Book Review: A Ship of Bones & Teeth

I was able to squeeze in one more Kindle read before I left for vacation and of course I chose something that wasn’t even on my extremely long tbr until the week before – A Ship of Bones & Teeth by Karina Halle. The novel is a spicy, dark, Little Mermaid retelling and was so entertaining to read!

(Did i bring my Kindle with me when I went down the shore for dinner with one of my best friends last week just so I could take a photo and make a Reel for this book? Yes, I did.)

If you follow me on Instagram then you may have seen me talk once or twice on stories about how I had originally planned to do this whole pirate themed summer and read multiple books with pirates in them. Well, I started to fall behind on my reading schedule and other books kept coming up so this is the first one!

This novel is a dual POV and follows Maren, a syren princess, and Captain Ramsay “Bones” Battista. When Maren is 16, she longs for adventure and to live her own life away from the shadows of her father, the king, and her older sisters. She swims far away with her shark, Nill, and sees a human man that she becomes enamored with from afar. She watches him for a while and then decides she wants him. She calls upon the sea witch, Edonia, and makes a deal with her. Edonia wants her syren voice (used to lure men) and her soul in exchange for legs so she can live as a human on the land and the man, Prince Aerik, will fall in love with her.

Fast forward 10 years, and Maren is miserable in a loveless and abusive marriage. When the Royal Navy ship she’s on with her husband is taken over by pirates, and not just any pirates but the infamous Brethren of the Blood, she almost welcomes the chance to die. The Brethren of the Blood are a notorious group of pirates and rumors say it’s a crew of the damned. The captain of the ship is Ramsay “Bones” Battista. When they meet, Ramsay can tell there is something different about Maren besides her beauty and tries to show her kindness when she clearly is not getting that from her husband. Maren can tell that there is more to Ramsay than the reputation he has of being cruel and savage. As they get to know each other and they learn that they have a common enemy – the sea witch Edonia. Can they trust each other with their secrets? Can they work together to get revenge on Edonia?

This book was such a fun read. It’s dark, but not too dark so if you’re new to dark romance or if you want something that isn’t too dark this may be perfect for you. I loved Maren and Ramsay and how well they understood each other. The tension between them was delicious and then once they trusted each other the love they developed between them was perfect. They were both willing to sacrifice a lot for each other and I loved it.

There were some sad moments in the book that I wish didn’t happen, but overall I loved the vibes of the whole book and the characters.

Side note: I’d love a second book about Thane and Nerissa since Nerissa alluded to having some sort of fate with Thane!

Read this if you want a spicy, dark, Little Mermaid retelling with pirates and the enemies to lovers trope.

*This post contains affiliate links.*