I don’t even know where to begin! I absolutely adored this. If you aren’t aware, this is the second novel in the All the Stars & Teeth duology. I don’t want to go much into spoilers, so I will just say what this entails and my feelings.

We have Amora, a Princess turned Queen alongside Bastian, a pirate, and Vataea, a mermaid. While there are other key characters (darling Ferrick!), these are my favorites. We follow them all on an adventure in both books, but the second is much more heart wrenching. There is magic, pining, and secrets. Safe to say I was an emotional wreck.

Amora goes through a great ordeal in the first book, so she is very closed off in the second and has a few panic attacks. I loved how the author, Adalyn, acknowledged these reactions and showed Amora’s mental state. I really felt for Amora and sympathized with her. We have a shared experience, but to avoid spoilers, I won’t clarify what it is.

Bastian. The swoon worthy pirate. I absolutely love him. He says he won’t pine for Amora, but I beg to differ. There was so much angst with them and I ate it up. Seriously, the romance was great in this. I have bookmarked so many scenes of them! We also had a side romance blossoming with Vataea and Ferrick. I just want to say Ferrick is the cutest lovestruck person!

We also have a new member of the crew in this novel named Shanty. We saw her briefly in the first book and I am so happy she got promoted in the second. She is a face/shape shifter who is totally badass. She can swindle anybody and I love to watch her do it.

I just want to quickly mention that the audiobook has a new narrator from the first book. I am so glad they have made that change. The voices for the characters have greatly improved and I really enjoyed it! Just wanted to mention in case people were turned off a bit from the first.

Sorry if this is all over the place, but I am very wary of spoilers. I do want to scream about this, so let me know if you read it! Adalyn Grace really ripped my heart out with the ending.

Thank you to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for the arc! This title was released February 2, 2021.