On Stolen Tides

by Kay Lalock

From escaping an arranged marriage to working with pirates – how much wilder can Lydia's life possibly get?

Great Rexone won't stop until they've conquered the Known Isles. Lydia's father – arguably the nation's most respected admiral – is determined to be on top when that happens, even if it includes marrying off his daughter against her will.

The next thing Lydia knows, she's sneaking onto a ship to return home, striking a deal with the feared pirates known as The Night Spirits to pay her way back. Luckily their second in command, Laufitu, seems to endorse her bargain. And it doesn't take long before she and Lydia start exchanging more than knowledge of the Known Isles.

Falling in love with a pirate was never on Lydia's agenda. Neither was aiding them in stealing from her father’s friends and enemies. By the time they make sense of their growing connection, tragedy strikes, forcing Lydia to make a tough decision.

But nothing could've prepared her for the true reason behind their piracy and what that means for Lydia’s way of life.

CONTENT: This story talks about colonization and the violence it inspires. Please refer to the sample for a full content warning page.

Genres: Fantasy, Lesbian, Pirates, Romance, Queer, Historical Fiction, LGBT

267 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 22, 2023

Reviews

[jas · Rating 1 out of 5]

On paper, this book had a lot of things I tend to enjoy. Social commentary, especially in this day an age, can be both cathartic and thought-provoking when well-researched, fantasy world-building is nothing short of magical if built thoroughly, a sapphic romance is always a good time, and a non-Western setting is music to my ears.

Unfortunately, the book was terrible, and for an author who claims to have used sensitivity readers, I cannot for the life of me figure out exactly why anyone would have green-lit this.

Before any of the three people that read my reviews judges me, I have to say that I only opened this because it was free on Kindle, and I only finished it because I do not think it’s fair to the author to review books I haven’t actually read.

The good is few and far between and is not much more than the general potential of what the book could have been if written by someone else. I really hate to be that harsh, but I had a lot of problems with the way this book was written, and any positives were soured by an irresponsible, however well-meaning author.

The Language Thing: I get that the author was trying to showcase a non-English speaking character list, but to have the characters speaking English and exchange one word per sentence with an italicized word in another language was just terrible to read. It’s like a mockery of how white people think people of color speak. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen TV shows pull off a similar thing, and it’s not any less awkward in writing than it is on screen.

The Ethnic Thing: The bibliography listed three sources on Tongan culture, apparently, but the book didn’t really seem consistent with that. There were random names and references and whatnot to things all over the map, ones I could source to New Zealand, Samoa, Hawai’i, and Fiji, probably more. So, general Pacific Islander, then? Except that’s like someone basing their story around China and just making it ‘Asian.’ It’s lazy at best and kind of insulting at worst. There were zero references or integrations of any Pacific Islander culture that I could see. Well, besides the random cluster of ethnic names and randomly dropped non-English. Unimpressive from someone that is actually Pacific Islander, but exploitative from someone who isn’t, and as far as I could tell, the author is not.

The Oppression Thing: To build off of the previous point, the characters of colors’ only personality traits, backstory, or tie to their culture seemed to be the trauma they had endured. Which, like, yeah. We get it. People of color have been brutally slaughtered and oppressed since white people figured out how to get on a boat. Coming from a white author it feels like trauma porn, but it’s also just unrealistic. Every person of color I know has struggles with race, but there are joys and subtle integrations in it too. There’s none of that here.

The Colonizer Thing: I don’t know if it’s white people’s fantasy to get to write a little “fix-it” narrative where actually they end up the good guy for no apparent reason, but I’m not interested. The main character is the daughter of what I am supposed to conclude is a fictional Christopher Columbus, and then a marginalized Vaguely Ethnic Colonization Victim falls in love with her despite the fact that she’s dumb as rocks and oblivious to the entire sociopolitical world she lives in, and everything magically works out okay. No thank you. It’s like the Nazi/Jewish star-crossed lovers bullshit repackaged under colonization.

This story could have been really excellent if it was just… different. I’m all for representation. I’m all for fictive social commentary. I’m all for teaching through story and showing lessons through characters. I’m all for it. Just not the way it was done here.

And for the record, in case you don’t care about all the weird stuff, the book itself has little to sing praises about. The characters are underdeveloped and boring, the romance is totally dry with no build-up and mediocre sex scenes, the plot arc is messy, the world-building half-assed, the ending is unsatisfactory, and the writing is juvenile. Spare yourself the 1.5-2 hours.

[Brianna - Four Paws and a Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

sapphic pirate romantasy? Sign me up!

The vibes of this book are immaculate. It feels like a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, but make it really gay. The smut is spicy and I love the commentary on colonialism and our MC realizing that she grew up in a bubble and there is a big world with people that are struggling right outside her sheltered life.

My concerns with this book is that it was really too short? I felt like we jumped from point A to point B too quickly, and for someone who doesn't usually love boat books, I wanted more on the boat? There was a lot going on in this book for as short as it was, so because of that, it felt rushed and not fleshed out enough.

But if you want some gay pirates? This book has that in spades!

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did like it, but I felt like the development wasn’t there. The romance comes out of nowhere (there wasn’t a build up), all the exposure to the cultures feels very infodumpy, which is a huge shame, and the characters are pretty underdeveloped and flat.
There was a lot of potential, but it just didn’t deliver.

[Theodora (Cam) Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lesbian pirates!!! Let’s go lesbians let’s go. A great queer, anti-colonialism, multi-cultural story. My only problem with it is that it felt underdeveloped, which was unfortunate for how meaningful the story intends to be.

[Emmie Huber · Rating 4 out of 5]

im so obsessed with this book

[dirtfog · Rating 3 out of 5]

while reading this book i noticed that there were a lot of negative reviews. some about grammar errors, others about how it was boring and the didn’t finish it. i personally think it wasn’t bad! it takes a lot of creativity to write a book and create the world within it. i like that the author wrote on colonialism and created an interracial couple, which is never written enough. i think there should’ve been more detail of the pirates at sea, a large storm they had to navigate through, details on how they knew to steer through such a “torrential” ocean in which the best naval leaders couldn’t. the ending didn’t even talk about what happened with the crown or how the rising action & climax portion of the book affected the tribes, just that there were protests on the main islands. it definitely wasn’t the best book ive read but at least the sex portion was soft and loving unlike the previous books ive been complaining about and the relationship was pretty mature (not speaking of the climax drama). i also never cringed once from the dialect or anything that happened which is almost a first. sure, it was boring for maybe a total of 50-60 pages, but i sat on my dick for the rest of the story pleased and invested. i don’t think it deserved a 1 or 2 star review at all.

[Anna Demosi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️
the glossary at the beginning of the book would’ve been helpful 😭 i didn’t even know about it till i got to the end, it’s hard for us kindle readers. BUT ANYWAY. overall, i enjoyed the book, but it had so much more potential, and there was also a lot of typos, the editor missed a lot lmfao. i found myself confused quite often with how many of the Samoan words there were, and i couldn’t keep literally any of them straight (relaying back to my point if glossary in the beginning✨) some scenes seemed to just… end? there were multiple times where i was like oh okay no more of that apparently. but, at the end of the day, it was still lesbian pirates, so it still gets a decent rating from me😂👋🏼

[maddy c · Rating 3 out of 5]

the premise is cute and i’m a sucker for pirates but the plot is pretty predictable and i got kind of bored. i like the pirate love interest she’s cool. but, the sex scenes were so odd to me how detailed they were when the rest of the tone of the book feels so geared towards YA

[Melissa Widmaier · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of research went into this novel and it shows. I really enjoyed the world building and learning about the worlds of the 'Aho and Tui. The pirates from these cultures were captivating, to say the least. Though this was a romance, I really didn't see much focus on it. It almost seemed one-sided until the end (which I thought was very satisfying!). But I did find this story enjoyable and I fretted and worried and cheered along with the characters.

[lauraღ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Rexone had a saying – an eye for an eye. This was the ‘Aho and Tui reclaiming their eyes.

2.5 stars. There was promise here, but this sadly just ended up being an okay read. It hit a lot of good buttons for me. Like, I like pirate stories, but I vastly prefer when they don't take place in the real world. Class differences romances are always fun, and there was also a bit of action and intrigue, ship voyages, stealthy missions, self-discovery. And this is all about our heroines fighting back against colonialist forces, which is pretty much my brand. Even though Lydia is inexperienced with the real world outside of her sheltered upbringing, she's headstrong and smart, and really interesting to follow. Laufitu is every pirate trope that I love, and then some, with a great backstory. 

But I feel like I'm describing a way more exciting book than I read. All the ingredients were there, but I unfortunately was VERY distracted by the editing or lack thereof. I pointedly try not to notice stuff like that when I'm reading indie published books, and I'm usually pretty successful at ignoring it, but here, it really bugged me. I don't think the words 'dinghy' or 'gaol' were spelt correctly even once. There were lots of miscellaneous typos or missing words. The punctuation drove me up a wall. There were so many run on sentences, instances where a comma was used when it really should have been a period or a semi-colon. I hate noticing these things, but after a while, it does start to mess with the rhythm of the reading in my head? I don't know. There was also a lot of head-hopping, my least favourite thing in the world. Plot-wise, I did enjoy their mission, hell yeah for anti-imperialism et cetera, but squeezing down huge issues into a pretty short book made it a lot less impactful for me. The romance was pretty convincing, and there were a couple really good emotional scenes, a couple good steamy scenes. But it also involved one of my least favourite tropes ("I KNEW I could never trust you!!!!!!") and things kinda went downhill for me in the last third or so.

There were some definite high points. Like I said, I loved the themes, and it really felt like the author did some good research to authentically create this world and the cultures that inhabited it. That alone makes me like it a bit more. But my own pickiness sorta ruined other parts of it for me, and all in all, this wasn't a fave.

[Joshua Enns-Wind · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ll start by saying I did enjoy this book.

I think the story it tells is very important. The reality is that colonialism has led to the assimilation of peoples into European culture around the world when it should not have happened.
I also find Lydia a relatable main character. The desire to adventure like in the books you read I think is something every reader of this book will feel.

There are some issues with this he writing of this book tho.

First off, aside from Lydia, none of the other characters are well written. All of them are shallow characters that feel very one note.

The writing also feels…amateurish. This is a novel for adults, but aside from the very adult scenes, you couldn’t tell. I do wish for books to help me expand my vocabulary, and this book does not do that a lot. There aren’t enough details to fully flesh out the world; it feels like a generic pirate world that struggled to distinguish itself from any other.

I find the story too predictable as well. Going in, I predicted almost the entire pattern the book would follow and it didn’t deviate, as much as I wished it would. The only exception is that I found the lead romance wasn’t built enough before it led to intimacy.

If you’re looking for a book to read about pirates, romance, and basic, wishful reconciliation, you’ll enjoy this book. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer much else.

Edit: Sometimes, a while after I read a book, I will find myself thinking back to a book and reflecting on it more. I found myself doing so with this book, but it wasn’t because of the book’s pleasantries. The flaws of this book keep sticking out and I find myself seriously disappointed with it. Heck, there was an entire chapter just dedicated to being a trope. As a result, I’m reducing my score from 2 stars to 1 star.

[Elle Yesnes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ooofph. Yikes.

Premise seemed fun: who wouldn’t love sapphic pirates? Apparently, this author.

Plot and pacing wise, it was all over the place. So slow and then wrapping up scenes so quickly I thought I’d accidentally skipped a page on my kindle. Same story with the romance. Very sudden.

Characters: boring and odd! All I knew about the main character was that she was as skinny as a skeleton, as pale as a ghost and constantly in the way??? And even less about the other main character.

Sometimes the author leaned into the fantasy of the world, other times it felt like they were stealing pieces of lore from actual cultures and it felt a little bit gross, considering they spend the majority of the book weighing the morality of theft…

Boo! Idk man, I was expecting some fun and this was not it for me. I need to stop taking direction from booktok.

[sylestial · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up tbh...

i was really looking forward to reading this book but i found myself disappointed :(

a book about lesbian pirates is right up my alley but lydia and laufitu's romance comes out of nowhere. there's no build up, no tension, no initial interest. and suddenly they're in love? i've seen pieces of cardboard with more chemistry. there are many things i can suspend my disbelief for but lesbians deserve well written romances too, and this wasn't it. it does gets better near the end of the story though, if you're willing to overlook all the moments they didn't actually have.

lalock unfortunately could not crack the very important show don't tell rule of thumb. relationships develop off page, and it's confounding. one page the pirates don't trust lydia and the next they're suddenly best friends. go white girl, i guess?

there is a lot of intrigue and commentary about colonialism, which i liked, but it fails to be anything profound. lalock writes as if she's reciting a drab history essay instead of tragic backstories. she did seem to put in a lot of effort, but it just seems like she's writing all of this just so she can let us know how much she disapproves of colonialism. like. obviously. this story should be weighted, but it fails to feel like it when the execution seem so simple.

also, they don't really seem like pirates at all? if that's the point - the crown/navy using the native islander's effort to fight their oppressors and reclaim their history to villainize them in the eyes of the public - in which case why would you market this as a pirate book? in any case, it wasn't the swashbuckling story i thought it would be. they don't even use swords. weapons are mentioned only a few times but none were used during the actions scenes, and im pretty sure no one died through the course of this book. pirates always seemed like morally grey characters to me (it's why i find them so appealing), but these pirates weren't complex at all. they just want their land and history back. which is absolutely valid, but lalock writes nothing about the pirates as characters. we don't know anything about them except their traumatic backstories, and they all have the same motivations and goals. who are they as individual people?

lydia is the only character who's truly fleshed out. she was at her best when she lied and manipulated. but i can't even say i know laufitu with my whole chest. all i know about her is her ambition, and that's she's a giver.

i just wanted so much more from this story than i got. the scenes where they're actually pirating (reclaiming artifacts) are the best scenes, even thought it was way too easy. the story really doesn't pick up until less than 100 pages to the end, where they plot their biggest scheme, and there are finally consequences to make the story interesting.

all in all, not a bad book. i just wanted more. they didn't even ✂️

[Manon Clvt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was over all disappointed by this book, despite it having so much potential to begin with.

Right from the start, the fact that the same words "Great Rexone" and "Patriano" were used to talk both about the country, the language and the people annoying but that's unfortunately the smallest of the issues of the book.

First of all the characters were shallow and underdeveloped, and for a book that speaks against racism and colonisation, I found the different ethnicities very similar and not well researched. Even Lydia was reduced to being pale and frail. (We get it, she's thin, okay now move on)

Then about the writing in itself, I found this story very childish (although it's clearly made for adults considering the smut) and disorganised. The wayit is shown thay the pirates didn't speak English (or rather Rexone) but their native language was preposterous and not respectful. It only showed the lack of research about native tribes.
The changing of POV right in the middle of a sentence was so erratic it made the reading unpleasant. Sometimes we were inside 3 different people's mind and it was hard to follow who was thinking what.

Finally, the epilogue was there only to absolve the author's white guilt and also end the book with a little bit of the white saviour trope because why not end and already flat and flavourless book with mediocrity ?

What a shame to advertise the book as something that speaks against so many things, to have sensitivity readers green light it (who's responsible for that I wonder...) to end up using the very things you denounce to your advantage!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lydia is trying to escape her life to move back to the main island of Rexone where she came from. This plan becomes more urgent when her father reveals that she will be moving to another island to marry some old dying man to further his political agenda. She decides to run away and somehow ends up on a pirate ship and NOT the ship going to her homeland. Now she’s learning the truth about her people and how they are destroying the natives lives and the habitat of the islands they are settling on.

This book was super good. It was like a light hearted education on the truths of colonization but add a bit of spice. It is largely fiction but it is very easy to see how different cultures throughout history have dealt with this exact thing. But at least since it’s fiction the author can make the ending however they want instead of how it truly happened.

[Hope Freed · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some pretty harsh reviews of this, which I personally thought were a bit unfair. I liked that this was a bit different to other pirate stories I’ve read (where the fair maiden is stolen by the dastardly pirate). Instead, in seeking to avoid being married off to an old man for political reasons, Lydia sneaks onboard the ship and gradually comes to be useful. She certainly provides some helpful information for pirates who are thieving, but often stealing back treasures that have been stolen from them. And the enemy thieving extends to both treasures and people. The book is a little preachy on the anti-colonialism aspect, but it’s fair to say that we Brits certainly have a pretty shoddy past in that respect. I didn’t love it, but I did like it well enough…

[Beth Torsiello · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was... fine? i think? it was somehow interesting and boring at the same time and scenes seemed rushed through with no real development. lydia was such a fun concept but not done well -- she just seemed ignorant and childish but also kept superhero-ing her way to success? i don't know. i love sapphic pirate vibes but the pirate ship seemed like an afterthought and maybe this would have worked better as a heist novel. other reviews can better explain the ick of the worldbuilding. and there were several - several - editing mistakes that kept taking me out of it. so idk it was fine while i was reading it but a week later i couldn't tell you a single thing that happened.

[Morgan Golias · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this, the story is compelling and the romance between Laufitu and Lydia was so sweet and amazing.

I saw a few other reviews say that the romance comes out of no where, but I don't understand that. Lydia is attracted to Laufitu right away, because she reminds her of the female pirate from her stories growing up. Laufitu is interested, but it blossoms slowly because Lydia doesn't treat her like an outsider or look down on her for her interests. I love their love story so much.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listen, I thought this was going to be a fluffy sapphic pirate romance book with spice.

It was a Sapphic romance, and there was spice, and pirates! but I was surprised at what else it contained. This is Polynesian mythology and folklore, as well as a book combatting colonialism.

Considering what's happening in the world, I thought it was quite fitting.

I also really appreciate that the author included a bibliography of her references, pronunciation guides and a glossary of terms.

[Joscelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it!! I do think that it deserved to be longer, but I think the story was complete and I really loved it!! I loved the concept and the ending made me squea but i do think if things were allowed more breathing room it could have been maybe a bit better but overall a really good, wonderfully sapphic, easy read with real world concepts that are important to discuss! (also idk if it’s real or just in my head but i sensed moana influence ?? 🤨 loved it though)

[Valerie roca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sapphics and pirates ? What more can we ask for. This book was a fun read. The author could have worked more on the tension between the 2 woman but it still was a decent amount of tension between both of them. I would have liked more action in this book but it was still a good read regardless. Might not be the best pirate story you will read but well worth it to give it a read.

[Kate Edsall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good book, with punch of spice 🌶️ and a dash of piracy 🏴‍☠️ this book set sail into a very good read. Sticking true to what happening with most colonization how natives had to fight their way to be seen. I hope that this book gets a sequel because I would be interested in reading more about the adventures of the Night Spirits

[Meike de Dooij · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just simply could not get into the story, and was confused many many times. Maybe it’s just me, because I do see people who really love this book, but it really isn’t for me. Had a hard time not dnf’ing it :(
Maybe i’ll try again someday

[nico · Rating 2 out of 5]

seems slightly under researched and insensitive at times as well as just being plain boring. didnt hate it, but after reading the reviews pointing out some weird aspects (that i didnt notice cause i was definitely zoning out😁) a two is the best i can give!

[Aspen Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful sapphic tale tackling colonialism and racism through reclaiming stolen land and items.

[Stcgubcdddhkjqva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! The perfect mix of romance and adventure

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back seat sapphic spice during pirate escapades against colonisers 👌🏽

[Sara]

Lesbian pirates

[Megan Wood · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF unfortunately.

[Leaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up