of the ship for all those years of torture and mist importantly the man who started it all, who ruined her life in the first place Kamon Merchado.
As she gets entangled in other people's lies and her own she can't help but fall for the son of the mand she has vowed and promised to ruin.

Cayo is a recovering gambling addict, a rich and spoiled brat who spent away his family fortune in gambling debts. And now he is struggling to take care of his sister who has succumbed to a deadly disease. He is enamoured with a new addition to his town the wealthy Countess Yamaa.

Well I knew who Yamaa was right away, when Cayo first encounters her.

This book has quite a lot of violence and gore, trigger warnings include sexual assault, indentured servitude of children, gambling, prostitution. So it's not really YA either and Not really fantasy.

The world building was beautiful and it reminded me a little of Las Vegas. The one thing the book teaches us is not everything is the way it seems.

The romance between Cayo and Amaya was sizzling. I loved it. It's hate turned into love.. one of my favorite tropes. And its beautifully written. I absolutely enjoyed the parts wherever the sea and sea life is described.
This book keeps you hooked in right from the start.
The relationships between the characters are messy, unusual and complicated.
I have to mention one relationship that I am MOST excited to see in the sequel, which is the relationship between Amaya and Roach