Lunatide: A Literary Dark Mythic Fantasy of Power, Inheritance & Belonging

by Micka Hill

She thought she was starting her life.

Instead, something older has already claimed it.

Alaura Hayes has spent her life building stability from nothing—moving forward without family, without answers, without anything to fall back on but herself. After years of discipline and sacrifice, she’s finally on the edge of everything she worked for.

But when reality begins to shift in ways she can’t explain, she’s pulled into a world operating just beneath the surface of her own.

A world where power is watched, controlled—and where some people were never meant to exist at all.

Drawn toward something vast and unrelenting, Alaura is forced to confront a truth that reshapes everything she thought she knew about herself: the absence she grew up with may not have been abandonment.

It may have been concealment.

Because some things aren’t discovered.

They return.

368 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 28, 2026

About the author

Micka Hill is the author of dark and mythic fantasy featuring Black women at the center of worlds that were always meant to belong to them. Her stories live at the intersection of ancient power and modern identity — where inheritance isn't just what's left behind, but what refuses to stay buried.

Her debut novel Lunatide — Book One of the Tideborn Series — follows Alaura Hayes, a law school graduate who spent her whole life believing she was no one's. She wasn't abandoned. She was hidden. And the ocean has been waiting.

Micka Hill writes for the readers who needed to see a Black girl chosen. Not rescued. Not explained. Just chosen — by power, by destiny, by the tide that was always hers.

She was never unclaimed. She was chosen.

Reviews

[Alexis Rivera]

Makes you actually hug your book.

Im not sure that I have ever read a book that fully described the yearning for a home, a place where you belong, the feeling of being wanted, a part of.... in such a vivid way that you feel encapsulated by that longing all throughout the story. It truly evokes emotion and attachment to the character in such a unique way. This book takes you on Alaura's quest to capture that feeling. Her journey is woven through a wonderful water filled plotline that is unique and engaging. Friendship, loyalty, love and what you're willing to do for others is shown in multiple characters. Alaura has so many questions that can make her seemingly vulnerable while her tenacity propels her forward. There are so many things I would love to talk about more thoroughly but I don't want to spoil one second of this special journey for any reader. I enjoy water based stories and this book has that part that is so intriguing but layered with so much more than the overarching plot. I am so attached to Alaura and as a mom, there is one specific scene in the book that just squeezed my mom sized heart & filled it right up. Read this book.

[Cassandra Jerido]

Too Repetitive

The premise sounds good but every chapter felt like the same thing on repeat. I know that the author wanted to keep an air of mystery surrounding the storyline but she didn’t give us enough to want to continue. I really tried to get into the book but it wasn’t enough there. So, this is where I will abandon the mission. I will not voluntarily torture myself for book 2.

[oohlahcoo I]

I wanted to love this book, but I really disliked the writing style. It kept taking me out of the story. If the writing would have been straight forward it would have been a 5 ⭐️ for me. The writing on the FMC’s part was repetitive and I had to reread several run on sentences to figure out what was being said.
I don’t mind poetic writing but it was overdone and became ridiculous and it made it hard to enjoy the story.

An example “ I ached for him. That was the word for it and I hated the word and it was the word.” Like why?! Another one: “I hated that part of me. I have always hated that part of me. It has never once cared what I hated it for”.
There are paragraphs of this throughout the book. It became annoying after a while. Overall the story was good.

[Jannat]

Well well well, not only is the art work fantastic, so vibrant and dream inducing, but the writing is like room temperature butter on expensive bread, smooth and flows. My adhd brain is having a field day, this is what you call Black excellence in literature, and im so happy to see more Black women authors, keep going Queen!

[Chl]

liked the idea of this more than I liked some of the execution. Alaura finding out that she wasn’t actually abandoned and that there was this whole history behind who she was had me interested, and I really liked the connection to the ocean and her slowly realizing something was different about her. The biggest issue for me was the pacing. This is definitely a slow build and sometimes it felt a little too slow because I kept waiting for the story to really get moving. There were also moments where I wanted more explanation about the world and everything surrounding Alaura instead of having more questions added. I did like the friendships and the whole idea of her finally finding where she belongs though.

[Melicah]

Great.

This book was just the right amount of information for the beginning of a story. Kept me guessing and then looking for more. Excited for book 2. I enjoyed reading

[Mac]

Hate the way it's written, feels like she used a bunch of AI slop to pull it together. The cover is bad enough but the run on sentences, the way you have to re-read to understand.. the story itself is okay but other than that I hate it. Don't write anything else you need AI help for. Please.

[Shanita Tyler]

Beautiful start to an interesting story

The author does a beautiful job of exploring the sense of longing and searching for a place to call home when you have nothing left to remember about where you came from. I am intrigued by the story and can’t wait to see why she is so important. When the pieces of the puzzle fall into place and you learn the connections. Is it punishment or purpose?

[Joleia Jones]

The writing style is a bit too poetic for my taste. The story itself is good, but I honestly skipped paragraphs of abstract descriptions.

[Alexa]

3.75 ⭐️ I could’ve done without the romance with Caius. I wish fantasies didn’t always include a love story. I do enjoy reading about black woman belonging to the sea. Overall a good book, and would continue on in the series

[Reader]

The writing was not my taste, which caused me not at enjoy the story as much but, I'm definitely open to reading more from Micka.

[LaTrevette Ndirangu]

I really love the concept of the story. However, I am not a fan of the author's writing style.