I am so happy that I finally decided to pick this one up because I was thirsting for a pirate book and this book delivered. Alosa is also a very interesting female lead, with a dad that hasn’t been the most loving father, but has taught her how to defend herself well in a world of pirates. She shows her strength through her intelligence and ability at the beginning of the book to fight other pirates off. Riden and her have a good amount of banter throughout the book and it’s clear that he doesn’t want to hurt her if he can help it despite having to hold her prisoner on the ship. Draxen comes off as a lot more sleazy, but it’s hard to tell how much of that was due to being under Alosa’s siren spell or his own doing. He also doesn’t underestimate Alosa’s skill after she gets out of her cell the first time. Then again, she managed to give him a good kick in the royal jewels, which was very funny to read about. I think it was also interesting that he saw her altercation with Sheck and didn’t try to help her. I don’t think that is necessarily something I view negatively considering that Riden knows Alosa is a pirate and can fend for herself and I’m also sure that if he felt she couldn’t handle something, he would have stepped in. Honestly, it probably speaks more to his trust in Alosa’s ability to handle herself than anything else. Clearly, based on how much he risked his life for her later on he’s perfectly willing to put himself in danger for her sake since he cares about her. Riden is really charming and his banter with Alosa is one of my favorite parts of this book. The lore with the sirens was also cool and I hope it gets explored more in the sequel. More importantly, I highly appreciated the fact that Riden and Alosa are not necessarily in love with each other, but definitely care for each other romantically. A lot of times romances like this develop pretty quickly and I like the change of pace. I am looking forward to seeing them get to know each other better and see how their circumstances will determine how they handle their relationship. They are pirates after all and it’s not necessarily a safe and stable way of life, so that can definitely complicate things. I’m sure Alosa’s father will have some opinions on them being together as well. He’s the pirate king after all, so I doubt he’s a ray of sunshine.