Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

In all of the 1000+ books I’ve read, I literally have a favorites shelf of less than 40 books on Goodreads. Maybe it’s because I’m a book hipster, maybe it’s because for so many years I was on writing websites specifically looking for things wrong in books, maybe I’m book pretentious, or maybe it’s just because I’m super picky. Either way, getting a new favorite book is a challenge for me, and somehow in the past two weeks, I managed to get two – this book being the favorite and the catalyst for a massive book hangover. I JUST WANT BOOK 2 NOW. My heart will be as sad an empty treasure chest until then.

Once Upon a Time…

There will be plenty of time for me to beat him soundly once I’ve gotten what I came for.

Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map—the key to a legendary treasure trove—seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship.

More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate, Riden. But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King.

Truthfully, I didn’t remember too much about this book before going into it. I knew there was a Lady Captain Jack Sparrow and that was about it. I think that was actually a really cool way to do it – to go in blindly because there was a nice element of suprise at the end of the first few chapters that had me even more excited.

Ugh, I don’t know even where to begin with this review. I just loved so much of this novel. And there really is so much to love. This book is packed with stuff – swoony romance, fierce ladies, epic characters, intrigue, mysterious and in-depth plots, twists and turns and more twists and even more turns, and magic – book, actual, and chemistry magic. Sounds too good to be true? I kept thinking so, but Levenseller surprised me at every turn and I just kept sitting here going, “BUT IT’S SO GOOD.”

Alosa is such a fierce main character. I did have one slight problem and I’m not even sure it was a problem as more of a…distraction. With the ted curly hair on the cover, I litearlly kept picturing Alosa as Merida and then I kept calling Alosa Merida  because I was picturing Merida and then I so realized it wasn’t just the fact that they both had the curly red hair but they were both epicly, strong ladies. There is so much girl power in this novel that it’s just amazing. From all the strong lady pirates to the fact that Alosa can take on any man, it’s a really empowering aspect to the novel, and I loved just how strong she was. I couldn’t stop rooting for her, and she had so much depth that you can’t help it.

The plot was captivating as well. You weren’t ever stalling in the novel, and I’m pretty sure I binge read this in a night, because I couldn’t stop wondering what was going to happen next and as I mentioned, there was a lotttt of twists that after a few pages, I would be :O faced and have to keep reading because I simply couldn’t leave it like that. Near the second half it got even crazier and there was a nice little turn that I hadn’t realized would be coming and I definitely enjoyed it although I might have saw it coming a bit…not because I got super tense at another part and totally glanced ahead. I have struggles. D:

And the romanceeeeeeee. Krysti over @ YA and Wine warned me that there would be some insanely swoony parts, and there wasssss. Riden and Alosa were amazing together. The chemistry was insane, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted more of their scenes or more of the epic plot. XD It was a hard tossup, but all I knew is that I shipped this ship so bad…and I mean , they’re pretty good at navigating ships so I figured they would probably be epic at this well, but I didn’t quite understand how well they would be at.

This was just a mess of fangirling, but gals and guys, this book was amazing. It has everything I ever wanted in this book and more. This book has earned a permanent spot in my favorites shelf, and it has seriously convinced me that there needs to be more lady pirate books out in the world. It’s kind of fitting I did this review today on St. Patrick’s Day because one of the most famous lady pirates out there was an Irish woman by the name of Grace O’Malley who was as epic as Alosa – okay, fine, it’s totally why I did this review today. ANYWAY, to sum up my review: just go out and buy this book and then read it and then fall in love Because I did. And also, Disney, if you’re out there, pirate princesses need to be a thing – fast.

5 crowns and we have a serious princess train going on today – Aurora for it becoming an instant classic, Merida because…well, see above, Mulan for being a fierce warrior lady pirate and main character, Rapunzel for the feels, and if I had ever gotten my butt together and created the Moana head picture(because when you’re so epic that you need a princess train going), she would be here, too.

Check it out:

• Goodreads
• Amazon
• Barnes and Noble
• The Book Depository

What do you think? Have you read it – if so, can we please fangirl so hard together?? Did you manage to make it through my entire fangirling mess – I didn’t realize I made it so long? How do you pick your favorites? Let’s discuss in the comments below!