In the book Daughter of the Pirate Queen by Tricia Levenseller, Alosa is on a mission to discover a part of a map that was held by the former captain of their rival ship, Jeskor Alamos. However, after a captivating turn of events, Jeskor is no longer captain – his son Draxon is. Like every other ship on the sea, Draxon has a first mate who is also his brother, Riden. Alosa is the daughter of the pirate king, a strong holder who owns the entirety of the sea. She was brutally trained by the king himself in order to ensure she would be the best pirate out there. She purposefully gets kidnapped which helps her be in a position of her rivals ship – exactly where the map is. She strains herself in order to not show her full capabilities to let every pirate envision her as “weak”. This plan fools everybody – except Riden. She hopes to fulfill this mission in order to prove to her father she can do this, but is disappointed when a member of the rival ship comes along. Alosa realizes this pirate, Theris, is playing as her enemy, but is truly a pirate serving the king. As she discovers this, she soon realizes that her father sent Theris to keep watch on Alosa. However, after a turn of events, she gets tangled up with Riden – the first mate. She catches feelings for him, and no matter what, she cannot put this feeling away even if she knows it’s wrong. Still, she pushes forward with this mission. It is soon revealed that Alosa is only half human – the other half is a certain creature that is feared by many pirates. After days of looking, she achieves the part of this special map she was looking for – only to find the crew waiting for her. It gets snatched out of her hand, and she’s locked up again as a prisoner. As she’s walking with Riden back behind bars, both she and Riden get knocked out. She wakes up, and sees not only Riden but also Theris. Her father’s second main enemy, Vordan, makes Alosa do horrible things using Riden as leverage. She soon realizes how strong her feelings are for her enemy that she would cause immense pain to herself in order not to inflict pain upon Riden. Luckily, Riden is able to come up with a plan to escape. During this time, Alosa retrieves the map back, and is aboard back on the ship. Due to the kidnapping being all planned, her father and Alosa’s crew come to rescue her. While the enemy's crew is on the ship, Alosa is revealed some shocking news. The man who deemed himself to be Theris, was someone much more powerful. She kills most of the crew but only saves some – some friends she made that could be useful, a child, Draxon in order to punish him, and Riden. She is soon back home – her ship, the Ava-lee. Instead of relaxing, she has to decide what to do with the people she let live from the other ship – especially Riden.

This book is one of the books I hold close to my heart. This book was truly captivating, and kept me hooked at each chapter. Each turn of event was truly surprising, and kept me at my heels with each new discovery. I especially loved the parts with just Alosa and Riden, and seeing their relationship evolve. Some of the scenes I loved were when Alosa is being stubborn causing Riden to put down his guard as a pirate, and act super caring to Alosa. Riden is super protective of Alosa, and also gets jealous when other guys make a move on her. Although, it pains me when in scenes when they get hurt, both physically and mentally, fixing it with each other is truly stunning.

There’s not much to dislike about this book, however one idea I hated was how quick their relationship evolved. Personally, I dislike the trope where relationships evolve too quickly, especially with strangers. However, I was stunned to see myself actually enjoying this idea. The book is so beautifully written that I just couldn’t stop reading and hate the trope.

I would undoubtedly recommend this book to other readers. This is a perfect read on any occasion. Everything about this book, the characters, the plot, the structure, is written so pleasingly, and it’s very rare to find this in other books. It’s not too heavy on the romance, and allows room for the truly captivating mystery intertwined in this book. All in all, I would definitely recommend readers to pick this book up on your next run!

Check out Daughter of The Pirate King from NBPL!